It looks like a Gomphrena (Globe Amaranth) to me. I don't think they have any quality as an 'herb' but are great for everlastings. I grew a crop of Gomphrena globosa 'Gnome' (a dwarf variety) in school this year. Vera

OK, I'm back and can't help myself, I've got to get into this grits discussion. I spent my childhood eating cornmeal mush, I liked it best poured into a loaf pan, left to set, then sliced and fried in butter and topped with maple syrup. Polenta is acceptable, depending on the additions. I've never met a grit I actually liked, including those in various establishments through out the south. The worst were in Georgia. (shudder) As for dinner, it's still the noontime meal for the old farmers here in Michigan too. Dinner here is always the biggest meal of the day, regardless of time. Supper is the smaller meal you have at day's end, dinner is the big meal at mid-day, while you still need the fuel to work for the second half of the day. As for canning disasters, KatieC and I just gave some "classes" to Cooking Forum members on various canning recipes. We made Habanero Gold, two batches. Same recipe, same cooks, same ingredients, same day. One batch set, one didn't. (shrug) Katie's been canning 30 years, I've been canning over 40. With a combined 70 years of canning experience, that jelly still is syrup. It happens. Annie

Dale, I haven't grown flageolets either, but they are phaseolus vulgaris and you grow them the same way you grow any other bean. We're partial to Romano-style beans and I grow several varieties of them along with regular beans. I think the type of flageolets that SSE has is the regular green ones? Johnny's Selected Seeds always has at least one type of flageolet although the odds are it will be a hybrid variety and not an heirloom. If you like to look for varieties that are a bit different, you might enjoy looking at the selection of Franchi Simenti seeds offered by Seeds from Italy. I have grown some wonderful melons and beans purchased from Seeds from Italy. Some of their varieties are the same ones we have here, but there are a few that I've never or rarely seen offered in the U.S. Dawn

Ha. My Ex actually linked up with SM at a daycare where my children were going. He left me for her, and actually it was humorous to see her thinking she knew more about raising children than I did. He, after divorcing me, married her, and she was their stepmom. And actually I did see after I got over my anger that she was a pretty good person. Eleven years later she left my ex by moving in with and finally marrying his ex best friend. My Ex was livid, of course. Ha Ha. I could have used that to the hilt. It was sad to me to watch SM try to have a relationship with our children, and my Ex and now also her Ex also tried to stop that relationship with everything in his being. I was now the one who held all the power. I could have blown her out of the water. And you know what, many people told me here is the biatch who stole your husband pay her back. It was actually one of my daughters' friends who said to me, SM is really trying hard here, give her some slack. That statement made me think. And the friend was right. It did make sense. There was no reason why I should stand in the way of a relationship simply because my Ex moved on, or was forced to move on. I have been married to my second husband for 15 years now, a marriage that I think will go on until we die. My EX is now into his third marriage, and now what I say to my girls is this. Your dad's new wife is in fact your stepmother, but it isn't the same this time for you. They are 20 now. And yes first SM, and her mom and her dad and her sisters and all their children have special times with "my" kids, and none of them wanted to say goodbye. I say you are all more than welcome because that is what my girls want. Is it hard? You bet you it is hard. It is likely the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. But when you have kids it isn't about you anymore is it.