Go to MSN Yellow Pages Enter Grain Elevator under 'Business name or category' Enter Glen Burnie, MD under 'Location' Call those businesses with 'grain', 'elevator', or 'farming services' after the bold 'category' Ask for crushed granite grower grit. If they say they have it, be sure it is crushed granite before you head out to pick it up. It might be helpful to ask if it is packaged under the name 'Gran-I-Grit'. Al

Rlbloom, this "abnormally normal" winter did in many a fig that has been in the ground for years, but never experienced temps as low as we had this year. There's a good chance, though, that the roots survived. Keep a watch for growth down low, or even from below ground. I've seen trees push new growth as late as June after being winter-killed. That being said, if growth doesn't start by the end of this month, it may not have time to harden off before NEXT winter, and would be killed again. If you do get new growth, trim the existing branch structure to give the new growth as much sun as possible. Once you see what's going to sprout, thin the new growth to 3 to 5 sprouts. You don't want the roots trying to support a jungle after being so stressed. To insure that the growth will harden off, pinch out the growing tips every time 5-7 new full-sized leaves form on each sprout. This will cause the growth below to begin to lignify (harden and form bark), as well as insuring a full, bushy, shrubby growth. DON'T fertilize until next year, it only stresses the plant more. John

Oh, sorry for not updating sooner... I went to Designer Services in Frederick. They had two kinds of Green Mountain soapstone -- original and ice flower. I looked mostly at original which was very nice, but not what I had in mind. Many thin veins in what looked to me to be a pretty hard stone. Today I went to Grantops, also in Frederick, to see what they had. They carry about 5 kinds of soapstone and I bought two slabs!! Mine are Santa Rita (I think I got the last 2 they had in stock) and I love them. I'm attaching a link so you can check out the other varieties. I'm surprised at how hard its been to find soapstone in the DC metro area. Good luck!! Here is a link that might be useful: Grantops

It may not be appropriate to suggest myself but I have a kitchen and bath store in Alexandria and would love to talk to you. I work with Bridgewood Custom normally prices out between woodmark and kraftmaid prices most of the time and is highly customizeable in framed and frameless construction cabinets. I also work with Geppetto which is a company based in North Carolina that is very good at custom cabinets at pretty good prices. I try to be the most competitive small company out there. You can search my name on here and see I have given a lot of product knowledge to people asking about low cost products. Most of my longer posts are about RTA because no one in the industry who understands the supplier side of it seems to post on here to actually educate the posters of the site with the truth. my website that is not finished but organized enough to give you a general idea of what products I work with is www.mistycreekcustomkitchens.com I can be contacted from there if you have an interest.