I thought I'd add something to the discussion: Tomatoes were grown north of Mexico, but only in the Southwest - the area inhabited by the Pueblo groups like the Hopi and the Zuni. This is possibly where the Navajo cultivars originated, as the Navajo were in close contact with the Pueblo peoples. Understand, though, that the Pueblo peoples were an isolated group that are closer linked to the Mexican civilizations than the other groups in what is today the United States. The Pueblo people were somewhat of an isolated agricultural population, surrounded by desert and the plains, which were not as suitable to agriculture. Their neighbors in these regions, like the Navajo, were mostly hunter-gatherers in ancient times and did not grow their own crops until recently. The Pueblo peoples traded with the Toltecs of Mexico, however, and from them they recieved many crops, and also rare imports of luxury items like cacao beans and macaw parrots that only the nobility could ever afford. To make more sense of it, remember that today's borders are a modern construct, and that up until the 19th Century the American Southwest was governed from Mexico City rather than Washington, DC. Therefore, the distinction of the US Southwest region as being closer related to the rest of the United States than to Mexico is not the case for most of history, particularly before Columbus showed up. Mexico is the origin for many of the crops associated with the natives of North America, including corn and beans. Beans, actually, only arrived in the Eastern United States just shortly before Europeans did. It's probable that given time, if the Europeans hadn't shown up, tomatoes would have eventually arrived there through along indigenous trade routes, too, but Europe beat them to it and ended up being their middle man. Read "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond for more information. The Americas ran along a "north-south" trade access - meaning that in order for domesticated plants and other ideas to spread from one region to another, they had to travel through very different climate zones, which made the journey a lot tougher. Since tomatoes were actually of South American origin, it would have taken a lot longer. Those tomatoes had to travel from the colder Andes mountains, into the sharply different, tropical rainforest region, into the more arid grassland regions of central Mexico, and finally through the deserts of northern Mexico and the Southwestern states - which took a long, long time - hundreds if not thousands of years. To get from there to the Great Plains and finally the Eastern Woodlands would have taken more time than the Native Americans had before Jamestown was planted.

*faints* 2....years....umm....it does look rather special though..I'm tempted....hehe To be more specific it's for my dad. Not a huge huge project but I want to stitch him something like a dreamcatcher with a saying on...or a saying with vaious things round the outside...not a major project as at the same time I have to do something for my daughter, son, mum, sister, etc...etc...etc.... the life of a stitcher is never done eh? LOL people always say to me ...oooh I could never do that... but they could it just takes the patience to spend ages doing it and sitting on your bottom hehe

I think I have fuschia nail polish! I would not have thought of it. It may come down to timing. French I would have done where I can do a regular color at home, IF I have time. One of my close friends is laughing because she has known me since we were 15 and she has never seen me be so concerned with what I'm wearing. ha ha.... This black dress I have had in my closet for years. I never wore it because it didn't look good as it doesn't hide extra pounds very well. I don't even remember why I have it. Well, I tried it on. It fits and look great, Yea! I will make sure it gets lots of use : ) Thank you all so much! This post was edited by debrak2008 on Tue, Aug 5, 14 at 21:28

Gayle, "place of peace" is beautiful. And I sure hope you've had more than a little luck. msmarion, my piece is stamped sterling, but the artist's stamp is worn. I can't tell if it's CB or GB or even C3 or G3. adellabedella, I'm pretty sure it's southwestern because my MIL spent lots of time visiting her sister in Tucson. I suppose I could ask her, but she probably won't remember. (She's the kind of person who will give you back something you gave her because she doesn't keep track of that stuff.)