Amaranthus

According to Wikipedia, Amaranths, sometimes known as 'ancient grains' but actually have seeds. Their seed heads up to a kilo in weight can contain a half million seeds.I believe it, because I think they are all coming up somewhere in our garden. In some locations they look quite handsome and we leave them. In other places I would classify them as weeds and we pull them.  We planted one in a container many years ago and it continues to reseed itself year after year.  It has been found in sites in India dating back to 1,000-800BC.

I haven't attempted to eat the grain yet though the seeds are said to be easy to cook and very nutritious, high in vitamin C and several other nutrients. And they're gluten free.

In other news, we sat on our porch this morning and watched a guy in an ultralight with a parasail zoom around the sky above us. He would cut the engine, or whatever it is that makes a lot of noise, and glide rather precipitously toward the ground restarting the engine just as disaster seemed imminent. Most of the time he was too high for a good photograph and when he did come down to lans in a field at the end of the street I was unprepared.

A conversation with Dana and Jim ensued about how much we wouldn't want to do that and, worse yet, wouldn't want to think of any loved one doing it either. 

We now have umbrellas on three sides of our house to shade us from the sun as it rises (on the porch off the kitchen) sets (on the bistro table outside our bedroom) not to mention the fancy one on the patio in between. I'd rather have trees, but it will be a long time before that happens. It is pretty exciting to see how quickly some plants are regenerating even in the middle of recently cleared lots with no water and in the middle of a drought. I'm pretty sure there must be some amaranthus coming up over there....