My kids’ paternal Great Grandma was a master cook and baker, and one of her “signature dishes” was Flop Cake. She never would say why she had given it this name, but no matter. She always baked the moist, almost brownie-like cake in a 9 X 13 pan, with a thick layer of fudge frosting…

We have all heard the jokes about the orphaned bags of zucchini left on the doorstep overnight, but I had a very nice experience a week or so ago. There at the door were my master gardener neighbors, offering up a beautifully arranged basket of zucchini, yellow squash and cucumbers they were offering to share…

My raspberries are currently on hiatus, having finished their July efforts a little less productively than most years but once again full of blossoms and “baby berries.” The hordes of bees humming all around are a wonderful sight. I sometimes think these berry bushes read the calendar better than I, since turning the page from…

My daughter-in-law has been adding to her already busy schedule the making of grape juice and grape jelly, thanks to a proliferation of grapes ripening on their back yard fence. She cooked up a huge pot of grapes for her first batch and allowed them to drain through a colander. This yielded over a gallon…

This has been a summer of wonderful rains, lots of heat, overall good conditions for most gardeners around here. Unfortunately, I planted late and only a little and have been showing again that a green thumb is not part of my anatomy. Still, thanks to many other gardeners I know, I have spent the afternoon…