Fresh for Thanksgiving from Wellspring Charitable Gardens - November 20, 2025

Fresh Today… Sweet Potatoes, Cauliflower, Green & Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Green Beans, Beets, Celery, Fennel, Spinach, Salad Mix, Lettuce, French Breakfast Radishes, Dill, Parsley, Persimmons & Pomegranates

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

My favorite food holiday is here and we have lots of fall produce that can grace your Thanksgiving table. Try making a green salad with sliced persimmons or a crudité platter with ranch dressing. You can juice a pomegranate and add some color to a spritzy drink or a glass of champagne. I included a gratin recipe with our cauliflower and fennel that would make a perfect addition to your Thanksgiving table. I made this for the first time about 10 years ago and continue to do so whenever I have both vegetables in the same basket. You can make the bechamel sauce, steam the vegetables and assemble the dish a day or two ahead, so you just need to bake it before dinner. In addition, cover the dish when it comes out of the oven, and it will stay hot for almost an hour.

Cauliflower and Fennel Gratin

4 tablespoons butter 

3 tablespoon flour 

2 cups milk 

½ teaspoon salt 

2 or 3 thick slices of country bread

1 tablespoon olive oil 

1 head of cauliflower 

1 large fennel bulb 

1 tablespoon butter 

2/3 cup grated Gruyere or Swiss cheese 

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

* Melt the 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat in a saucepan, add the flour and cook 1 minute while stirring with a whisk. Add the milk and salt, whisking until well combined. Turn up the heat and stir regularly until the sauce reaches a boil and thickens. Take off the heat and set aside. Make breadcrumbs by pulsing the bread slices in a food processor then mix with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Cut the fennel bulb in half and chop each half into ½ inch squares. Cut the cauliflower into bite-size florets. Steam the fennel and cauliflower together for about 6-8 minutes until almost cooked through. Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease a casserole dish with 1 tablespoon butter. Combine the fennel, cauliflower and béchamel sauce, mix in half of the cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Pour into the prepared casserole dish and sprinkle remaining cheese and breadcrumbs on top. Bake uncovered 40-50 minutes until golden brown.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you for your faithful support of our farm fundraising!  Hurting adults and children benefit from your “seeds of support” given to Wellspring Counseling Ministries through WCG.  When you receive a delivery of farm-to-family produce, a family in our community receives counseling resources in their time of need.  We listen to people who are hurting and connect them to professional counselors with the expertise and heart to help.  Thank you for your generosity, and please share the word: We offer services and have skilled professionals who can help, encourage, and empower.

Thursday, November 27, is Thanksgiving, a day to gather with family and friends to thank God for His goodness, His grace, and His unfailing love. So that we may celebrate, we will not be harvesting Thanksgiving Day. Your purple bags will return filled with fresh WCG farm-to-family produce on December 4. Happy Thanksgiving!

“O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You,

I will give thanks to Your name;

For You have worked wonders,

Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness…

For You have been a defense for the helpless,

A defense for the needy in his distress,

A refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat…”

Isaiah 25

Sweet Potatoes or Yams…

Regardless of what the sign at the store might say or the color of the potato, in the United States, when people say yams, they are talking about sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are native to the Americas and come in many colors, orange, white, red and purple. A true yam is a root native to Africa. The name probably dates to colonial times when slaves from Africa noted the similarities between some varieties of sweet potatoes and the yam. If you like a sweet, sweet potato dish, try this version with cinnamon and honey or maple syrup.

Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes

4-5 cups sweet potatoes             

     in 1-inch cubes                               

2 tablespoons olive oil                

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon        

1-3 tablespoons honey, maple

syrup or brown sugar

Sprinkle of salt and freshly

ground black pepper

* Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl toss the sweet potato cubes with the oil, honey, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Lay the seasoned sweet potatoes out in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Roast for 30-35 minutes in oven or until tender. Take sweet potatoes out of the oven and transfer to a serving platter.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul… 

Giving Thanks & Practicing Gratitude

Cindi J Martin

The word thanksgiving has become richer and more meaningful to me since reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Voskamp reveals inspiring layers of meaning in the Greek word eucharisteo, to give thanks. In Luke’s gospel we read that Jesus “…when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, ‘Take this and share it among yourselves...’ And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body, which is being given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ This momentous Passover meal became known as The Last Supper, a name taken from Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic painting Last Supper.  

The Last Supper also became the First Communion, a practice Christians called Eucharist, the Latin variant of the word Jesus used when he gave thanks to God. The Greek root of eucharisteo is charis, grace, and charis is derived from chara, joy. So, wrapped into one word, eucharisteo, we have a union of three elements - thanks, grace, and joy. Giving Thanks opens the floodgates of God’s grace so that His joy fills our hearts. Today, social scientists acknowledge what Christians and Jews have known for millennia: Gratitude profoundly influences a person’s well-being. Therapists now encourage troubled clients, despite their sorrow, to remember and write in a gratitude journal what they are thankful for, which favorably improves their attitude and outlook on life.

Knowing that Jesus eagerly desired to give thanks to God and break bread with His disciples at Passover - despite the betrayal and horror that awaited Him - gives me courage to endure trouble and hardship. He certainly did not thank God for His imminent suffering, though; He prayed three times that it be removed. He utterly despised the pain and the shame of the cross but gave thanks for what GOD would do through it – pass over believers in peace and save with mercy.  

Voskamp’s shedding light on these essential elements of Eucharist changed how I receive the LORD’s communion. Now, rather than focusing solely on the bread as Jesus’ broken body and the wine as His shed blood, I also remember that He GAVE THANKS to God for what He would fulfill through His death on the cross, despite horrific shame and excruciating suffering, and for the victory He would secure through His resurrection. This Thanksgiving, remember the LORD and give Him thanks for His amazing grace that provides peace and delivers everlasting joy…

“And let us run with endurance the race set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him,  

endured the cross despising the shame,

and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2