Fresh from Wellspring Charitable Gardens - April 9, 2026

Fresh Today… Spring Onions, Cabbage, Carrots, Lettuce Mix, Fava Beans, Baby Fennel, Broccoli, Spinach, Salad Turnips, Cilantro, & Dill

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

Our white salad turnips are ready to harvest, and more are coming this week. These turnips can be eaten raw but they are also great cooked. I like to roast them like potatoes or sear them in a non-stick pan on the stovetop. Don’t forget to eat the greens. I included this recipe to use them both in the same dish. Regardless, of whether you use the leaves and roots together, make sure to separate them when you put away your vegetables. The greens will last only a few days, but when you leave them attached to the roots, they start to steal moisture away from the turnip. When cutting the turnips, the idea is that they are approximately the same size. I suggest cutting larger turnips into quarters and smaller ones in half.

Braised Turnips with Their Greens

1 bunch salad turnips with greens

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon chopped fresh herbs,

    parsley, chives or dill

1 clove garlic, minced

½ cup vegetable stock or water

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 tablespoon cold butter

2 teaspoons honey

* Separate the turnips and greens, discard any yellowing leaves. Wash turnips and cut in half or quarters. Chop the greens and stems, rinse away any dirt if needed and set aside. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add turnips in a single layer, cook 3-4 minutes, without turning. Add parsley and garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add vegetable stock, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil; cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until turnips are tender, 2-3 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to medium-high, and add greens; cook until liquid reduces by three-fourths, about 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the butter and honey, stirring until the butter is melted. Serve right away.

Cilantro

WCG founding crew member Wendy Miller introduced us to Barbara O'Neill, a proponent of natural health who highlights cilantro as a natural detoxifier and anti-parasitic agent. It helps the body eliminate heavy metals, supports liver function, and digestive health.

* Cilantro is described as a "powerful" agent for removing heavy metals like lead, mercury, and aluminum from the body.

* O'Neill includes cilantro in natural remedies designed to cleanse the body of parasites, often in conjunction with other herbs and natural solutions.

* A leafy green, it is packed with essential vitamins, minerals, and anti-inflammatory compounds.

* Use it in smoothies, salads, sauces, and dressings to assist with liver and kidney function. 

Homemade Dressing…

All our spring herbs are great additions to any salad dressing. This dressing recipe specifically features the fresh herb flavor in a vinaigrette with lemon juice. Make the dressing ahead and then you can have it on hand to toss with our mixed lettuce or drizzle over roasted carrots or cabbage.

Dill-Cilantro Dressing

¼ cup dill, chopped             

½ cup cilantro, chopped          

1 tbsp minced garlic            

½ tsp salt                                

3 tbsp lemon juice                

¼ tsp fresh ground

black pepper

2 tbsp minced onion

1 tbsp honey

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

* Put all the ingredients except the oil in the blender and blend well. Add the olive oil and blend again. Taste and add salt if desired.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul… 

Rest & Rise

Cindi J Martin

I told a friend that I experience the presence of God when baking bread. Knowing my battle with pain from three cervical spine surgeries, she asked if working the dough increased my pain. “The reason I can bake bread without increasing my pain,” I said, “is that while allowing the dough to rest and rise I can rest and renew.” Rest benefits both the bread and the baker.  Rest lets dough fully hydrate, relaxing starches in the flour. Helped along by air and yeast, relaxed dough expands and becomes pliable and easier to shape. The rest enhances the character of the dough, and the rise opens its crumb to create an airy texture that improves the taste; rest and delicious bread elevate the mood and well-being of the baker.

Rest is not merely beneficial, it’s transformational. In Under the Unpredictable Plant, Eugene Peterson notes the spiritual significance of rest in the work of Jonah and Jesus. Peterson’s study of vocational holiness was inspired by Jonah’s three-day ordeal in the belly of the whale. Jonah’s Second Day, sandwiched between his  being swallowed up and being spit out, was a silent and sacred time of rest and transformation before he rose to speak the Word of the LORD to Nineveh. Jesus’ Second Day in the grave, Saturday, provided Him a Sabbath rest that separated the painful work of Good Friday work from His glorious Easter Sunday resurrection. Peterson’s reflections showed how Jesus’ three-day ordeal - from the garden betrayal and cross through the tomb to the resurrection - could be likened to baking bread. As the Bread of Life, Jesus’ body, like dough, rested in the grave after having been bruised and broken, like dough that is worked in the kneading process. Once the “leaven” of sin had worked through His body on Friday, He rested Saturday. Eternally significant promises were fulfilled that Second Day - the Silent Saturday - in preparation for His promised and victorious Sunday rising. 

Still a recovering work/ministry-a-holic, I do not rest easy, but the LORD God has taught me through my broken and  weary body how to rest - how to Sabbath - and allow His Spirit to transform me through His Life and Truth from within. Slow to learn why rest is essential, I supposed the holy command should not apply when I was busy doing “the Lord’s work.” Rest seemed a waste of precious time better invested in people and “Kingdom work.” I now know that rest is a divine and sacred invitation to spiritual renewal: Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." 

Delightful things happen to dough as it rests, wonderful things happen to soil that lies fallow, and miraculous things happen to souls that rest in the presence of the LORD Almighty. May we all rest and rise renewed to know the LORD and delight in Him: “Cease striving and know that I AM God!”   Psalm 46:10

“If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasures, and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”   Isaiah 58:13-14