Fresh from Wellspring Charitable Gardens - August 21, 2025

Fresh Today… Heirloom Cherry & Slicing Tomatoes, Summer Squash, Eggplant, Potatoes, Leaf Lettuce, Cucumbers, Sweet Bell Peppers, Green Beans, Garlic, Cilantro, Basil, Oregano, Peaches & Zinnias

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

Eggplant is a slow growing vegetable that comes alive in the late summer during August and September. This recipe is one of my favorites, the sesame seeds add texture and flavor. Remember the key to cooking eggplant is to make sure that it is cooked all the way through. It should be soft. Undercooked eggplant will have a rubbery texture that is not enjoyable.

Sesame Crusted Eggplant

(adapted from momfoodie.com)

¼ cup raw sesame seeds

1 large eggplant or 2-3 small eggplant

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

2 tablespoons olive oil or melted coconut oil

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon white miso paste

2 teaspoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt

* Preheat the oven to 400 °F. On a parchment lined baking sheet, spread out the sesame seeds and cook in the oven for 6-8 minutes until lightly toasted. Remove from the oven and set the pan aside to cool. Cut off the ends of the eggplant and slice ½ inch thick. In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, olive and sesame oils, miso paste, lemon juice and salt. Brush all the garlic-oil mixture on the eggplant slices. Pour the toasted sesame seeds carefully onto a plate or shallow pan. Replace the parchment on the baking sheet to reuse for the eggplant. Dip the eggplant slices into the sesame seeds on both sides and press gently, then place the eggplant slice on the parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the eggplant with any remaining seeds. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes, then flip each eggplant slice and roast for about 15-20 minutes more, until the eggplant is soft.

“Hey Subscriber, can you spare a few clamshells?”

Do you have surplus clamshell containers cluttering your pantry or crowding your kitchen cabinets? Our supply is depleted, so we thought you might have extras in your expansive stockpiles. You know, declutter and donate so you have more room for the essentials – KFC wet wipes, Wendy’s Frosty spoons, Chipotle napkins, Jack-in-the-Box chicken strips dips, Panda Express soy sauce packets, Pizza Hut hot pepper and parmesan packets, Burger King cardstock crowns…. The decluttering and donating may elevate your spirits and inspire you to don that BK crown and tackle another troublesome task – organizing the kitchen junk drawer that resembles a Fuller Brush Man’s sales case.

Summer Salads…

Our summer produce comes together in a Greek salad featuring tomatoes and cucumbers with thinly sliced red onion. If you like the crisp green notes of a bell pepper, you can add this too. Lettuce is not traditional but if you like the leafy greens feel free. Serve with fresh pita bread to soak up the juices from the tomatoes and dressing.

Greek Salad

2 tbsp red wine vinegar                      

1 clove garlic, minced                           

½ tsp Dijon mustard                            

½ tsp dried oregano (or 1                  

     tsp fresh oregano, chopped)        

½ tsp honey                                           

½ tsp salt                                                

½ cup crumbled feta cheese             

4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

5-6 cups lettuce, washed and chopped

1 cucumber, sliced

1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

¼ cup sliced red onion

½ cup kalamata olives

¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper

Salt and freshly ground pepper 

* Combine vinegar, minced garlic, mustard, oregano, honey, salt and pepper, whisking together in a large bowl. Slowly add the oil while whisking.  Add the remaining ingredients and toss gently to coat everything with the dressing.  Adjust the seasoning with salt and fresh ground pepper if needed.  Eat right away. 

Metaphors of Soil and Soul…

Bad Mound Rising

Cindi J & Keith F Martin

The gopher infestation has reached critical mass. When brown mounds first appeared here and there in the fields, we ignored them. We hoped that lush carrot tops and beet greens signaled a plentiful and sweet yield. Bitter was the shock to discover at harvest mound after mound of “gopher dredgings” hidden beneath the lush foliage. Digging deeper, we found gnawed beets and carrots, then in nearby rows holes where pepper seedlings once thrived.

I couldn’t help seeing how life, at times, resembles a gopher infested garden. We walk down well-tended rows admiring the greenery but overlooking the signs of trouble surfacing. Mounds rise in our marriages, our parenting, our friendships, our family or work relationships, but we avert our eyes and walk around the dredgings piling up. The mounds seem few and small, at first glance, not enough of a problem to dig into to determine the damage. Why go looking for trouble, right? But trouble is already there, and it’s piling up! Should you risk checking with a dear friend about a feeling that you may have offended her? Is it worth the effort to look into your concern that the children are misusing social media or the internet? Should you ask your spouse about a distance you feel in your marriage if you might discover that he or she is hiding a growing sense of disillusionment? Is the feeling of distance something to dismiss or too serious to ignore?

We may be fearful of finding what lies beneath a manicured surface. Digging may reveal disappointment, discouragement, or disillusionment. It may expose pain or loss. In the end, though, damage will be far worse if we respond to the bad mound by averting our eyes and ignoring the trouble. Creedence Clearwater Revival’s song Bad Moon Rising conveys a similar caution - lyrics revised for our context and metaphor:

                       I see the bad mound a-risin’

I see gophers on the way

I see veggies disappearin’

I see bad crops today

Don’t walk around that fright

Well it’s bound to wrack your life

There’s a bad mound on the rise!

I hear gophers gone a-chewin’

                        I know the beets are goin’ soon

I fear carrots won’t be growin’

I hear the gnawin’ teeth of doom

                        Don’t walk around that fright

Well it’s bound to ruin your life

There’s a bad mound on the rise!  

God give us strength to confront warning signs with courage, rather than overlook them in fear. Whistling past the gopher mound is no remedy; that merely entertains the rodents as they devour the sweet crop you had hoped to harvest.

“We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed but of those  who believe and are saved.”   Hebrews 10:30