Fresh from Wellspring Charitable Gardens - December 4, 2025

Fresh Today… Sweet Potatoes, Cabbage, Beets, Carrots, Celery, Rutabagas, Peas, Kale, Lettuce, Broccoli, Parsley, Dill, Cilantro, Limes & Pomegranates

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

This week I have two soup recipes for us. Both soups show how seasonal ingredients can make lighter, satisfying options during the holiday season. The Curried Sweet Potato Soup uses sweet potatoes, celery, and warm spices, cooked gently until soft and blended into a smooth, bright soup with coconut milk and lemon. The Tuscan Bean and Kale Soup takes a more rustic approach, building flavor by browning sausage, then simmering winter greens, beans, and aromatics in a simple broth. Together, they highlight two different cooking styles—one a blended, spice-forward puree, the other a chunky, stew-like soup - each offering a balanced, nourishing alternative to heavier holiday dishes. Give these a try this week. You can make extra and have them ready to go for lunch or a light dinner.

Curried Sweet Potato Soup

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 medium onion, finely diced

½ cup chopped celery, leaves and stems

2 cloves garlic, finely diced

1 teaspoon salt

1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes,

    peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

3 cups water or vegetable stock

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 & ½ teaspoons turmeric

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground coriander

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

½ cup coconut milk

juice and zest of 1/2 lemon

2-3 tablespoons finely chopped Italian

     parsley leaves

* Add butter, onions, celery, garlic and salt to a thick bottomed pot and heat to medium. Sauté the onions and garlic until fragrant and slightly translucent, about five to six minutes. Add the sweet potatoes and stir to combine. Add the water or broth, crushed red pepper, turmeric, cinnamon, ground coriander, and ground ginger. Bring the soup to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer the soup until the potatoes are soft enough to smash with a spoon, about 20-30 minutes. Once the potatoes are soft, use an immersion blender to blend. Add the coconut milk and stir to combine. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and parsley. Mix well and taste, add additional salt if desired.

O Come, Emmanuel!

I consider this carol the most plaintiff and poignant of Christmas carols, but it’s more than that. It is a plea to God for deliverance, a mournful outpouring of human despair over darkness, sin, and death. We are Israel – captive, lonely, mournful exiles. Like Jacob, whose name means deceiver, we wrestle with God. That is what the name Israel means. Jacob, fearing death at the hands of the brother he cheated, sends his family ahead to meet Esau, but Jacob remains behind, alone, and considers running – exile - and not returning home. A man appears and confronts him, and they wrestle through the night until daybreak. Jacob refuses to let go of the man until he receives his blessing: “Then the man said, ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome’… So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.’” Peniel means Face of God. Like Jacob, may we wrestle with God for His blessing. May we struggle through the night until the day dawns and the bright Morning Star arises in our hearts. That is the eternal blessing and gift of God. Merry Christmas! 

O Come, Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel,

That mourns in lonely exile here,

Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.O Come, Emmanuel!

Tuscan Bean and Kale Soup 

(adapted from Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat)

½ pound Andouille sausage, sliced    

1 onion, diced                                           

3-4 cloves garlic stalk, diced                 

Salt and pepper                                         

2 bay leaves                                 

3-4 cups chopped kale                             

2 cups cooked beans (rinse and drain

if canned, if self-cooked use liquid)

2-3 cups chopped cabbage

3-4 cups water

4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Extra-virgin olive oil

* In a large soup pot, over medium heat, add sausage and cook until the sausage is browned. Add the diced onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper.  Cook and stir occasionally until the onion is translucent.  Add the kale and cabbage and stir and cover until the greens are wilted. Add the bay leaves, beans and their liquid and up to 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes.  Adjust the consistency with additional water if desired. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.  Remove the bay leaves and serve with a spoonful of Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of your best extra virgin olive oil.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul…

Unhurried by Design

Cindi J Martin

When celebrating Advent I can't help but note the wisdom shown in each season designed by our Great God and Creator. King Solomon said it best in Ecclesiastes 3:

“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every delight under heaven… He has made everything beautiful in its time... I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime. Moreover that everyone who eats and drinks sees good in his labor - it is the gift of God.”  

Those of us who no longer live by seasonal rhythms of planting and harvesting may not make time during winter to delight in the good gifts of our labor. “Oh, but there is wisdom in resting!” There is a reason God says working six days of the seven-day week is adequate. There is a reason sleeping eight hours in a twenty-four-hour day is sufficient. There is a reason that trees grow faster in some seasons and go dormant in others. Rest is required by design. Rest is a gift that allows us to enjoy the beauty that surrounds us.

I want to live by this ancient wisdom – live by design - during Advent, but the season has been anything but restful. The dogged demands of Christmas "should do’s" and "have to do's" always hound me. Now older, I turn and face down these snarling threats to my peace and joy. We shop less (OK true, we have no grandkids yet :) and visit friends and family more. We decorate our home less (OK true, only the outside since I’m not allowed to climb a ladder :) and adorn the temple of our souls more. We make it intentional to pursue an unhurried holiday season.

Whenever I appoint time for an unhurried day during Advent, the rest makes room for rejoicing in the countless good gifts from God. Alan Fadling writes in An Unhurried Life that "...hurry is impulsive, a knee jerk reaction revealing an 'I'm gonna act now because I may never have another chance' mindset. Temptation seeks to shrink the time between impulse and action... In contrast, wisdom calls us to be discerning about our impulses and inclinations. Are they prompted by God's Spirit? Are they the Spirit's leading or do they have another source?" I refuse to let those ever-hungry dogs called FoMO and FoMU – Fear of Missing Out and Fear of Messing Up - devour my peace and consume my joy in this beautiful season too often harried by the urgent and demanding.

Let us designate time to celebrate Advent with family and good friends, to enjoy good food and refreshing drink, and to delight in the LORD and His coming! Advent means coming, specifically “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” J R R Tolkien’s Gandalf  in The Fellowship of the Ring has a most fitting reply to Frodo’s accusation that he came late to Bilbo’s party: “A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.” So it is with Jesus, but His Advent is incomparably more important and immeasurably more meaningful. He is God’s only begotten Son, the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty GOD, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). We at WCG wish you all a most joyful Advent and peaceful Christmas as we await the return of the King who first came as an infant.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”