Fresh from Wellspring Charitable Gardens - February 5, 2026

Cindi J. Martin
2 days ago
4 min read

Fresh Today… Romanesco Cauliflower or Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Swiss Chard, Mini Head Lettuce, Fennel, Rutabaga, Turnips, Green Onions, Parsley, Lemons & Oranges

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

With the cold weather still upon us, I included this Chickpea and Swiss chard soup. It is similar to a vegetarian minestrone. The soup combines the chard with carrots, celery and onions. By pureeing a portion of the chickpeas, you thicken the soup naturally without starch. I think there is enough flavor from the vegetables to just use water in the recipe. If you do use a prepared stock, make sure to taste the soup first before adding more salt at the end.

Chickpea and Swiss Chard Soup

(adapted from foodandwine.com)

2-15 oz cans drained and rinsed

canned chickpeas

2-3 cups vegetable stock, chicken

stock or water, divided

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 carrot, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 rib celery, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

½ teaspoon salt

Pinch dried red-pepper flakes

1 teaspoon dried rosemary,

or 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

1 bay leaf

1-15 oz can diced tomatoes

½ cup uncooked tubetti or other

small macaroni

4-5 Swiss chard leaves cut into 1-inch

pieces, tough stems removed

¼ tsp fresh-ground black pepper

* Puree half of the chickpeas with 1 cup of stock and set aside. In a large pot, over medium heat, add the oil, carrot, onion, celery and cook until the onion becomes translucent, about 6-7 minutes. Add the garlic, red-pepper flakes, salt, and rosemary and stir for 1 minute. Add the bay leaf, tomatoes, pureed chickpeas, whole chickpeas, raw pasta, and the remaining broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the pasta is tender, about 8-10 minutes. Add in the Swiss chard and cook about 2-3 minutes more. Taste and add salt, if needed, and fresh ground black pepper before serving.

Beautiful Broccoli

We always enjoy sharing how volunteers and subscribers use their green thumbs in their own personal gardens. New garden volunteer Janis Ontiveroz sent us pictures of the broccoli she’s growing in her backyard garden. There is always a sense of accomplishment when something we plant grows from seed to flower or goes from garden bed to dinner table and others enjoy the loving labor of our green thumbs. Thank you, Janis, for sharing your beautiful broccoli and joining the WCG Pickin’ Crew. 👍🏼 Green Thumbs Up! 👍🏼👍🏼

Sweet and Savory Turnips…

Rosemary, balsamic vinegar, and honey work well with turnips because they balance the vegetable’s natural bitterness and earthiness. The honey and balsamic add complementary sweetness and acidity, while rosemary brings a savory, aromatic depth. Together, they create a well-rounded flavor that becomes richer and more cohesive when cooked. Try the combo in this Roasted Turnip Recipe.

Honey-Balsamic Rosemary Turnips

3 turnips, peeled, medium dice

1 rutabaga, peeled, medium dice

½ cup red onion, sliced

1 tbsp chopped rosemary

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp coarse salt

Fresh ground black pepper

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

* Preheat the oven to 425° F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss the turnips, rutabagas, and onions with the rosemary, oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes, tossing once during cooking. In a small bowl, mix the honey and balsamic vinegar. Take the pan out of the oven and pour the honey mixture over the vegetables. Stir the vegetables and return to oven for 5-10 minute to caramelize. Serve right away.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul…

Can These Bones Live?

Ronda May Melendez & Keith F Martin

Garlic is my brittle tutor this week. Weeks ago, we gathered withered heads left over from last year’s harvest and gave them a proper burial. Most cooks simply discard the dry fragments, which are useless for flavoring a sauce or stew. Once juicy and pungent, the now unsavory cloves are best tossed out with the trash…right?

While culinary use supports this judgment, our faith in the garlic’s potential for revival emboldens our resolve. Faith, according to Scripture, is “assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Dark winter soil provides the tomb required for the spring resurrection. As farmers, we are convinced those dried bodies will revive in the fertile soil, rise in strength, and grow in abundance. We have planted those brittle remains with that assurance there will be a new harvest of fresh garlic in due season! Now sprouting from barren brown soil new life rises, green and beautiful, to stand in the garden rows.

Consider the condition of your fragile body? Have you lost your juice, your pungency? Do you feel dry, withered, brittle to the bone? Do not worry. What we deem lifeless is of extraordinary value to the LORD. He knows how to take the dead and restore them to life. The prophet Ezekiel was shown the restoration of lifeless Israel in a vision:

“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord God, You know.’”

The LORD then commanded Ezekiel to prophesy over the dry and breathless bones:

“O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’”

The dry bones rattled and came together; then sinews, flesh, and skin covered the bones, but there was no life. Ezekiel then spoke to the breath as commanded:

“‘Thus says the Lord God: ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.’”

Breath – Hebrew ruach, which also means spirit or wind – entered the lifeless forms and they came alive and stood on their feet, “an exceedingly great army.”