Fresh from Wellspring Charitable Gardens - July 18, 2024

Fresh Today… Eggplant, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Purple Beans, Swiss Chard, Garlic, Onions, Summer Squash, Carrots, Parsley, Basil, Golden Plums, Purple Plums, Apples & Zinnias

Using Your Produce… by Julie Moreno

Eggplant can be misunderstood because it is often undercooked. It is one vegetable that doesn’t work “al-dente.” To be cooked properly, you want it to be soft and creamy. I will even alert you to use any eggplant recipe cooking times and temperatures as guidelines, at best. When cooking, eggplant should transform from white and tough to translucent and very soft. If you are in doubt, cook it a little bit longer. I like to salt my eggplant ahead of time, if possible, but if you don’t have the time, sprinkle on the salt and then just start cooking. In this recipe today, I like to cook the eggplant “dry,” instead of adding oil before cooking. I find that it is easier and reduces the chance for burning or flare-ups on the grill. If you don’t have a grill, you could cook it in a skillet on the stovetop, or I’ve used a flat-top griddle. It is important to let the marinade sit at least 15 minutes, or longer, before eating.

Grilled Eggplant with Tomato-Herb and Feta Marinade

1 large eggplant, sliced into

½ inch slices

Salt

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, pressed or grated

2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs,

    basil and parsley

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in

half or quarters

4 ounces feta cheese

* Slice the eggplant into ½-inch thick slices; lay on paper towels, sprinkle with salt and let sit 10 minutes, then pat dry. In a large bowl, combine extra-virgin olive oil with 1 grated garlic clove, chopped herbs, salt and pepper, mix well. Add in the tomatoes and feta cheese to the oil mixture and stir gently. After patting the eggplant slices with a dry towel, grill over medium-high heat, flipping about every 2 minutes until cooked and very soft, about 12-14 minutes. Remove from the grill and place the slices on a platter. Drizzle the slices with the feta-tomato-herb oil and let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

“Friend, Can You Spare a Clamshell Container?”

Our once abundant supply of clamshell containers has dwindled. Two months ago, Wendy asked that I thank you for restocking our clamshell supply and end the drive. Now she’s asked that I make a new appeal for clamshells with non-detachable lids and restart the drive. So, got any clamshells crowding your pantry or kitchen cabinets? If you do and can spare a clamshell, send us your empties, and we will return them full of fresh summer fruit and veggies!  

Pesto…

Through the summer I will make pesto every few weeks with our basil. I keep it in the fridge and use it as a sauce on chicken or pasta, but my favorite thing to do is spread it on sourdough toast just like you would jam or jelly.

Basil Pesto

2 cups basil leaves,              ½ teaspoon black pepper

    loosely packed                  ¼ cup toasted pine nuts,

1-2 cloves garlic                        almonds, cashews, or walnuts                                  

2 teaspoons lemon juice     ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese                 

½ teaspoon salt                     ¼ cup olive oil                 

* Blend all together in a blender.  Enjoy with pasta, white beans, steamed rice, or even as a sauce for seafood or chicken.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul… 

The Uncomfortable Path to Comfort

by Cindi J Martin

My mom was one of nine children born to sharecroppers working Santa Rosa farms during the 1920’s and 30’s. Those Depression years were inexpressibly hard for her, so our venture into farming called forth unspeakably sore memories of their poverty, deprivation, and shame. Still casting long dark shadows in her mind today are painful memories of helping her dad slaughter, then butcher, beloved rabbits and chickens to feed his large family. Like many in her generation, she was taught to simply move on.

Few families in modern urban and suburban landscapes now grow vegetables or raise livestock for food, let alone slaughter and butcher animals to eat. The idea is abhorrent. Ironically, our children watch untold hours of staged dramas portraying wanton violence and brutal deaths, but they are shielded from the reality of viewing the lifeless body of a loved one or dead pet. In so doing, we withhold a natural opportunity to learn an essential emotional and relational skill: healthy grieving of painful loss. Encounters with death acquaint children with, but also remind adults of, the landscapes of joy and sorrow that are native to life. In farming, we encounter and learn how to process deferred hope, disappointment, loss, death, grief, healing, and hope during the seasons and life cycles of our garden plants and livestock. Certainly, children and adults need support to embrace, rather than avoid, the intense and disturbing feelings inherent to death and loss.

A few years back, I faced a terrible yet common farm life reality. Raccoons savaged our Wellspring chickens late one night, slaughtering 21 of 25 laying hens. Going to gather eggs from “the ladies” the next morning, I stumbled into blood-stained feathers, torn wings, twisted legs, and headless bodies scattered around the coop and throughout the nearby fields. Horrified, I fell headlong into grieving – expressing shock, denial, anger, sadness, and guilt (aka “what if’s”). Looking back, I am grateful for my garden friends who allowed me – uncensored - to express my raw feelings and describe the graphic carnage that seared my mind and broke my heart. They didn’t try to talk me through the sorrow or cheer me out of it. They embraced me there, joining in my pain with their tears and letting me talk through the horror of discovery and the sorrow of loss.  That is the grieving task – working through the loss despite the pain.

We as adults may think children or other adults morbid for wanting to know more details about the death of a loved one but that is precisely what is needed to get through the grief. It sounds counterintuitive, but acknowledging, expressing, and embracing the pain of a broken heart helps to heal it. We get stuck in grief not by focusing on it for a time, but by emotionally avoiding it.  The path to comfort is through the Valley of the Shadow, not around it, over it, or under it.  Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”