Fresh from Wellspring Charitable Gardens - June 20, 2024

From the Garden Today… Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Green Onions, Red or Yellow Onions, Summer Squash Assortment, Carrots, Potatoes, Parsley, Rosemary, Apricots & Cherries or Plums

Using Your Produce… by Julie Moreno

These past weeks have started our stone fruit. I suggest enjoying them in the first few days after receiving them. To store them longer, remove the pits and freeze to enjoy in smoothies. For our onions, keep them in the fridge, storing them in a sealed bag or container, so that their aroma doesn’t fill the refrigerator. This week we have more new potatoes coming. You can keep them in a cool dark location, but like the onions, use them within a week or so since they won’t last like potatoes from the grocery store. Enjoy them simply by boiling served with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil or butter and fresh herbs. If you have a bit more time, try this two-step recipe, boiling first and then smashed and skillet fried.

Smashed Potatoes

1-2 pounds new potatoes

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons of oil

½ small onion, chopped

1 sprig rosemary

Salt

Fresh ground black pepper

* Bring a pot of water, about 2 quarts, to a boil, with 1 tablespoon salt. Add the potatoes and turn the heat down to a low boil and cook for 12-16 minutes. When the potatoes are cooked drain the water and let them cool for about 30 minutes allowing them to dry. In a non-stick or cast-iron skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Smash each potato with a mallet or the bottom of a glass or cup and place it in the hot pan. Let the potatoes brown in the pan, without moving them around, for about 5-6 minutes. Flip the potatoes and add the rosemary and chopped onion around the potatoes. Reduce the heat to medium low and gently stir the potatoes, onions and rosemary until the onions are cooked about 3-4 more minutes. Turn off the heat and enjoy right away.

The Not-So-Classic BLT

Summer arrives today and so do the first ripe tomatoes from the garden. That means it’s time to celebrate with a delicious BLT Fest! Cindi's mother told her how to cook bacon using a waffle iron. Rather than merely laying the bacon side by side on grandma's Sunbeam waffle maker, Cindi interlaced the strips, closed the lid, heated the cast iron grates, and cooked a crispy bacon lattice. She then cut the lattice into four equal squares that fit perfectly on sandwich bread. You might try the crafty sandwich she calls the BLT – Bacon Lattice and Tomato!

Salads Without Lettuce…

This simple salad is refreshing and classic. You can prepare it in a bowl like described in this recipe, or when we have larger heirloom tomatoes, arrange slices of tomato and cucumber on a serving platter and drizzle the dressing over the top.

Tomato-Cucumber Salad

2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

Freshly ground pepper

2 cucumbers, sliced, peeled and/or seeded if desired

1 cup chopped tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes sliced in half

¼ cup thinly sliced red onion

2 ounces crumbled feta cheese

* Combine the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl and whisk well. Add in the cucumbers, tomatoes and onion and toss gently. Pour into a serving bowl, top with the feta cheese and enjoy right away.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul . . .

Parable of Soils?

by Cindi J & Keith F Martin

Jesus’ Parable of the Sower and the Seed could otherwise be called a Parable of Soils.  He describes different soils onto which seed can be sown - hard soil, rocky soil, crowded soil, and good soil.  Seed sown onto hard soil cannot penetrate, so birds snatch it away before it can grow; seed sown on rocky soil grows but is short-lived with shallow roots that cannot firmly anchor or long sustain it; seed sown among thorns and weeds also grows but soon gets crowded and choked out.  Seed sown onto good soil – hospitable, sustaining, nurturing soil - receives all it needs to grow and bring forth abundant fruit. Soil conditions determine growth. From our gifted gardeners, I have learned that hard soil, rocky soil, and crowded soil can, with careful conditioning, become good soil. That reality comforts me since Jesus likens the various soils to conditions of the human heart and the seed to His Word and Life.  

A few years ago, we planted Dahlias to beautify our garden baskets and subscribers’ tables.  Dahlias are lovely but demanding flowers, so we had to amend our dense, heavy clay soil with gypsum, bone meal, and steer manure to satisfy their preferences.  Gypsum, a mineral found layered in sedimentary rock, loosens and aerates compacted soil. Bone meal provides vital nitrogen, phosphorus, and calcium that strengthen plant roots. Steer manure introduces organic nutrients and microorganisms that keep soil fertile and viable. These essential amendments condition and restructure soil so that it resists compaction, facilitates penetration, and provides sufficient nutrition plants need to mature and bear fruit.

People, like plants, also have preferred soils in which they best grow.  Have you identified the landscape that most invigorates your spiritual, emotional, and physical growth? Is there any place in your heart that remains impenetrable to the Word of Life, any rocks that hinder your roots, or any thorns and weeds that crowd out the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control? What amendments to your “heart soil” might encourage healthy, sustainable growth? May we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand how to amend the various soils of the heart so that we become more hospitable to God’s Word and His indwelling Spirit.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." John 1:1-5