Fresh from Wellspring Charitable Gardens - June 25, 2026

Fresh Today… Garlic, Summer Squash, Green Onions, Lemon & Slicing Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Green Beans, Beets, Carrots, Salad Mix, Chives, Basil, Cilantro, Pluots, Apples & Flowers

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

My favorite way to cook in the summer is to grill. It keeps the heat outside and it reduces the number of dishes to clean up. When you start grilling turn the heat on high and then clean the grill when it is very hot. For summer squash use high heat and cook them quickly. Don’t oil the vegetables, lightly grease your hot grill so the vegetables don’t stick, and cook them dry, then marinate them afterwards so the flavor soaks in. 

Grilled Summer Squash

3-4 summer squash cut into long slices

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided 

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 

½ teaspoon salt 

Fresh ground black pepper 

¼ cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)

*  Prepare your barbecue for grilling or preheat the broiler to high heat. Grill the squash until slightly browned on each side and softened, about 2-4 minutes. Remove from the grill and place on a plate in a single layer. Season with salt, pepper and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Arrange on a serving platter and top with feta cheese if desired.

Celebrating Summer with a Classic - The BLT

Summer arrived Sunday, June 21, and we are now harvesting the first ripe tomatoes from the garden. That means it’s time to celebrate summer with a BLT Fest! Cindi's mother was known to cook bacon using her waffle iron. Rather than simply laying the bacon side by side on my grandma's vintage Sunbeam waffle maker, Cindi interlaced the strips, closed the lid, heated the cast iron grates, and cooked a crispy lattice of bacon. She then cut the lattice into four equal squares to fit perfectly on her fresh baked sandwich bread. You might try her crafty twist on the classic crispy BLT. She also calls hers a BLT – Bacon Lattice & Tomato!

More from the Grill…

I used to make this recipe over 20 years ago at a restaurant. Grilling the green onions brings a smokey component to the dressing that adds flavor and complexity. If you don’t cut the onions after cooking, they don’t blend as well, and it gets sort of string-y.

Grilled Green Onion Dressing

3 large green onions                

1 large clove garlic, minced         

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard      

½ teaspoon salt                               

¼ cup mayonnaise                    

½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar or cider vinegar

½ cup olive oil

* Prepare the barbecue for high-heat grilling. Clean the green onions and trim the roots off. Lightly oil green onions. Cook the onions on the hottest part of the grill for about 2 minutes on each side, until slightly blackened. Remove and let the green onions cool enough so you can handle them. Cut the grilled green onions into ¼ inch slices against the grain of the onion. Put the green onions in a blender with the garlic, mustard, salt, black pepper, mayonnaise and vinegar. Blend until well mixed. Drizzle in the olive oil until combined. Taste and adjust the salt, vinegar and oil by adding additional if desired.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul…

Hope That Does Not Disappoint

by Cindi J & Keith F Martin

Dill, celery, and cilantro have flowered and gone to seed. Once green and pleasingly compact in form, rangy shoots of orange and yellow now reach toward the expansive blue sky. Their growth spurt resembles that of the awkward adolescent who has outgrown her cherubic body seemingly overnight. She now reaches brazenly into the blue beyond, a teen tornado full of sound and fury driven by youthful passions and palpable uncertainty. Like adolescents, bolting vegetables are wild, colorful, determined; they are restless yet full of life, beauty, and promise.

It is natural to look at rows of tall, unruly plants (or teens) and feel intimidated by their size and strength, feel overwhelmed by their rooted resistance and the daunting effort required to eradicate them to prepare the rows for new plantings. Yes, valuable time and energy are expended removing spent vegetation, but there are great benefits: colorful flowers for decorating the dining table, space for growing next year’s crop, seeds for sowing next year’s harvest.

Are you facing a new season of life but feeling rather spent? Are you unsettled, uncertain, reaching toward the unknown and feeling stretched out of shape? Without realizing it, you may be bolting. That means you are preparing to produce something beautiful to adorn your surroundings. You are bearing hope-filled seeds to grow your influence and standing in ways you cannot now clearly imagine. Remember your unsettled, uncertain, unruly teen years?  Stay the course! You are precious proof that teens do mature into adults, eventually.

"[We] exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."   Romans 5:2b-5