Fresh from Wellspring Charitable Gardens - June 5, 2025

Fresh Today… Potatoes, Summer Squash, Green Beans, Cucumbers, Lettuce Heads, Kale, Beets, Carrots, Onions, Parsley, Dill, Cilantro, Chives, Basil, & Apricots

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

When potatoes are available at the store every day of the year, we forget how good a freshly harvested potato can taste. This smashed potato recipe highlights the humble potato in a crispy side dish that transforms them into golden, pan-fried delights. After boiling and drying, the potatoes are gently smashed and seared in a hot skillet, creating crunchy edges while keeping the inside soft. Aromatic rosemary and our spring onions add depth of flavor as they cook alongside the potatoes.

Smashed Potatoes

1-2 pounds new potatoes

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons of oil

½ spring 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 flat 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.

𝝮N

Phi Gamma Chapter Omega Nu 

Dear Wellspring Charitable Gardens:

On behalf of Omega Nu, we would like to thank you for your recent grant application.  We are happy to inform you that your agency was selected to receive a grant this year in the amount of $3,000 for the purpose of increasing the amount of organic produce that Wellspring provides to students in neighboring schools.

We appreciate all that your agency provides to women, children and families in Stanislaus County. Our philanthropic organization, Omega Nu, works hard fundraising and we recognize that you too work hard in your endeavors helping our city and county with your important work.

With much gratitude for the work you do for our community! 

Donna, Carole and Heidi

Phi Gamma Chapter Omega Nu Modesto

THANK YOU, Wellspring Subscribers & Supporters,

for all you do to help us

grow farm fresh food & nourish body and soul!

Cucumber Salads…

When the temperature heats up our lettuce will slow down. This time of year, cucumbers make a good substitute for lettuce in salads. Sour cream and fresh herbs make a creamy dressing that compliments the cool cucumber. You can remove the seeds and peel the cucumber if desired.

Creamy Basil Cucumber Salad

¼ cup sour cream             

1 teaspoon white wine      

vinegar or lemon juice     

1 teaspoon sugar               

Pepper to taste                        

1 large or 2 medium cucumbers,

   peeled if desired and thinly sliced

¼ cup thinly sliced onion

2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill,

basil, or cilantro

* In a large bowl, whisk sour cream, vinegar, sugar and pepper until blended. Add cucumbers and onion; toss to coat and stir in the herbs. Serve right away.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul…

From Both Sides Now

Cindi J Martin

My love of 43 years (We celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary June 23!) and I went for a sta-roll (a walk with someone standing and someone sitting and rolling in a wheelchair) in the squash and zucchini rows of our Wellspring Charitable Garden. Since Keith (my husband) has a different perspective (stable and lower) than I (maneuverable and higher, but wobbly when I squat), he typically sees squash that evade my view.  This makes us a great harvesting team.

Today, he and I were harvesting the same side of the squash plants. When we had filled the basket and were ready to go in, I suddenly thought it might be good, though inconvenient, to go to the other side of the gigantic plants to see what I might have missed.  I didn’t expect to find anything because we had both taken time to look over the plants carefully.  As I quickly scanned the plants from their other side, I was stunned to see a large  yellow squash that we both had overlooked. How in the world had that huge patty pan escaped our notice?

I am immediately reminded of how our harvesting stroll through the garden mirrors the importance of looking not only from different perspectives but also of seeing from both sides of an issue.  Learning often comes when we least expect it. Whether politics, theology, science, culture, or culinary preferences, there are always meaningful and even life-giving aspects of a matter that we may have overlooked. Yes, we can have strong beliefs and firm opinions yet remain open to another side of a story or position. Just taking the time to glance at that other side can open us to insights or reveal common ground that we were not expecting to see. Curiosity is a wonderful human trait but seeing a matter from both sides can drive discussion or debate in the direction of learning and growth. Refusing to consider a matter from both sides means we are probably overlooking something big and squashing something wonderful – Understanding.

Then Job replied to the Lord:

      “I know that you can do all things;

             no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

        You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans

             without knowledge?’

        Surely, I spoke of things I did not understand, 

             things too wonderful for me to know.”   Job 42:2-6