Fresh from Wellspring Charitable Gardens - Leap Day - February 29, 2024

Fresh Today… Fennel, Kale, Sprouting Broccoli, Peas, Beets, Bok Choy, Green Onions, Carrots, Butterhead Lettuce, Rosemary, Cilantro, Lemons, Oranges, & Grapefruit

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno.

I have another soup recipes this week. I just find that soups are great ways to incorporate a lot of vegetables into one recipe. This week’s soup uses our fennel, kale and carrots in an Italian inspired recipe. If you had a bit of Parmesan cheese rind, you could add it into the soup while it’s simmering. This is a trick to extract all of the flavor remaining in the cheese rind. For the beans in this recipe, any type of white beans would be traditional, but feel free to experiment with others.

Tuscan Bean, Fennel,

and Kale Soup

3 tablespoons olive oil

½ onion diced

1 medium carrot, diced

1 fennel bulb, diced

Salt and pepper

2 bay leaves

1 -15 ounce can of diced tomatoes

2 cups cooked beans (rinse and drain

if using canned, if you cooked them

yourself, you can use the liquid for

some of the water)

5-6 cups water or vegetable/chicken

stock

3-4 cups chopped kale leaves

4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

* In a large soup pot heat the oil over medium heat, add the oil, onion, carrot and fennel, season with salt and pepper. Cook and stir occasionally until the vegetables are soft, about 3-5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, beans, and water/stock. Bring to a boil and then add the kale, simmer for about 5-7 minutes until the greens are cooked. Remove the bay leaves. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed (this will usually depend on what kind of broth or stock that you use, some will come with more salt). Serve with Parmesan cheese.

Go Ask Cindi…!

Today we introduce a new feature – Go Ask Cindi…! She will field topics about the garden, cooking, vegetable use, and life itself. With the wisdom of Solomon and a chef’s knife, she will deftly divide the baby (Bok choy) and resolve any struggles. Subscribers Dave & Maria Miller submitted the first:

Dear Cindi… We enjoyed using your chard and pasta recipe, we made a few tweaks, more butter, but basically stayed on course. It turned out great! We struggle with how to use our basket, this was very helpful. Kind Regards, Dave & Maria.

Hi Dave and Maria! I am so glad you enjoyed it! Anytime you are stuck, you can go to our website and search the name of the veggie! There are many recipes that come up over the last six years. Julie Moreno is a culinary school graduate and we have found her recipes to be a great start! Glad you improvised to suit your taste! That is the sign of a great cook! Warmly, Cindi.

Brilliant response! Next, she explains why Einstein struggled with “Spooky Entanglement” and how the existence of miracles gets nuclear physicists’ knickers in a knot.

Swiss Chard & Pasta

prepared by

Dave & Maria Miller

Sprouting Broccoli…

Our sprouting broccoli from flowers to stems are all edible parts of the plant. I love them because the florets get extra crispy when roasted. In this recipe, it has added crunch from the toasted nuts. If you don’t have the nut oil, you can omit it, but it will add flavor, when drizzled on before serving.

Crispy Crunchy Sprouting Broccoli

1-2 pounds sprouting broccoli,

stems, leaves, and florets

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp walnut or hazelnut oil

¼ cup toasted walnuts or

hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

* Preheat oven to 425°F. Slice the stems and cut large florets in half or quarters. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, combine the broccoli, salt, black pepper and oil. Mix well and then spread the broccoli into a single layer on the pan. Cook in the oven 17-20 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and top with the nut oil and nuts. Serve right away.

Metaphors of Soul and Soil…

Waiting is Like a Rose Bud Unfolding

by Cindi J Martin

This week I want to share what I am learning from the beautiful rose buds in the garden. After so many rainy and grey days, I was anxious to see color in the garden again. Walking toward the arbor to take a closer look at the rose buds slowly forming, I felt a compulsion to spread apart the petals to see the forming rose. Instinctively, I knew I would ruin the emerging flower if I forced the petals prematurely apart, so I restrained myself from even touching the bud, knowing my impatience would harm the developing rose.

I contemplated my destructive compulsion. I thought of times I had tried to force things to happen and the harm I had done to others and myself. God’s gentle ways are not mine. His patient process of slow unfolding excels anything I can do by “trying harder.” Sometimes “trying softer” is required. This means patiently waiting for God to do gently what I cannot do in my own restive strength.

Such truth creates in me a peaceful and restful confidence to do my part, to let others do theirs, and then to wait expectantly for God to do His creative work in His own time and way. I am humbled by how God patiently demonstrates the magnificence of waiting on Him to unfold His Life and work in mine… like a rose bud unfolding. Seven years ago, Wellspring Charitable Gardens literally grew out of a tense waiting period imposed by the physical limitations of health challenges that my husband and I were experiencing. We could no longer manage our three-acre ranch and were tempted to simply sell and move on. Then an idea of creating a Community Supported Agriculture Project (CSA) came to mind. We could repurpose the pastures into fields and grow vegetables and fruit to sell. We would donate the proceeds to the counseling program.

Sustainability meant recruiting volunteers to keep costs down and help us shoulder and share the physical work. Visionary subscribers would be needed to invest in the start-up costs and support the work’s ongoing operation. Seven years later, we stand in awe of the terrific team of volunteers, subscribers, and donor God has grown in this garden work of soil and soul. Every day we see astonishing beauty - buds, blossoms, and human beings waiting patiently for God’s faithful unfolding in our lives and works.