Fresh From Wellspring Charitable Gardens - May 30, 2024

From the Garden Today… Beets, Red Butterhead & Romaine Lettuces, Cabbage, Artichoke, Summer Squash, Carrots, Radishes, Potatoes, Spring Onions, Dill, Cilantro, Oregano, Dried Lavender, Apricots & Cherries
Using Your Produce… by Julie Moreno
My favorite way to cook in summer-like weather is to grill. It keeps the heat outside and 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 these vegetables 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. Our new potatoes are full of flavor. I suggest keeping things simple with a classic boiled potato with herbs and butter. Add the potatoes to a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Add 1 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain the water and add butter, salt and fresh herbs. You can substitute extra virgin olive oil to make it vegan.
Grilled Summer Squash
3-5 summer squashes 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.

Peaches & Dreams
Peaches are coming ripe soon, making me recall my childhood summers and much simpler days: recalling mom and grandma at the cooktop stirring and debating the better canning peach, freestone or cling; following in my father’s footsteps and delivering The Stockton Record, at that time an afternoon daily; walking a 70 house suburban route in fierce summer heat; pitching folded papers from sidewalk to porch stoop, except Wednesdays and Sundays when ad inserts made the missile as thick, heavy, and aerodynamic as a brick; walking up paved drives or across green lawns to heave that Sunday brick underhanded toward the door front; breaking only one window in four and a half years of slinging 81,900 missiles and heaving 32,700 bricks; cringing at other errant throws that cropped ill-placed porch plants; returning home, bags empty and face full red; slipping off shoes and T-shirt before diving into the Doughboy’s cooling water; reaching toward a ripe peach on the backyard tree and rubbing fuzz onto the damp denim pocket of faded cut-off 501 jeans; biting into that sweet, satisfying fruit; wondering if I would be more freestone or cling.

Make your own dressing…
If you have just a few minutes of time, spend it making your own dressing. You can mix the dressing in the same bowl as the salad or shake it together in a mason jar. To make extra dressing for another day, just double the quantity of lemon juice, oil, onion and salt.
Mixed Green Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced onion or garlic
1/8 teaspoon salt
4-5 cups mixed greens, washed and chopped
3 radishes, sliced
1 cucumber, sliced
1/4 cup crumbled bleu cheese or goat cheese
1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Combine lemon juice, minced onion, salt and olive oil, whisking together in a large bowl or shake together in a mason jar. Add the salad ingredients to a mixing bowl and toss with the dressing to coat everything. Adjust the seasoning with salt and fresh ground pepper if needed. Eat right away.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul…
From Both Sides Now
by Cindi J Martin
My love of 42 years (We celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary in June!) and I went for a st-roll (a combination of someone standing and walking with someone rolling in a wheelchair) in the squash and zucchini rows of our Wellspring Charitable Garden. Since Keith (my husband) has another perspective (stable and lower) than I (I wobble when I squat), he typically finds squash that evade my view. This makes us a great harvesting team. Today, he and I were on the same side of the squash plants. When we were done harvesting and 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 really didn’t expect to find anything because we had both taken our time to carefully look over the plants. So, as I casually and quickly looked through the plants again from the other side, I was struck (not literally) by a large yellow squash that we both had overlooked. How in the world had such a huge patty pan escaped our notice!
I am immediately reminded of how this little stroll through the garden rows mirrors the importance of not only looking from different perspectives but also on both sides of an issue. Learning sometimes comes when we least expect it. Whether it is politics, theology, science, culture, or culinary delights, there are always important and even life-giving aspects of a matter that we may have overlooked. We can have strong beliefs and opinions but still remain open to another side of a story. Just taking the time to glance at another side can open us to wisdom or common ground that we were not expecting to see. Curiosity alone is a wonderful human trait but seeing a matter from both sides can drive debate in the direction of learning and growth. Refusing to consider a matter from both sides means we are probably squashing something big – 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.

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