Fresh from Wellspring Charitable Gardens - October 2, 2025

Fresh Today… Chinese Napa Cabbage, Delicata Squash, Summer Squash, Sweet Peppers, Cucumbers, Green Beans, Radishes, Green Onions, Celery, Cilantro, Basil, Parsley, Oregano, Pomegranate & Flowers

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

The seasons have changed, the weather has cooled, and the fall vegetables are ready. Although the veggies have been growing through the end of summer, there is something about this moment that makes me realize that we do have changing seasons, even in California. The Napa cabbage coming this week can be either cooked or eaten raw in a salad. If you want to cook it, give it a quick stir-fry or sauté. It can also be roasted or grilled over hot heat, for a couple minutes to caramelize the leaves. This recipe combines our herbs and fall apples to add sweetness. The cabbage will hold up with dressing for an hour or so, but if you want to take it to a party, I would keep the dressing separate until you get there.

Fall Chinese Cabbage

Salad with Almonds

½ cup slivered almonds

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon soy sauce

½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon honey or sugar

1-2 apples, grated about 1 cup

1 small head Napa cabbage, chopped

2 green onions, thinly sliced

2 carrots, grated

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons chopped basil

Freshly ground pepper

* Preheat the oven to 350°. In a small pan or pie plate, toast the almonds for 5 minutes, until they are light brown.  Let cool. In a large mixing bowl, mix the oil, vinegar, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, salt, honey and grated apple.  Add the cabbage, green onions, carrots, cilantro and basil and mix well. Add the almonds and season with pepper.  Toss again and serve.

Napa Cabbage

Oktoberfest: Duck or Chicken?

There are five more days remaining to celebrate Oktoberfest this year! Despite today's brief interruption, the never-ending wedding celebration continues as it has since 1810 when Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. That must’ve been some wild wedding reception since they have re-celebrated every year since. Say your vows, tap a keg, and do the chicken dance, or if you are German, Der Ententanz – The Duck Dance. Clearly, something got lost in the translation, probably sobriety! I blame the confusion on the keg spigot, or Hahn, which means rooster in German. Anyway, what could be more fun? Dance like a duck or a chicken; you choose. Just remember, you should lead and quack or cluck accordingly. Zum Wohl!

The ceremonial "Keg Tap" that begins the annual Octoberfest celebration in Munich, Germany

Winter Squash…

These squashes grow all summer, but because of their thicker skin they hold up through the fall and winter months. Delicata and acorn squash though, have skin that is thin enough to eat. Feel free to use your own preference when serving, but I love the texture and fiber of the whole vegetable.

Roasted Delicata Squash

1-2 Delicata squash cut into      

        rings, seeds removed  

1-2 teaspoons honey,                       

        maple syrup or sugar          

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon oil

½ teaspoon fresh or dried

thyme or rosemary

fresh ground black pepper

* Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Slice the squash into rings or half-moons and remove any seeds. Place the rings in a large bowl and toss with the honey, salt, pepper, oil, and herbs.  Place the vegetables on an oiled baking sheet or line with parchment paper.  Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until tender.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul… 

Barren Spaces

Ronda May Melendez & Keith F Martin

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”  Habakkuk 3:17-19

Despite the mild summer, the garden has been abundantly fruitful; for that we are abundantly grateful. This week, though, my thoughts are drawn toward empty fields. Carrot beds and spent bean vines were cleared, leaving barren brown spaces in places where verdant rows once flourished. As I walked through the garden grateful for the summer harvests, these unplanted fields held my attention. Normally, I am concerned about the future of forlorn fields that await replanting. This fall, though, my heart has settled into a different attitude toward the barren spaces. I feel a tangible hope embedded in a palpable promise.

At first glance, barren garden spaces seem desperately void, but really, they aren’t. They teem with life beneath the soil’s surface. In the dark below, a host of active organisms comingle with organic matter, nutrients, air, and moisture to stimulate the germination of fertile seeds and then fuel their growth.  These are places in waiting; spaces cleared for a life-restoring encounter. Here seed and soil will meet, join, and work together for life. Seed and soil need one another, but they have not yet met, so we wait expectantly for their encounter and a fruitful harvest.

Unseen elements are active and at work in spaces that seem lifeless; they remain unseen until the life from above joins the life from below. As it is with seed and soil, so it is with the Spirit of the God: “…He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being…” Life is reborn when we welcome the LORD into our barren spaces. Despite our barrenness, His purposes are never thwarted, His promises never void. Let us wait with hope for the rebirth of life that brings an abundant harvest. Meantime, like the prophet Habakkuk, let us rejoice in God our Savior Whose hope-filled word and promised work never return empty. 

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,

  And do not return there without watering the earth,

  Making it produce and sprout,

  And providing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 

  So will My word be which goes out of My mouth. 

  It will not return to Me empty, 

  Without accomplishing what I desire,  

  Without succeeding in that for which I sent it.”  

Isaiah 55:10-11