Fresh from Wellspring Charitable Gardens - September 17, 2026

Fresh Today… Eggplant, Carrots, Salad Mix Lettuce, Peppers, Cucumbers, Green Beans, Tomatoes, Dill, Basil, Chives, & Melons

Using your Produce… by Chef Julie Moreno

I love the Japanese chili-garlic edamame served as an appetizer at most sushi bars. Since we don’t grow edamame, I love to make this with green beans which has a similar texture and taste. Eating local is all about learning to use what we have. This recipe makes a bold and flavorful side dish that combines crisp-tender green beans with a spicy, creamy sauce. Sautéed with garlic and lightly steamed, the beans are then tossed in a zesty blend of Sriracha, mayonnaise, and toasted sesame oil, topped with nutty sesame seeds.

Chili Garlic Green Beans

1 tablespoon olive oil

1-pound green beans, ends trimmed

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup water

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

2-3 drops toasted sesame seed oil

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

* Heat the oil in a large sauté pan, with a lid, over medium heat until shimmering, add the beans and garlic stirring 1-2 minutes until the garlic just starts to brown. Quickly add the water and salt then reduce the heat to medium and stir the beans. Place the lid on and steam for 2 minutes until crisp-tender. Remove from the heat and let cool with the lid off. In a small bowl, combine the sriracha, mayonnaise, toasted sesame oil. Remove the green beans from any remaining liquid saving the garlic with the beans. Toss the beans with the sriracha mayo and the sesame seeds. Refrigerate or enjoy right away.

Oktoberfest: Duck or Chicken?

Germany’s Oktoberfest celebration begins this year on September 19! Despite Oktoberfest’s September arrival, 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 Ducks 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. Or maybe das Bier? Anyway, what could be more fun than an endless wedding reception? Dance like a duck or a chicken, you choose. Just remember to quack or cluck accordingly. Zum Wohl! 🍻

The ceremonial “Keg Tap” to begin the annual

Oktoberfest celebration in Munich, Germany.

More Asian Flavors…

We have Japanese eggplant coming this week, but any eggplant will work in this recipe. The sesame seeds create a flavorful crust and baking it in the oven makes it easy, just let it cook the full time, so the eggplant becomes soft and creamy.

Sesame Crusted Eggplant

 (adapted from momfoodie.com)

¼ cup raw sesame seeds   

1 large eggplant or               

2-3 small eggplant.              

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed                                

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 Tbsp white miso paste 

½ tsp salt

2 Tbsp olive oil or melted coconut oil

* Preheat the oven to 400 °F. On a parchment lined baking sheet, spread out the sesame seeds and cook in the oven for 10 minutes until lightly toasted. Remove from the oven and set the pan aside to cool. Cut off the ends of the eggplant and slice ½ inch thick. In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, olive and sesame oils, miso paste, lemon juice and salt. Brush all the garlic-oil mixture on the eggplant slices. Pour the toasted sesame seeds carefully onto a plate or shallow pan. Dip the eggplant slices into the sesame seeds on both sides and press gently, then place the eggplant slice on the parchment lined baking sheet. After dipping each slice, sprinkle the eggplant with any remaining seeds. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes, then flip each eggplant slice and roast for about 20 more, until the eggplant is soft.

Metaphors of Soil & Soul…

No-Till Living

Ronda May Melendez & Keith F Martin

Years ago Market Gardener and Chef Julie Moreno inspired me to write about No-Till farming, a soil management practice where hand tools rather than mechanized tillers are used to prepare beds for planting. Heavy machinery compacts soil and discs dredge dormant weed seeds to the surface where they root, grow, and overwhelm the beds. Once established, weeds battle fiercely with preferred crops, competing for precious sunlight, water, nutrients, and space to grow.  

Our discussion turned on an obvious consideration: “What are weeds and how are they best managed?”  A weed is “a plant out of place and not intentionally sown; a plant growing where it is not wanted; a plant that is competitive, pernicious, and interferes negatively with human activity.” (12.09.09, extension.psu.edu).  No-Till farming effectively manages soil to prevent pernicious plant growth. Though gentle, the practice requires strength and endurance to carefully loosen, but not overturn, compacted soil so weed seeds stay buried and soil stays loose. Loose soil allows roots, water, and nutrients to penetrate deeply so desirable plants flourish. No-Till is messy, though. Fields look worse initially, until desirable plants develop healthy roots, anchor themselves firmly and deeply, and overcome any remaining weeds.

There is much to learn from No-Till farming about cultivating the hardened soil of our fallen hearts. First, dormant weed seeds - envy, jealousy, greed, selfish desires - are ever-present in its soil. Crises, stress, frustration, loss, or disappointment can stir those weed seeds to the surface where they germinate, root, and spread to overcome the heart, mind, and attitude.  Once established, they vie for vital mental and emotional resources needed to nurture the desirable fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control.

How do we best manage “weeds” that take root? First, we need to know our weeds. Once exposed, some weeds are best pulled,  mulched, and returned to the soil. Confessed,  they decompose to amend the heart and feed the growth of fruit. Others are best consigned to a landfill or burned. They are pernicious, like goat’s head and bindweed, and forever toxic. Malicious ideologies, aberrant paradigms, rigid mindsets, biases, prejudices, and hate must be eradicated and discarded summarily. Second, we must stop mindless tilling that unsettles the heart. Resentments, bitterness, grudges, and pride dredge up malevolent weed seeds, reinforce their roots, and empower their spread and destructive ways.

Pernicious weed seeds are buried in our fallen nature. Disturbed, they surface, overtake precious mental and emotional landscape, and choke out desirable growth and fruit. Learning to effectively manage the soil of the heart is critical. It is time we practice “No-Till Living” and say, “I will not compact the soil of my heart or dredge up seeds of trouble! I choose a better, more gentle way to manage my heart for growth of the fruit of the LORD’s Spirit.”

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?  You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”   James 4:1-3