Fresh from Wellspring Charitable Gardens - September 4, 2025

Fresh Today… Peppers, Tomatoes, Summer Squash, Mini Romaine Lettuce, Cucumbers, Swiss Chard, Cilantro, Basil, Parsley, Green Onions, Cantaloupe & Flowers

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

This week I included a recipe for Summer Squash Gratin. This is a comforting, savory dish that highlights the tender texture and mild sweetness of summer squash. Thinly sliced squash is salted and drained to remove excess moisture, then baked in a creamy herb-infused sauce with onions and Gruyere cheese. The result is a golden, bubbling gratin with layers of rich flavor and a soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Perfect as a side dish or a light vegetarian main course, it can be served warm or reheated later.

Summer Squash Gratin

4-5 pieces summer squash

1 & ½ teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup milk

¼ cup diced onion

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

    and basil or 1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs

¼ cup grated cheese, Swiss or Gruyere

* Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Slice the summer squash into thin slices. You can use a mandolin or knife. You can slice them lengthwise or cut coins. Put the squash into a large colander, sprinkle with the salt and let sit for 30 minutes. While the squash is sitting, melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the flour, mix well for 1 minute. Add the milk to the flour-butter mixture and stir over medium heat until thickened, set aside. Rinse the squash with water. Put the squash in a large bowl and combine with the thickened milk mixture, onion, herbs and cheese, stir well. In a buttered 9-inch casserole dish layer the squash slices, then scraping the bowl, cover the squash with any remaining cheese mix.  Bake for 50-60 minutes until bubbly, remove from the oven and let cool for 20-30 minutes. Slice into portions and serve. You can alternatively, let the gratin cool completely, slice when cold and reheat to 140 degrees.

Flexible Roasted Pepper Tomato Soup

This is an easy and tasty pepper soup made from summer’s bounty.  Make it mild or spicy, as you like it.  For mild, use only sweet red and yellow bell peppers.  This recipe is spicy, but you can tame it by adding more broth and/or more cottage, ricotta, or cream cheese. On a parchment lined sheet pan, place 8-10 red or green Anaheim peppers (soup color will be greyer if you combine equal amounts of both. I try to use all green or all red and yellow); add jalapeno or serrano peppers (optional, for desired heat), sliced onion (½ or 1 whole red, yellow, white or even a bunch of green onions), 2-4 whole peeled garlic cloves, and 3-4 large, unpeeled tomatoes or 1 basket of cherry tomatoes. Omit the tomatoes, if you prefer.  Roast at 420 degrees for 20-25 minutes. When tops are charred, they are done. You can peel off the skins or blend everything at high speed and then strain them out. Now add 1 cup of chicken broth and ½ cup or more cottage cheese and/or 1-4 ounces of cream cheese. Blend again on high and check your consistency. Salt to taste. Again, cheese is optional, but I usually use ½ cup cottage cheese and 1 oz of cream cheese. Enjoy thick or add more water or broth and thin to your desired consistency.  Serve topped with cheese, cream, lime juice, fresh chopped tomatoes, tortilla chips, or a drizzle of olive oil. Make this your own by adjusting ingredients!

Sweet and Spicy…

The combination of sweet and spicy elements in this recipe creates a dynamic flavor contrast that excites the palate. The sweetness helps to mellow the heat, while the spice cuts the sugar, creating a balanced and addictive taste. This salsa is a cool and crisp combination of the two.

Melon Salsa

1 small melon, finely diced (about 1-2 cups)

1 cup finely diced cucumber

¼ cup finely diced red onion

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or cilantro

1-2 hot peppers, minced

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

¼ teaspoon salt

* Mix everything and eat immediately as a topping to chicken or fish or as topping on salad.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul…

Living with Manure

Cindi J Martin

The picture below does not truly capture the size of that weed I found growing in manure outside the chicken coop. I thought it was “volunteer corn” at first glance; then I realized it was just a common weed growing in soil enriched by avian supplements… well, excrements. I couldn’t help but compare it to its leaner brother struggling nearby in poor, un-dunged soil. The weeds reminded me of Jesus’ parable of the soils.

Good soil is often full of…, well, manure, but not just any manure, mind you; fresh manure burns the heck out of most plants trying to grow in it (except stinging nettle, but that’s another metaphor for another day). Manure that nourishes life must be well-rotted, or aged. We know any metaphor breaks down, ultimately, and I certainly don’t want to stretch this one to its breaking point (I am, after all, illustrating Jesus’ parable of soils with the growth of weeds!), but whenever I complain about my stinkin’ rotten sinful flesh (or that of others near me), I should remember that flesh crucified with Christ wonderfully transforms and enriches, in time, the poor soil of the heart.

I don’t know why God allows so much time on earth for our sanctification process - something about the wheat and tares (weeds), I recall - but I do know that fresh manure - manure that would burn and destroy life - needs time to mellow and mature before it becomes nutrient-rich fertilizer that can amend soil and cause things to grow a hundred-fold. There must be something powerful and lasting, even beautiful, in a transformation process that takes place over time in a mess; it’s similar to what happens to weeds when manure drops from the coop and hits the farm. 

Enduring the LORD’s slow but deliberate transformation process provides a glimpse into the essential nature of God Himself – He is devoted, determined, and undeterred. In His good time, He manages the manure of our lives and turns it into good soil in our hearts. Every trial, temptation, affliction, and wound that we trustingly surrender to God - yield to His gentle care - transforms a burning sorrow into joy and provides rich soil for bountiful harvests of everlasting fruit. 

“All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”   Hebrews 12:11