Fresh from Wellspring Charitable Gardens Today - June 27, 2024
From the Garden Today… Lemon & Slicing Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Green Onions, Red Onions, Summer Squash Assortment, Carrots, Swiss Chard, Lettuce, Parsley, Rosemary, Dill, Zinnias, Plums & Nectarines
Using Your Produce… by Julie Moreno
When summer squash are plentiful, I start out the season grilling, sautéing, and roasting them. Then after a few weeks of savory recipes, I’m ready to make zucchini bread. I love this recipe with lemon for a fresh tangy flavor. You can use any of our summer squash varieties for this recipe. I will sometimes use only the yellow squash, because the vegetables become nearly invisible. If you have a lot of extra squash, try grating and freezing the squash in portioned plastic bags. Then you’ll have it ready to make more zucchini bread later in the year.
Lemon Zucchini Bread
2 cups flour
1 ½ cups sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2 cups grated zucchini or yellow
summer squash
¾ cups oil
Zest and 2 teaspoons of juice
from one lemon
* Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. In a separate large bowl beat the eggs and add in the zucchini, oil and lemon juice and zest, mix well. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix gently to moisten. Pour the batter into a prepared pan and bake for about 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
WCG 4th of July Pause
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is unparalleled for its import and brevity. His 272-word speech did more than dedicate a cemetery or honor those who died in battle at Gettysburg; it captured the vital spirit of the 4th of July – To honor and celebrate the freedom, equality, and Union we are charged to preserve:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal...
... It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before…
…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
We will be celebrating Independence Day next Thursday, the 4th of July, so there will be no WCG deliveries. Delivery will resume July 11.
Happy 248th Birthday, USA!
To Peel or Not to Peel…
Our garden cucumbers are not waxed. This process helps to keep them fresher while sitting on the supermarket produce shelf. Because of this, there is no reason to peel them if you like the peel. Sometimes they have prickly skin that can be rubbed off with a towel. Still if you prefer, peel away, it’s just personal preference.
Creamy Herb Cucumber Salad
¼ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar or lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
Pepper to taste
1 large or 2 medium cucumbers, peeled if desired
and thinly sliced
¼ cup thinly sliced onion
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs, dill and parsley
In a large bowl, whisk sour cream, vinegar, sugar and pepper until blended. Add cucumbers and onion; toss to coat and stir in the herbs. Serve right away.
Metaphors of Soil and Soul…
Hope That Does Not Disappoint
by Cindi J & Keith F Martin
The dill, celery, and cilantro have gone to seed. Once green and compact in form, the plants now extend yellow and orange shoots toward an expansive blue sky. Their growth spurt resembles that of an awkward adolescent who has outgrown her cherubic body, seemingly overnight. She reaches into the blue beyond, a teen tornado full of sound and fury driven by uncertainty. Like adolescents, bolting vegetables are wild, determined, colorful, and full of life, beauty, and promise!
It is natural to look at rows of tall, unruly plants (or teens) and feel intimidated by their size and strength, feel overwhelmed by their resistance and the effort required to uproot them to prepare the rows for new plantings. There are great costs in removing spent vegetation, but there are also great benefits: colorful flowers for decorating the dining table and seeds for sowing, growing, and reaping in seasons to come.
Are you facing a new season of life but feeling rather spent? Are you unsettled, uncertain, stretched out of shape? Without realizing it, you may be bolting. That means you are preparing to produce beautiful flowers with hope-filled seeds that will adorn your surroundings and further your influence in ways you cannot now imagine. Remember your teen years? Stay the course - Teens do become adults, eventually!
". . .we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:2b-5).
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