Fresh from Wellspring Charitable Gardens Today - May 2, 2024

Fresh Today…  Broccoli, Kohlrabi, Artichoke, Butter Lettuce, Peas or Fava Beans, Spinach, Arugula, French Breakfast Radishes, Spring Onions, Beets, Carrots, Dill, Cilantro, & Grapefruit

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno.

This week I brought together our spring produce to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. With all our fresh greens, you can combine them to make a large salad. Chop the head of lettuce and mix it with the spinach and arugula, so you can make a larger serving. Use our spring onions just like regular onions. All of the green stalks of the onion can be used. These onions need to be stored in the refrigerator. Make sure to put them in a sealed container, so that the aroma doesn’t permeate the entire contents of your fridge. Our cilantro will only be around for a few more weeks, so enjoy it while we have it.

Mexican Salad

¼ cup raw pepitas

4 corn tortillas, sliced into strips

2 teaspoons oil

Salt

8 cups lettuce, spinach and arugula,

    washed and chopped

1-15 ounce can black beans rinsed

     and drained

3-4 radishes, thinly sliced

¼ cup chopped spring onion

½ cup shredded pepper jack cheese

1 cup cooked chicken

1 avocado pitted and cubed

Cilantro dressing:

¼ cup packed cilantro leaves, chopped

½ teaspoon hot sauce

2 garlic cloves, minced

¼ cup sour cream or plain yogurt

¼ cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice

¼ teaspoon chili powder or paprika

* Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl combine the pepitas and tortilla strips, oil, sprinkle with salt and stir well. Spread out the tortilla strips and pepitas on the prepared baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10 minutes until lightly toasted. Combine all of the dressing ingredients, stir well and set aside. Remove the toasted tortillas and pepitas from the oven and let cool slightly. In a large salad bowl add the lettuce, beans, radishes, and onions. Add the dressing and mix well. Put the salad in a large serving platter and top with the cheese, chicken, avocado, tortillas and pepitas.

Cinco Hechos (Facts) para el Cinco de Mayo

1. Cinco de Mayo isn’t Mexico’s Independence Day.

2. In Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is known as El Día de la Batalla de Puebla, a celebration to symbolize Mexican resistance to foreign invasion.

3. In 1862, Mexican soldiers defeated French troops sent by Napoleon III who attempted to establish a monarchy in Mexico. Facing fierce Mexican forces, French troops were overheard whispering, “We're in deep mole!”

4. The most popular traditional dish in Mexico for Cinco de Mayo is mole poblano, a rich sauce made from chilis, chocolate, nuts, seeds, and more.

5. There are about 54,000 Mexican restaurants serving mole in the U.S.

Fiesta!           Fiesta! 

Kohlrabi…

Kohlrabi needs to have the outer layer of the bulb peeled away to enjoy the tender center. The flavor is most like broccoli, and when shredded raw, it is a perfect substitute in a broccoli slaw recipe. Try this spicy slaw for a little kick.

Spicy Kohlrabi, Radish and Carrot Slaw 

2 carrots, peeled                       

3-4 radishes                              

1-2 kohlrabi bulbs, peeled      

¼ cup sour cream                     

¼ cup cilantro, finely chopped 

2 tablespoons prepared salsa,

   or chopped pickled jalapenos

½ teaspoon salt

* Grate the radishes, kohlrabi and carrots on a box grater and put into a large mixing bowl.  Stir in the remaining ingredients.  Let the salad sit for 30 minutes, if possible, and enjoy.  This slaw is good the next day, but liquid will come out of the vegetables and make it watery, so drain off the excess liquid, if desired.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul…

Spanish Moss

by Ronda May Melendez

& Keith F Martin

Today, I find myself nestled into the fertile hills of San Marcos. My residence for the week is hidden in a veritable sub-tropical cove. It is hedged about by thriving bamboo and luxuriant bougainvillea. Loquat hangs low, readily offering its desirable fruit to me, and succulents abound, potted and earth bound alike, to the delight of my eyes. Jade plants grow like trees here, unlike my tiny pot-bound jade at home!

For a time, verdant San Marcos is a tranquil refuge for my rest and restoration.

One morning, while exploring the property with a steaming cup of coffee in my hand, I noticed Spanish Moss hanging from bamboo stalks, just as I have often seen in Colombia. I had never witnessed that closeness here, until now. I find the companionship between the bamboo and moss fascinating. Spanish Moss is an epiphytic plant. This means that it gleans nutrients from the surrounding air but finds needed support in another obliging plant’s strength. Spanish moss takes root and grows from the fertile biological matter that has settled in its host’s creases and wrinkles. Though the moss nestles close to and grows from its upright neighbor, it is not parasitic, saps no life from its supportive companion. In fact, some epiphytes return support to their hosts by providing them moisture essential for their health and well-being. Eventually, though, such close and cooperative companions may need to be separated, as the weight of one’s growth could break the other.

Human relationships often follow a similar course. Companionships are formed as one seeks support, stability, or even refuge in another’s fertile insights or deep creases forged by time and experience. Then after a time, for both parties to continue growing, distancing must take place. Companionship is not lost in their parting but transformed. Separating is not the end of their closeness, but the beginning of healthy space needed for new growth that regards the strength and maturity of the other.

“Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.’ Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.” (Acts 15)

[More time later, Paul wrote:] “Only Luke is with me. Take along Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.” (2 Timothy 4)