From the Garden this Week…

From the Garden this Week…

Tomatoes, Dragon’s Tongue and Green Beans, Cucumbers, Summer Squash, Basil, Sweet and Hot Peppers, Eggplant, Green Onions, and Garlic

Coming Soon… Sweet Corn, Winter Squash and Sweet Potatoes

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

With our onions being a seasonal item, only available for a limited time, I feel lucky to have more green onions, that we are able to grow throughout the year. I provided a recipe for a grilled green dressing that I used to make in my first restaurant job. This is a flavorful dressing that would be great as a sauce to fresh sliced tomatoes or cucumbers or grilled squash or eggplant.

Grilled Green Onion Dressing

1 bunch green onions

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

¼ cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar or cider vinegar

½ cup olive oil

Prepare the barbecue for high-heat grilling. Clean the green onions and trim the roots off. Lightly oil green onions. Cook the onions on the hottest part of the grill for about 2 minutes on each side, until slightly blackened. Remove and let the green onions cool enough so you can handle them. Cut the grilled green onions into ¼ inch slices against the grain of the onion. Put the green onions in a blender with the garlic, mustard, salt, black pepper, mayonnaise and vinegar. Blend until well mixed. Drizzle in the olive oil until combined. Taste and adjust the salt, vinegar and oil by adding additional if desired.

We are starting our U-Pick harvest

By appointment

Call or Text Cindi

209-607-1887

We have tomatoes, peppers and eggplant available.

Let us know when you can come out to visit!

Cooking Eggplant…

Eggplant is a vegetable that you can’t undercook. I find that I have difficulty cooking it when I am in a hurry and not taking the time to cook it properly. Eggplant should be soft and creamy when it is done. We will just have one or two for each member this week, but it will continue to produce though the late summer and fall.

Spicy Asian Garlic Eggplant

2 tablespoons oil divided

1-2 eggplant, cut into cubes

2 cloves garlic finely minced

1 red chile pepper finely minced

½ inch knob of fresh ginger peeled and finely minced

2 green onions, sliced

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sugar

Heat a large sauté pan over high heat, add 1 tablespoon of the oil and swirl to coat the bottom. When hot, add eggplant in a single layer. Cook 2 minutes and stir, cook another 2 minutes and then stir occasionally until the eggplant is cooked. The eggplant should have changed in color, the skin wrinkled and the flesh soft. Push eggplant to the side of the pan and add 1 tablespoon oil, the garlic, red chile pepper, ginger and green onion. Stir these aromatics until they become fragrant. Combine aromatics with eggplant and stir fry for one minute. Add soy sauce, vinegar and sugar and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul . . . by Ronda May Melendez

“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

The garden has been abundantly fruitful; for that we can be incredibly grateful. The Lord has been so gracious to us.

This week, my thoughts have been geared toward the barren spots of the land. The corn stalks and spent bean vines were cleared out this week, leaving barren spaces. For some reason, as I walked through the garden feeling very full and grateful for abundance, these spots continued to catch my eye. Normally, I would have been saddened by them, maybe even anxious. Wondering if the future would bring fruit. This time, my heart saw something different in the barren…it saw HOPE.

On first blush, it may seem that the barren places in life are vacuous. Really, they aren’t. They are spaces being opened up for opportunity; for new growth. It’s the opportunity to trust the One who sees what we do not; an opportunity to fix our eyes on the Creator and the One who holds provision for all things, remembering those times and ways in the past that He has never failed us. HE…HAS…NEVER…FAILED…US. And He never will.

Our spaces in life may appear to be temporarily void of what we perceive needs to be there…but they are not void of Him, if we invite Him to join us in those spaces. And HE is never void of promise. Can we rejoice with Habakkuk and be joyful in God our Savior and Provider?