From Wellspring Charitable Gardens - March 6, 2025
Fresh Today… Arugula, Beets, Broccoli, Butterhead Lettuce, Kale, Spinach, Mixed Stir-Fry Greens, Red Radishes, Artichokes or Cauliflower, Parsley, Cilantro, Tangerines, Grapefruit, Lemons, Navel & Blood Oranges
Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno
This week I made these spinach and ricotta gnocchi. Gnocchi are dumplings. The word may be derived from the Italian word nocchio, meaning 'a knot in wood', or from nocca, meaning 'knuckle'. It has been a traditional Italian dish since Roman times. Gnocchi are often made with potatoes, flour and egg, but can be made with other ingredients. The cheese and egg in this recipe make pillows of creamy spinach. I served them with pasta and marinara sauce.
Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi
6 ounces fresh spinach (stems
removed, about 6-7 cups packed)
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg yolk
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Marinara sauce for serving
* Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter the bottom of a glass baking dish and set aside. Add the spinach to a large skillet over medium heat with about 1 tablespoon water. Cook, stirring, until wilted or for 3-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside. Add the ricotta, egg yolk, Parmesan, and salt and pepper to a large bowl. When the spinach has cooled to the touch, chop it into very small pieces. Squeeze as much liquid from the spinach as you can. Add the spinach to the ricotta mixture and mix to thoroughly combine. Form the mixture into 2-inch balls and place each in the baking dish so they do not touch. Bake for about 20 minutes, then turn on the broiler to allow the tops to turn lightly golden. Remove from the oven and serve warm over a spoonful or two of marinara sauce.
Dear WCG Family,
We are still considering another “veggie vacation” for our beleaguered young crop. We consulted Anna, our master market gardener, and she advised that if the veggies do need a vacation, the best time for a rest would be at the end of March or early April. Now with the recent hail and current high water, Anna’s sage advice comes when the veggies will likely need some rest and relief.
If vacation is needed, we are ready to book the Sunny SoCal Express bus tour through the Salton Sea, Joshua Tree, the Mohave Desert, and Death Valley. We chose economy to avoid any “Nightlife” excursions to Las Vegas or Palm Spring that might spoil them. The travel agent said the weather would be sunny and warm, but not too hot. The tender sprouts will be carefully watched and should return well-seasoned and deliciously browned, not simmered or steamed.
Roasted Vegetables
Many chefs and nutritionists consider roasting vegetables healthier than boiling or steaming them. Roasting allows them to retain their nutrients and caramelizes their natural sugars to enhance sweetness and flavor. It keeps their texture firm but makes them tender. The browning makes their appearance more appealing. Try this simple, savory recipe for roasted broccoli with red onion, garlic, and warmed feta.
Roasted Broccoli with Feta Cheese
1 head of broccoli cut into bite size pieces.
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil (or vegetable spray)
1/2 to 1 tsp of kosher salt
1 yellow or red onion, sliced in chunks
3-4 (or more) whole garlic cloves
1/2– 1 cup Feta cheese, crumbled
* Preheat oven to 420 degrees. Except for the feta, toss the above ingredients in a bowl or bag until well coated. Spread evenly on a rimmed cookie sheet and place in oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with the feta cheese. Return to the oven and bake for 5-7 minutes, until lightly browned and tender.
Metaphors of Soil and Soul…
Rest and Rise
Cindi J Martin
I mentioned to a friend that I experience the presence of God when baking bread. Knowing my ongoing battle with pain from three cervical spine surgeries, she asked if the demands of working the dough enhanced my pain. “The reason I can bake bread without increasing my pain,” I said, “is that while allowing the dough to rest and rise I can rest and renew.” Rest benefits both bread and baker. Rest lets dough fully hydrate, relaxing the starches in the flour. Helped along by air and yeast, the relaxed dough expands and becomes more pliable and easier to shape. Rest enhances the character of the dough, and the rise opens the crumb that enhances the airy light texture and improves the taste of the baked bread. Rest and delightful results enhance the mood and well-being of the baker.
Rest is not merely beneficial; it is also transformational. In Under the Unpredictable Plant, Eugene Peterson comments on the spiritual significance of rest in the work of Jonah and Jesus. Peterson’s work is a study of vocational holiness inspired by the resistant Jonah’s three-day ordeal in the belly of the whale. Jonah’s Second Day, sandwiched between his being swallowed up and being spit out, was a silent and sacred time for rest and transformation, before he rose to speak the Word of the LORD to Nineveh. Jesus’ Second Day was in the grave. Saturday provided Jesus the Sabbath rest that separated the Good Friday work on the cross from His glorious Easter Sunday resurrection. Reading Peterson’s reflections showed how Jesus’ three-day ordeal - from the garden betrayal and cross through the tomb to the resurrection - could be likened to baking bread. As the Bread of Life, Jesus’ body, like dough, rested in the grave after having been bruised and broken, like dough that is worked in the kneading process. Once the “leaven” of sin had worked itself through His body on Friday, He rested Saturday. Eternally significant promises were fulfilled that Second Day - the Silent Saturday - in preparation for His promised and victorious Sunday rising.
Still a recovering work/ministry-a-holic, I do not rest easy, but the LORD God has taught me through my broken and weary body how to rest - how to Sabbath - and allow His Spirit to transform me through His Light, Life, and Truth from within. Slow to learn why rest is essential, I supposed the holy command should not apply when I was busy doing “the Lord’s work.” Rest seemed a waste of precious time better invested in people and “Kingdom work.” I now know that rest is a divine and sacred invitation to spiritual renewal: Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Delightful things happen to dough as it rests, wonderful things happen to soil that lies fallow, and miraculous things happen to souls that rest in the presence of the LORD Almighty. May we all rest and rise renewed to know the LORD and take delight in Him. So He says, “Cease striving and know that I AM God!” Psalm 46:10
“If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasures, and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Isaiah 58:13-14
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