From Wellspring Charitable Gardens - May 22, 2025

Fresh Today… Summer Squash, Cabbage, Curly Kale, Sugar Snap Peas, Beets, Broccoli, Spinach, Onions, Green Onions, Mini Romaine Heads, Turnips, Dill, Parsley, Cilantro, Chamomile & Lemons

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

We have summer squash coming this week. For peak flavor and texture, summer squash is best used soon after harvesting, within a few days of receiving your basket. Store them in the fridge for up to a week. The skin is tender and full of nutrients, so there’s no need to peel, just give them a rinse and slice as needed. They are perfect grilled or sautéed with olive oil, garlic, and herbs. The larger squash can be stuffed. Hollow out and fill with rice, meat, or beans for a hearty meal. You can also eat them raw. Use them thinly sliced or spiralized in salads, or as a low-carb pasta alternative. Try them in this oven roasted Parmesan recipe to bring out a sweet, caramelized taste.

Parmesan Roasted Summer Squash

½ cup Parmesan cheese, coarsely grated

2 tbsp of finely chopped fresh or dried

Italian seasoning (basil, thyme, rosemary, parsley)

3 summer squash, sliced into ½ inch rounds

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper

½ tsp garlic powder

* Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. and line a large rimmed-baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a large bowl combine the squash rounds with the olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Toss to coat.  Add the Parmesan cheese and herbs and lightly toss again. Place the squash on the parchment-lined baking sheet in a single layer.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the squash is tender and the cheese is deeply golden.

Shedding Voluntears…

Help Needed! Want to get your hands dirty, enjoy nature, and learn more about gardening? We have that opportunity for you! Join us on Thursdays and help us pick, prepare, and pack our fresh vegetables for delivery. We gather at 8:30 AM, have a devotional, and then set off to the fields to harvest. We usually finish the work by noon. Of course, all work and no play make volunteering a dull task, so we laugh and talk and share our hearts and lives generously. So, if you are longing for connection and looking for a place to grow, join the Wellspring Garden Pickin’ Crew to get your hands dirty and your heart restored! 

Besides needing volunteers, we are also looking for a paid staff person who can work 28 hours a week. Do you know someone who enjoys gardening, seeks rewarding part-time work, and is willing to work in all weather conditions? Please have them call Cindi at 209-607-1887. Help!

Help us if you can, we’re feeling down

And we do appreciate your coming ‘round

Help us get our veggies out the ground

Won't you please, please help us!

Herb Twist Coleslaw…

This option to traditional American coleslaw uses a vinaigrette dressing and our fresh herbs. It was based on a Middle Eastern recipe and uses Za’atar a blend of spices with sumac. If you don’t have it, you can omit the spice blend, the fresh herbs and garlic will add lots of flavor on their own.

Lemon Dill Coleslaw

1 tsp salt                                   

2 green onions, sliced    

1-2 garlic cloves, finely minced or pressed           

½ cup fresh herbs, dill, mint, and parsley                  

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp honey or sugar

1 tsp za’atar or ½ tsp sumac

7-9 cups shredded cabbage, about ½ of a large head

* In a large mixing bowl combine the salt, green onions, garlic, herbs, extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, honey and za’atar. Add the shredded cabbage and mix well. Let the salad sit for 15-30 minutes before serving.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul . . .

To Bolt, Or Not to Bolt...

Ronda May Melendez & Keith F Martin

A beautiful, albeit painful, tension we see in the garden has its parallel in human lives. Last week our garden coordinators noticed onions beginning to bolt. In other words, they are flowering! Yes, onions have flowers, and their emerging blooms are a certain sign they are preparing to reproduce. Bolting onions are quite beautiful, but their beauty is also a certain sign that they are preparing to die.

The onions are stressed. Frequent changes in temperature this spring have caused them to panic and push prematurely to seed. Though the gardeners have carefully tended their growth, the onions cannot restrain their defensive response to adverse and variable conditions that threaten their survival. Bolting onions direct energy away from the bulb’s growth and into the stalk to form a flower. As the onion flower develops, the bulb that we desire and happily eat cannot be long stored after harvest. The same energy that produces the onion’s flower and seed protects the bulb from decay in storage. Therein lies the tension: Do we harvest smaller shelf-stable bulbs now, or do we harvest fertile seed and bigger but perishable bulbs later? We can’t store an onion and plant its seeds too.

Paradoxically, the flower both diminishes and empowers the fruit. What tension choice creates! We want onions like a Swiss Army knife - versatile. They should sweeten a spring salad and a summer burger, should store for a winter stew and supply seeds for next year’s crop. The tension between now or later forces us to clarify our purpose and direct our efforts. Do we want the most durable bulb or the most fertile seed?

Like onions – No, Donkey, it’s not about “layers” or “tears” – humans may feel like bolting when threatened, but unlike onions, we can assess risk and determine the benefit of enduring adverse conditions. Should we direct our energy toward preserving life now or should we reserve our energy for developing something beautiful, satisfying, and meaningful later? For humans facing a threat, bolting may be necessary for ensuring survival or escaping harm, but when personal safety is not at risk, the beautiful relief realized by bolting may come at the expense of lasting growth in insight, intimacy, or character. May God grant us wisdom to discern which situations truly threaten survival and which provide opportunity for substantial growth. Discernment helps us answer that critical question - To bolt, or not to bolt?