From Wellspring Charitable Gardens - October 12, 2023

Fresh from the Garden Today… Carrots, Beets, White Table Turnips, Cucumbers, Watermelon Radishes, Italian Eggplant, Summer Squash, Tomatoes, Peppers, Green Beans, Basil, Dill, Cilantro, Apples, Pomegranate, Cantaloupe or Watermelon, & Zinnias

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno.

Fall is here with carrots, beets, and turnips. I had never eaten a turnip until I was over 30. Turnips are not flashy or sexy, and even have a history of being fed to animals. I wasn’t sure how to best cook or eat one, so I asked someone older than me and got some of the best advice ever, “eat it raw like an apple.” I even proved this by serving raw turnip slices to a 3rd grade class. Without any preconceived notions about what a turnip is, and regardless of the fact that we dipped them in ranch dressing, they ate them up without a care. After eating a few myself, I realized that they are sweet. A part of the carbohydrate storage system for the plant, the root saves energy to make sure that it can produce flowers and another generation. They are great roasted or eat them raw in this side dish with a little spice.

Spicy Carrot-Beet-Turnip Slaw

1-2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

1 hot pepper, sliced thin

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 beets, peeled and shredded

1 apple, shredded

1-2 turnips, shredded

2-3 carrots, shredded

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

* In a mixing bowl combine the garlic, pepper and lemon juice. Use a box grater or food processor to shred the apple, turnips, carrots and beets (do the beets last so they don’t color everything) with the largest holes. Combine the vegetables with the garlic mixture and add the olive oil and salt. Gently stir and let sit for 30 minutes or more before eating, if possible.

Raw Greens

I, Keith, must admit an unsavory truth that some will find difficult to stomach. I don’t like raw arugula – not in a salad, not as a pizza topping, not as a sandwich green. I find its bitter, peppery taste distasteful. If you are also loathe to admit your distaste for arugula, you might try Cindi’s suggestion – cook it. Arugula’s piquant flavor profile mellows when added to soups, pastas, or stews. Cindi sautés it like spinach or collard greens and finishes with olive oil and vinegar. She adds it to spinach balls (recipe on our website) or uses it to flavor minestrone soup. Skeptical? Try it cooked in a favorite recipe. Still can’t stomach Cindi’s suggestion, join me at the next AA meeting - Arugula Anonymous. (1. I find arugula distasteful; 2. Arugula raw or cooked…)

More Summer Squash…

I can’t remember if I have provided this recipe this season, but that is just what happens this time of year. So regardless, this is one of my favorites, and it’s worth sharing again.

Parmesan Roasted Summer Squash

2 medium summer squash, sliced

into ½ inch rounds

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons of finely chopped

fresh or dried Italian seasoning

(basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley)

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. In an even layer place the seasoned squash on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the squash is tender and the cheese is deeply golden.

Metaphors of Soil & Soul…

Battling Stink Bugs

by Cindi J & Keith F Martin

The marmorated stink bug returns regularly and threatens our tomatoes. Six years ago, I asked Anna Hazen, a market garden expert and founding member of our CSA, how to handle this armored bug. “Squish them when you see them,” she advised. I cringed, “Hand-to-hand combat! Can’t we just spray something on them?” I pleaded, thinking chemical warfare seemed an odorless, more sanitary strategy. “Take out the good with the bad?” she shrugged and suggested I vacuum them up. “Weaponize the Dust Buster?” I thought. Organic pesticides - Spinosad and diatomaceous earth - would kill these and other creatures outright, and garlic or mint spray might temporarily repel them, but there is no more effective deterrent to this marbled menace than a “hands on” strategy. With vigilance and diligence, you battle them. Take them in hand and dispatch them decisively, otherwise they will rapidly overtake the garden and destroy its produce.

Life is like a field of tomatoes; we get a stink bug infestation now and then. We notice a bug here or suspect one there, but we are reluctant to get our hands dirty dealing with the pest. Hoping for a simple solution, we seek the advice of experts but cringe at their strategy for best handling the bugs. Taking the problem directly in hand is messy, will certainly raise a nasty stink, so we ignore or avoid the advice and the bugs. We ignore a feeling that we might have offended a friend because we don’t want to admit our shortcomings hurt others. We avoid asking our spouse about the distance we feel in our marriage. We do not want to hear he or she is disappointed or disillusioned with the relationship. We overlook our child’s obsession with social media and the internet, fearing we might have to confront noxious attitudes or disturbing behaviors.

This shriveled tomato from the garden shows the ruin caused by stink bugs. They suck the good out and leave behind a rotted hull. It is a graphic reminder that vigilance and diligence - in the garden and our lives – remain the most effective deterrents to ruinous pests. May God give us courage and resolve to battle stink bugs by faith, not to overlook them in fear.

“We are not of those who shrink b and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." (Hebrews 10:30)