From Wellspring Charitable Gardens this Week - August 24, 2023

Using Your Produce… by Julie Moreno

This squash recipe is one of my favorites. It uses up a lot of squash and is simple to prepare. Grating the squash on a box grater makes for a fast preparation, although you will want to allow some hands-off time, so that the squash will release some of the water. The flour and cheese just help to bind the squash, both are optional, but the fritters won’t stick together as well. I like to make extra and then reheat them the next day for lunch with a salad.

Squash Fritters

3 pieces summer squash, about

1 pound, grated

¾ teaspoon salt

1 egg

¼ cup flour (a gluten free flour

substitute will work)

2 Tablespoons shredded cheese

1 Tablespoon of oil

* Combine the grated squash and salt and leave it in a colander for 20-30 minutes, to allow some water to drain. Squeeze the squash to remove excess water, then mix it with the egg, flour, and cheese. Heat a nonstick pan, over medium heat, add the oil and drop 1/4 cup of the squash mixture into the pan. Help it to spread out a little then repeat 2-3 more times, so you have 3-4 small pancakes. Allow them to cook for 5 minutes then turn the fritters over and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove them and cook another batch to use the remaining batter. Enjoy hot, but they are also great the next day.

Riddle Me This!

Edible young, old I am too tough to chew.

Young, I am tender to tongue,

Old, I am rough to the touch.

Worthless when old I am not.

Old I absorb more than when young.

Old I carry more than when young.

Old I take more; young I give more.

What am I?

Email us your solution to this riddle at wellspringcharitablegardens.com.

The winner will be awarded a garden grown gift!

Cooked Tomatoes…

Cooking tomatoes increases the lycopene in them. It also changes their flavor, mellowing their acid and bringing out their sweetness. This slow cooked cherry tomato recipe is a wonderful way to cook these sweet gems. Make sure to save any extra cooking oil to use later.

Slow Cooked Cherry Tomatoes

1 basket cherry tomatoes

3-4 garlic cloves peeled and separated

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon minced rosemary and/or thyme and/or oregano

1 tablespoon chopped basil

* In a sauté pan with a lid, add all the ingredients except the basil. Cover and heat slowly over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have collapsed, about 45-60 minutes. Add the basil and turn the heat off. Use as a topping to grilled eggplant, squash, or steamed green beans. If there is extra oil, use for salad dressing.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul…

Preparing for the Next Season of Life…

by Cindi J & Keith F Martin

Most surprising about vegetable gardening is how far in advance farmers prepare for the coming growing season. People often tell me they were unsuccessful at growing a winter garden, so they simply gave up. Their lament reminds me of my failed attempts to grow broccoli and cauliflower - winter crops - in my backyard. I planted seeds too late in the winter season, so as spring and warmth settled over the fields, the seedlings and then plants were overrun by ravenous warm weather pests, did not grow exceptionally large, and flowered long before the fruit was ripe and ready to enjoy. Recently, Anna Hazen, our Master Gardener, seeded trays in our shade cloth area. Here in the heat of summer we are enjoying cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes, and she is nurturing fall and winter crop seedlings of cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, and kale. Conscious, intentional preparation is the key to successful seasons of growth in the garden.

That is true in the human garden as well. Are you preparing for harvest in the coming season of life? What trays have you seeded and placed beneath shade cloth? What seedlings are you tending? If you are a high school senior, are you thinking ahead about what you will need in the summer of your life when career and family demand the best of your strength? If you are the mom or dad of the senior, have you thought about preparing for your fall, the season your career comes to end and your nest becomes empty? For those of us who are senior adults entering the winter of our lives, have we considered downsizing and simplifying lifestyle, securing care plans and living arrangements, or settling end-of-life affairs – legacy maintenance, asset distribution, or last wishes?

Yes, excessive or obsessive planning for tomorrow deprives us of energy we need for living today, but denial or avoidance of planning today deprives us of resources we may need for tomorrow. Like farmers, we find our efforts most fruitful when we strike that disciplined balance between living fully today and preparing thoroughly for tomorrow.

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful,

but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it,

afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Romans 12:11 (NASB)