From Wellspring Charitable Gardens this Week - Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Edition, 2022

From the Garden this Week… Kale, Kohlrabi, Salad Mix, Red Butter Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Artichoke, Purple Bok Choy, Golden and Red Beets, Red & Orange Carrots, Large Red Spring Onion, Garlic Scapes, Chives, Cilantro, Oregano, Lemon Balm, German Chamomile, Grapefruit, Oranges, and Lemons

Coming Soon… Summer Squash

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

This week’s recipe for a Kale Avocado slaw is the perfect topping for fish or chicken tacos for your Cinco de Mayo dinner. Kale, being in the brassica family, is a great alternative to traditional cabbage. This time of year, before we have hot peppers, red pepper flakes make a great substitute, so use more or less, depending on how spicy you like the taste. Tacos are a simple way to combine your favorite meat or bean filling with this slaw in a tortilla. Feel free to add in a few shredded radishes or our peeled and shredded kohlrabi bulb for added vegetables and a crunchy texture.

Kale Avocado Slaw for Tacos

1-2 cloves garlic minced

2 tablespoons lemon juice

¼ cup mayonnaise

¼ cup sour cream

¼ cup chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons minced onion

or chives

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 bunch kale, shredded

1 avocado, cubed

In a large bowl, combine the garlic, lemon juice, mayonnaise, sour cream, cilantro, minced onion, and red pepper flakes. Stir well and then add in the kale, stir to coat with the dressing. Let sit for 30 minutes if possible and use as a topping for tacos, topped with the cubed avocado.

Cinco Facts for Cinco de Mayo

1. Cinco de Mayo isn’t Mexico’s Independence Day

2. In Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is known as El Día de la Batalla de Puebla

(The Day of the Battle of Puebla), a celebration that has come to

symbolize Mexican resistance to foreign invasion.

- In 1862, Mexican soldiers defeated French troops sent by Napoleon

III who attempted to gain influence in North America by establishing

a monarchy in Mexico. Facing the fierce Mexican forces, French

troop were overheard whispering, “We are in deep mole!”

3. The most popular traditional dish in Mexico for Cinco de Mayo is mole

poblano, a rich sauce made from chocolate and chilis.

4. Americans consume more than 80 million pounds of avocados on Cinco

De Mayo.

5. There are about 54,000 Mexican restaurants serving mole in the U.S.

Garlic Scapes…

Garlic scapes are the shoot of the garlic plant that creates the flower. Farmers cut them off so that we can encourage the garlic plant to send energy back underground and store it in the bulb, making it bigger. Like many vegetables the whole plant is edible, including the scape. I usually use it as an alternative to garlic in any recipe. The portion at the tip or flower can sometimes be tough, but it is full of flavor to use for these Mexican marinated carrots.

Mexican Marinated Carrots

5-6 small carrots, sliced

2 tablespoons garlic scapes, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon oregano leaves

1 teaspoon salt

¼ onion, sliced

1 hot pepper, sliced or ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

2/3 cup vinegar - apple cider, white wine, rice, or plain distilled white vinegar

½ cup water

Pack the carrots, garlic scapes, oregano, salt, onion, and jalapenos into a pint jar. Pour the vinegar over the vegetables and add the water until the jar is full, leaving about a ¼ inch at the top. Seal the jar and shake until the salt is dissolved. Refrigerate and enjoy after at least 24 hours.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul… Spanish Moss by Ronda May Melendez

Today, I find myself nestled away in the hills of San Marcos. My residence for the next week is hidden in a veritable sub-tropical cove. It is hedged about by bamboo and bougainvillea. Loquat hangs low, offering its fruit to the interested, and succulents abound, potted and earthed alike. Jade plants are trees here, unlike my tiny little jade in its pot at home!

It has offered a verdant, tranquil refuge.

One morning, as I explored the property, a steaming cup of coffee in hand, I noticed Spanish Moss hanging from bamboo stalks, just as I have often found in Colombia. I had never witnessed it here, until now. I find it an interesting companionship between trees and the moss. Spanish Moss is an epiphytic plant. This means that it gleans its nutrients from the surrounding air but finds its stability in another obliging plant or structure whose creases and wrinkles provide fertile biological matter for it to settle in and take root. Though it nestles close to its neighbor, it is not parasitic; it saps no life from its supportive companion. In fact, some epiphytes provide their hosts protection by maintaining moisture essential to life. Eventually, the companions may have to be divided or moved, as the weight of their growth could break the other.

It seems, at times, human relationships follow a similar pattern. Companionships are formed as one seeks support and stability in the fertile creases and wrinkles of another. And then, for both parties to continue growing, distancing or separation must happen. Companionship is not lost but transformed. Change is not the end, but the beginning of healthy space that shows regard for the strength and maturity of the other.