From Wellspring Charitable Gardens this Week - March 10, 2022

From the Garden this Week… Red Cabbage, Kale, Purple Top Turnips, Baby Carrots, Endive, Romanesco or Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Parsley, Celery, Grapefruit, Lemons, Meyer Lemons, & Blood Oranges

Coming Soon… Butter Lettuce

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

In an effort to use up produce this past week I made a simple and tasty soup by just throwing the vegetables in a pot of water. Well, I cut them first and added a teaspoon each of “Better than Bullion” and Miso paste. If you have broth on hand, you can use that instead of water. I sliced up some tiny carrots (without peeling) and diced a large turnip (peeled) and our celery and a small onion, diced. I let that cook until everything was tender, then added some chopped greens. At this point you could add in some cooked rice or meat or tofu if you wanted to bulk it up. Taste to see if it needs salt and add some pepper or hot sauce and enjoy. This week I included a wonderful red cabbage recipe shared by one of our volunteers 3 years ago.

German Red Cabbage

1 small onion

¾ cup butter, divided

1 head red cabbage, chopped,

discard core

½ cup water

3 bay leaves

3 whole allspice berries

2 whole cloves

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup bacon bits, cooked and

finely chopped

1 red delicious apple, peeled, cored,

and finely chopped or grated

¼ cup vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

¼ cup flour

Melt ½ cup butter in a large pot, add onion and cook until just soft and translucent. Add water and cabbage. Mix well and heat slightly to boiling. Reduce heat and add bay leaves, allspice, cloves, salt, apple, and bacon. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add Vinegar and sugar. Continue simmering for an additional 10 minutes. Separately, in a small saucepan, melt the remaining ¼ cup butter and add flour, stir well, and cook for 5 minutes on low heat. The cabbage should have a minimal amount of liquid in the bottom of the pan, remove some and discard if it is too watery. Blend the butter-flour mixture into the cabbage. Stir and let simmer for an additional 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. If desired, add additional vinegar, sugar and/or salt to taste. Add additional butter-flour mixture if needed for thickening.

Thank You!

A Big Thank You to subscriber Brandon Miller for recruiting two new WCG subscribers! We will include a home-baked treat in your produce order when you recruit a new subscriber! We have a variety of tasty breads and pastries available, even gluten free options!

Thanks to each of you for continuing to support our charity despite the rise in price this month! We recently compared our prices to grocery store prices and found that you are still getting superior organically grown produce for less than you would pay in a grocery store. Best of all, your purchases bless many families who are receiving life giving counseling services in our community! On behalf of the many clients who are finding relief and practical ways to manage anxiety and depression, we extend our gratitude.

Roasted Broccoli…

This is my absolute favorite way to cook broccoli. I grow a little extra at home, so I always have a supply through the winter and almost always roast it. I have found that when it is sprouting and the florets start to spread, you get an extra crispy treat when it comes out of the oven. Watch out for too much browning, but I think that the more you eat it the more it grows on you.

Lemon Parmesan Roasted Broccoli or Romanesco

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 head of Romanesco or flowering Broccoli, cut into florets

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon lemon zest

2 teaspoons lemon juice

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place broccoli florets in a large bowl with the garlic, lemon zest, olive oil, salt, and pepper; toss thoroughly. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and toss the roasted broccoli with the lemon juice and Parmesan cheese, serve right away.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul . . . Parable of the Soils? by Cindi J Martin

One of my favorite parables of Jesus is the Parable of the Sower, which in my mind is also a Parable of the Soils. Jesus tells us that there are different soils: the soil of a path, the soil that is rocky, the soil that is thorny, and good soil. With the help of wonderful Garden Professionals, I am learning that soil preparation is everything. Even hard compacted soil, rocky soil, and thorn infested soil can become good soil. That is a comfort because Jesus compares these soil types to our hearts. He says that the seed is the Word of God and when it lands on a path, the birds easily eat it; when it lands on rocky soil, it grows but is short lived because it has no root system, and in thorns, the aggressive thorny weeds choke out the seed’s growth. Well-prepared soil can receive the seed and it brings forth an abundance of produce. Soil transformation, like heart transformation takes time, patience, and much hard work (Check out Matthew 13:1-23 for a thorough explanation of this parable).

A few years ago, we wanted to plant Dahlias to include in your Garden orders. It is a beautiful bulb flower which is very particular about its soil and must be amended with gypsum, bone meal, and steer manure. Gypsum is known as calcium sulfate hydrate and is a naturally occurring mineral found in layers of sedimentary rock all over the world. Ben Franklin was one of the first in the United States to use gypsum on his farm. It is used for many other things including making toothpaste, sheet rock, and as a fire retardant on walls.

It occurred to me that different people prefer different kinds of environments in which to grow. Have you ever noticed the kind of environment that invigorates your spiritual, emotional, and physical growth? What amendments in your life might encourage healthier “heart soil”? Is there anything in your life currently choking out love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control? May we all have the eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand how we can amend the soil of our hearts and make them more hospitable for the growth of God’s Word.