I am so excited to share a guest post with you all today from one of my online friends, Emily. Emily has been “sprouting” lately – all the rage – and I’ve been loving watching her journey online. She graciously accepted when I asked her to share her journey in sprouting. I’m so fascinated by this! Please ask questions in the comments section if you want to ask Emily more about her experience.
My name is Emily. I like people, music, and photography. My other favorite hobby is exploring new, random hobbies (like growing sprouts).
A few months ago I started juicing. I’d watching a bunch of good documentaries about eating a balanced, whole-foods diet, and many of the films mentioned the health benefits of juicing. I also noticed that Kerry juices and a few other blogger pals, too. So I thought, “It’s go time!”
Somewhere along the juicing path, I read that some folks juice sprouts that they grow in their homes.
“What?” I wondered. “How do you grow sprouts, and how do you juice them?”
And so began my new-found hobby of growing sprouts in my kitchen! Over the last couple months I’ve been juicing sprouts and eating them, too. They are delicious. And you don’t need soil OR sunlight! Just seeds, a tray, and water! Easy-peasy. From beginning to end, the whole process for most sprouts only takes about a week. You’ll be eating fresh veggies from your own kitchen in no time!
An additional bonus feature of sprouts is that they are extremely nutritious and quite easy to digest. Most sprout varieties are high in vitamins and many are a great source of protein. They are also packed with flavor!
Another sprout bonus feature: watching seeds turn into happy, green, sprouts is extremely entertaining! (As a side note, my definition of “extremely entertaining” also includes things like watching Lawrence Welk re-runs, taking pictures of the pheasant who frequents my backyard, and writing letters on my typewriter.)
There are just a few tools I’ve used to begin my new life as a sproutist. I ordered my supplies from Amazon.
So far I’ve tried Holly’s Bean Mix (highly recommended), Salad Mix (tasty), Variety pack (I’ve liked the few I’ve experimented with so far), and some alfalfa seeds that came along with the kitchen sprouter.
There are some helpful instructions that come along with the sprouter. Basically, all you have to do is place about a tablespoon of sprouts on a tray, and then water the sprouts 2-3 times a day by adding water to the top tray. I have found they actually grow a little bit better if I rinse the sprouts in each tray once a day. It also helps to regularly change the order of the trays.
Here are some great resources for sprouting advice:
Next Wednesday I’ll be sharing what I’ve been doing with my sprouts. Get ready for some super easy recipes with lots of room for individual taste and creativity.
Emily is a Lutheran pastor, weekly columnist for the Rochester Post-Bulletin, and blogger at www.theladypastor.com. She also collects treasures from the 1960s like cookbooks, broaches, and vintage planters.
Thankfully, Justin is a little more handy and over the weekend added two more raised beds, both 4×8. When he finished he said, “are you really going to use those?” followed by, “we really are turning into hippies.” Swoon!
Think about what those alternative activites are before you are in panic sugar-mode. Write them down, if necessary.