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Grow fresh greens during shelter-in-place
You can grow your own leafy green vegetables at home without leaving your house.
Take one cup dry lentils and soak in water for 24 hours. Then distribute the same lentils into three separate mason jars. Wait two weeks and you will have green sprouts you can eat everyday as part of your salad. The more lentils you sprout, the more greens you will have and you will never run out. But you must continue to sprout new lentils every two weeks, minimum. You *must* also add fresh water every single day and immediately toss the water. You need to do this until you finish consuming your sprouts completely. This way, you avoid putrefaction because the sprouts do not sit in water; they are only very wet. Below are some photos that will help explain some things that I may not be saying.
My wife and I sincerely hope that this helps at least someone out there who cannot get to a supermarket or cannot easily acquire fresh veggies for reasons of security, disability, scarcity, or lack of means.
Love and luck to all in this struggle!
Re: Grow fresh greens at home during shelter-in-place
Thanks for this info/idea, ValleyOak!
I've grown alfalfa sprouts before, and they need to have excellent drainage (or they mold) and , in order to turn green, they need to be exposed to sunlight (it's been a while, but I think through a window seemed to work).
The smaller the seed / the smaller the amount, the less grow space (jar) is required.
Alfalfa sprouts are tiny, and though I don't recall the quantity I used, I never needed more than 1 quart size jar.
It may have been 1-2 tablespoons of alfalfa seeds.
Also, I always refrigerated the sprouts after they turned green, and unless they looked like they were drying out, I did not usually continue watering them once they were refrigerated.
I'm thinking that the lentil sprouts might require the same...?
And, as I recall, any kind of seed can be sprouted this same way (beens, nuts, seeds, legumes etc.).
It's challenging to get all the tiny alfalfa seeds out, after the sprouts are ready...anyone got any good ideas for this part?
Are the lentils(not the sprout part) edible?
I'd think perhaps (like beans, that haven't been cooked properly) they might cause a lot of gas...?
Thanks again ValleyOak!
PS: Usually, especially at the end of the process, I prefer not to use (chlorinated) tap water...
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Valley Oak:
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Take one cup dry lentils and soak in water for 24 hours. Then distribute the same lentils into three separate mason jars. Wait two weeks and you will have green sprouts you can eat everyday as part of your salad. The more lentils you sprout, the more greens you will have and you will never run out. But you must continue to sprout new lentils every two weeks, minimum. You *must* also add fresh water every single day and immediately toss the water. You need to do this until you finish consuming your sprouts completely. This way, you avoid putrefaction because the sprouts do not sit in water; they are only very wet....
Re: Grow fresh greens at home during shelter-in-place
Mung bean sprouts are one of my favorites. It's not really a "green" vegetable, because if you expose them to the light, they tend to bitterness. But 1/4 cup of beans will make about a quart of sprouts, which gives you a pretty good amount to stir fry.
Soak the beans overnight. Rinse often (I rinse several times a day, but you might get by with once a day), drain (this is important, see more below), and keep out of the light, e.g., cover the jar with a dish towel. Ready in about 5 days, depending on temperature. The green seed coverings should have mostly separated from the sprouts, and you can wash or otherwise separate them out, since you probably won't want to eat them. I don't try to get 100% of them removed, just most.
Draining: If you're using a quart mason jar, use the canning lids with the hole in the center and screw it down over a piece of cheesecloth. Also, you can buy special "sprouting lids" online. This covering can be left on until you are ready to remove the sprouts. I suppose you could get by without any special materials like a canning lid or cheesecloth, but the idea is to keep little bugs like fruit flies out of the jar while still letting the sprouts breathe. I invert the jar into a small bowl of a size suitable to maintaining the jar at a near to vertical angle, but not so much that the bottom is covered by the the bottom of the bowl. Inspect the bowl to make sure water is not puddling at the bottom.
Re: Grow fresh greens at home during shelter-in-place
Yes! Mung bean sprouts! What a delicious idea!
So yummy and nutricious in so may ways!
:waccosun:Thanks Phredo, for all the great info!:waccosun:
"Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard.
Do not let the pain make you hate.
Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness.
Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place."
Iain Thomas
Re: Grow fresh greens at home during shelter-in-place
OH, thank you for this--I've been wanting to do some seed sprouting but wasn't clear on how or how long it takes. Now I know. Aloha, Lilith
Re: Grow fresh greens at home during shelter-in-place
SO I am not an expert but have sprouted alfalfa and a few other things in Mason jars with screen and the ring of the mason jar lid.I am sure there are on line sources, videos and you tubes with plenty of info too.
- My practice was rinse 2 times a day, (sometimes once if I forgot)
- store upside down to drain, but on an angle, so air gets in. Supposedly something about being on an angle vs. horizontal or vertical helps prevent fly egg laying activity (I do it in a bowl tilted)
- out of bright light in a clean place, that you actually want low light and light green sprouts vs. bright green sprouts (dark green is more bitter)
- I soak my seeds overnight or at least for 5 or 6 hours first. I use enough seeds to cover the bottom of the jar.
- Alfalfa sprouts shed the outer part of the seed as they sprout and it is kind of slimy, I try to rinse those out as much as possible while I am doing the daily rinses because I don't like the sliminess.
- that's my 2 cents on sprouts.
Re: Grow fresh greens at home during shelter-in-place
any suggestions for the best BULK source of sunflower seeds for sprouting? Harmony Farm was out of them when I was there.
Re: Grow fresh greens at home during shelter-in-place
Try Santa Rosa Community Market. Or Olivers Market.
If you buy a large amount, you’ll get a discount.
If the seeds are organic, they should sprout.
If the seeds are gmo, they won’t sprout.
re: Sunflowers' ability to absorb toxins from soil (after 2017 fires):
I recall, that after the 2017 fires, I heard a permaculture expert recommending to plant sunflowers, so that they’d absorb the toxins in the soil from the toxic smoke.
She also said it was important to pull them up before the seeds became ready to be eaten (by birds or humans), and to throw them into the trash—not into the compost, and certainly not to eat them.
However!
That’s a whole different thing than sprouting them indoors!
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by louise:
any suggestions for the best BULK source of sunflower seeds for sprouting? Harmony Farm was out of them when I was there.
Re: Grow fresh greens at home during shelter-in-place
Ooops! Sorry!
Re: Seeds, I need to make a correction.
gmo seeds will grow --though I definitely do NOT recommend them for sprouting--- or anything!
(Definitely not eating gmo sunflower seeds...yuck!)
Plants grown from gmo seeds, unlike non-gmo plants, will NOT produce seeds that will grow.
This is totally different than plants throughout all the past ...
And, of course, not producing seeds, forces farmers and gardeners to buy more seeds (follow the money...as usual).
That's part of the problem with gmo stuff.
Everything in sprouts is more concentrated --
That's why sprouts are so nutricious!
Unfortuneately, that concentration would include poisonous stuff that non-organic seeds would contain.
Best to choose organic!
Mama Earth and the birds and your body/health will Love ya for it!
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Posted in reply to the post by gaiasophia:
...If the seeds are gmo, they won’t sprout. ...
Re: Grow fresh greens at home during shelter-in-place
Yes, the whole sprouted lentil is edible. Quite nice actually
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by gaiasophia:
...Are the lentils(not the sprout part) edible?
I'd think perhaps (like beans, that haven't been cooked properly) they might cause a lot of gas...?...
Re: Grow fresh greens at home during shelter-in-place
Try livestock feed stores. They sell them in bulk. And bird food suppliers. Probably not organic but fresh yes. Definitely not GMO.
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by louise:
any suggestions for the best BULK source of sunflower seeds for sprouting? Harmony Farm was out of them when I was there.
Re: Grow fresh greens at home during shelter-in-place
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Anu:
Yes, the whole sprouted lentil is edible. Quite nice actually
Yes, I made my first jar this week.....with the lentils, don't let their little "tails" get longer then the seed itself...Mung beans are a different story.....
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Re: Grow fresh greens at home during shelter-in-place
Here is another photographic update of how we produce our own greens in a few days:
Re: Grow fresh greens at home during shelter-in-place
So, Valley Oak, the bottom pictures are of the lentil sprouts growing greens above the jar? I get the sprouting part, but could you provide more detail of how you get them to that stage? It looks like there is water in the bottom for the roots to access? It looks like the roots are now above the bottom? How big do you let them get before you cut them for the greens? How much lentils did you start with in the quart jar? Do you give them full sun, windowsill variety? And any thing else you can think of? Looks really neat!
Re: Grow fresh greens during shelter-in-place
Fred, thank you for asking these questions and I guarantee you that you're not the only one who has them. However, my wife is the lentil sprouting genius in our household and I only eat them. Until she gets back so that I can answer your excellent questions, here are some Youtube videos on how to sprout lentils for homegrown greens:
