Growing Stuff

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The final measure

In the end, I got about 12 cups of sprouts from my 1/4 salad mix seeds.

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A nice dressing for these sprouts is:

1/4 cup minced onion (I used scallion, from my CSA box)
1/2 cup tomatoes, seeded and diced (I used a late harvest heirloom tomato)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh herb (I used basil, but you could use almost any)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar (rice wine vinegar would be nice too I think, or mirin.  A more mild vinegar anyway; I think cider or balsamic would overwhelm the delicate sprout flavor)
1/3 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

I whisked all the liquids together, added the seasonings, whisked again, then mixed in the onion and tomatoes.  I don’t like plain sprout salad, but I put my dressed sprouts on a bed of other greens (arugula is a good with my seed mix, which has arugula sprouts, but whatever works).  I had some more avocado and added a few slices.  Nice, light, healthy and tasty salad.

FYI, the PeakFresh bag my sprouts are in is awesome.  I got mine from sproutpeople although I’m sure there are other sources, and likely less expensive.  I’ve been using them about a month now.  The produce in my CSA box comes loose, and I bag it up in these, and I’ve been very impressed with the longevity of the produce it provides. They somehow move the ethylene gas out of the bag slowing down the ripening (aging) process.

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My black thumb and I

The pea shoots look terrible. Pretty sure it’s just density and it’s not that I can’t grow something.  I hope anyway.  I wonder if pea seeds of different varieties can be different enough sizes that mine are that much larger than the video I watched.

I also wonder now that I’m having crowding issues — when he did 1 1/2 cups for a 10×20 tray if that was measured after soaking, which would make a big difference.  Obviously I didn’t think so, but I just can’t account for the discrepancy otherwise .

Even my new batch seem like they will be too crowded again.  And that was 1/2 cup before soaking for 10×10.

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My sprouts look and taste good.

img_4479This is French Garden mix from Sprout People and includes Clover, Arugula, Cress, Radish, Fenugreek, Dill. More expensive than a basic seed but I wanted a tasty mix for my first foray into sprouts.  I used an Easy Sprouter but it is basically like doing it in a mason jar. This just has an inner cup with holes like a strainer in the bottom which makes draining it super easy. Having done it though, I don’t think it has that much advantage over a mason jar with an easy to remove and replace sprouting lid.

I started with 1/4 cup seed mix in my sprouter and set it to soak for 8 hours (important, with a salad mix. Too long and it will go anaerobic, too little and they won’t sprout well).  Drained well, kinda tapped it so seeds were climbing the sides and spread out a bit, and then left it 24 hours with a vented lid. After that I fill the cup and soak 5-15 minutes twice a day, using a chopstick to fluff it up and break up the solid mass. Re-drain, until as dry as possible, repeating. The sprouts eventually produce a leaf, shedding a hull, and the cup keeps getting fuller.  It’s ready to eat now. It’s a lot of sprouts for just me.  Hope the kids like it in their salad at least.

I like the flavor. It’s not too grassy, which is how I recall “sprouts” (they were probably alfalfa).

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Shoot, an update

So the pea shoots aren’t rooting at all.  I think they are just too crowded.  Videos show that the roots get all curled up together like a mat.  Mine, not so much. If you just gently tug a shoot, it will lift right out.  They did grow to about the height where they are pushing the cover off.  But only a few have leafed past the initial cotyledon stage.  My tray looks less crowded and lush than any video examples that I saw in various videos.  There when they were ready to harvest its like a mini tangled jungle. Not that mine is ready to harvest.  But it’s sparse and anemic looking right now.

I’m not sure whether to cover them back up and hope the root situation improves, or to just pull the lid and see if they will green and leaf more.  I am going to go ahead and start the other side of the tray with fewer seeds, maybe try soaking 1/2 cup and see how that goes.

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itty bitty leaves

Day 5 Pea Shoots. Look how fast they grow!

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We mist twice a day, keeping it covered aside from that.  These are still in the cotyledon stage, just about 2-3 inches, and I’m thinking we will go to the second true leaf, right when the tendrils start to unfold, before trying to green them in the gray end-of-October days.  FYI, I knew almost nothing about growing and cotyledons and true leaves or anything until I started this experiment. (At least no practical information.  I’m sure I diagrammed such things back in science class 1000 years ago ;)) I’ve learned about earthworm castings and vermiculite.  I’m feeling oddly confident; as if this were really anything like gardening.  But I always thought my thumbs weren’t so green.

My daughter is just loving seeing these things grow.  It’s a lot more instant gratification than the container tomato plant she got from a trip to a farm and tended this summer.  Every time we open it to mist, they’ve visibly changed.

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Peas – don’t shoot, I’m unarmed!

One reason I have been working to get my preparedness binder in shape is that otherwise I get distracted with side projects. Take sprouting, for instance.  I was reading about food storage and clicked off on one link or another and was reading about sprouts.  A lot of nutrition, a good way to have something fresh and green with your food storage meals.  Apparently pretty easy to add sprouting items to your preps.

I remember a couple of my Mom’s friends who I suppose looking back, were homesteaders. They raised rabbit for food, had gardens, chickens and compost piles.  I don’t think we called it that, they were hippies. When I was there, meal time was very strange to me. I seem to recall everything had wheat germ in it. Anyway, 35-40 years ago were those times, and that’s the last time I ever really had “sprouts”.

So, reading about sprouts, picked up a kindle unlimited book to read and found learning about growing sprouts are often paired with learning about microgreens.  Well, I pay a fortune for pea shoots whenever they are available at my local New Seasons.   I can grow those?!  In my house?

Pea shoots are amazing. Tons of vitamins, far more than the actual peas that they would eventually produce.  Pea Shoots are a nutritious leaf with high levels of vitamin C and vitamin A. A 50g portion (about 2/3 a cereal bowl full) of these tasty greens offers more than half of the RDA for vitamin C, a quarter of the RDA for vitamin A and significant amounts of folic acid.   They aren’t a significant source of calories (only 9 for those 50g), but for nutrition and for varying your diet and preventing food fatigue, And just because I love them and they are expensive to buy, this sounds like something I “need”.

I tried to figure out online why kind of yield I could expect from a pound of pea seeds.  One site selling organic seeds suggested it’s only 1 pound per pound of seeds. The OSU extension office had far different yields. However, I think that was geared towards large scale growing with multiple harvests from each seed rather than indoor 20″x10″ planting trays, harvesting at the base when they reach a few inches.

So never mind I have a lot more important items to acquire first, I decide that I just have to test it myself. A few days pass.  Ding dong!  My box from sprout people arrived!

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(In addition to my pea shoot experiment, I also got a pound of a seed blend for traditional sprouting.) So 1 lb. of this particular pea seed was about 2 1/2 cups, and to do half the tray (as you can see, I got a split tray; that way I can stagger the plantings) should take about 3/4 cup.  So my daughter is excited about this experiment too.  She measured out the seeds and set them to soaking so tomorrow we can “plant” them.

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Of course, there is no way she will eat these. Probably. She might tolerate them in her salad; she does love a salad.  Time will tell 🙂