Sprouts for the Ladies

When the new ladies arrived I went through the cupboard to see what I had available to sprout for them. These mung beans remain from when I attempted sprouts for human food. I still don't know what I'm doing wrong with them, but they don't resemble bean sprouts from the grocery store at all.

I poked holes through the bottom of 6 ice cream buckets with a knife.  They hold the seeds, while the bottom buckets catch the drips.  One stack should be plenty, but I haven't quite figured out the appropriate amount of seeds yet.  Once they start growing and expanding the upper buckets tend to squish them.  Dividing them into two stacks allows today and tomorrow's sprouts to both rest on top of the pile.  I add about an inch of water to the top buckets a few times a day, and it drips through to the bottom.

 Right now I have northern beans, two batches of red lentils (the goats' favourite), popcorn, mung beans, and soft wheat sprouting.

I bought a variety of seeds and grains at the grocery store to sprout; Congo pigeon peas, yellow peas, amaranth, quinoa, red lentils, green lentils, soft wheat, northern beans and popcorn.  I bought poppy seeds and chia seeds at the bulk food store.  I also sprout a wild bird feed mix.

Keeping the hens in fresh greens while we wait for spring.

Because even though it's warming up, we still have a bit of snow to melt before we see anything green outside.