Saturday, March 9, 2013

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.

7 comments:

  1. Hi, Wendy. Did you download the PDF on sprouting from my blog post on corn yesterday? I am still in the learning process of how to get it right, myself. My friend always has sprouts growing on her kitchen counter to add to sandwiches. Mine turn out a tad too bitter for that. lol I kind of wish I had chickens to give my attempts to instead of the compost pile!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I did, and I read over it quickly, but that's the same problem I seem to have. They turn out very bitter and sort of too crispy. The mung beans anyway- I haven't tried eating any of the others yet. I do plan to try the chia and peas though, maybe I'll have better luck with them.

      Delete
  2. That's a good idea on a small enough scale that I could do it inside, too! I hope that snow will soon be a thing of the past for you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mary Ann. I'm hoping we'll be done with snow by April, but maybe not 'til May.

      Delete
  3. A "bit" of snow, lol...that picture shows quite a bit. Timely post on sprouting - I have a few lentils left in the bottom of a bag that I want to try sprouting and spent a lot of last evening googling easy methods. Never thought of ice cream buckets! Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My hens did not like kidney beans sprouted. They just shook them about. I don't like kidney beans, so I was willing to sprout some for the hens. I need to try something else so that I will be less stressed about them getting green food. Of course, the grass and weeds still are green all winter. But, some days the weather is not fit for me to be out. Those days, the hens huddle at the back door or under the picnic table. There is not much foraging happening out there.

    ReplyDelete
  5. hey wendy!

    sorry it's been so long - my bad - especially as your ingenuity never fails to disappoint ;-)

    hope you are your crew up there are making out great!

    cheers!

    ReplyDelete