Parsons' Prairie Farm

Sprout Adventure – Final Post

It’s time for my final Sprout Adventure blog post!  Growing my own sprouts has been a huge success, especially if you could have seen how quickly the chicks ate them up.  Not only were they easy to grow but they looked and smelled delicious as well.  I am going to have to make extra for us to eat at home.  They would be wonderful on salads, sandwiches and in stir fry, just to name a few.

But, here we go with the last group of pictures.  Here are the sprouts when I pulled them out of the jar for the last time.  I wish you could have had the opportunity to smell the freshness and simple goodness of the spourts.  This group was the radish, broccoli and alfalfa sprout combo.

I took the fresh sprouts out to the chickens and wow did they go crazy over them.  It was hard to get a good picture, they made such a fuss over them.

Needless to say, I will be growing sprouts all winter for both the chickens and my family.  It is an easy, inexpensive way to add healthy, fresh greens to our diets all winter long.

Sprouts – End of Day 5

First of all, sorry I didn’t do a post for Day 4 of my sprout adventure.  By the time I got home from work late, took care of the chicks and watched the Presidential Debate, I was just too tired to post.

So here we are at the end of Day 5.  My radish, alfalfa & broccoli mix are doing great and are ready to harvest.

My bean and pea sprouts seem to be moving along a little slower.  Here is how they look at the end of Day 5.  I think I will rinse, drain and let them sit another day.

But the alfalfa, radish and broccoli mix are defnitely ready to go.  I laid them out on a towel just to get a good look at them.

Then I put them in a bowl of water.  I swished the sprouts around in the water to loosen up the seeds that were attached to the sprouts.

Then I took a spoon and took as many of the seeds out as possible.  (A big thank you to my hand model, Jeff)

When I had finished cleaning them up, I put the sprouts back in the jar for just another day.  I will put them in my window in hopes that they get a little bit of sunlight and green up just a bit.

I can’t wait to give the chicks their sprouts.  They are going to love them!

Sprouts – End of Day 3

Well, we have made it through the end of Day 3 of my sprout adventure and things are going well.  The little sprouts are getting longer and fuller each day.  Every morning I do another rinse and drain them so that they can spend the day growing.  My chicks are smacking their little beaks in anticipation!

Growing Sprouts

I have decided to grow sprouts.  As you probably already know, sprouts are rich with vitamins, minerals, proteins and enzymes and are a wonderful addition to your diet. Although many people grow and eat them for this very reason, I will actually be growing them for my chickens.  I think this will be a wonderful way to add those same wonderful benefits to their diet and be able to provide them fresh greens all winter long.

So, I am off on my first sprouting adventure.  All I needed to get started was a couple of quart canning jars, a piece of needlework canvas (for my jar lids) and the seeds for sprouting.  I found that there are numerous places to purchase seeds over the internet, but just to get started, chose to purchase mine at my local health food store.

To get started, I cut lids out of the needlework canvas for my wide mouth jars.  This will allow me to drain the water off the sprouts as they grow.

Then I put my seeds in the mason jars, filled them up halfway with water and let them soak overnight.  I am working on 2 jars of sprouts, one is a combo of organic alfalfa, radish & broccoli and the other a combo of organic mung bean & green pea.

This morning, I put my lids on the jars and drained the water out.

Twice, on this first day, I have poured fresh water in the jars and rinsed the seeds well.  When I pour the rinse water out of the jar, I am careful to leave the seeds spread out as much as possible.  This helps them to have air to begin their sprouting process.  I have left the jars (upside down so any remaining water can drain out) in my dish drainer over night.

I will post again tomorrow and let you know how our little sprouts are doing on Day 2.