Two weeks ago Jason and I decided to go on a Sprouting Adventure. Neither one of us had tried it and we had both always heard it was easy. I looked it up and wowwee look at all the info I found!
++ Sprouts ++ More Sprouts ++ And More Sprouts ++ Buying sprouting kits ++ Sprout recipes ++ Different types of sprouts ++ Overview of Sprouting ++ Questions about sprouts (health concerns addressed ++
I headed to my local co op and found sprouting containers, but couldn’t find the seeds for sprouting. I asked, there was a whole display with a huge sign that said “For Sprouting!” haha! So it goes. I looked at the sprouting containers a little more and realized I had everything at home I needed to sprout my sprouts except the seeds.
Cheese Cloth + Mason jars + Water = Sprouts!
I was shocked how easy it was. I read all the tutorials I could find (above were the best I got my hands on) and had a go at it.
I wanted to experiment a bit, so I used smaller wide mouth mason jars and tried out 4 types of seeds. Alfalfa, broccoili, radish, and a salad mix. And labeled each one on the bottom. I put about a 1/2 Tablespoon of seeds in each jar and replaced the lid with cheese cloth.
Then I filled each jar half way, rinsed, emptied, and filled half way again. Then they took a nap overnight soaking in the water. Drain, rinse, and drain again in the morning.
After that the rinse and repeat cycle started. You need to fill your jars with water, rinse, and empty out the water every morning and every night. You also want to store them in a cool dry place out of the light (in the picture above they were moved to the window so I could photograph them, they were moved back to the kitchen counter out of the sunlight). I stored them in my cake pan so the water would continue to drain out and they would get plenty of air flow.
It took about 4 days (including the night soaking as day 1) for them to mature. The last picture is day 3 and then on day 4 I woke up to find each jar packed!
Then you take off the lids and let them sit in the sun for a few hours and their leaves will green right up!
I stored mine in the frig with the lid off. We made way too many and some will go to waste, but they were delicious on just about everything we could think to put them in and on. I particularly liked the salad mix and Jason’s favorite were the alfalfa sprouts.
So go have some fun and make some sprouts!
In other news, while I did manage to get the tapestry loom and the recipe box up on ebay, the fabric was a bust. I have about 4 yards of this one fabric and when I went to photograph it there were stains all over the place. I think I can salvage a yard of it, but I decided to go ahead and put it aside for now. I’m going to pick out a few things tonight to put up tomorrow. (edited in: I took the product shots, was going to list them, and then started having second thoughts, sorry folks, I’ll grab something I’ve had a little longer next time so I can handle passing it on to a new home, haha).
Jason and I built a light box, and I spent a lot of today getting it set up right with lights and all that and I swear it was like relearning to use my camera. It’s like the more you know, the more you know you don’t know anything, that’s how I feel with photography. While my photos have improved significantly over the last 2 years, I feel like I’ve plateaued. I’m spending some extra time learning some new things to help me improve. The point of this sidenote in today’s post? I found This blog and it has been amazing for everything from the basics to particular subject photography techniques (like the zoo, landscape, kids, pets, etc). I am going to a lama farm tomorrow with the Ames Area Fiber Arts Guild and am looking forward to having the chance of photographing them (if the farm/other guild members don’t mind too much). I’m also hoping to make it to the zoo in Des Moines this weekend to photograph some animals and groups of people as well as my sketch book.
I think I could start rambling quite a bit if I don’t stop myself here, so I’ll end this here. Hope you all have a great evening! See you Wednesday!
The sprouts looked great. I have to try that. I need to make myself a light box and would love to see the one you made. You don’t need to go into too many details but if you could relate some of the tricky parts (if there were any) that would be great.
They look absolutely adorable in those jars! I would grow them just for decoration if I didn’t already like sprouts.
My grandmother used to grow sprouts in her windowsill year round in Texas. You can also buy mung beans and adzuki beans at the health food store for sprouting. I haven’t thought about sprouting in so long, I can’t wait to start.