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The truth of how sprouts are taking over my diet seems a little too good to be true. I guess I'll find out as I go along. Today they've taken over my life. Just about every activity I've enjoined today has something to do with sprouting. I've got six different types of seeds either germinating or soaking to start the germination process.
The last batch of seeds I set to soaking happened because I suddenly realized that an empty mesh bag that some small limes came in from the grocery store, was just the perfect sized bag I could use to soak some hulled sunflower seeds in. It's the same kind of synthetic material that bags of oranges usually come in, but the mesh in the lime bag is small enough so that sunflower seeds won't fall out, but sesame seeds would. I put about a cup or so of sunflower seeds in that polyester bag, and now they're soaking in a dishpan of clean water overnight.
Using a cloth bag to germinate seeds in is another method for sprouting. The online articles about sprouting I've been reading states that using cloth bags instead of widemouth jars with screens is not unusual. The process needed for sprouting is still the same. Many sprouters who write about it seem to prefer using bags instead of jars, but the bags they recommend to do this with are very expensive for a fixed income person like me. $14 plus shipping for a quart-sized drawstring bag riles up the miser in me.
If this bag the limes came in works okay, I can buy more bags of limes for much less than I can buy one hemp cloth bag. The most popular sprouting bags are made of woven hemp cloth that's manufactured in China. The Chinese also use bamboo baskets for sprouting seeds. In a new age sort of way I can see where this would have a nostalgic appeal to a lotta people. Especially people who grow medical marijuana, but muslin cloth or cheese cloth bags work just as good or better.
All the containers are designed for conveniently wetting the seeds several times each day. The wide-mouth quart jars I use have stainless steel screen lids. After I put the seeds in them and cover the seeds with water to let them soak, I just pour off the excess water and lean them at an angle. I don't have to remove the screens again until the sprouts are grown. After they're initially soaked to start the germinating process, I gotta wet the seeds a couple of times a day, and then drain the excess water off through the screens.
I've read some comments about it being the size of the seeds being sprouted that decides whether to use a cloth bag or a screened jar. One article suggested using the same screening that can be bought at a hardware store. The writer said they preferred the plastic screen material because it comes in different gauges and is cheap enough to throw away if they get clogged or don't work as expected. .
Interestingly enough, most of the articles on sprouting are not about sprouting seeds for food, but growing marijuana. The process is exactly the same. They don't stop with sprouts though, but have instructions on how to grow the plants all the way through to harvesting the buds. Unfortunately that's illegal here. It's not worth the risk of getting caught growing pot.
I'll soak the sunflower seeds until tomorrow, and after that I'll take the bag of sunflower seeds out of the soaking water and hang them up to germinate inside a black trash bag to keep them out of the light for a few days. Then, all I have to do is put them under the faucet for a couple seconds to re-wet them a couple of times or so a day, hang them back up, and wait for them to push the hulls open and start sprouting.
Presently, I have some hulled sunflower seeds growing in one inch of potting soil over in the greenhouse. They grew real nice into two-leaved salad plants. Any more growth beyond two leaves and the sprouts get bitter. They have a strong taste anyway. I can either use them for a salad with the other sprouts or for sandwiches. I haven't tried them in an omelette yet. I have made an omelette with mung bean sprouts I bought at the grocery store.
In a way, changing my diet like this is sheer entertainment where none was before. It's a point of focus on something besides just making sure I take my medicine each day. That's no reason to live at all. I have lots to do each day with my writing and playing the scales on the piano, but growing the food I eat is a very interesting project.
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I do not attempt to tell the God's own truth here because I don't know what the truth is or hardly ever. I try to capture the drifting thoughts that randomly appear in my imagination for reasons I may not understand. I don't know if the content I capture with these words is true or false. The Comments settings are turned off to prevent me from having to defend what amounts to little more than fanciful, sometime crude speculation. Great moments in our lives never return.
