Sprouting Day 3

Alfalfa on the 7th (after 1 day)

O.K. I started these sprouts on the 6th. Today is the 9th.

Alfalfa on Feb 9th (after 3 days)

I've been rinsing them twice a day and they are starting to look really great. If you were in a rush, you could already eat them. I'll wait, since they will probably still double in size. I'll start a batch of Quinoa seeds sprouting today to keep the rotation going.

Peas (after 3 days)

Here are the peas, just laying on top of the potting soil. I've kept a plastic cover over them to maintain the humidity and sprayed them with water a few times. I'm going to turn the light on them today since I want them to start producing leaves.

Why A Grow Table?

peas and broccoli--for greens, not the garden

soaked peas spread on potting soil

So, as you know, the grow table is up. I'm currently sprouting, so the lights aren't on yet, but I realized that I didn't know how much it was costing in electricity to run this grow-op in my basement once it is in full swing. I was pleasantly surprised. I pay about 11.5 cents/kWh for electricity and my table has 4x 40W "gro-light" bulbs. My electric timer will instigate an enviable 14/10hr day/night cycle. A little math indicates that I am paying about $0.26/day or $8.10/month. I will run the lights for 3 months coming out to $24.30 for electricity consumption. I almost forgot that you will have some fixed costs associated with setting up a table. We were given ours by a family that had used it for 30 years or more. If you shopped at the ReStore or other budget sources, I expect you could make a small table for $30. New, You might be looking at $50-60. All you really need is fluorescent light with gro-bulbs and rope to hang it with. To get fancy you would build a 2x4 construction table and get some pulleys for variable height on your lights. So, if $$ are your main concern, you may not see savings until next year, depending on what you grow. For us, it is clearly a cost savings over buying all the starter plants that we managed to produce. Below is a picture of our green house last May with SOME of the things we started on the grow table.

our greenhouse in early May, 2010

Putting that aside. I don't even think that is the most beneficial part to me. February is a brutal month in Saskatchewan. The cold, the low light and wilted produce leave me feeling drab, to say the least. Over the next few weeks I will be waking up and going into the bright warmth of our little growing space. It smells moist and earthy. Things are growing. Winter will be over in this little haven. To me, there are no dollar signs big enough for such an equation.

Let There Be Sprouts

We have brought our grow table out of the garage and set it up in our basement. This will be our 3rd attempt and things went very well last year. I thought about you guys immediately and decided to try and post an as-it-happens series. If anyone has been daunted by sprouting or starting your own seeds, this could be a chance to leap in and make some mistakes. Also, we are highly experimental and would love feed-back if you have questions or ideas to contribute, please do.

a low cost operation

Sprouts are a great activity to try in the winter. They take up next to no space, the consequences of failure are exceedingly small, and they provide a great learning opportunity for adults and kids. Did I mention that they are super healthy and delicious? You could be eating your own sprouts THIS WEEK if you start now :)

I'm starting you off with alfalfa. It is cheap, easy to sprout and has a nice, neutral, fresh green taste. You can diversify into all kinds of sprouting, eventually. My seeds came from Dad's Nutrition Centre on 8th St.

I've put 2 tablespoons of seed into a 1L pickle jar (you could use just about anything, but clear is best). Add enough water to cover them. Let them sit in the dark for several hours. I put mine on top of the fridge since the warm air from the coils makes it a bit warmer than the rest of our chilly house.

style counts!!!

After the seeds sit for a few hours (over night is better), start the rinsing cycle. I've taken a spare piece of nylon screen (cheese-cloth would work) and hold it on with a stylish pink rubber band recovered from the broccoli we buy. Dump the water out, rinse and let drain. You will want to rinse them a couple of times a day (three if you have any molding issues). It takes about 10 seconds so remembering is really the tricky part. Whatever works with your schedule--Before and after work then before bed would be lots.

My seeds draining into a glass bread pan

That's it! Rinse them for 4-7 days. how long will depend on temperature. When they are fluffy and filling your container give them a final rinse. If you don't want to eat the unsprouted seeds, you may remove the spouts from the jar for the final rinse. Let them sit their last day on a sunny window, or under your grow light (that's why you wanted a clear container). This lets the leaves green up and adds some great nutrition. Then just pop them in the fridge or eat them on the spot.

If you eat them a lot, start a batch every 3-4 days. They are great on hot-dogs/tofu-dogs, salads, sandwiches, even some soups.

Wendy on Growing in February

It's February, a dark and depressing month.  If you live in Saskatchewan like I do, it will be late May before you are eating your first crops out of the ground.  Now is a great time to be growing a few things indoors.  My favorites are herbs, sprouts and lettuces (see what I started last year).

Sprouts
These are my favorites to grow in the winter. The method is easy and you don't need to have a window for them to grow.  Plus, they have a lot of nutrition in them for their small size, and they taste great because they are fresh. My favorites are pea shoots, but I also like quinoa and bean. There are places to buy whole sprouting kits, but we just use a glass pickle jar and some mesh. They are also a really fast crop.

Herbs:
I bring my herbs in at the end of each fall and eat them over the winter. My oregano usually gets aphids by December (and did this year) but my mint and rosemary grow well.  Look for herbs that are cold tolerant and grow them in a south facing window that is well sealed from cold.  I don't have that, so I grow them in a cold north window with the help of a grow light. Even with all that support, basil and other sun-lovers don't make it through the winter.

Lettuces:
I usually start these when I put my grow table up over February break. Lettuce is great because, like sprouts, you can harvest it more than once.  When my lettuce is a little over 20 cm tall, I cut it back to about 8 am and eat all the baby leaves.  You can cut and come back for more as often as you like when it is growing well. If you don't have a grow light, Feb. is too early to start lettuce well unless you have a very sunny window - you need to have heat and light for longer than you get them in a sunny Saskatchewan day through a window this time of year.

Are you thinking about growing indoors this year?

Wow!

This is great! I am glad to see that the blog is up and running. Thanks Mike and Wendy for your hard work and commitment to creating this blog!
Natalie & Shayne

Michael on "Thanks for the blog and the study"

Thanks to Wendy and Mike for setting up this blog. It is our window into the environmental movement in Saskatoon and beyond. I look forward to learning lots from it. And thanks to Shannon for all the work on the study. Lisa, Jasmine, Gabriel, Noah, Jonas and I were all delighted to be a part of the study. We met some great and inspiring people and we hope to keep in touch.

Now for a treat - Are mushrooms the new plastic? http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/eben_bayer_are_mushrooms_the_new_plastic.html

Shannon on "As the Research Comes to a Close":

As I walked home from my last research interview yesterday night, I was in high spirits as I reflected on completing what I felt to be an amazing study. But accompanying my gratification was a lingering sense of sadness that all had come to an end.

I have loved getting to know all of you throughout the past 5 months. I really enjoyed the stories, experiences, and views you shared (with and without my computer recording us in the background!) and I feel fortunate to be able to keep those conversations alive through the writing of my thesis. This past 5 months has been a great journey and, in many ways, I wish it wasn’t coming to an end! But I suppose endings are just new beginnings, so I look forward to what our next chapters will bring.

Again, it was wonderful working with all of you! I look forward to keeping in touch and learning about the steps you’re all taking to live more sustainably :)