I believe the Perfect Holiday Gift this year is the Hydrofarm table top garden light. It’s on sale right now on Amazon.com for $45.83. With a simple toggle clamp for easy height adjustment, it allows anyone to grow their own nutrient dense greens on the counter top, helping to create a ‘green living kitchen’.We already ordered up a bunch for family, both young and old. We are making a kit of it by adding a bag of garden soil and sunflower seeds.
Sunflower greens are the champion of the chlorophyll rich sprouts. Inexpensive and easy to grow, they are a great way to supply the kitchen with a steady stream of enzymes from just one tray!
It is known that raw life-force chlorophyll strengthens the cells, detoxifies the liver and bloodstream, as well as neutralizes polluting elements that can cause cancer. Now thats my kind of gift! ( We do use Hydrofarm garden lights at Diet For Living Center and are totally pleased with them.)
Here’s the easiest way I have found to grow a tray of Raw Food Sunflower Sprouts
Germination
Using two glass jars, soak 1 ½ cups of sunflower seeds over night.
Drain in the morning, and set the jars on its side, out of direct sunlight.
Rinse and drain the sprouts for 2-3 days.
When a little white bud of a tail appears on the seed they are ready to plant!
Planting
Cover the table top to avoid mess (I use plastic trash bags).
Mix the soil you like to use with a bit of peat moss in a pail or pan. This will assure good soil ventilation and drainage for developing roots.
Wet the soil till it is the consistency of a mud pie.
Pat the soil into your garden tray about an inch and half thick.
Spread your germinated seeds loosely over the soil.
Gently give the baby sprouts a pat with you bare hand.
Cover your seeds with 4-8 pieces of soaking wet newspaper.
Using another garden tray, place it over the top and set the whole growing environment in a cool place.
On the fourth or fifth day, the seeds will begin to raise the newspaper as they stretch their ‘legs’.
Take off the covering and give them their first drink with a watering can, keeping the water gentle and even.
Place your tray under your Hydrofarm light and watch them turn green and grow. Water them daily. They should be ready around the 7th day. Cut your greens as close to the base as possible, as this is where the majority of the vitamins are stored. That’s how easy it is to grow micro greens!
Add these vitamin dense spouts to the top of your salads, and get ready to be amazed how sweet yummy they are.
NOTE:
The above information is general and it may take a bit of tweaking for your climate. Stay open to discovering easier ways for you to do it. Above all keep it fun! With two growing set-ups, you should be able to rotate the germination, growing and eating so that you have back-to-back greens through out the winter!