I have contemplated starting the outside garden, but apparently it started itself. I found this thriving pea plant merrily blooming on the side fence. Yes, I have planted peas, but not this season. We’ll see how it does! (I really should plant some of the other dozens of seeds I have stock piled, but it has been dreary and there are still frosts in the forecast.)
I planted some herb seeds in the tiny pots and they are sprouting! This isn’t usually the part I have issues with; I can usually get sprouts, but then getting the sprouts to harvestable plants has been problematic. I am hoping the grow light will help, and I steeled myself and thinned the seedlings (after this picture). I think that is usually my issue. It bothers me to pull out the cute little seedlings from their cozy bed next to their brothers and sisters. I had to think that none of them would grow well if there aren’t enough resources. The thinned sprouts went to the chickens, so no waste there.
I decided to experiment with plant labels. I’ve done the popsicle sticks, the engraved metal labels, and even sticking the seed package into the ground (yeah, that one really didn’t last long). Wire is one of my favorite media, so I tried some word writing with wire.
I used 18 gauge brass wire, and tried different styles for each word. I think they came out well. They are a little big for my tiny pots, but they make a statement. Mainly “herbs here”.
If any of my seeds sprout and grow, I’ll take pictures and share!
Since I have my handy kitchen sprouter, and it works well to sprout alfalfa (which also tastes good on tacos, by the way), I thought I would try some other sprouting seeds.
Sprouting seed assortment
I found a variety pack of six kinds of sprouting seed mixes. I only have four sprouting trays, so I labeled the trays and rotated which seeds went in the trays. Since I was writing things down, I also recorded when the seeds were started and when the sprouts were ready to eat. (For me, that usually means the sprouts are nearing the top of the tray and there is only one set of leaves.) The trays are near an LED grow light, the house is around 72 degrees, and I change out the water twice a day (data provided for research purposes).
The crimson lentil sprouts took 6 days to sprout. We were not impressed with the taste of these raw, the aftertaste was strong. The chickens loved them.
The mung beans took 6 days to sprout. The sprouts are larger, but we didn’t like the taste raw. The chickens loved them.
The broccoli blend sprouts took 5 days. I really liked these sprouts raw; the flavor is very mild. The chickens loved them.
The Spring salad mix took 5 days to sprout. This has some zing! The radish sprouts in the mix pack a punch. The chickens loved them.
The ancient eastern blend sprouts took 6 days to sprout. I don’t care for the taste raw, the after taste isn’t as strong as the mung beans, but still not to my taste. The chickens loved them.
Alfalfa takes 6 days to sprout. These are my favorite (although that broccoli mix makes a very close second). The chickens love them too, but usually only get what is left over after tacos! No, there is no picture of the alfalfa sprouts because we ate them before I remembered to take a picture. Maybe I’ll remember to snap a shot on the next batch. Maybe.
My eldest wanted to try roasting acorns as we have post oaks and the yard is covered in thousands of tiny acorns. We also found a few white oak acorns at a neighbor’s as we read that those are sweeter.
We followed the instructions from The Farmer’s Almanac, and after shelling the acorns (we found pliers worked better than a nut cracker), did the cold water soak to remove the tannins.
While we were shelling, we found quite a few were moldy or had acorn weevil grubs. We threw out the black and moldy nuts, but kept the grubs. The chickens appreciated the treat.
After changing out the water a few times, we dried the acorns in the oven, but the “keep warm” option on my oven didn’t just dry, it started roasting the acorns, so I turned up the heat to finish roasting.
The acorns smelled amazing as they were roasting! We let them cool when they were chocolate brown, added a little salt, and tried them. No. Oh no. Definitely no. I can see how ground acorn could be a coffee substitute, it has a similar taste to coffee beans, but ours were dense and chewy, not at all pleasant to eat. So these go on our “only during an apocalypse” food list!
Critters and Craft 