Microgreens

Every single time I buy one of those plastic clamshells of not inexpensive organic greens, I end up getting one or two salads out of it and then start seeing lots of slimy bits.  So the pigs get the remaining greens and the recycle bin gets the clamshell.  

It stunk to have to put one more plastic container into recycling when we're hearing that a lot of stuff isn't getting recycled as we thought!

So I decided to follow up on a speaker, Peter Burke, whom I heard at the Mother Earth News Fair a couple of years ago and start growing my own microgreens.  

First, I got his book, "Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening," as a Christmas gift.  

Then, I started collecting all that I needed - the dirt, the compost, the seed, the dishes for growing.  Peter Burke suggests using aluminum foil bread pans, but I don't like to use aluminum foil in anything if I can help it as I've read it's linked to Alheizmers.  And the pans wouldn't last indefinitely - so I went to our local Goodwill store and picked up some glass baking dishes.  

Following Burke's instructions I put the growing medium in a bag (I know - plastic - but I plan to reuse it over and over - I need to think about this) and kneaded water into the soil to moisten it. 

I had these seeds left over from a failed attempt at growing sprouts.

The growing medium gets placed in a dark place for four days and then the emerging seedlings get pulled out and placed in the sun to green and grow. 

 You can see these two growing pans about four days apart.  The bottom dish will get a couple more growing days and then I'll have an incredibly fresh salad!  

As we eat the greens, we'll feed the root ball that's left behind to the pigs or chickens for a nice fresh wintertime treat - zero waste!

...Then reuse the dishes and start the next round of salad greens.

Is it as easy as purchasing greens at the grocery store?  Definitely not!  And there is a start-up cost for supplies.  

But I hope, that once I get a growing rotation in place, I'll never again have to waste money to buy greens that turn slimy. 

And I won't be adding more plastic to the landfill!