Sunday, February 6, 2011

Sprouts

Remember my failed attempt at mung bean sprouts?  Well, the second attempt didn't go much better.

They are still growing massive hairy roots.  I'm thinking that if I keep them shallower, then they won't need the long roots to reach the water.  In the meantime- goats and chickens can feast on these.

The smaller jar is some red lentils, which seem to be very slow getting started.  They are sprouting, but not at all like the mung beans.





One more attempt, this time a smaller amount in a bowl. 

There was a discussion on an email list the other day, about sprouting critter feed.  In particular- for the chickens and the goats.  It's supposed to add more nutrition into their diets.  I haven't done the research yet, I'm just playing with the 'how much of a pain in the ass' versus 'how much money will I save theory'.  I figure it'll be a cash savings, due to the bulk created in sprouting seed.



I bought a bag of scratch grain at the feed store.  It's at least half filled with cracked corn, which doesn't impress me much.  The brand that I normally buy at TSC is all seed and grain.  It works- it is sprouting- but it smells kind of gross.






Then I bought a bag of wild bird feed- which is all grain and seed.  Same principle, and it smells much better so far.
Then I started looking around for more stuff to sprout.  Hmm.  This cantaloupe was destined for chicken feed anyway...




The kids ate a bit around the edges, but most of it was already soft and mushy.  I scooped the seeds, and soaked them overnight.



I'll see if they sprout in a few days.  And maybe if I keep practicing, I'll eventually figure out what I'm doing wrong with the mung beans.  For the moment, the thought of tripling the value of a bag of feed will have to sustain me.

3 comments:

  1. This is an interesting idea, tripling the amount of feed from a bag of scratch would be wonderful.

    Thank you for stopping by my blog and sharing your boiled egg recipe, I'm going to give it a try!

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  2. I always thought that the sprouting of beans in a jar was one layer in the bottom. But, the jar full of sprouts makes more sense to me. I'm glad you wrote this and included the pictures of the beans sprouting on a plate or something flat.

    Since I never buy feed, this is a really good idea...tripling the amount of feed. I do have some kidney beans that I will not eat. Maybe I could sprout them and feed to hens? I wonder if I put some to sprout each morning, would they be ready to feed the hens the next morning. Since I only have three hens, a plateful would suffice.

    This was a very interesting post. Keep up the experiments!

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  3. Thanks for visiting Chai Chai. I enjoy your blog!

    PP- They grow in the jar, every day. So while you may start with one layer, with each passing day it builds. Seems to me the roots were growing, reaching for water. It should take about 4 days for the sprouts to be a decent size. You can keep growing them to get larger for a few days afterward. I'm hoping to get 4 days out of one bowl, by feeding about half on the fourth day, and letting them keep growing on day 5, 6, half again each of those days. Then the remainder on the 7th day. I'll start a second batch on the 4th day as well, so it should be ready when the first batch is finished. I'll have to play with it for awhile, to see how it works out.

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