3.2
May 15, 2012

Grow Your Own Food Today Even If You Have No Idea Where To Start!


Salad in Waiting

Have you ever wanted to grow your own food but just had no idea where to start?

I was like that for a very long time, up until quite recently.

Growing my own food seemed like a dream not that long ago. It found me totally by chance! Now I know, you might be telling yourself all the same, limiting excuses I used to tell myself in the past…

> I’m too busy.
>It’s too hard.
>It takes too long.
>I don’t have time.
>I don’t have the space.
>I don’t have the gardening tools.
>I don’t even know where to start.

In this article, I wanted to give you some simple seeds of inspiration so that you can get started on growing your own food today!

To be honest, I am finding myself enthralled in the whole “food growing” process. Growing some of your own food is simple, and much easier than I had ever imagined. It really is so easy. Once you start growing your own food, the excitement is quite addictive! I have become quite captivated by the miracle of growing my own fresh foods.

It’s amazing to see something edible grow from just one small, tiny seed. The process feels so magical. I stand in awe of nature. She is just so abundant and generous. For example, did you know that if you were to plant one seeded potato, it would actually grow between 10 and 20 potatoes. Wow! With these types of statistics, we could look to nature to begin ending world-wide and stop the growth of corporate food giants.

Start with these simple ideas and let them inspire you to grow all sorts of interesting salad ingredients!

1. Start sprouting

Here’s what to do: Buy yourself a bag of organic mung beans at a Green Grocer, Asian, Turkish shop or any Ethnic food shop that sells bags of bulk dry goods. Put ½ -1 cup of the hard dark green beans in a glass jar. They look like this…

Jar of Sprouts

 

Then rinse the mung beans with fresh water by swirling the water in the jar and then pour it off. Cover them generously with fresh water. Place on a window sill.

One that gets sunlight is best but take care to avoid placing them in direct sunlight, especially in summertime. Leave them for 24 hours. Then pour off the water.

Over the next 12-48 hours, rinse them a couple of times a day with fresh water and watch in amazement as they start to growing and shooting out a white tail!

Once the mung bean is soft and crunchy you can begin snacking on them or adding them to salads, curries, stews and soups.

Sprouts Ready to Eat

If you can find a proper sprouting jar they are the best, but if you can’t, just use a normal jar, and carefully punch some small holes in the lid (big enough for the water to drain out) This will do the trick, just as well as the full monty!

Once you have mastered sprouting mung beans, I recommend you begin to experiment. Look at sprouts in your health shop and do some research online. Try sprouting lentils, alfalfa, radish, and even dried peas for variation and new taste sensations.…

Now that you have mastered sprouting your own food, you are ready to move up & onto the next challenge! Try…

> Growing your own fresh herbs on a window sill…
> Buying a selection of different types of baby lettuces, rocket and salad greens and plant them in a bucket or wine barrel in your courtyard or on a balcony. They only need a small amount of room.
> Growing wheat grass and juicing it

When I started, I knew nothing about ‘growing’ my own food.

I quickly discovered that not only is it so easy to grow some of my own food but my wallet is also thanking me.

Growing your own seeds, herbs, salad leaves is much less expensive than buying them. Those small packets of herbs that sell for $2 or $3 quickly add up. When you grow your own food, what you pick, quickly grows back replenishing itself. Not only does fresh food taste the best, but along with super freshness, comes amazing health-giving properties and dense nutrition.

When food has been grown with love, you are sure to taste the difference!

Leave me a comment below about what you would like to start growing in your kitchen…

Katrina at Santa Monica, Farmers Market, LA

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Editor: Kate Bartolotta

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