Let's get sprouting

Sprout Your Health 

Last weekend we started to put the garden to bed. There is still the occasional carrot or some parsley to harvest. I can even bring a full bowel of salad in if I look really hard and use the "weeds" as well. I also still have some apples on my trees but the main crop is gone.

I still don't need to worry about my fresh greens in the kitchen, I just do it on the window sill. Sprouting is the answer. You can not only sprout lentils, all sort of beans and peas, you can do also radishes, alfalfa and broccoli seeds. I prefer to cook with the lentil, bean and pea sprouts but the rest is very nice in a salad. On top of that I also grow cress and rocket in little tray on cotton wool. Of course, you can buy a proper sprouting jar but any big, clean gherkin ( or other) jar will do as well. You can use a bit of an old clean net curtain or a bit of clean old tights over the top. 

It is easily done. Put some seeds in the bottom of the clean jar, fill the jar with some water half way up and leave it over night. Next morning, pour the water away and rinse the seeds twice with clean water. I keep the rinsing water in a bucket near the sink and water my house plants with it, or the garden if needed. Rinse the seeds 3 times a day, but be aware that broccoli my need rinsing more frequently. You can enjoy the sprouting seeds at any time when you deem them big enough. Sometimes they remind me of the pot that was never empty because they grow bigger by the day and you end up with a jar that seems always to be full. The sprouting seeds are not only delicious but very healthy as well when there seems to be so little greenery in the garden. Rocket and cress are better on a little tray of cotton wool because the seeds develop a slimy outside when wet which blocks the holes in the net curtains when rinsing and so they don't rinse properly and go off. I sprout broccoli, radishes and alfalfa most of the time and use them in sandwiches and salads.

Talking of alfalfa: This is not only a fabulous plant to sprout, it is also a wonderful Homoeopathic remedy. It helps toning up the appetite when there is malnutrition for different reasons. It is supposed to help to improve the appetite in Anorexia nervosa and were there is emaciation with certain diseases. I have used it in the past with very good results. The Homoeopathic remedy Alfalfa is not only supposed to improve the appetite, it seems to lift the mood as well. So "exhilaration" is one of its keynotes. Furthermore it increases the quantity and quality of the milk in breast-feeding mothers. If the baby fails to thrive, a dose of Alfalfa for mother and child, makes the mother stronger and helps the baby to gain weight. I wish I would have known about this wonderful Homoeopathic remedy when I was breast-feeding because it always took it out of me. So if you are in a situation where your appetite needs improvement or if you can do with some "exhilaration" give me a ring on 07813 195468. Please note that Homoeopathy is a very individual medicine and it can only work if you get the right remedy for YOU.