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Four Letters Re: Sprouting Techniques

Mr. Rawles,
I saw the post about Nick B. looking for help on the subject of sprouts. Maybe I can help. Earlier this year I was checking things out on a couple of preparedness sites. Some of the readers may know about these,but I’ll pass the links along for those who may not have seen them. This one Survival And Self-Sufficiency Links [1] has a lot of useful resources, and I found this one for sprouts: Sprouting: a brief overview [2]. It has a few links above the section on beekeeping. There may be others that I have forgotten, or just may not have seen yet myself, but I hope they can be of some help to him and other folks that visit here. May the Lord bless you all and your preps. – Dim Tim

 

Sir,
For sprouting I use a section of the new plastic bug screen material for screen doors. I fold the section up into a flat pouch and pour a measure of seed in then pin the opening closed. To make the pouch I staple around the three closed edges. Then, once closed up I dampen the seeds, roll the screen pouch into a loose cylinder and place it into a coffee can covered with the old plastic cover. I keep a little bit of water, plus what drips off in the bottom of the can to keep the internal atmosphere damp. I just make sure to dampen the seeds as necessary, usually checking once in the morning and evening unless the weather is really dry. – TCD

Hello Mr. Rawles,
I saw that you are looking for suggestions on filters for sprouting seed. The following method works for me with wheat:
Sprout your seeds in a Mason jar with a thin clean cotton rag fixed over the mouth by an elastic band. To drain, simply pour the water out slowly. Make sure you do not let the entire surface of the cloth become wet, or it will act as a seal. As long as some of the rag covering the mouth is dry, water should flow out without any problems. To refill with water, lift the jar so the cloth touches the tap while filling. All the best, – Roo

 

Hi,
I am a daily reader of SurvivalBlog and wanted to send a tip to the man who is asking about how to drain the sprouts. I picked up three stainless steel screens, already pre-cut to fit the top of a wide mouth quart Mason jar from a local health food store/food co-op.
I soak the seeds for about 6-8 hours in water (from my Aqua Rain water filter that I purchased from Best Prices Storable Foods [3]–they are great people to talk with!) then I drain and rinse the seeds thoroughly and turn the jar upside down at an angle in a tupperware type of dish to allow the excess water to drain. I have been pouring the discarded sprout water on my houseplants recently, the water doesn’t get wasted and the nutrients can’t hurt them I bet.
I prefer to use a mix of seeds, I use a bit of Alfalfa, clover, Radish, and mung, it makes a great mix to add to sandwiches and the radish seed spices it up mildly too.
I suggest purchasing or making at least two screens so once the first batch is done, which takes about 3 days, then I have the next batch coming along to replace it..
I am by no means a professional but have enjoyed sprouts all my adult life and just recently figured I should get back to making them as once the SHTF [4] we will need to add fresh greens to our diets.
I encourage people to try different varieties of seeds and to mix it up for different flavor combinations and the nutrients that each different plant seed can provide.
Sprout seeds do need to “breathe” so don’t store them in airtight containers.
Sprouts make people crinkle their noses lots of times, sounds like rabbit food and I strongly encourage them to try them more than once, I find them a wonderful addition to sandwiches and Quesadillas, and oftentimes I eat them straight out of the jar.

I have also read great reviews on a sprouter called the Sproutmaster, but have no personal experience with it, the quart Mason jars with the stainless steel screens work perfect for me.
Hope this helps!
Also, I haven’t seen it mentioned or missed it, but I have been ordering all my wheat, corn, oats, flour, etc from the Natural food co-op, the savings are huge…we are very rural, live in the deep woods of the deep south and so have to drive three hours to get there, we order ahead of time and about 3 days later our order is ready.
Look for a food co-op or whole foods store and ask for their special orders dept, we get a 20% discount for ordering over 50 pounds!
I have to pack them myself, but have been able to purchase much more this way, I have paid about $14-$17 for 50 pounds of wheat berries, we have stored up about 600 pounds so far of Hard Red Winter wheat, Hard White winter wheat, Soft white winter wheat (for cakes and biscuits, tortillas) and Durum (semolina) for pastas, steel cut oats, pinto beans, rice and bulk spices..we make a bulk order once a month. with the price of fuel, we try to order as much as we can afford to make the trip count.
I have collected all my white food grade plastic buckets for free from our local Wal-Mart’s bakery (an hour drive) and I add diatomaceous earth [DE] to all to keep the pests at bay…if using the DE make sure it is food grade, it also works to worm farm critters, the bonus being it worms the animals and also cuts way down on the fly population on the back end. We put it on our outdoor cat and no more fleas, he is one happy kitty.

I wear a dust mask to not breath in the dust, as I am mixing it with the grains. If you have eaten or used a pre-prepared biscuit mix, then you have eaten DE.
thanks for all your hard work on this site! – KW