Anyway, I've been working on a small "garden" project with Boy Wonder (BW), and wanted to share it with you...
As BW gets older, it's becoming harder to find inexpensive little items to put in his Easter basket and plastic eggs. This year I decided to scale things back a bit too. I could have purchased his favorite thing, Pokemon cards, or given him Star Wars paraphernalia... Instead I decided to get him something useful, and something he could learn from, so I bought him a bean sprouter from Amazon. Ok, ok, I admit I had this on my wish list for a long time, but Boy Wonder loves bean sprouts. Whenever we go out for Thai or Pho he gets his own side of sprouts to munch on, so I thought he'd appreciate this gift.
The kit came with a packet of alfalfa sprouts, and I bought a pound of Mung beans too since that's what he likes. This was really easy to get up and running. I had to tinker with the water reservoirs a little but BW did the rest.
We started the sprouts on Saturday, and I thought I'd share the progression with you. Here's BW watching the water drain. Oooh exciting... The instructions say to add water to the top level twice a day (then that water drips through each level, and into the bottom then dumped).
Mung Beans
Sunday; Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5 I should have used, but didn't have time to cook yesterday because of BW's swim class.
Day 6 (today)
Alfalfa Sprouts...
Sunday; Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6 (today)
The Mung bean sprouts will be going into a Peanut Butter Noodles with chicken dish, and I may throw some sprouts into BW's lunch tomorrow. The alfalfa sprouts will go onto sandwiches for dinner tomorrow night. From what I've read, sprouts don't store well, so I'm sure I'll be throwing a bunch away. Next time I'll grow one batch at a time, and only 1/2 a tablespoon (vs 1 tablespoon like the instructions say).
That's a wonderful gift! A bit more high tech than when I was a kid. Then we'd sprout beans inside a glass, with some wet paper towel. I love beans, of any sort for kids, as they grow fast enough to hold their attention. It looks like you have a budding gardener in your midst!
ReplyDeleteVery cool. I remember snacking through bean sprouts when I was a kid. I can't believe I haven't had them in so long.
ReplyDeleteThat's great. I used to use quart jars with special lids, although cheesecloth in a ring would work. I forget to do things, and this would add some good nutrition. I have heard that broccoli seeds are especially high in good stuff.
ReplyDeleteI tried to learn crochet, but didn't get too far. Reading patterns makes me nuts.
CVF~MY 8yo isn't too fond of getting dirty outside, but this project was perfect for him. I know my toddler will love getting dirty and gardening though. I can't keep him clean and away from my beds now!
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Stefaneener~I looked into the jar method before getting the kit, but the jars seemed more involved that I wanted to be, and less attention grabbing than the kit for the boy. I'm taking the crochet class mainly to learn how to decipher the crochet code. LOL
That is a neat way to get your boy into growing things, even if he doesn't like getting dirty outside (yet). The only sprouts I ate when I was a kid came from a can. It's great that he likes them and can grow them too!
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