Apples

I made my nephew breakfast for his birthday.

See those apples? They’re just evenly increasing circles, folded in half and adorned with little brown “seeds.”

Start with 6 sc in a magic circle (or ch2, then work 6sc into the 2nd ch from hook), and go to town!  You know the drill – sc-inc around, then (sc, sc-inc), then (2sc, sc-inc)… just do the last row with red (or green), embroider yourself some little seeds, and fold that bad boy in half and sew him shut (no need to stuff, but you can if you’d like).

VOILA! Apple slices!

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Harvest those Seeds!

Image via Wikipedia

Did you know that most Farmers are forbidden by law to harvest their own seeds?  That’s right, friends – the seed manufacturing companies passed legislation that makes seed harvesting a crime… for Farmers.  Just think of all of those seeds going to waste… season after season, crop after crop.  It saddens me…  But, this is not A Sad One’s Blog, oh no, my friends, and I am not a Farmer!  People of Earth – I say harvest those seeds (especially yummy, yummy tomatoes)!  Here’s how:

1.I know it’s going to hurt your soul, but this works best if you use your best tomato from your best plant.  We’re an instant gratification kind of a culture, but just think – sparing one tomato today will yield delicious (and free!) tomato plants for next season!  You can eat the second best tomato.  Just save the seeds from your best one (pulp, goo, and all), spread them in a single layer in a glass bowl or dish out of direct sunlight, put just a splash of water in it, and leave it there for a week.

2. Once a day or so, swish your bowl of seeds around a bit (at the same time you’re rinsing your sprouts, perhaps… hmmm), making sure not to let the seeds dry out completely.  Don’t worry about stuff growing in the water; that’s what’s supposed to happen.

3. After a few days, you’ll notice some of the seeds floating on the top.  Skim these seeds off & trash them.  Rinse the rest of the seeds, then leave them out, this time letting them get completely dry (this should take 2 or 3 more days).  Some people recommend drying your seeds out on a paper towel.  If you like your tomato seeds to have tiny bits of paper towel stuck to them, by all means go for it.  If you prefer, say, avoiding things like tree killing paper towels that stick to tomato seeds, then a dry glass bowl or piece of (both recycled AND recyclable) aluminum foil should do nicely.

4. When you’re sure your seeds are dry, toss them in an airtight glass jar (yes, I suppose a resealable plastic bag would work, but since the only things more terrible than tree killing paper towels are resealable plastic bags, I may judge you for it).   Store these bad boys in a cool, dry place until next February, when I’m quite sure you’ll be planting your seeds indoors so they can get a head start on the growing season!   })i({

Sprouts, Glorious Sprouts!

Per my Chibi’s request, here is a quick tutorial on how to grow your own delicious, delicious sprouts – without dirt!

You’ll need some alfalfa seeds (or whatever sort of seeds you fancy… I get mine in bulk from Amazon.com), a jar with a mesh lid insert (I’ve heard some people skip the mesh insert and just use a paper towel, but since we don’t do paper towels here, I opted for the mesh insert, which I think was $2 or $3, also available at Amazon.com), and your kitchen sink.

Here’s a close-up of the mesh & the seeds:

First, put 2 or 3 teaspoons full of seeds in the bottom of your jar, fill it with water, and soak overnight.

Next, drain the jar & flip it upside down in an area out of direct sunlight (I just keep mine on the edge of the sink).

A few times a day fill your jar with water, swish it around a bit, and drain again.  In a day or so your sweet little seeds will look like this:

This is day three:

And this is the finished product, which takes about a week:

YUM!  Don’t those look tasty?  Here’s one way you can eat them:

(Yummy, yummy salad with home grown lettuce, home grown tomatoes, home grown sprouts, sunflower seeds, banana peppers, and soy nuts… such a colorful lunch)!   My absolute favorite way to eat sprouts is on top of cottage cheese, but i also put them in sandwiches & use them in sauces & such to kick up the nutritional value of my meals.  To learn more about the awesomeness of sprouts, check out some Sprout Nutrition.

I especially like growing my own sprouts because it’s cost effective.  A little pack of sprouts at the grocery store costs around $4 or $5 depending on the season.  I purchased a pound of seeds for $8 in January.  I grow a batch of sprouts every other week (one week to grow, one week to eat), and I’ve used about a quarter of my seed stash.  I initially invested about $12 (for seeds and a mesh jar topper), so after growing 3 batches of seeds I’ve already made it worthwhile.  If you don’t have a canning jar you can also buy a little kit with everything you’ll need to get started (again on Amazon… gosh I love that site!), but it’s a bit more expensive.  Anyway, there you go!  Much easier than growing lettuce, much cheaper than buying at the grocery, and packed with nutrients.  Enjoy!  })i({