Growing Grass

I finally achieved my goal of growing wheatgrass!! For the past two years I had set the same goal: To learn how to grow my own wheatgrass and then actually DO IT!
I purchased the best book possible for learning how to do it. If you want to learn how to grow wheatgrass who better to learn from than Ann Wigmore. She is the wheatgrass queen. When her book was written, in 1985, she had been using wheatgrass for three decades, on a daily basis! Get the point?! I personally would not want to learn this process from anyone else but her.
Her book is titled, The Wheatgrass Book.
The most important component to growing wheatgrass is the seed. You must buy good quality organic seeds. Only purchase them from a supplier you can trust. Good seed = great grass! I am fortunate enough to have a local organic market that I trust but if you prefer to order online I suggest you try Got Sprouts.


After reading Ann's book I got busy soaking. The seeds need to be soaked in filtered or spring water for 12 hours.



Next they need to sprout for an additional 12 hours.

They will grow little white tails.


Now they are ready to plant. I have two sizes of trays that I like to use. One is rectangular and the other is square. My rectangular tray has no holes in the bottom while the square one does. You just have to be careful not to over water when using the trays with no drainage holes.
Ann's book explains in a very simple and clear manner exactly how to do everything. That is what I love about her book, it is straight to the point with no unnecessary information to confuse you.

I evenly spread out the seeds over the soil mixture that she suggests.



I lightly watered the seeds, covered them with another black tray and let them grow for two days undisturbed.
After two days short blades of yellowish grass will be pushing the tray cover up. Now I again lightly watered the grass and let it continue to grow.


 It is amazing how quickly it grows and how beautiful it is once it greens up with chlorophyll.

I keep mine in a sunny windowsill on top of the homeschool book shelves...it works fine for me but some people prefer sprouting racks. I do have a rack but it is quite tall so I keep it on the upper deck outside for my sunflower greens and buckwheat greens.

Once the grass reaches 7-10 inches in height it's time to harvest and juice. I have three little guys just begging to help me with the juicer.


 I ordered the Healthy Juicer by Lexen and I love it! Super simple to assembly and a breeze to clean. It does an amazing job juicing.


The pulp that is left behind is squeezed dry!


The pulp goes into the compost bin along with the root mat once all the grass is cut.
I have been eating a raw, living foods diet for over two years now and this is the first time I have tried fresh wheatgrass! I just really wanted to try it for the first time after having grown it myself. I don't know why but that is just how I felt. Well, I was definitely stunned when I tasted it. No one had ever given me a good description of what it tastes like so I had no idea what to expect. I thought it would be a lot like my dark green juices that I make. But oh no, wheatgrass juice is SWEET! SO sweet that I compare it to steevia but with absolutely no bitter aftertaste. Wheatgrass will be sweet and good only if you have good seed. If you have ever tasted wheatgrass and thought it tasted bad, it was grown with bad seed or the grower exposed it to direct sunlight or harvested it too late--or so I've been told. Also if it was improperly stored or too old it can taste bad. It should always taste sweet and smooth.
The three little boys drank it with me and liked it. I drank 2 oz and they each tried about 1 tablespoon. I will slowly build them up to 1 oz.
So achieving my goal feels pretty great, even if it took me two years to finally accomplish it--hey it's just important that I reached my goal and that our family can now benefit from this amazing, healing food. I won't list all of the extraordinary things wheatgrass can do and be used for; that is something you can research and get excited about like we did.

+JMJ+Today I am grateful for achieving goals.

Comments

Lisa G. said…
Your grass is indeed a BEAUTIFUL green color. So glad that you went for it and it worked!
Lisa Viger said…
Elizabeth, quite a few of the more popular seed catalogs carry dandelion seed. Johnny's is one ... http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8211-dandelion.aspx

... and wow, nice wheatgrass! I've always loved the way it tastes. I need to try sunflower sprouts. I'm allergic to the seed, but want to experiment and see if I can handle the greens.
blessedmama said…
Congratulations on meeting your goal! How long did it take for the grass to reach full maturity?

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