Just wanted to say Congratulations to the lovely Matt Monarch and Angela Stokes on their Raw Union.

I thought I'd write a little about sprouts and how to grow them. They are so cheap and easy to grow, plus you don't have to worry about the weather as they can easily be grown indoors. A definite plus if you live in the UK! 

Sprouting is a wonderful way of getting highly nutritious, enzyme rich food as fresh as possible. You can grow sprouts on your windowsill. It's easy to do and only costs a few pennies for a lot of delicious sprouts.

There are several ways of growing sprouts. They can be simply grown in a jar on your windowsill, in sprouting bags or you can buy trays to spread the seeds on. There are also some quite elaborate automatic systems that water the sprouts for you. 

Examples of sprouts grown this way are alfalfa, quinoa, clover, broccoli, lentils, mung beans, chick peas and grains such as wheat and buckwheat.

Some seeds can be sown in trays of soil. This allows them to grow into larger sprouts called indoor greens. Examples of sprouts grown this way are sunflower greens, pea greens and buckwheat lettuce.

Jar / Bag Method

To sprout seeds in a jar you need to have a jar with a mesh lid, or you can cover the top of an open jar with a piece of muslin held in place with a rubber band. Once the seeds are sprouting they will need plenty of room to grow, so use a large jar.

Put a small amount of seeds in the bottom of the jar. For small seeds such as alfalfa, you only need about a tablespoon. This will grow to a large amount of sprouts that will fill your jar. Honestly! For larger seeds such as mung beans put in about half a cup of seeds.

Now put some water in the jar. For small seeds you only need to put water up to an inch above the seeds. For larger seeds that swell more, such as chick peas, you need to three quarters fill the jar with water.

Now leave to soak overnight.

The following day, drain and rinse your sprouts. Remember to rinse them at least once a day. More if the weather is hot. In a few days your sprouts will be ready. If you are sprouting seeds that produce green sprouts, such as alfalfa, clover and broccoli, put them on the windowsill once they are sprouting. The light will then make the little leaves turn green.

If you are using a sprouting bag, soak the seeds in a jar or bowl first, then transfer them to a bag and leave hanging in a place where the water can drain out into something like a bowl, or the sink. Again, water at least daily and more in hot weather.

Indoor Greens
These are sprouts you grow past the initial jar stage, plant in compost, and then harvest when they are baby green plants. 

Soak the seeds in a jar overnight. Then leave until they have started to sprout a little.

Next, spread them on a seed tray of organic compost and water thoroughly. Once the seeds have started to sprout, leave the tray on a windowsill and water regularly. Don't let the compost dry out. After approximately seven to ten days, you will have a supply of lovely green sprouts. These are a wonderful addition to salads.

A Word About Water
Your sprouts will grow best in the purest water. It is worth investing in a water filter or a filtration system. Remember, whatever goes into your sprouts, goes into you.

What Can I Sprout?
Here are some of the seeds commonly sprouted.

Alfalfa, , broccoli, clover, fenugreek, cress, radish, onion, mung beans, aduki beans, lentils, chick peas, peas, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds

Buckwheat, quinoa, wheat, spelt, barley

Sprouting Resources

SEEDS
Aconbury Sprouts
Keimling

Fresh Network

SPROUTERS
Fresh Network
Energise For Life
Keimling

BOOKS
Sprouts: The Miracle Food by Steve Meyerowitz
Wheatgrass: Natures Finest Medicine by Steve Meyerowitz
Living Foods for Radiant Health by Elaine Bruce

The last few months have been a trying time for me with the kids and food and I haven't been posting. Sometimes I wondered if it was all worth it and I felt like such a failure, I didn't want to write. Then I thought, well this blog is about my attempt to introduce raw food to my kids. It's what's really going on. Not about some superwoman who manages to get everything right. That wouldn't be very interesting anyway, would it. Ha.

So we've had our ups and downs. Sometimes I've found the whole raw thing so frustrating with them. I find myself thinking that If only I had started all of them on raw food it'd have been much easier. I did start the twins off raw but in the end they wanted what big brothers were having, so I guess I would have needed to start with Joe, my nearly 14 year old. Then again, if only my parents had been raw it would have been much better....blah blah.

The thing is, the kids don't want to be forced into a new way of eating. I can try, but they push back harder. For a while they seemed determined not to eat any raw food at all! Not even a piece of apple or cucumber, which they used to love before I started all this.

So for the last few months I have backed off completely to see what happens. I've not pushed anything on them they didn't want. They have had treats such as sweets and crisps too sometimes. I felt like I wanted to go back and start all over again (and hopefully they'd forget?).

I did keep their meals mostly cooked vegan with plenty of rice, quinoa and such and they were okay with that. Very occasionally we had pizza, but no one seems to feel very good after that, so we don't get many requests now, thank goodness.

Now my kids are having reasonably healthy, mostly cooked meals with raw veggies. In between meals if they want to eat I have offered fruit, crackers, nuts and seeds or oat cakes. I have noticed they have started eating more fruit again now. Apples seem to go very quickly and grapes are a big favourite.

Sometimes I sprinkle green powder or nutritional yeast flakes on their food to try and boost the nutritional value a bit. I've also used some supplements. If you haven't read Shazzie's article about raw kids and supplements you might find it interesting. She's also got a new book out called Evie's Kitchen with recipes and raw articles about raw kids. I haven't read it yet, but Christmas is coming...

Cameron, who used to be such a fussy eater, has been eating much more healthily lately and eats more of a variety, albeit mainly cooked vegan food.

Erin likes my smoothies more than the others and also dehydrated crackers. She will try most things - except seaweed, which she and the others hate the smell of. If I'm having sea spaghetti,  she sends me to eat in another room. I was hoping the kids might warm to the sea spaghetti, and I didn't tell them what it was. Fat chance! They weren't fooled for a second.

Rosie has become the fussy one now. She eats mostly apples, grapes and oat cakes. That's it! Most other things get rejected. I'm sure it'll change to something else soon, to make up for the limited range she eats. It's funny how kids have these phases, isn't it.

Joe is forever complaining that he wants to eat raw but gets tempted by all the other food. Sounds like a familiar story for most of us. He has a limited repertoire though, and doesn't like trying new things, which makes it very tricky! He keeps trying to manage on only cucumber, carrots and a bit of fruit, then wonders why he's tempted.

They do seem to be settling down a bit now. I suppose my aim is to have them eating at least 50% raw food. Joe isn't a problem. He's old enough to understand and choose for himself. Reasoning with the three smaller kids isn't so easy. It's a slow process with them. I have to gradually add better alternatives in and allow them to get used to them almost imperceptibly slowly. It's frustrating but I have to remember that they still probably eat better than most kids.

Do you eat organic food, use supplements and natural herbs? Do you think it is important that food is labelled properly, that you know whether it is genetically modified, or irradiated? Do you value complementary medicine?

Well there is a plan to make sure that organic food is banned, supplement are only available in non therapeutic (ie useless) doses unless prescribed by a medical doctor, that fresh food is irradiated and that genetically modified foods get into everything without our knowledge because labelling of such things will be a thing of the past.

It's called Codex Alimentarius. Some folks in the US may remember this from the 1990s when it was attempted to bring it in there. Thousands of Americans protested and so the powers that be backed down and have been concentrating on the EU ever since.

What is interesting is that most people in the EU, partly because there are so many countries involved, speaking different languages, haven't heard of Codex and word hasn't got around like it did in the US. The result is that the European parliament has managed to sneak this legislation up on people.

According to Robert Verkerk from the Alliance for Natural Health, if he gives a talk in Australia or New Zealand he can fill a stadium with people. If he gives a talk in the UK he is lucky to fill a small room! There seems to be a great deal of apathy towards Codex here for some reason.

Here is a video by Ian Crane spelling out what Codex means to people in the UK. If you live on a diet of burgers and fries this is probably of no interest, but if you care about what you eat and want to continue eating food with any kind of nutritional value, please take note. This is me doing my bit to spread the word. Please do the same. If we don't oppose this then we will be stuck with nutritionally deficient, dead food to eat, and when we get sick, pharmaceuticals will be the only option.

For further information see the Alliance for Natural Health website. You can also write to your MP or MEP online.