Sprouts: The Vegetable You Can Grow Indoors

Sprouting is the fast, easy, low cost way to grow your own healthy nutritious food indoors - even in winter! Join us to learn about sprouting + microgreens. Featured shrub: Soft Serve chamaecyparis.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
From Studio A and Beautiful West Michigan and proven winners
Color Choice Shrubs. It's the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy
Hervella me, Rick Weist, and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson.
Well today, Stacey, we're going to give us sprout Out
to all those who attempt to grow fresh produce in
their homes. I mean, in early August we did a

(00:25):
show on garden Topia, so why don't we do a
show on sprout Topia. Our show is made with homegrown ingredients,
no sugar, no fat, no cholesterol, and proven to promote
clean air and good health. Can you tell my doctor's
been talking? Is it practical to grow vegetables indoors? Maybe

(00:48):
some leafy greens and some herbs. Remember there are people
who believe that it's not practical to grow vegetables outdoors.
Remember reading the book the sixty four Dollars Tomato.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Ah, Yes, that made quite the stir. But you know
what I have. I take a huge objection to that now,
as I have many of me mentioned on the show before.
I am a knitter, and let me tell you, as
any knitter can attest, you do not knit because you
are saving money you knit, and you pay for hobby
time and then you get something great at the end.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
And it's the same with the tomatoes here.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
You're here, You're not like, oh, I'm going to save
so much money, Like how many tomatoes are you buying?
That you think that growing your own tomatoes is going
to be a money saving endeavor.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
It is not.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
It is a hobby, a vocation, a calling, an experiment.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
However, however, there is I mean, a tomato that comes
out of your backyard taste so good. I wouldn't say
so with an indoor tomato, but a tomato that comes
out of your backyard, Wow, does that taste good?

Speaker 3 (01:49):
Right? I mean, it really does.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
And there is certainly some mental aspect to that where
you are you know, pre programmed to like it since
you worked so hard growing it. But on the other hand,
and you know, the biggest advantage you have growing your
own produce is that you eliminate the need to transport it.
And increasingly in the US, produce has declining quality because

(02:10):
it's the you know, the riper it is, the softer
it is, so it doesn't make that trip very well
from wherever it was grown to you. Even that includes
frummer's markets really because you know, big old truck on
bumpy country roads and people have absolutely zero tolerance for
quote imperfect produce.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
And today a lot of talk about these giga farms
that are indoor growing facilities growing vegetables that they build
and go vertical and put them near heavily populated areas.
It's fascinating when I hear giga farms. I think of
giga wants and doctor Brown was it and Marty with

(02:51):
the Back to the Future. But anyhow, yeah, it's it's
real futuristic, I guess. And so growing in plants indoor
or growing vegetables indoors, obviously you need reliable light, air,
temperature space for both roots and top growth, drainage, air movement, nutrients, source, maintenance,
probably some bugs thrown in. So how about a little

(03:15):
easier solution. Sprout it from the rooftops sprouts.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
You know, I am a big believer in sprouts, and
I have to say I am surprised. I've been sprouting
for a long time, not consistently, but you know, I
started doing it a long time ago, and because I
just really liked sprouts, and of course there have been
all through time. You know, different food recalls concerning sprouts,
a lot of surface area there. They're very delicate, and

(03:42):
you know, I'm I have to say, I am shocked
in this day and age of all sorts of gadgets
and Instagram and people glamorizing all of this, you know,
plant lifestyle that sprouts to this day still have not
really caught on in the way that they should.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
That's true, and I agree with you because they're fun
to grow, they're nutritious, they're.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
Easy, they're so easy.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
I mean there was a time when I got into
kombucha and I got myself a Scobie and I gave
up on it because it was so much work. I
but sprouts are relatively easy.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yes, sprouts are compared to kombucha, sprouts are much easier. Yes.
And you know, I was once in a little bit
of a kombucha phase and when it came time and
you know, as our listeners, no I am not really
squeamish like bugs, don't freak me out. The time came
that I had to separate out the kombucha mother oh man,
ib out lost it. It was horrendous. I couldn't after that,

(04:39):
I couldn't do it. But sprouts aren't gross at all.
And you know, I think again going back to like
all of these gadgets and things that are marketed to
us on Instagram as ways to grow vegetables indoors, I
think we have to kind of think critically about, Like,
you wouldn't want to live in one of those gigafarms,
right it would be you know, you'd be living under
weird led pink lights, which might be fun for a

(05:02):
brief period, but not long term really you know, cold,
because you need really good air circulation. A farm is
not an indoor farm, is not a place to live,
and your place to live is not really an indoor farm.
So I think, you know, I never want to discourage
people from trying anything when it comes to plants in gardening, like,
by all means, try it, but I think very often,

(05:24):
as is the case with many things these days, expectations
are not always realistic about what you can do indoors,
whereas with sprouts, what you see is what you get.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
That's very true and stacy as far as sprouts are concerned, too,
you don't have to worry that much about light. We'll
figure that out today as we have an interview in
segment four with the Sprout people.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
The sprout people, but.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
I do want to mention and I had a conversation
we had them on our show a few weeks ago.
Noah dear o'hanian, and he said that in the winter months,
you've got to get the light right, especially if you're
going to try and grow some leafy vegetables. So today
there are units and all kinds of kits that you

(06:11):
can buy to grow indoor leafy vegetables. But the key
component is the availability of indoor lighting today is unreal
compared to what we used to have. And the LED
lights are unreal. Noah would say to me, get something
that's full spectrum. And if you're going to look online

(06:33):
for something like that, you want to CRII, which is
a color rendering index of at least ninety or better.
And then as far as natural trying to replicate natural light,
you're looking for something in that five thousand to six thousand,
five hundred K range. So those are the key things
to look for if you're going to go online. But Stacey,

(06:55):
if you're out there shopping for LED grow lights today,
it's un believable what's available.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
And you know what else, is unbelievable at them is
the price. They are so affordable, and I think you
and I can certainly attest to a time where you
would have to be so serious about indoor growing to
invest in lights, and now it's just like it's nothing.
They run cooler, they're not expensive to run. But you know,
lighting is obviously crucial. You cannot grow most food aside

(07:23):
from sprouts, indoors without light. But you know, light is
not the only thing. It's also the air circulation, it's
also the warmth. And it just goes back to these
conditions that we don't want to live in, and neither
do the vegetables.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
So what's going to give?

Speaker 1 (07:38):
Right, I don't want to live under a shop light
that I bought from the hardware store, and that's how
I used to do it, with the fluorescent bulbs in it.
But today, as far as sprouts are concerned, and you
look at the list and we'll talk about it in
segment for brassica sprouts like broccoli and cabbage, grain sprouts,
a arugola. There's even of course doggies sprouts. Adriana was

(08:02):
talking to us about that.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, I got them, and she got the four legs
of love mix from sprout People and gave it to
her dog, So please be sure to check it out
on YouTube and see the dogs enjoying the sprouts. So
sprouts are also not just for people.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
I always had a cat in the house and grew
wheat grass. I have a lot of friends, a number
of friends who are into lawn care and they go
through withdrawal in the winter, so they grow some wheat grass,
have a scissors on their desk. They groom the lawn
now and then it makes.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
Them Really the lawn people do that.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
Oh wow, it's fun because you go through withdraw Actually,
for me and I brought this along. I'm going to
share it with you and Adriana, I brought this along.
But this is this is my juice. It is made
from wheat grass, alfalfa grass and beats. I brought along
shot glasses if you want to try it for those

(08:59):
watching on you. But wheat grass is so much fun
to grow. Obviously, people love to grow mung being sprung
yes arguably the most popular, and then of course pea shoots. Now,
pea shoots are really cool to grow because you can
grow them in coconut coir and have fun growing something

(09:20):
in the dead of winter that's nutritious, you know.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
I think it really is just that people need to
kind of if you want to grow food indoors, I
think it's important to start shifting your mentality from I'm
going to grow tomatoes and basil and rosemary to I
am going to grow sprouts and microgreens, all in wheat
grass and things that have a short life cycle. Because

(09:44):
all of these things are ready very quickly, yes, and
they don't need special equipment. They're not going to disrupt
your life or your bank account, very easy to kind
of just work into your regular life, and even if
you don't eat them that you know, as a gardener,
I think that process of watching things grow, like your
lawn buddies with their wheat grass, it's so refreshing. It

(10:07):
really truly does help you get through the depths of winter,
which we are most certainly in at this very moment.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
And the sprouts are delicious because I have full transparency
here that wheat grass and alfalfa grass juice. I hate it.
It tastes awful, it tastes terrible, but it lowers cholesterol.
It's supposed to be good for an old guy like me.
So I drink it, but I'd rather eat sprouts. So
we're going to talk about it in segment four today

(10:36):
with Gil and Laurie, the sprout people. Coming up next,
Stacy will talk to us about plants on trial. We'll
see what she has on her mind today. That's next
here on the Gardening Simplified.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
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(11:08):
proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Reading's gardening friends, and
welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. We are talking
about sprouts and growing things indoors to get you through
the winter, things that you can eat and Rick. You know,
I couldn't help, but notice a tiny bit of resentment
in your voice talking about how the wheat grass and

(11:31):
alf alpha grass stuff that you drink tastes horrible.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
It's awful. But let me quickly mention Stacy, Gill and Laurie,
who will talk to in segment four. They have a
wheat grass smoothie that allegedly tastes much better than what
I'm doing.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
Well, see, this is what I'm onto is. You know,
we often say on the show golden age of plant breeding.
So maybe there is a plant breeder out there who
can work on, you know, making those things just as
nutritious and just as healthy, maybe new and something about
the flavor.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
I don't know, Maybe it's possible.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
Maybe it's not like pecan pine.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, there you go. You never know, you never know.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
Far be it from me to claim what might be
possible for the numerous talented plant breed There you go,
that's exactly it, and maybe it'll sprout. So anyway, I
always try to tie, of course, the plants on trial
into the theme of the show, and it was not easy.
Today I would say it was nihon impossible. Now we

(12:29):
do have in the proven Winner's Color Choice line some
plants that have edible fruit. Some of them are so
new that they're not even really out on the market
yet and won't be until twenty twenty six. So I
obviously can't talk about those and get you all excited
about something you can't grow yet. And most of the
other things that we have that have some sort of
edible component I've already talked about, you know, and so

(12:52):
it kind of left me with few options. So I
turned to the plant names, and that is how I
settled on today's plant on trial, Soft serve false Cypress.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
Love it ice cream? You scream, We all scream for
ice And.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
It may be the middle of winter, and that might
be a good excuse for you to not eat your veggies.
Nothing growing not, didn't go to the store. All you
have is ice cream, soft serve. False Cypress gets the
first part of its name, the soft serve part, because
it is a beautiful structural conical shaped evergreen, so almost

(13:32):
like you know, the proverbial soft serve ice cream cone
where they you know, do the swirly bits there.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
My grandson loves it.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Who doesn't, you know, So it has a little bit
of that. Of course, it is.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Green and not striped white and brown, chocolate and vanilla,
and so that's where that part of the name came from.
But as I was writing all of this up and
thinking about it, I realized that the name false Cypress has.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
A whole lot of confusion.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yeah, there are a lot of plants out there. Good
point called cypress, or that somehow have cypress in their name.
And I think, especially for those of us who live
in a cold climate, we're a little bit unsure of
just precisely what a cypress is. Now, if you've been
to Italy, you have seen the archetypical cypress, those beautiful, narrow,

(14:22):
tall evergreens that just dot the landscape throughout the Mediterranean.
That is a cypress Cupressus sempervirons, also known as Italian
cypress and false cypress Cama ciprius. So not Cupressus is
in the cypress family, but it's not a cypress. And

(14:42):
you want to hear how it gets even more confusing,
So the name false cypress, So the name Cama ciprius
does not translate to false cypress. It actually translates to
dwarf cypress. And it's not dwarf, No, they're not. It's
not dwarf. I mean maybe compared to like a really

(15:04):
mature Italian cypress, which could easily probably get to be
near fifty feet tall, Cama Ciprus pacifera, which is the
species of today's plant on trial soft serve, false cypress
probably taps out around fifteen feet, which I would not say,
really quite Counts's dwarf. So I think Linnaeus got that
a little bit wrong as he was doling out botanical

(15:29):
names beck in the day. The pacifera part of the name,
so Cama Cippus pacifera here is the scientific name of
soft serve. Cama cipress false cypress translates to the Latin
for pea bearing.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
Oh, this is getting more confusing as we go, right.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
And it's yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
So if you look up a picture of the fruits
of Camma Zipprus pacifera, I mean, I guess they're a
little bit pe like. They're round, they're green when they're fresh.
They end up turning brown as a pea would as well.
They don't come into pod. They just look like a
little green kind of like a little round ball of

(16:10):
It reminds me of shields, like the shape of a
shields kind of multiplied over a sphere, but tiny, like
about the size of a pee. So Camasiperus pacifica, soft serve.
What's in a name? You know? I guess when I
started thinking about today's plan on Child's based on the name.
Of course, I had to go deep into the name
and the etymology there so there we are. So as

(16:33):
you know already and you can see on the YouTube
version or in the show notes at Gardeningsimplified an air
dot com. This is a conical evergreen looks like one
of those, and one of the reasons that we introduced
it was as an alternative for Dwarfelberta spruce. How do
you feel about doorfel bertuspruce?

Speaker 1 (16:53):
Well, I was just going to say that we in
one show talked about touchable plants, and for me, Hammi
cyprus is one of those touchable plants compared to a
Dwarf Aulburta spruce. Now, I like dwarf Alberta spruce, Oh
you do, but they're kind of ubiquitous.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
Ubiquitous is one way to put it. Yes, I mean
I do.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
I do feel like this is a plant that kind
of is like the blue spruce was in the seventies
and eighties, where everybody and their brother planted it. I
would say Dwarf Alberta sort of had its day maybe
in the late eighties.

Speaker 3 (17:27):
Nineties, Yeah, eighties.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
Very nineties plant and the nineties are in right now.
Please don't bring back the Dwarf Elberta spruce with all
of those crazy sweaters.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
Remember, Stacey, I come from the gardens right now.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
And that's but that's the other thing about dwarf Alberta spruce. Right.
People go to the garden center and they see this cute,
little like one or two gallon dwarf Alberta spruce and
they're like.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
I love that cute.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
It's cute, it's small, it's tidy. I like that shape.
And then they bring it home and they plant it,
not looking at the tag and they say, okay, well
it says it's going to be, you know, up to
thirteen or fifteen feet tall. Yeah, right, I don't think
this little cute thing is going to turn out to
be fifteen feet tall and ten feet wide. Time goes

(18:15):
by and next thing you know, you got this giant
dwarf al bird of spruce.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
That's like eating your house.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
Right, Yeah, it's true.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
And dwarfel bird of spruce also have another substantial liability,
and that is because of that very very dense branching,
they are quite susceptible to spider miight.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
Spider Miight City wash with a hose constantly.

Speaker 3 (18:38):
So that works.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
That's one way, but I don't think most people will
wash their dwarf. That's just another thing that makes your
neighbors wonder about you. But they are naturally susceptible to
spider rights. So add in the fact that people tend
to plant these around their front door so near the
house where they're not getting super great air circulation. They
tend to not always space them properly because they don't

(19:01):
believe in as they can't be blamed, don't believe it's
going to get to be such epic proportions. And they
also revert. And you've seen this, I know we've talked
about it on the show before. So dwarfilbert of spruce
is what is known as like a witch's broom or
a sport off of a white spruce. Now, a white
spruce is like a full size spruce tree, big old

(19:23):
spruce tree, you know, sixty feet or more tall and
certainly very very wide. And this is just a little
mutation that someone picked up on and is propagated and
sent all over North America and the world. But they
they seem to be especially susceptible to reverting back to
that full tree form. So you have your cute, little

(19:43):
dense dwarfelberd of spruce and then all of a sudden,
white spruce just busting out of it like the Hulk.

Speaker 1 (19:49):
It's the perfect thing to sell at Christmas time. Put
a little red bow some ornaments on it, sold millions
of them.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
If you do have a dwarfel bird of spruce that reverted,
that's what you should do. Wait until Christmas to prune
out the reversion. Just prune that out and then you
got your Christmas tree right there. If you have a
dwarfilbird of spruce that has a big old tree coming
out of it, that is not a seedling that fell
through the middle. That is literally the plant reverting back
to its old self. So you want to cut that

(20:16):
out as soon as possible, or if not, a Christmas
so you have your own Christmas tree. So suffice it
to say, dwarfilberder spruce has a lot of liabilities, but
people love that conical shape. They love the dense branching.
And that's where soft serve comes in, is it provides
that same nice, beautiful dense shape. It has really lovely
fern like branching.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
Fantastic.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah, if you look at a single branch, it does
quite look like a fern sort of bluish undersides with
a white stripe that's kind of interesting, a nice resiny,
piny kind of smell. People do get them confused often
with arbiidy and don't understand the difference between chemisippress and arbivity.
But one of the things, of course, is that arbividy
smells deliciously fruity. Where's cammisipsus smell very kind of resinous.

(21:00):
And you can also tell because if the plan has
been decimated by deer, it's an arbor vidy, and if
it hasn't been touched, it's a false cypress. Because they
are a great alternative for people who want the look
of an arbor vity but have deer. They aren't quite
as shade tolerant as an arbor vidy, but they do
have similar cold and heat tolerance and are pretty much

(21:22):
just as easy to grow.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah, I think they're perfect for the home landscape.

Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, they really are.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
And it's just a refreshing change from all those dwarfell
Berdus bruces.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
So if you are in the.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Market for a beautiful, tight, conical evergreen with that great
structure in year round beauty looks great with Christmas lights
on it. Soft served camisiperus. Learn more about it at
Gardeningsimplified on air dot com and be sure to ask
for it at your local garden center this spring when
shopping season begins. We're going to take a little break.

(21:52):
When we come back, we're opening up the garden mail bags,
and please stay tuned. At Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs,
we know that a better landscape starts with a better shrub.
Our team of experts tests and evaluates all of our
flowering shrubs and evergreens for eight to ten years to

(22:14):
ensure they outperform what's already on the market. For easycare, reliable,
beautiful shrubs to accentuate your home and express your personal style.
Look for Proven Winners Shrubs in the distinctive white container
at your local garden center, or learn more at Proven
Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greeting's gardening friends, and welcome
back to the Gardening Simplified Show. It's time for us

(22:36):
to answer your gardening questions, celebrate your gardening successes, or
just you know, commiserate, because yeah, if you don't have
other gardeners in your life who you can commiserate with,
you know that can be kind of a sad thing.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yeah, so nice to hang around gardeners.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
They're nice people, and I you know that's gardeners truly
are nice people, and they tend to be very generous
with their knowledge. You know, there's certainly other things where
people are very secretive, they don't want to share their
discoveries and they guard it all up. And gardeners are
and I think traditionally have always been very generous. You know,
if you have a gardener in your life, you're probably

(23:12):
not leaving their your house. You're probably not leaving their
house without a plant. And if you are, it's because
they've already tried and you've declined.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
As gardeners will dole out advice whether you want.

Speaker 3 (23:26):
It or not.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
Right, that's true to you, as we can attest. But
a listener, Sandy wrote us with some great suggestion. She
is using a dead red seedar, which is Juniperus virginiana,
popular landscape plant, especially in the Northeast and southeast, and
she had one that died and she sends pictures of it.

(23:50):
She covered it with a single like round of chicken
wire and is using it to grow up a honeysuckle
line that I love that too, And you know, the
great thing is that, yes, the honeysuckle vine will absolutely
be able to find its way. It's not a huge tree,
much like my maple tree that was a subject of
some questions a few weeks ago. So not a huge tree,
but that chicken wire really helps to provide more surface

(24:14):
area for it to find its way up. So she
sent a picture of the chicken wire around the dead
tree trunk in the winter, as well as one when
the honeysuckle is in flower, so you can see that
as the plant starts to leaf out in winter, that
chicken wire is very apparent, but you know, you're not
looking out the window anyway, hopefully, but then by the

(24:35):
time summer rolls around, it just completely covers that. And
she just has this beautiful, flowering, giant mushroom looking thing
in her yard.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
And Sandy can go beyond that. We've had jan Johnson
on our show, The Garden Topia Show, and she did
a great article on stumpery's or something called a stumper ye.
So you know, if we celebrate dead and dying foliage
in the fall, why not celebrate dead stumps and use
them for something.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, and you know they're great for birds too. Yeah,
woodpeckers love them. So there's if you can safely leave
a dead tree in your yard, there's so so many benefits.
And if your neighbors are like, why is my crazy
neighbor not taking down the dead tree in their yard,
you just cover it with a vine and all as well.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
That is my strategy anyway. So what do we got
in the mailbag?

Speaker 1 (25:25):
Patricia? I think I got that name?

Speaker 3 (25:27):
I'd say probably Patricia.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
Patricia writing to us from Italy, watching from Italy thirty
five kilometers north of Venice, USDA Zone equivalent eight, writes
to us, says loves the show. I have a small
urban garden this autumn had a nine meter Chantelier Sanchanta

(25:52):
clear calorie pear removed as it had outgrown the space
and suffered from city mold. Covered everything from the terraces,
blinds all plants underneath. Trying to be organic? Is going
to plant a crepe myrtle locally grown? How can I
help the nutrient plants I'll be putting back into my
blue border thrive as the soil is trampled, super washed

(26:15):
out by heavy rain. Bear now in winter, even weeds
have stopped growing.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, and She also goes on to say, if you
have time, how to help my osakazuki Japanese maple suffering
from iron deficiency.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
I think that is one of the best fall color Japanese.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
Mape It is a beautiful one.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
And she sends a picture, so you can check that
out on the YouTube version or in the show notes
at Gardening Simplified on air dot Com. So two questions here.
Number one, how to deal with the bad soil where
she had the Bradford pear. So Shanta clear, I always
say Bradford paar. Bradford is actually a specific variety of
calorie pear, but it kind of stands in like you know,

(26:51):
Kleenex or band aids. So she specified a specific variety
of it, but it's basically a Bradford paar. So that
got removed kind of destroyed the oil. She had a
heavy rainfall, So how does she restore that soil? So
you know, the truth is, when you need to improve
any soil, the number one thing you got to do
is get organic matter back in there. In Organic matter

(27:14):
is going to make the plant the conditions more favorable,
favorable for plant growth. It's going to improve the texture
and structure of the soil, but it's not always practical,
especially if there are already some plants there to you know,
go and till in or dig in a whole bunch
of organic matter. So to me, the key here really
is compost and or mulch. And you can put you know,

(27:37):
a thin ish layer, say two to three inches five
to seven centimeters of compost over that without really tilling
it in. If your soil is not super heavy clay,
you can just kind of rake it in. But I
think malch really for Patrizia is going to be the
key to starting to revitalize this area. And I think
you can still plant the great myrtle that you're thinking
about planting, and then just cover that area with mulch

(27:59):
and let the mult do its thing. Let it sit,
let it start to decompose, let those microorganisms start to work.
Keep that mult topped up over the next couple of years,
and I think that that will not only help to
build up organic matter, but it prevents further soil loss
in erosion and other nutrient loss.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah here here, if you that's the great thing about
organic matter is if you want to add that to
the soil, it works. If the soil is well drained
or too drained, And it also works in clay soil. Yeah,
it works both ways.

Speaker 2 (28:33):
It works in sandy soil too. Anyway, your soils are
so sandy that they don't hold much water. Now, when
we say organic matter, what we really just mean is
a soil amendment made from something that was living. So
this could be composted manure. Of course, composts are made
of you know, decomposed vegetables and vegetation and all of that.
So we're looking in bark is a leaf, Beef compost

(28:56):
is another one. So just something that was made from
something that was once living or from a living organism.
That is organic matter. And that's what really works those
wonders for troubled soils to again revitalize the structure, revitalize
the nutrition, and yeah, mulching is one really easy way
to do that. Now, as for the iron deficiency on

(29:17):
the maple, maples in general are fairly susceptible to iron deficiency.
But the key here is you don't want to just
keep putting a band aid on a problem. You need
to discover what is the cause of the iron deficiency
in the maple, and some common causes for that are
soil pH high soil pH so basically a more alkaline

(29:40):
soil above like seven seven point five that will bind
any iron that's in the soil and prevent the plant
from taking it up. So you need to know what
your soil pH is. If you say put iron key latis,
she mentions that she's done for her hydranges, but doesn't
seem to be helping the maple. Again, you're not changing
the problem. You'll just have to continue doing that. So
you would then want to instead put something on your

(30:01):
soil to lower that pH into a more favorable you
know level. High calcium. Calcium will also tie up nutrients
in the soil, so you could naturally have high calcium
if you have limestone soil, and that will also tie
up nitrogen or sorry iron high salt content. You know,
I say, I don't know anything about the soils in
Italy at all, much less thirty five kilometers north of Venice,

(30:24):
so I don't know exactly what you're dealing with. And
you know, she does mention in talking about the.

Speaker 3 (30:31):
Removed pear tree.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
Heavy rain and excessive leeching from heavy rains or excessive
watering can also take out the iron. So I would
recommend Patricia that you figure out what is the cause
of the iron deficiency and then you can work on
resolving it so you're not just you know, putting down
chemicals every single year and getting you know, low to

(30:52):
mediocre results.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Yeah. I have an erborus friend who taught me years ago.
When he would approach a tree trying to diagnose a problem,
he always said, looked down, not up. Our tendency is
to look up in trees, but look down. Is the
soil compacted? Is it a heavy clay soil? Possibly the
roots are girdling. There are a host of different roads

(31:15):
you could go down. Yeah, with this problem.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
So you have to be a little bit of a detective.
But that'll get you started. And I will post some
iron amendment links on the show notes for you.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
Neil writes to us this week, my area southeastern Ohio
has had about six to eight inches of accumulated snow.
I feel your pain. Over the past few days, both
Stacy and I have had somewhere in the area of
what about twenty.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Inches, I'd say we've got about two feet yeah, probably
last week.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
Wow, So a lot of time to be inside and
be bored says Neil. A rumor has been spreading that
is this a good time to throw out some wildflower seed?
Being bored? And I thought, well, what can it hurt?
So I went out to the shed, found some wildflowers
seed and threw it out in a flower bed that
was full of snow. Am I gonna have wildflowers? Or

(32:05):
should I have found something else to cure my board? Well,
you know, this is certainly something you can do. And
one thing I would suggest is getting online, Neil and
looking at all these people who are taking milk containers
one gallon jugs, cutting them and then retaping them with
duct tape and putting seeds in there, and sowing seeds

(32:28):
from yarrow to colendula to poppies, parsley, whatever it may
be fun thing to do. So no, I think that
that freeze thaw cycle of stratification for a lot of seeds.
We can take advantage of it in the winter.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
Especially wildflowers or native plants. So what Rick is talking
about is a process called winter sown sown. And yeah,
gardeners basically take milk jugs, cut them in half, like
you said, label them. Got to make sure you know
what's in there. And then it's a great way to
start all sorts of things, certainly native perennials, but people
use them for annuals for cold hardy vegetables like kale

(33:08):
and lettuce and onions, and there's just tons and tons
of resources online. So Neil, the bottom line is what
you did could result in wildflowers, but you have to
also consider we still have many more weeks of winter
here in the Midwest. Birds are hungry, squirrels are hungry,
possum raccoon are all hungry, and they just found that

(33:29):
wildflower seed that.

Speaker 1 (33:30):
You put out there.

Speaker 3 (33:31):
So it's been put to good use.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
But the fact is, if you want to keep your
wildflower seed, probably storing it away in one of these
milk jugs would be a safer way to make sure
it makes it all the way to spring. So we
will put some resources for this process of winter sewing
in the show notes. We're going to take a little
break before we come back with Lori and Gil from
Sprout People and learn all about sprouting. So please stay tuned.

(33:59):
Thanks for listen listening to the Gardening Simplified podcast brought
to you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs, our award
winning flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and tested by
experts with your success in mind. Learn more at Proven
winnerscolor Choice dot com. Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show.
We have a very special treat for you. You know,
we've been talking about things that you can grow indoors

(34:23):
in the winter and have a little bit of a
refreshing break from all of the cold and gloom and
actually hopefully get something to eat. And you know, one
thing that we've said repeatedly is that you know, sprouts
like alfelfas sprouts, bean sprouts, all of these things deserve
to have their day. And we're really surprised that after
all of this time and Instagram and TikTok and all

(34:45):
of these opportunities for people to learn about them, that
it does not seem like they've really taken off. Well,
they've taken off from the Gardening Simplified Show because Adriana
and I have been growing them and having a great time,
and we ordered our sprouts from a company called called
sproutpeople dot org. So we thought that the owner, one
of the owners, Gil Frishman, would be a great guest

(35:06):
to help our listeners learn more about sprouts, sprouting and microgreens.
So welcome to the show.

Speaker 4 (35:13):
Gil Oh, thanks so much for having me and thrilled
to be here.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
Now, you guys own sproutpeople dot org, which not only
has one of the best selections of sprouts and sprouting
supplies and microgreens, seeds and microgreen supplies, but an incredible
treasure trove of resources and information on sprouting. I was
really impressed. There was nothing that I felt was lacking

(35:39):
when I was sort of educating myself on it. So
I think a lot of people sort of going to
start with a basic question like what is the difference
between sprouts and microgreens.

Speaker 4 (35:51):
That's an excellent question and it's a pretty simple answer.
A sprout is something that is a seed that we
grow solely with water, and really a sprout is nothing
but a germinated seed. It can be grown to different links.
But once the seed has soaked up it's fill of water,
it is alive and therefore it goes through its greatest

(36:12):
nutritional gain just by soaking up its fill of water.
And we've finished sprouts in a matter of days solely
with water, rinsing and draining and greening. In the case
of sprouts like alfalfa will expose them to light so
that they can perform the magic of photosynthesis. A microgreen

(36:33):
is a seed that you plant on a medium of
some sort, whether it be soil like or soil lists,
and it grows roots into that medium and it is
harvested anywhere from several days to a few weeks in
some cases later by cutting above that medium. When you

(36:56):
cut them above that medium, they're no longer alive, they're
still packed with nutrition. So that's the difference with sprouts
or solely water. Microgreens are grown on a medium and
harvested by cutting the cutting above the medium.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
So, Gil, I'm interested in growing pea shoots using coconut choir.
If I do that, I'm essentially growing a microgreen. Correct, correct?

Speaker 4 (37:25):
Okay, you are rick and a good choice, very in
a very easy place to start, and I think always
wise to start easy, because I mean, the great the
greatest thing about this is just grow some food for yourself,
grow plants. I mean, if you don't want to grow food,
grow flowers and growing things. It's good for it's good

(37:45):
for your soul.

Speaker 1 (37:46):
You're preaching to the choir, Gil, Yuh, really, who's listening
that isn't already there.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
So my question then is that how do they compare
in terms of space, because you know, a lot of
us have smaller kitchens, some of us have huge kitchens.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
But like how much space.

Speaker 2 (38:06):
You need to grow microgreens versus growing sprouts.

Speaker 4 (38:09):
Now the fascinating question, Stacy. You know, in the case
of sprouts, they tend to take up less space. Well,
depending on what you grow them in. They can be
stacked or just squeezed together. I mean, we have a
preference for certain certain sprouters, but in the case of microgreens,

(38:31):
you always need horizontal space for them to grow. So
however much you want to grow, they just they always
That's not to say sprouts can't mimic this. I mean,
if you want to grow a bunch of alfalfa or
a bunch of what we refer to as leafy sprouts,
which are either clover or alfalfa and things mixed into those,

(38:53):
those all require or prefer. Photosynthesis is the last part
of what they do, so they end up spreading out
to and all need access to light. There's no stacking
at that point. But I've always felt that sprouts are
much more space efficient myself, it's just in there. They
the crop is done sooner too. So I have a

(39:16):
small kitchen and I have pictures and I've done some
of our videos will show I'll have a dozen or
more sprouts sometimes, and boy, it impacts my cooking. There's
just not enough room in the kitchen to have so
much stuff out. But I find that sprouts take up
less space.

Speaker 3 (39:36):
Now, what about time?

Speaker 4 (39:39):
Definitely, I mean if you're growing the high end for
sprouts is like six days. Alfalfa sprouts and clover sprouts,
those are six day crops in my book, and microgreens.
The only seeds that will harvest that soon closer to
seven or eight days are some small seeds like arugula, broccoli.

(40:04):
Broccoli as a sprout finishes in five days. As a microgreen,
it takes about seven or eight, possibly ten. Besides the
actual climate we're in, there's also just the time of
the year. I had a friend when we were in
the business of growing sprouts before we just went into
selling seeds. When we were growing sprouts in the Midwest

(40:25):
and distributing around Wisconsin mostly but also up into Minnesota
and down into Illinois and Iowa, it had I had
a friend who grew at a much bigger facility than
us in Chicago, and she always said, I just don't
understand why the wheat grass takes a day longer in
the winter. Why everything's the same. I'm inside, it's you know,

(40:48):
how do the seeds know it's winter? And we always
just said they're just smarter than us, you know, something
we don't know. So it's there's there, there are some
so like like they said, the leafy sprouts are a
six day crop in my book, in the summer, you
can end up with them in five days, but you

(41:09):
know they they'll seldom go longer, but definitely longer in
the winter.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
I actually found something very similar. So I got my
sprouts from you guys, my seeds and Sprouder at the
beginning of January, and last week we had very, very cold,
very cold conditions, and I would say that that batch
of sprouts that I was trying to grow last week
took longer than the ones that I'd had, you know.
I mean, of course we had our heat at the
same level, but just you know, the cool coming in

(41:35):
from the windows and everything else just made it slower.
I think one of the best reasons to grow sprouts
of course is that again, it's something that you can
successfully grow that I think is delicious and very easy
to grow, very low maintenance, works well even if you
have a full time job and a busy life. But
the fact is they are also extremely nutritious. Can you

(41:59):
tell us more about sort of nutritional in health benefits?

Speaker 4 (42:01):
Sprouts are the most nutrient dense food that exists as
far as I know, because they're a living food and
you even if you grow them, so you grow a
crop of sprouts, bean sprouts take just two to three days,
the leafy sprouts six days. When you harvest them and

(42:22):
put them in the refrigerator, they don't stop growing. They're growing,
just goes way down and so when you eat them,
they're still alive. And like I mentioned earlier, the soaking
of the seed is the greatest nutritional gain that happens
over the course of sprouting. Additional vitamins and nutrients can increase,

(42:46):
but there's no gain like just soaking them. So when
you eat them, you're just you're getting the full potential
of a plant. I think that broccoli which it was
September of nineteen ninety seven that broccoli sprouts became famous
when the doctors from Johns Hopkins released their study about

(43:07):
the antioxidant sulfur fine content in broccoli sprouts being up
to fifty times that of mature broccoli. And yeah, and
it's in my non educated way because Laurie and I
went to art school. We didn't go to We didn't

(43:27):
we've never studied growing. We just loved to grow food.
We gardened, and so everything's just just a learning experience
for us, or everything has come through learning. But since
you're eating the seed, the only part of the seed
you're not eating when you have to you've grown a
sprout is the hull. If the holl's gone and the

(43:49):
whole has no no great benefit one way or the other.
If you could eat it, you don't have to. We
get rid of them because there they can lessen the
shelf life of the the finished crop. But you've got
the full potential of the plant. That's what you're eating.
So it's not any surprise to me that they're so

(44:10):
much more powerful. I mean, we eat a lot of
vegetables too. We don't just eat sprouts. We garden obsessively. So,
but as far as nutrient density, it's just there's nothing
like sprouts because I really, again uneducated, it's just the
full potential of the plant you're consuming, you know. I mean,
if you take any one of those seeds that you've

(44:31):
germinated and you put it in a garden and you
see what it grows into. Just imagine that you're getting
all of that just in this tiny little package, because
that's what it is. But I will say I have
taken We've been asked about nutrients forever, and I've always
told people, really, I'm just a grower. I just I

(44:54):
have a terrible tendency. I'm much older. So this line
actually is kind of out of date now because but
for years I just told people if I had, if
I was not constrained by thinking or anything, I'd probably
just be eating cheeseburgers all the time and ice cream.

(45:15):
And I know sprouts are way better than that because
I can feel it when I eat them.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
If you're keeping score at home, we're chatting with Gil
Frishman and the website if you want to check it out.
As Stacy mentioned at the outset, so much great information there.
Also watch some of the YouTube videos. It's sproutpeople dot org.
Sproutpeople dot Org. I had a lot of fun watching

(45:41):
YouTube videos also, but the information there on the website
Stacy are great. And as long as we're on the
topic of nutrition, Gil I shared with Adriana and Stacy
my wheat grass and alfalfa grass juice that I make
and I drink tastes terrible, and so I am very

(46:04):
excited about the wheat grass smoothie recipe I saw on
your website. But I wanted to give you a plug
there for folks listening of course on podcasts and radio
as well as YouTube sproutpeople dot org. Gil I would
suspect that sprouts are very, very popular and going to
continue to become more and more popular. I remember HY

(46:27):
two K and the impact and then, of course being
in the garden center industry, the impact of the COVID pandemic.
You've probably seen a lot of interest in seed growing
and growing of sprouts, especially in the last couple of years, right.

Speaker 4 (46:45):
Rick, It's true those two things highlight the two biggest
points we're actually nineteen ninety seven with the issuance of
the Johns Hopkins Report on broccoli, really was the first
thing in our experience that elevated sprouts to the greater

(47:05):
consciousness and it's a shame that. I mean, they really
they were kind of discovered by n Wigmore in the
sixties seventies, and there was a group of people who
grew sprouts, and of course, you know during the hippie days,
people just they appreciated them. It's just the communication was

(47:25):
so different back then that selling anything, you know, is
a completely different experience. But both Y two K and
COVID created an incredible demand for sprouting because people wanted
to grow into all different things, right. Y two K
was just good fear of these end of everything. But yeah,

(47:47):
I would say that those things have unfortunately not sustained.
I mean, there are people that got in because of
those things that have stayed long term. We see our
repeat customers that have been around, some of them with
us for over two decades and some that's just started
in twenty twenty and have been avid since.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
The whole point Gil here is that not only easy
to grow, but nutritious, nutritious for us as people. But Stacy,
you and Adriana brought to my attention that they're well
pets too that really dig sprouts.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
Yeah, so Adriana bought the Four Legs of Love mix
from Sprout people for her dogs, and again we have
photos of that on the YouTube version of them enjoying
it and gil Another thing, so you guys made that
mix especially for dogs because you guys are pet lovers,
you and Laurie. But another thing I noticed when I
was researching is that Sprouting is really big for bird

(48:47):
owners as well, very.

Speaker 4 (48:50):
Very We was in the late nineties of one of
our customers called I think Maybe, emailed and asked if
we would consider making a mix for birds. In talking
to her, I've never met a seed I don't like,
so I was completely enthralled by the idea, and I

(49:10):
did some research and she sent me some directions as
to companies to direct me to companies who sold similar
products so that I could see what bird owners were
used to. And we talked to our vet and to
a bird specific veat that happened to be across the
street from where our vet was, and just decided on

(49:32):
a mix that worked well. And we sent some samples
to this particular customer and she shared them with her friends,
and we just came up with our mixes and we
named them. We had three mixes for different sized birds,
but we were told by the vet that it doesn't
make any difference. They could eat them all. They're all
incredibly good for them. Every seed, a seed that has

(49:58):
been soaked has gained that amazing nutrition. But it's also
no longer has enzyme inhibitors. It releases those so that
your body is not required to spend enzymes to digest it.
And this is true of the animals that consume these two.
So that's why it's better to at least soak seeds,

(50:21):
if not actually germinate them further for all of us,
for all species involved here. So the bird, the bird people,
God bless them. They are the sweetest people. I don't
think we've had but one ever complain about anything to us,
and they've offered advice or asked for things that we've

(50:44):
We dropped peanuts from our mid and big bird mixes
because several people said their allerg and there's there's issues
with them that we'd rather not have. And we said
that's that's fine. I mean, we had enough people that
said so, and we dropped them and nobody ever said
anything but thank you. So they've offered us advice and suggestion. Again,

(51:09):
they somebody asked, can you make one without any grains
again for birds with allergies. So we've made up doctor
Bird and it's like they can. I'm waiting for more
suggestions from the avian community because they're just the dearest people.
And I don't know. We always have critters. I mean

(51:30):
we've we've always I mean I'm sitting here next to Ira,
our current dog. He's an only dog. I'm sorry to say.
We often usually have had multiple dogs, and we do
have a couple of cats as well. But the so
anybody who's caring for another species, I just I relate

(51:51):
well to that and feel a kinship with those folks,
and I'm really happy to be of assistance to them.
The bird people. We had this customer in Hawaii who
told us her her package was coming slower because the
shipping method was the shipping method was slower, and her
birds were just given her heck for not having her sprouts.

(52:17):
She was like, she tries, she ran out, so she's
giving them vegetables. They're like throwing them at her. Where
are my throats? Dogs opening boxes to get its seeds.
You know, It's just great. The birds, they know the
good stuff.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
So I want to go back to sort of producing
sprouts or microgreens, So you're right, Like I have found
since I started order my kit from you guys, it
doesn't take me much more than thirty seconds a day,
and every single morning, I can't wait to get up
and look and see what they've done overnight, and I
can't wait to get home and see what they've done
during their day. But I'm curious, so I understand the soaking.

(52:54):
Of course, you need the seed to imbibe, and this
is the same thing that would happen if you're growing
seeds outdoors for anything, but the rinsing. So you recommend
rinsing twice a day, which I've been doing, and you know,
maybe in the summer, when it's warmer, I might need
to do that more often. Is the rinsing primarily intended
just to keep the seeds moist and to keep that
germination process going, or is there something else happening with

(53:17):
that rinsing process.

Speaker 4 (53:19):
That's a great question, Stacey. It is really largely to
keep them moist and to just keep them fresh. I've
read a lot of different people's things over the years,
and there are definitely other ways to sprout than we
do it. Putting a lot of water in just seems
to freshen them and oxygenate them. By you, I use

(53:43):
I like water pressure, and I will I just go,
I go over everything so that it gets a nice
thorough drink. I learned this just by doing it. We
read from several books ways to grow sprouts, and we
found that the way we were growing them successfully just

(54:03):
couldn't be done. In some cases, we were like violating
rules that people had and I'm just like, my god,
this is it's nuts. I mean, they're just too much dogma. Yeah,
and that certainly has become even more an issue with
the with the internet. I mean, it was it's harder
to get a book published then to publish a website,

(54:24):
and so people will say you have to do this,
you have to do that. Feel free to experiment here,
you know, there's no rules. I've always felt that the
rinsing is just a process of giving the seeds not
only water but more oxygen.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
I'm really grateful that you have done such a great
job on your website of documenting the process and showing
the seeds, you know, through the process, so people know
because there is a point. Even though I've really only
been sprouting again for about a month where I'm like, really,
these are going to be ready in two more days,
three more days, and I'm kind of wondering, and then

(55:01):
you know, the next morning or the next evening, I
come I opened the lid of the sprout and I'm like, yep,
oh yeah, they were right. And so that has been
really a great sort of handholding. But I agree, you know,
it's it is kind of just a common sense. You're
just germinating seeds in water instead of, you know, in

(55:21):
the soil. So another thing that makes sprout people so
unique that I have absolutely loved. I got the Leafy
Sprout Kit from you guys to get started, just so
I could try a whole bunch of different things is
your mixes. So people, most people they think about sprouts,
they think alfalfa sprouts, maybe they think bean sprouts. But

(55:42):
you and Laurie have obviously put a lot of time
into developing these mixes of all sorts of different types
of seeds together. And we tried the Russian next last
week and absolutely loved it. That was the thing that
made me go I actually might need more than once
router yea. So tell us about your mixes and what's your.

Speaker 4 (56:05):
Favorite mix that's fantastic. Russian mix was actually our first
leafy sprout mix, and the very the brief story is
that alfalfa sprouts were an enemy of mine early in
my life. I grew up. I grew up in the
Midwest near Chicago. I came to school in San Francisco.

(56:26):
I'd go to the to the cafe cafeteria at the school.
I went and I asked I'd order a bagel and
it came not with just cream cheese, but with sprouts
alfalfa sprouts, and I was just pissed off. I'm sorry,
I really was like, what are these doing here? I mean,
I was just they put him on everything. I was like,

(56:47):
this is just unnecessary, this doesn't belong here. And so
I being nineteen at the time, I just had attitudes
about all sorts of things. And I mean I was
at the point where I would have just I would
have worn that said I hate alfalfa s brods. So
the day the day Laurie came home with like eight
different kinds of seed and said, we're going to sprout

(57:08):
these for the farmer's market next week. I was like,
go ahead, you do it. I hate sprouts. So the
thing with me though, is I love seeds like I'm
weird about seeds. I collect seeds from trees. I mean,
I just any seed anywhere attracts my attention because I'm

(57:29):
fascinated by plants and how they reproduced. So I saw
the marvel that seeds could be sprouting, and I was like, Okay,
I can totally embrace this. But I got to do
something better than alfalfa. So I looked for other seeds
that I could germinate that would add flavor, and that

(57:51):
really that teamed with our art school education, allowed us
to come up with mixes that were aesthetically pleasing as
well as taste tasting better than plain alfalfa. I mean,
I have nothing against I do eat alfalfa sprouts occasionally,
though I almost always grow mixes or grow a clover

(58:15):
because they shed their holes easier, so that's largely my preference. Again,
holes not a problem. We've probably eaten half a ton
of them each in our lifetimes and so not an issue.
But we got into mixing because I hated sprouts and
I needed to find a way to like them, and
in that process I got to more seeds, which was

(58:38):
just my heart's content. Unfortunately, that then leads to needing
to find sources of more and more and more seeds,
which is a very difficult reality, especially as the years pass,
because seed farming is another thing completely and there are
not many people who do it, and they have to
be organic or they just don't matter to us organic

(59:02):
seed farming. Very few people do it, so it's hard
to keep everything in stock at all times. But the
Russian mix was our first mix, and I called it
Russian mix being of Russian descent. We realized we're never
going to get to go anywhere because this is the
same as being a dairy farmer. You've got a job
you do twenty four seven, three sixty five. You know

(59:24):
you've got to be here twice a day to do this,
and there's there's no day off for Christmas. You know,
there's no day off period. And so we thought, well,
I chose Russian mix because of my descent. But then
we came up with other mixes in short order and
named them geographically purely so we could have the vicarious

(59:44):
pleasure or hope of travel. So I just have to say, Stacey,
I have been growing. I have literally myself grown over
one hundred and fifty tons of sprouts by hand because
we did all that growing for stores for all those years,
and I've supervised another fifty thousand, another half a ton whatever.

(01:00:06):
It's an amazing amount of stress. But yet every time
I grow, I too go at the spreader and I
think I got the are you going to be ready? Really? Still?
I mean I'm growing. I'm growing broccoli and some crimson
clover currently, and I was looking at the broccoli this morning.
Shouldn't you be further by now? So don't feel bad

(01:00:28):
about that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
That's good.

Speaker 4 (01:00:29):
That will never go away.

Speaker 3 (01:00:31):
But you know, I think.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
That's what it's about, is it really is just such
an incredible process to watch. And as gardener's, you know,
it's a process that we participate in, but we don't
usually get to witness it all firsthand. And at the
end of it, we're not always eating that product. So
it's just been I think, you know, so much fun
for me, especially in winter here in Michigan, gloomy cold,
super snowy winter. I have just really loved it, and

(01:00:55):
I really encourage anyone who wants to grow some of
their own food, you know, to try and as Adriana said,
if you happen to not like it, and you have
a dog or maybe a bird, you're you know, your
dogg or bird will be happy to to take any
sprouts that you aren't find.

Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
After listening to Gil talk about alfalfa sprouts, I need
to either get a pet or give up on my
alfelfa grass juice. Yeah, but that's why I'm going to
try your smoothie. I'm going to give the smoothie a
try it and try and make things a little more appetiting.

Speaker 3 (01:01:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:01:31):
Yeah, we found mixing it with apple juice and carrot juice.
We got a rather high end juicer at some point
and we would just juice a bunch of carrots and
apples and mix wheat grass in it. And it was
it's on our site as drink Me. That's the name
of that particular recipe. So that that was just it's
not a smoothie, but that was our way to get

(01:01:52):
wheat grass into our kids and it was easier for
us too, Plus we were getting the benefit of apple.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
So one last question Gil before there we go. Yeah,
Ezrik was saying, you guys also have a bunch of recipes.
I think for the most people, most people who have
not really sprouted. They're just like, yeah, sprouts, you put
them on a salad, you put them on a sandwich.
So what is you guys have tons of recipes ways
I've never thought of using them, But what is your
favorite way to enjoy sprouts?

Speaker 4 (01:02:20):
You know, it's pretty seasonal, Stacey, And when we have
tomatoes in the garden, it's leafy sprouts constantly. We do
broccoli sprouts fairly regularly. On and off. We'll go through
periods where we really just want a whole broccoli because
I love we all love broccoli the vegetable too, and

(01:02:42):
I do have to say our broccoli sprouts are the
seeds we get are are the best I've found anywhere.
I've tested my competition stuff, and they tend to be
a little spicier than I prefer. But because most brassicas
are spicy, radishes are also in the same family. So
I but broccoli, we love grown broccoli. It's just there's

(01:03:07):
nothing like a crown of broccoli more the stems. I'm
actually particularly fond the stems. But so we grow broccoli
as a regular thing, and we generally just make we
make the same recipes over and over. We focus a
lot we like our curried lental sprout salad. That's a

(01:03:29):
that's a major Yeah, it's just it's lentils, which is
we just love lentils. We've been bringing that to our
block party for fifteen years or more and people are
angry if we don't. We did bring a San Francisco
Spicy sprout mix I believe is the name of that recipe,
which is just San Francisco mix sprouted with some spices

(01:03:52):
on it. But we also in this time of year,
we eat We eat them a lot as soup, which
is not the height of nutrition because you're cooking them,
so you're killing off a fair amount of the nutrients
in them. But it's great food. So we have a
recipe called perfect Soup that we use a lot, but truly,

(01:04:15):
for the most part, it's just adding to salads on sandwiches.
It really is the most common thing. So our website
is largely big because I wanted to make sure people
didn't fail, because the first time you grow, the first
time you try something, success is such a much better
result than failure, you know. I mean I failed a

(01:04:35):
lot when we started as sprout people, because, like I said,
I didn't read books. I just used what I knew
from gardening and came up with my own methods and
they worked. I found what worked. But draining is the
main thing, the soaking necessary. It's done only once we

(01:04:56):
actually altered our restructions, our brief instructions we added to
our website a few years ago for the people who
could not stand my long winded instructions, and anybody who's
now listening to me, I'm sure would be terrified to
read my but the brief instructions say, soak for this
much time, never soak again. Because we had We've had

(01:05:19):
too many customers over the years who they're like, they're
not growing, they're not growing, they're not growing. And it
turned out they were soaking them, not rinsing them. They
just kept soaking them, draining the water, soaking them. So
you soak them, you rinse them well, but every time
you're done rinsing, draining is the key.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
You know. As you said, I think sprouts are such
a great way to get through winter and beyond. If
you have small space, you can't grow your own vegetables.
You just want to have them, You just love them.
I have to say, I have truly, truly been enjoying it.
I think I know Adriana has two. She's over there nodding,
and I would encourage all of our listeners to give
it a try. And I think sproutepeople dot org is

(01:05:59):
a great place to start because you guys definitely answered
all my questions without me ever having to reach out.
And I've been so so happy and just loved your mixes.
And yeah, like I said, I've been doing it for
maybe a month and I'm already thinking about.

Speaker 3 (01:06:13):
A second sprouterer.

Speaker 2 (01:06:14):
So that's great, a great place to start for anyone
interested in sprouts or microgreens. Sproutpeople dot org. Thank you
so so much, Gil for being on the show and
for sharing all of your experience and knowledge and thoughts.

Speaker 4 (01:06:29):
Thank you, it was a great pleasure with Anne, Stacy
and Abrianna. I'm so glad that you found us and
we're flattered that you that you wanted us on your show,
and thank you so much for your time.

Speaker 3 (01:06:41):
Yeah, happy sprouting, Gil.

Speaker 2 (01:06:42):
I am already a fan of sprouting, as you have heard,
so I hope that makes you start thinking about getting
sprouts into your life as well.

Speaker 1 (01:06:50):
Sprout it from the rooftop.

Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
I think we are so thank you so much. To
Gil and Laurie from sproutpeople dot org for their time
and all of that information. Thank you you, Rick, thank you,
thank you Adriana, and thanks to all of you for listening.
We hope you have a wonderful week ahead.

Speaker 4 (01:07:07):
M M m