Sunday, April 6, 2014

A Late Spring Update on the Sprout and Fodder Project

Yesterday, I was out working on chores while Bailey was walking her goat, when I found her chatting with a neighbor. It turns out we all have quite an interest in organics and grass fed livestock. We were talking about this project, and whether there was a way to use something similar, on a larger scale to raise grass fed livestock. That is still beyond either of our leagues, but it reminded me about this update I had begun earlier in the week...

On Thursday, this was the growth in one of the barley sprouting trays.  While the sprouts were tall, they seemed rather sparse in the tray,to my eye.


This was the growth in a tray of sunflower seeds begun the same day, though I didn't remember the day I had begun them. While the sunflower sprouts are shorter, and behind in growth cycle, they seemed thicker to me, sparking a talk with the kids.


Wyatt pulled a sprout or two from each, and laid them on the counter. The sunflower sprout is measurably thicker, and while it looks as long as the barley sprout, it is one of the very few tall sprouts from that tray. Some of them were still barely sprouting.


We talked about the trays starting on the same day, and I hadn't written down when the day was. We also talked about how I hadn't exactly measured how much I had used. I knew it was somewhere between 1.5 and 2 cups, but not if they were exactly the same.


Could that have had an effect? Well, we decided to go about it a little more scientifically, and began prepping the next two trays to start for the next cycle.


I started with two identical canning jars.


I measured two cups of sunflower seeds.


Into the jar they went.


Then two cups of barley.


Into the jar they went.


Then the seeds were rinsed and went in to soak on the counter.


When they were ready, they went into the trays on Friday,  We will weigh and measure the feed we gt from them, and share what we learn! Have you done similar experiments? What have you learned? Any other tricks to share?





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