My Garden of Micro-Greens

To me the word "Homesteading" implies a connection with the process of our own food. But, exactly how we homestead and where we homestead is a diverse as the colors of the rainbow and the many shades in between.

I started my homesteading journey sprouting grains in jars on a windowsill as a college student and though I have gone through so many phases -- literally lived on dozens of farms, apartments, tents, back porches, and finally as caretakers of a farm in Argentina -- I keep going back to the simplicity of growing sprouts and micro-greens.

Before going on about micro-greens, I wanted to say "hello" to this homesteading community - this is my first post here, well, kind of. Actually I have posted here before under my previous name Libra.Gardener ... But then, I had an existentialist crisis. I looked around at my garden and saw that most of my crops where failing and I couldn't, in good faith, call myself a gardener anymore.

Now, upon reflection, I realize that I was trying to do too much; grow veggies of all sorts, grow and harvest herbs for my small business, take care of a 10 acre farm, run an online business, work a day job, spend time with my guy, our cats, and horse, dedicate energy to friendships, write letters to pen pals, continue my language learning, read books, sew, organize the house, cook, clean -- you know the "behind the scenes" aspect of homesteading. I had to let something go, or several things go, and the title of gardener, as well as my failed attempts to grow a traditional garden were on the chopping block. I also quit my day job :)

Growing food in some way I couldn't totally discard, instead my garden had to transform and adapt to the aspects that do come naturally to me.

Working with plants is something deeply ingrained in my soul. I am really luck to have come from a lineage of gardeners, my grandpa had a super abundant garden in the hills of Oregon, my Mom is an avid gardener of herbs and flowers in sunny California. Somehow the knack of tend to vegetables didn't get passed down to my mother and I so, I decided to focus on my true love of growing herbs and returned to my first success: growing micro-greens.

In our future home I plan to create a very aesthetic outdoor workspace with a bench, mini green house with shelves, and invest in a set of legit micro-green trays. What with the economic trials Argentina is currently going through and our low-budge lifestyle, I am working with what I've got; a lot of recycled plastic pots, meters of shade cloth, and, luckily, an abundance of water.

All I need to buy is the seeds. My last trip to the United States (where I am from) provided me with several packets of micro greens. I really like Silver Lake Seed Co if you are searching for seeds and live within the U.S. To fill in the gaps from my yearly seed haul I also buy bulk mustard and fenugreek seeds which are sold as condiments. Also, whenever I prepare a squash or pumpkin for a meal, I take out the seeds and plant them in my DIY microgreen trays. Though everyone is different, I tend to eat most microgreens raw or slightly steamed, except for the squash/pumpkin greens which must be cooked for about a minute, at least in my experience.

I live in a very rural town and though we can order online via Mercado Libre (the Amazon/Ebay of Latin America) I wanted to make micro-green trays with materials I have on hand, and we had a lot of 5 liter plastic bottles. So, I simply cut them in half with a box cutter and poke about a dozen holes in the bottom -- if you are going to try this at home please, please be careful with the box cutter portion!!

Then, I fill to about 3/4 way full of 70% compost and 30% sand mix, sprinkle seeds very close together, then a sprinkling of compost above the seeds. Be sure to really sprinkle the compost on top, too much earth will block the sprouting leaves.

Inside my house is dark and dank so growing indoors isn't an option. If you, dear reader, have a sunny windowsill that will work great! I keep my micro-green trays out in the garden enclosed totally in shade cloth because birds absolutely loooove little sprouts. It is currently the height of summer so I need to water daily, sometimes twice a day with a quick spray from the hose. Micro-greens are more fragile that adult plants so you will need to water lightly.

After a week or so of growing the greens are ready to harvest though they can grow up to two weeks or more. Pretty much everyday I go out an cut off a section of micro-greens, sow some more, and water all at the same time.

And finally, the best part, eating!

I present you our New Year's Eve pizza with micro-greens of mustard, radish and basil atop! The combination of crunchy, cheesy goodness mixed with the freshness of raw, organic greens straight from the garden is what my homesteading life is all about!

Best wished of a wonderful 2024 to you all!