51. SPROUTING OUT

Donax Drive in Kei Mouth, where we are now living

It has been a while, but everything is very different now. Living in suburbia, although I do not think suburbia is quite the right words here. Kei Mouth is a small coastal town, probably about 1 000 permanent residents and all the houses are not hiding behind big wall and security fences. It lacks the fear factor of suburbia.

Now the challenge is this; how to stay as green as possible within these surroundings. One thing I have noticed is that each property is only allowed 3 bags of rubbish per week and there are two houses on the property where we live. Seriously they only take 3 and leave the rest. This forces you to watch the amount of rubbish you create, because if becomes a big pain to get rid of when you have too much.

Unfortunately none of the Restaurants or Shops are particularly vegetarian friendly, but nothing new there. Riaan caught a fish the other day, he always catch and release, but sometimes things go wrong and the fish die. He brought the fish home, cleaned it, cooked it and ate it. I could not eat it because it was whole and the eyes where looking at me! How do you eat something while it is looking at you, even if it is dead? Each one to their own, I guess.

We are still using the greener cleaning products and bathroom paraphernalia. 

I still make sprouts, I have learned to love them and you can sprout allsorts. Quite a nice one is mustards seeds.

HOW TO MAKE SPROUTS:

Here is the quick and easy way to make sprouts, no fancy equipment needed. You basically need a glass bottle with a lid.

I am going to use lentil sprouts as an example but the process for the other sprouts are pretty much the same, some take two day and some three or more, that is the only difference. I found that Mung Dahl gives you fresh sprouts within two day. I assume that the warmer climate here does affect this; it might take a bit longer in colder climates.

Put the lentils in the bottle, not a lot; fill about 2/10^th of the bottle. Add water, you cannot add to much, so fill the bottle if you want. Put on the led. Leave it to stand for one day, it does not have to be in a dark room or anything, just let it stand anywhere, next to the basin, whatever.

After one day..

Holes in the lid, for drainage

Leave upside down, to drain

The next day the water will probably be a brownish color; that is normal. Drain the water. Rinse the lentils once or twice with fresh water.

Now make holes in the lid and drain all the water. Place the bottle upside down (lid with wholes at the bottom) on something where access water will be able to drain, sometimes I use the cheese grater, ie NOT on a solid surface. Just let it stand.

Rinse and drain for a day or two or three, until you have sprouts. Eat and enjoy.