Sprouting Alfalfa and cats

[Traceyraw]

I am craving alfalfa sprouts. I hate to buy them when it is so much cheaper to sprout them. Here is my dilema I have sprouted lentils no problem. Any other my cats knaw on them. How do you keep the cats out of the sprouts.

2nd. Can somebody tell me the easiest and cheapest way to sprout alfalfa. What others are good for beginners.

[DebB]

Hi Tracey ~ I sprout alfalfa (and red clover, they're mixed 50-50) daily. I sprout them in half gallon mason jars, so I don't think your cats could get to them in the jars.

I buy my (organic) seeds through Azure Standard and I use 2 tablespoons of seed in the half gallon jar. You can certainly use a quart jar, does not have to be 1/2 gallon. I just like it because it gives the sprouts more room and I feel they green up better when I place them by the window on their last day. Just costs pennies...

[Living Food]

The best way to sprout alfala is to just sprout it in a jar with a wire mesh lid like Deb said, soaking the seeds for four hours beforehand. Rinse every 8-12 hours for 5-6 days and you'll have beatiful alfalfa sprouts. Make sure you keep them out of the sun until the last day or two so that they remain crisp and juicy, and even then only put them in indirect sulight. Keep the jars at an angle so that none of your sprouts are sitting in the water were they could rot.

As for keeping your cats out of them, it would be pretty hard for your cats to get to the sprouts inside a glass jar! How have you been sprouting them? As for me, I just put aside some extra grass and sprouts for my cats and dogs and they're the healthiest animals I've ever seen. Most sprouts are cheap enough that you can afford to share the harvest.

Look at this thread for more in-depth info on sprouting:

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?64973-Sprouting!&highlight=sprouting%21

[Traceyraw]

I did lentils just in a kitchen strainer it was easy to rinse. I tried herbs inside but my cats ate them. I was under the impression it was a tray used for sprouting them.

Thank you all so much. I have some large glass jars I will probably use screen and rubberbands for now.

[Living Food]

Trays are mostly used for growing microgreens and grass - something else that you might want to try eventually, just make sure you put them somewhere your cats can't get to. *smile*

[Traceyraw]

I ve been googling sprouts. I can sprout catnip. I found something to make them happy.