Homegrown Sprouts

A couple of weeks ago I was reading an article in Chickens magazine. (Yes, there really is a Chickens magazine. You can find it at http://www.chickensmagazine.com/) The article promoted feeding fresh greens to chickens for healthier and happier animals, and it causes their eggs to be more nutritious. For those of us without pasture space, author Cynthia Amidon suggests sprouting seeds, which evidently chickens adore.

It seemed like a good idea, so I hopped on the internet and read a few articles about sprouting seeds. My favorite website was http://www.sproutpeople.org/. I measured three tablespoons of alfalfa seeds into a quart canning jar, washed and soaked for 12 hours, then rinsed and drained twice a day for about five days. Soon I had a full quart jar full of lovely alfalfa sprouts. It was simple.

Next I made hummus and baked flatbread. Combined with the crunchy green alfalfa sprouts, this created delicious and nutritious sandwiches that the whole family enjoyed. The only problem was that the chickens only got a few tablespoons of sprouts because we ate them all. So now I'm back to washing, rinsing and draining more sprouts. Maybe this time we'll share some of them with the chickens.