“We Have No Food for You” – Insiders on Food Supply Shortages warns: “Start growing food and secure your protein now.” Preppers have lots of stored foods – but what about fresh greens? Being able to grow your own food provides a great sense of security. However, since most Americans in cities don’t have access to land, growing their own food does not seem like an option. Yet, in just a week, you can easily grow highly-nutritious sprouts with little or no experience! There is a wide variety of sprouts and a number of ways to grow them. It’s a fun project and a great way for kids to learn about gardening.

Dr. Joseph Mercola in Reinventing Our Food System, One Small Farm At a Time:

I cannot encourage you strongly enough to take control of the food that you’re eating. A great way to get started on your own is by sprouting. They may be small, but sprouts are packed with nutrition and best of all, they’re easy and inexpensive to grow.

The Sprouts link in my Urban Gardens Revolution site provides a lot of information — including videos. You can sprout nuts, seeds, beans, and grains. With just one sprouter in just one week, you can sprout enough food for one person for a week. Store the sprouts in the refrigerator for 2-3 days or much longer in the freezer. Use your sprouts in sandwiches, salads, or with other vegetables to add a zesty taste! This is an easy way to increase the variety of your diet and to enhance your nutrition.

The Nutritional Power of Seeds

The Budwig Center says, “Seeds may be tiny, but they’re packed with nutrients like protein, fiber, iron, vitamins, and omega-3 fatty acids”. Since seeds are the source of all life, they provide energy bursting with life. Seeds are incredibly powerful antioxidants. Seeds contain many times more nutrition than the plants they will become — in some cases as much as 30 times more nutrition!

Seeds are intense sources of concentrated nutrition and compete with the best superfoods. Seeds such as sunflower, sesame, chia, hemp, flax, and pumpkin are not only mineral rich but also protein rich. Seeds are true superfoods and are a complete source of easily-digested plant protein. They are high in fiber and minerals like magnesium, iron, zinc, and potassium.

You can buy seeds on Amazon or at a number of sites online. Just Google “seeds for sprouting”.
1 Pound – Todd’s Seeds Sprouter’s Choice Mix: Broccoli, Radish, Arugula, Cress, Mizuna & Tatsoi Mustard, Cabbage provides a good start for about $20.

Some seeds are nutty in flavor while others are sweet or neutral tasting. Pumpkin seeds have an earthy flavor, sesame seeds are very nutty, sunflowers are slightly sweet and nutty, and flax and chia seeds taste mildly nutty. Seeds help carbohydrate metabolism in the body, hormone production, and even improve immune health as well as skin, hair, and nails.

Seeds are some of the most overlooked nutrient sources in the plant kingdom although many are rising in popularity. Seeds are high in fat — the type of fat our body loves and needs. They are an especially good source of omega 3 essential fatty acids and a rich source of mono-unsaturated fats that protect your heart, prevent inflammation, and help manage your weight. Chia seeds are a source of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), a type of “short-chain” omega-3 fatty acid. Hemp seeds are a great protein source, as more than 25% of their total calories are from high-quality protein. That is considerably more than similar foods like chia seeds and flaxseeds which provide about 16–18%.

Today, we need more nutrients because multiple toxicities are affecting the entire biosphere and the nutritional values of foods have been dropping over the last 50 years. Superfoods help make up the slack by addressing the deep nutritional deficiencies that most people have — especially those who are fighting chronic diseases.

Several Kinds of Seed Sprouters

There are many kinds of seed sprouters. If you buy two or three types, you can discover which you prefer. Grow different kinds of sprouts in each tray of each sprouter and learn which kinds of sprouts you like best.

The Kitchen Crop VKP1200 Deluxe Kitchen Seed Sprouter ($21) on the left below comes with one ounce of alfalfa seeds. The square, stackable Gardens Alive sprouter ($10) shown below is easy to use. It comes with two trays, but you can add up to four additional trays and grow several different varieties at once.

The EASY SEED SPROUTER ($30) and the Seed Sprouting Jar Kit ($62) are two more options.

AeroGarden

The AeroGarden is another way to grow food easily at home. It is easy to set up and use because the lighting and watering are controlled automatically. You just put in the seed pods and watch them grow. My dentist uses his AeroGarden to grow herbs and his three young sons love it. I liked the AeroGarden but found that it takes too long to grow enough food in an emergency. However, since you can use it to grow tomatoes and strawberries, it could be a good supplement — with prices ranging from $40-$480.

The AeroGarden allows you to grow lettuces, tomatoes, strawberries, etc. effortlessly indoors all year. The AeroGarden comes with an Herb Seed Pod Kit. AeroGarden sells additional Seed Pod Kits including one for Heirloom Lettuces with six varieties, a Romaine Kit, Kale Kit, and Custom Kit that allows you to select from 14 lettuces. These kits provide 30 different types of lettuces – many of which you are unlikely to find in your grocery store, health food store, or even farmers’ markets.

The Control Panel turns the AeroGarden lights on and off in a 17-hour cycle at the default times or the times you select. It also reminds you when to add water and nutrients every couple of weeks. Most plants germinate within 7-14 days, are ready for harvesting in 4-6 weeks, and will keep producing continuous harvests for up to six months and longer. Indoor gardening can’t get any tastier or simpler!

Video: Top 5 Smart Indoor Gardening Kits

“Top 5 Smart Indoor Gardening Kits” shows five automatically indoor growing systems. It features the OGarden Smart shown below and explains its three-step process that allows you to grow up to 90 fruits and vegetables at once.

OGarden Smart

The OGarden Smart site says: “OGarden Smart is the futuristic indoor garden available now! Growing your own fresh organic food will allow you to eat healthy without pesticides and herbicides. The OGarden Smart is a practical and innovative product that gives you the possibility to grow your vegetables all year round.” The price of $745 can be paid in 8 bi-weekly installments of $140.

The site provides the video shown below.

Easy Organic Harvest Year ‘Round

The OGarden Smart has fully automatic watering and lighting that allow you to effortlessly grow more than 20 types of organic seeds and produce up to 90 vegetables, fruits, and/or herbs at the same time.

Easy Planting and Harvesting

OGarden Smart’s seed pod is made with organic soil and feeds your plants with organic fertilizer so you get the best for your plants and your body. OGarden Smart is very easy to use. Simply put the seed cups in the nursery cupboard and press start. Three weeks later, transfer the plant to the wheel. After 30-40 days, your produce will be ready to harvest. Since there are 90 spots, with a good rotation, you can have 2-4 large vegetables a day — every day.

You can create 30 plant rotations and have continuous harvest all-year round. You can have various garnishes to serve at any meal. OGarden Smart saves you money and protects your health. You can get fully grown, pesticide-free veggies. You avoid wasting food because you harvest food when you need it. Your veggies taste fresher because you harvest them when you are ready to eat them.

You can put OGarden Smart anywhere in your home.