Phlashback Thursday – Microgreens

This Phlashback Thursday is a consolidation of three posts from January 2012. Microgreens are still a popular food item on the menus of small cafes and upscale luncheonettes. I have some seeds purchased within the last year. When I am finished posting, I will pull them out and plant a few. It’s fun to reset some old habits, but also a good idea to retain a few of my old goals too.

Sowing seeds and indoor gardening seem to be dominating my winter blog posts. I am starved right now for green, tired of the bare branches of trees silhouetted against the sky. I have been sowing seeds in hopes of harvesting Microgreens. Microgreens are harvested from seeds sprouted through the early leafing-out stage. I am using seeds from Pinetree Garden Seeds. This is my first attempt at this type of gardening.

I am growing the Microgreens on my windowsill in plastic throwaway containers from cookies and other snacks. To see how I went about the process, check out the photos below.

I gathered my supplies: antique pots to look pretty, throwaway plastic from cookie containers, corn holder for poking holes in the plastic.

I made sure the containers would fit inside my chosen pots before I added the dirt.

I poked holes for drainage in the plastic with the corn holder.

I filled the containers with organic soil.

I watered containers of soil and let them drain.

I spaced the pea seeds out in rows.

I sowed the Kitchen Sink Mix en masse.

I covered with one of my favorite kitchen tools, Glad’s Press ‘n Seal.

The seeds are already up…they sprouted in less than two days.

My Microgreens are up and growing fast. I can’t wait to try them in a salad.

A few weeks later: Oh My! The Microgreens are a bit ragged in appearance…what happened to my lush crop? I’m afraid to say I have already eaten most of the young greens. I pop the tops off the pea sprouts and eat them like candy. This is reminiscent of the peas I grow outdoors in the Spring. They never seem to arrive on my kitchen table as a side dish. Warm afternoons usually find me standing in the midst of the pea patch eating the fresh peas out of the pods. Yum! In truth, the microgreens are a complete success. I enjoy growing them, and most of all eating them. The best use so far was garnishing my turkey and swiss cheese sandwich with a row of them. Oh Happy Day!

The kitchen sink variety is also thriving and perhaps today I will start grazing on them too. Moo!

Phlashback Thursday – December 4th

If you have blogged, like me, for over a decade, you may be running into the same problem as I have in the past few years: finding unique ideas and themes to post about. I am not a fan of the phrase “circle back,” but in my day-to-day life, I often repeat the same projects, recipes, and outings as in previous years.

In the coming year, starting with the Christmas season, I plan to mine my archives and bring back a few of the better projects, recipes, outings, etc., that might be lost in the never-never land of thousands of posts and photographs.

  1. Repairing Resin Figurines with Bread Dough Clay
  2. Mossy Pots for Christmas

Paper Snowflakes – I cut close to a hundred this year to cover my windowpanes. I can’t imagine being without paper snowflakes on my windows in December and January.

Phlashback – Throwback Thursday/Watch the Tram Car Please!

The tram car, a Wildwood, New Jersey icon, has been traveling the boards for over seventy years. Believe it or not (Sounds like Ripley’s) this is the first year I can remember riding it. If I rode it as a child I don’t remember, but the voice of the tram is something imprinted within my brain, and also a well-known local phrase I can perfectly mimic. In a strange way the canned voice, cautioning unwary walkers out of the way is oddly soothing.

Here is a super-short video, filmed in July, a timeless portrayal of the boardwalk in summer. We were in the first car, and you can briefly see me reflected in the rearview mirror as I film. You can see another tram car passing on the right side as the car driver stops to pick up new passengers. For $4.00 one way, $8.00 round trip, you can ride the entire boardwalk.

WATCH THE TRAM CAR PLEASE!

The Tram Car is part of the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #215, Planes, Trains and Automobiles.