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A Well-Drilling (Customer's) Primer September/October 1984 Most well drillers won't deliberately gi...
If you grow and cook them correctly, you may discover a surprising attraction to these nutty and de...
With its 2010 calendar filled with garden recipes and vibrant photos, the Seed Savers Exchange deli...
If you want to grow nutritious and tasty fresh vegetables during the cold months, sprouts are the a...
We started right off constructing enough shelves to hold up to 160 of our wide mouthed, one-gallon alfalfa sprouting jars. Each of the units measures six feet long, six feet high, and two feet deep and is built entirely of 1 X 3's except for the seven-foot-long 2 X 4's that run up all four corners.
As the drawing which accompanies this article shows, the shelves are designed so that each "layer" of 20 jars (10 in the hoot and another 10 in the back) is spaced 13 inches above the one below and the lowest double row of the containers is supported 18 inches off the floor (for sanitation purposes). Note, too, the way in which each jar of sprouting seeds is securely held at an upturned angle of 45° or better for drainage.
Don't try to skimp on these shelves! The weight of the one-gallon glass jars they hold plus the developing sprouts in those containers plus the water which drains off the growing shoots does add up. If you stick with the dimensions given here, though, you shouldn't have any trouble.
Our lentils grow in an entirely different kind of "garden" . . . made up of 20" X 36" trays constructed of 1 X 3's with screening stapled to their bottoms. These trays slide into three racks (each rack holds eight of the flat containers) framed up from 2 X 4's as shown in the accompanying drawing. Every individual tray holds at least 10 pounds of growing sprouts as the shoots near maturity, which means that each rack--when fully loaded-carries a minimum of 80 pounds of weight . . . or 240 pounds of lentils in all.
Sprouts, of course, must be rinsed at least twice a day (both to nourish them and to wash away any mold that might try to develop on the growing shoots). Which means that a very important part of any sprouting operation is the provision made for draining the rinsed seeds. We think that our drainage setup is simple, efficient, and sanitary.
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