Wheatgrass in the Morning

We started growing wheatgrass a few months ago in response to our desire to be healthfully frugal. I had some previous experience with what seemed like a wheatgrass "overdose" a few years ago and for quite sometime had a natural aversion to it. Nonetheless after a visit to Happy Healthy Human and getting a wheatgrass shot "on the house" from owner Jason for my bulging pregnant belly I remembered how much I do enjoy that shot of liquid chlorophyll. At 3 or so dollars a shot though, not very likely I would be enjoying it often. The solution of course was sitting in the shed. We pulled out the old wheatgrass trays, bought some good soil and searched for all the pieces of the manual wheatgrass juicer I had purchased all those years ago.

Having a new baby really opens me up to loving the simplicity of things, so I will often speak of things being super easy. Let me walk you through these very simple steps so you can try it out for yourself.

ocean in the wheatgrass

Supplies needed:

about 1 cup of wheat berries (we use hard red winter wheat)

Soil

h20

some sort of tray

We find our trays at our local organic farm, but you can probably find them in any garden supply store.  Before you begin you will want to soak your wheat for about 12 hours, or just overnight. The next morning you can fill your tray with soil to about 1 inch high, sprinkle the wheat berries on top, and cover with a paper towel. Water them well and keep an eye on their progress. We water ours everyday, you may need to water more or less. So you may be wondering, why on earth would I drink wheatgrass and even further, will I enjoy it enough to grow it myself? Well let me give you a few reasons why you just may want to:

For one, it just feels good, it is so green! You can really feel the benefits of it if you tune into your system.

It is a great detoxing agent, and for this reason many people have similar experiences to mine of "overdosing".

It has loads of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids...YUM.

It is a quick way to get a load of green leaf veggies into your diet if you have an aversion to them regularly.

I could go on, but I truly believe in personal experience over the opinions of others to form our own individual ideas about things, so try it out! You have nothing to lose. In fact, if you do not want to grow your own, many health food stores and juice bars carry their own wheatgrass, or you can purchase wheatgrass that has been juiced and then dehydrated, although many people believe the benefits of the juice are the best absorbed if consumed within a short time of juicing.

While I am on the subject of juicing let me tell you, although some people say they use methods of extraction like blending and centrifugal juicing it is really best, if not necessary,  to have a wheatgrass juicer. We have a manual wheatgrass juicer at our home. Although this takes some time, it is worth it to know all the enzymes and nutrients stay intact and to make sure you get all the juice you can get out of your precious grass.

So there you have it folks, growing and consuming wheatgrass is groovy.