Frugal Living Tips

GROW YOUR OWN WHEAT GRASS FOR JUICING

by Natalie Rowles
(Pinetown KZN S.A.)

Weigh 100g of organic wheat kernels, and place these in a glass bottle. Fill bottle with enough cold water just to cover the top of the kernels. Place a fibre-glass mosquito net which is held in place with an elastic band, over the top of the bottle to prevent insects dropping inside. (Do this last thing at night) Leave bottle sitting on sink.
Next morning throw off the stale water, by just tipping it into the sink whilst still keeping the net on.(or use stale water to water plants).
Rinse at least twice a day (I do it three times a day) for optimum growth of sprouts. DO NOT FILL BOTTLE WITH WATER AGAIN, as the kernels need only moisture for growing into sprouts. Do this procedure for one or two days.

Next morning, mix your potting soil, together with riversand and compost 1:1:1 together. Place a cut piece of fibre-glass inside two seedling trays. Fill these seedling trays to the top with the soil-mix, and level the soil.
Now take your wheat sprouts and split it into two heaps, half goes on top of each seedling tray by placing these in the middle of each tray.
With your open hand, flatten the heap by gently pushing the sprouts outwards to fill the top with evenly spaced sprouts. These sprouts will grow like hair on a dog's back!

Place the 2 trays inside a cat litter tray in a sunny spot. Fill with cold tap water to reach 3/4 way up the seedling trays and place another cat litter tray on top of this to enclose it completely.
Place a pot plant or 1/2 brick on top of this so it can't be pushed off by a dog or the wind. Keep it just like that for 3-4 days, then open up and remove seedling trays and throw off the stale water. Replace with fresh water and place trays back inside the c.l. trays as before. Repeat procedure once more and then remove top c.l. tray to enable wheatgrass seedlings to grow in the sun.

When the wheatgrass is about as tall as a pencil (10-15cm) you can remove and cut it with a sharp knife or a pair of kitchen scissors. Rinse quickly the cut wheatgrass in the sink with cold water that has a teaspoon of salt inside it.
Place in a strainer and give a last rinse with cold water, before juicing.
I use an electric OSCAR juicer that does not heat up the wheatgrass juice which gives a very good juice. The wheatgrass juice I then place in ice-cube trays for future use straight away. (One to two cubes per glass can be use later). Drink 20ml of wheatgrass juice plain as is per day (or twice a day), or add the freshly made juice of an unpeeled sliver of lemon with 2 Granny Smith apples (or any apples) to the wheatgrass juice at the same time, to give an incredible tasty juice. Drink once or twice a day - very healthy - full of minerals and vitamins.