Winding Down

At what point does one decide the summer crop is over? I get a little crop like this every day now. You can see in the Chinese longbeans a certain madness now. Somersaulting, pinching and twisting, they are in a frenetic scramble as they sense the "last call" of the season.  I'm sort of loving the show, but it may be time to pull it all out, dry the pods that remain for a new crop in the spring, clean up the garden and condition the soil for the winter.

Indoors, here's a recent project (I LOVE the warm, soothing light of the very early morning):

Sprouts! My friend, Liat, loaned me this awesome hemp sprouting bag which works so, so much better for me than the tall jar with the rubber gasketed/screened lid. I am ordering one of these bags right away! I showed my daughter my sprouts and she asked, "But what do you eat them with?"

"My fingers!" I answered, demonstrating.

Another bonus is that Liat is the Mom of my daughter's best friend, so the sprouting bonanza provides fodder for hours of eye-rolling, teenage fun at our expense! It is such a joy to make those kids laugh.

Here's another way I eat my sprouts --

This was my breakfast this morning: sprouts (Ezekiel Bread), sprouts and hummus! Delish!

Why sprouts? Bioavailability! Simply put -- the sprouts are alive, with 100% of their nutrition intact, and have converted the starches/gluten of the seed/bean to the phytonutrients we all need for regeneration and fuel for our cells. I'm a newbie in this learning process, so I will share more when I know more.  I'm going to go throw a handful into the juicer now with some kale and maybe a pear. What do you do with your sprouts?

P.S. upon re-reading, I'm happily noticing the sprouts echo the acrobatics of the longbeans, all indeed "winding"!