Days 7-14

My wheatgrass crop has grown very quickly over the last week! From 1.5 inches tall on Day 6, it was 7.5 inches (with some grass at 9 inches) on Day 12:

Wheatgrass on day 12

The roots have come through the holed-flat and look fairly healthy:

Wheatgrass roots on day 13

(Yes, I know the bottom flat is dry — I watered right away once I noticed! This is not a best practice. Progress Earth says: “Feed from the bottom with a 5ml per quart solution of Tonic before the bottom tray is dry.”)

My instructions from Progress Earth also recommend that the grass “be at least 6-7 inches high before juicing. The taller the grass, the more juice.” A local nutritionist has told me that 14 days is the ideal harvest point for wheatgrass, so I’ve held off until today to try my first juice.

I am very tempted to invest in a proper wheatgrass juicer, but for now I’m stuck with improvising. I hope I don’t offend any hardcore wheatgrass enthusiasts with my make-shift strategy!

Heather’s Offensive Make-Shift Wheatgrass Juicing Strategy

Inspired by my friend Rachelle, I’ve decided to use my food processor to try and juice my first wheatgrass harvest. This is admittedly not ideal, because:

• a food processor will “tear” rather than “press” the wheat grass
• I will likely have to add water, which dilutes the effectiveness, nutrition and flavor of the juice

But at least I’ll get a taste!

So here we go:

Step 1: harvest the wheatgrass

Progress Earth recommends harvesting only a little bit each day, since the juice is most effective within the first 15 minutes after juicing.

Step 2: chop the wheatgrass into smaller pieces so it doesn't clog the food processor

Step 3: use a food processor to get some juice out of the wheat grass! I did have to add a small amount of water. Ah well.

Step 4: strain as much juice as possible from the wheat grass

Despite the juice being diluted with the water, I’m impressed with how much juice came out of the grass.Okay, here we go. I’m quite excited about trying my own wheat grass juice: the only time I’ve had wheat grass juice before was as a shot at Booster Juice, and I always had to order a drink afterward, as a chaser, since the juice tasted so disgusting. I’m not interested in wheat grass juice for the taste, though: I want the nutrition! (And it’s been a lot of fun growing wheat grass — the lush flat makes a wicked centerpiece for a coffee table!)

I get a glass of water ready as a chaser.

One, two … three.

Oh. It’s not disgusting! It’s actually really nice. I don’t even need the water-chaser. It’s surprisingly sweet and yummy. I feel very … earthy. Like a sunny lawn. This must be how earthworms feel.

With my flat of wheatgrass growing taller by the minute, I feel strangely wealthy. It only took a patch 2 inches by 2 inches to make a shot of juice, even with my inefficient food processor method, so I’ve got a month’s worth of juice in a single flat, at a shot each day. That’s a lot of healthy juice! Especially in the winter, when my immune system is a little more vulnerable, and fresh vegetables harder to come by. AND I still have that second set of wheatgrass-growing supplies that came with my kit. Progress Earth recommends starting that second flat at Day 5 to 10, to ensure there’s always harvestable wheat grass. I guess I’ll have to invest in a juicer!

Thanks for coming along on my wheatgrass-growing adventure. I appreciate all the comments and suggestions. I’d love to hear about your own wheatgrass experiences and best practices, so please post your comments below.

Happy growing,
Heather

Day 3: sprouted wheat berries are spread on coir.

Day 4

I remove the foggy humidity dome and . . . I CAN SEE GREEN BITS!! My wheat berries are well on their way. Little green shoots are now visible. Yay! There’s still plenty of Tonic solution in the bottom tray, so I leave the flat alone. Very exciting.

Day 4: green sprouts are now visible!

Day 5

I think I can actually see the wheatgrass growing. It’s spurted at least 1/2 an inch since this morning. Amazing. I move it closer to our sunniest window, where there’s a heater nearby. I don’t want my babies getting chilly.

Day 5 morning: WOW!

It’s amazing to run my hand over the grass — it feels like Astroturf. With the weather so gloomy and gray outside, it’s a miracle to have this beautiful green patch in my home. The solution is doing fine, so I don’t worry about watering. I’ll leave the dome on for another day, at least.

Day 5 afternoon: lots of green growth.

Day 6

The wheatgrass is 1.5 inches tall. I remove the humidity dome. The grass seems to be loving its new home here by the heater and the bright window!

Day 6: wheat grass is about 1.5 inches tall.

At the rate the grass is growing, I’ll be harvesting in no time!

Wheat berries soak for 12-24 hours in 4 cups water and 1 teaspoon Tonic (from Progress Earth).

Day 2

I’m disappointed in how little I have to do today to care for my wheatgrass garden. This is too easy (so far). My wheat berries have soaked for about 18 hours, and they’re looking a little puffy, so it’s time to strain the water & Tonic soaking solution off and let my seeds germinate out of water for a bit. I don’t want to waste that nutrient-powered run-off, so I give it to my sad basil plant, which has not experienced a miraculous recovery since Day 1.

Wheat berries starting to germinate after soaking for 18 hours.

The instructions say to let the wheat seeds sit until the root tips emerge: misting, covering and stirring the berries to distribute moisture are all recommended techniques for encouraging germination (light doesn’t matter at this stage). I park a plate on top of the bowl and leave my seeds alone for awhile.

I start to wonder how exactly I’ll juice my wheatgrass harvest. I don’t own a juicer . . . maybe a blender or my food processor will do the job?

Day 3

With very little care (just a plate lid), my wheat berries are starting to germinate: each seed is sprouting a little white tail. It’s time to prepare their new home! I dilute another 5ml of Tonic in 4 cups well water and place one of my two coir fiber discs into the solution. I hold it down to help it saturate, then flip it over and leave it for about 20 minutes.  The coir quickly soaks up the water, and I have to add a bit more to completely soak it. Soon I have a bowl of wet fiber.

Coconut coir discs, before (bottom) and after (top) soaking in water.

I stack a flat with holes in the bottom into a flat without holes, then spread the hydrated coir fiber into the top flat. Then I spread the germinating wheat berries across the top and pat them down with love.

I’ve never grown anything this way — it feels weird to not be burying my seeds under another layer of medium! I trust Progress Earth, though, so I don’t fret too much.

Our house is quite small and there’s limited window sill space, so I park the flat in a less-than-ideal part of the house and cross my fingers. Progress Earth recommends grow lights, such as T5 strip lights. We’ll have to make do with heavily filtered November sunlight.

Before I leave my wheatgrass babies to do their thing, I dilute another 4 cups water and 5ml Tonic and feed the berries from the bottom, by pouring the solution into the solid-bottomed flat. Then I put the 2-inch humidity dome on top. Progress Earth says: “This will help retain moisture for the growing plants until they can mature enough to reach the Tonic solution below.”

I love that everything I needed to get me this far (except the bowls and water) was included in my kit! Ah, moisture clouds are already forming inside the dome . . .

Read on to Days 4-6 …

Day 1

As soon as my wheatgrass kit arrives, I open up the package and get down to business. The clearly-written instructions are excellent and, while Progress Earth is a U.S. company, they’ve kindly included metric measurements as well as Imperial. Very thoughtful.

My first step is to double-check that everything is included in the kit. Check. I’m pleased to see that there are double the required wheat “berries” (seeds) and a second coir fiber disc, so I have enough supplies to do at least two batches – there’s even a second set of flats. Yay!

Included in the kit is a bottle of Tonic, a “biodynamic micronutrient and sprout fertilizer.” The comprehensive FAQ sheet included in my kit says that Tonic “can even be ingested on its own as a liquid vitamin.” I’m tempted to drink a shot . . . maybe later. For now, I mix 5ml (1 teaspoon) in a quart (4 cups) of water. The instructions specify that “quality of water directly affects quality of juice,” which makes sense. We are on well water, so hopefully that’ll do. At least there’s no chlorine or chloramine.

Next, I empty one of the bags of wheat berries into the bowl of water. I’m pleasantly surprised to see that the plastic bags are compostable. A nice touch from Progress Earth.

I’m eager to continue my exciting adventure of growing wheatgrass, but I’m supposed to let the wheat berries soak for 12-24 hours, so I’ll have to wait for Day 2.

Then I notice my sad little Genovese basil plant: a two-year-old triumph for someone like myself, who has a hard time remembering to water house plants. My basil plant isn’t looking so hot: I think it’s the lack of sun, the high humidity and poor air-flow of the kitchen sink area, and possibly a disease of some sort. I dilute another teaspoon of Tonic into 4 cups well water, and drench the sad creature. Kind of like giving a leper a Vicks cough lozenge, but no harm, no foul.

Sickly Genovese basil plant, before a Tonic dose.

What happens on Day 2? Read on …