Hippies & Health Nuts Please :)

Anyone remember having a sprouter (a stack of sieve like trays) and growing their own alfalfa, mung beans etc.? Well, I got one a couple of years ago and it was hard to get then - had to order online from USA - couldn't get one in Oz at all.

Anyway, never got around to using it but am determined to this year. My question is - anybody know where to buy the seeds in Sydney. I know I can order online from 2 sites I found in QLD and VIC, but surely there's something in Sydney? I've tried organic fruit & vegie and larger f&v shops, and health food stores. I live in a very multicultural part of Sydney where there are a lot of mini supermarket type shops catering for certain cultures that sell bags of nuts, grains, lentils etc. but not what I want.

I would like to go into a shop and look at the stuff, feel it, and ask questions.

Ta
Olly
 
Hi Olly
Why not try looking for a herb farm, l am sure they could help you out.
You might have to go for a nice sunday drive to find one.
Good luck
cheers
yadreamin
 
i've always just bought my seeds from the supermarket ... in the gardening isle. othewise, you local nursery should have them. they are dried in a packet but only need to be moistened to set them sprouting
 
Since the drought I've been buying at a local fruit and vegie shop, (well, it is an hour and a half away), pretty close :).

They are so reasonably priced, beautiful quality of produce, I may not get back on the shovel.

The thing is they sell far more varieties than I even knew about anyway, so the salads and cooking has been fun, bit of a balls up at times, but interesting.
 
I was a strict ovolactovego from 18 to 26 and I was an avid sprouter.
You don't need those specially made trays.
We used to use 1-2 litre glass jars with an opening big enough to get your hand through.

1. put about 3 mm of seeds across the bottom.
cover in water overnight (8-12hours) (you'll soon learn how many seeds your bottle can accommodate when optimally sprouted)

2. the next morning, cut a piece of stocking or chux superwipe big and round enough to cover the opening and 2cm overlap....wet and rinse the chux, then use a rubber band to secure the piece of chux to the top of the bottle.

3. carefully tip all the water out, flick the chux a couple of times with your finger to knock the seeds off the chux and back into the bottle, then lay the bottle on its side and rotate the bottle to spread the seeds around inside....then leave somewhere out of direct sunlight. (never direct sunlight, as it will dry the seeds out too harshly and suspend growth)

4. each morning and night, put the bottle under the tap and slowly run in a cup of water, swirl it around ensuring all seeds get wet, and pour out.....flick the chux with your finger to push the seeds back into the bottle, then lay on its side again rotating it if necessary to spread the seeds.

after about 4 days, the seeds will be ready to add to salad. after about 8 days, they might be too hard and bitter to eat. but I grew them in Qld's sub tropical weather.

make sure you rinse them fully before adding to salad. Apparently seed production hygiene is a little compromised these days.


Why I became a sprouting vegetarian

Autobiography of a Yogi
Ramakrishna
Sivananda
Upanishads
Maha Bharata
Bhagavad Gita
The Bible (Old Testament: Genesis, Daniel)
The Essenes
Mahayana Buddhism
Norman Walker
Ann Wigmore
Nathan Pritikin
Science: Tromso Heart studies and Seventh Day Adventist studies.

Why I am moving back towards vegetarianism
Autobiography of a Yogi
Dean Ornish

I never thought of myself as a hippie. Certainly had the commune hippie spirit and interest in Eastern and Western spirituality, but I also had my feet on the ground and quickly learnt that apathy, bongs, and 'peace man' didn't fill the belly or pay the bills.

You might find the lives of Henry Ford, Hervey Firestone, Luther Burbank, Thomas Edison, and John Harvey Kellogg of interest.

Re seeds, try
http://www.vegansocietynsw.com/vs/html/index.html

http://www.veg-soc.org/cms/html/

 
i've always just bought my seeds from the supermarket ... in the gardening isle. othewise, you local nursery should have them. they are dried in a packet but only need to be moistened to set them sprouting

Just a word of caution - if buying from the nursery (or anywhere else for that matter) - MAKE SURE THEY ARE FOOD GRADE EDIBLE SEEDS.

Unless they are packeted specifically for sprouting, they may have been treated with all sorts of chemicals (eg antifungal sprays).

Many of the whole dried legumes for soups (lentils, chickpeas, mung beans, azuki etc) from asian groceries stores can be sprouted, as can whole wheat and brown rice from the supermarket. In fact as a general rule, if they can't be spruouted, they're probably not great to eat (you might be eating "dead" or GM stuff!)

Cheers,

The Y-man
 
Many of the whole dried legumes for soups (lentils, chickpeas, mung beans, azuki etc) from asian groceries stores can be sprouted, as can whole wheat and brown rice from the supermarket. In fact as a general rule, if they can't be spruouted, they're probably not great to eat (you might be eating "dead" or GM stuff!)

Cheers,

The Y-man

Y-man.....never would have picked you for a closet sprouter.
 
ooh we do yoghurt and beer at present. yoghurt is great - much better than the shop sh*te - even brands like Mundella etc.

just bought some sprout seeds from a local place here in WA - planning on getting something done over the weekend with the kids.

I think Jamie Oliver has (had?) a link on his site Jamie at Home for sprout seeds.
 
yog is a cinch.....try cottage cheese.....(milk, lemon juice, heat, muslin cloth)

I make my own paneer cheese. Yum.

I buy my sprout seeds from a health food shop.

You can also get a good supply from good bulk food Italian grocer places (which is usually cheaper).

http://www.sprout.net.au/cnt_general.html
this mob have a good reputation (our friends in Vic use them), though we can't get their products here in the West as you can't bring them over the border, so I don't have personal experience.
 
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I order (online) almost everything I grow from these guys. Fantastic selection, great service.

Eden Seeds
http://www.edenseeds.com.au/content/default.asp
OUR AIM is to distribute old traditional open pollinated varieties of vegetable seed, preferably old Australian varieties and organically or bio-dynamically grown where possible.

MUCH better than anything you can find at grocery store etc.
 
try cottage cheese.....(milk, lemon juice, heat, muslin cloth)

I was going to do cheese - but I had trouble with the costings.... (very cost driven here :p) I think my calcs showed that by the time I got the amount of milk required for X grams of cheese, it wasn't going to be worth it....:)

Cheers,

The Y-man
 
I order (online) almost everything I grow from these guys. Fantastic selection, great service.

Eden Seeds
Hah! Snap :D

Bought all sorts of bizzaro stuff from those guys. Sugar snap pumpkins are fantastic - they are SO not sweet, so you can make pies out of them with a strong pumpkin flavour and no cloying sweetness.
 
Anyone remember having a sprouter (a stack of sieve like trays) and growing their own alfalfa, mung beans etc.? Well, I got one a couple of years ago and it was hard to get then - had to order online from USA - couldn't get one in Oz at all.

Anyway, never got around to using it but am determined to this year. My question is - anybody know where to buy the seeds in Sydney. I know I can order online from 2 sites I found in QLD and VIC, but surely there's something in Sydney? I've tried organic fruit & vegie and larger f&v shops, and health food stores. I live in a very multicultural part of Sydney where there are a lot of mini supermarket type shops catering for certain cultures that sell bags of nuts, grains, lentils etc. but not what I want.

I would like to go into a shop and look at the stuff, feel it, and ask questions.

Ta
Olly
Not sure if this will help but this company may have what you require
it's a pity they are not set-up Australia -wide..imho..willair..
http://www.flannerys.com.au/
http://www.australianorganic.com.au/index.asp?Sec_ID=10
 
I order (online) almost everything I grow from these guys. Fantastic selection, great service.

Eden Seeds
http://www.edenseeds.com.au/content/default.asp
OUR AIM is to distribute old traditional open pollinated varieties of vegetable seed, preferably old Australian varieties and organically or bio-dynamically grown where possible.

MUCH better than anything you can find at grocery store etc.

What a great little site! Simple, easy to use, all you need to know, and quick loading. Fantastic! I've sent away for the free catalogue already.
Thanks
Olly
 
What a great little site! Simple, easy to use, all you need to know, and quick loading. Fantastic! I've sent away for the free catalogue already.
Thanks
Olly

Olly, believe it or not, I used to live with these folks and worked their farm for about 18mths part time. Good luck with the sprouting. :)
 
I was going to do cheese - but I had trouble with the costings.... (very cost driven here :p) I think my calcs showed that by the time I got the amount of milk required for X grams of cheese, it wasn't going to be worth it....:)

The Y-man


Could you have got the milk directly off a dairy farmer? I'm sure they'd flog you some off for cash.

At the height of the food crisis last year an Oz dairy farmer was only getting 60c per litre. This year as the US and Europe ramp up their ridiculous farm subsidies again it's back to 26c. :eek:

See ya's.
 
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