Welcome to the Weekend coffee share! Can I get you a cup of coffee? Or tea? It’s a good thing that this is a virtual coffee share since I woke up with the worst cold this morning. It is very unusual for me to get sick. My kids are sick from time to time, but I rarely get ill. They were both sick earlier this week, but this morning it caught me too. Not counting today, the rest of the week have been wonderful. We are still surrounded by glorious fall colours.
I took this photo on Friday on my way home from work.
Yesterday, on Saturday, I took care of all the errands I needed to do, and spent some time reading one of the three books that arrived in the mail earlier this week.
I read the book furthest to the right in the photo yesterday. It’s in Swedish about growing sprouts and microgreens, something I’ve been doing since I was a kid. This book goes deeper into the process of sprouting, and the benefits of eating sprouts, and information of less known seeds to sprout, and why it’s a good idea. At the end there was some interesting recipes as well. I read the whole book yesterday, and it planted a desire to try some new things this winter. I really liked the book.
Ann Wigmore was mentioned a couple times in the book. My mom looked up to her, and sometimes visited her health retreats in the late 80’s, and early 90’s. Growing up we often had trays of wheatgrass growing on special shelves in a corner of our large living room. The sprouts lived in the kitchen.
Ann Wigmore was a Lithuanian–American holistic health practitioner, naturopath and raw food advocate. Influenced by the ‘back to nature’ theories of Maximilian Bircher-Benner, she maintained that plants concentrated more solar energy than animals, and that wheatgrass could detoxify the body.
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Wigmore
At the moment I have mung beans, and alfalfa sprouting in glass jars on my kitchen counter. Those two, (especially alfalfa) are my all time favourites. Sometimes I purchase other mixes of different sprouts online to change things up a bit, but the book inspired me to experiment more. It’s going to be fun. Sprouts are a very sustainable food source. It’s nutritionally dense (smaller amounts may provide similar nutritional effects than larger quantities of mature vegetables,) delicious (if you ask me,) grows fast (all year round,) no need for pesticides, and doesn’t need soil, you can sprout seeds for your family even if you live in a tiny apartment, and with a minimal water usage. Have you tried sprouting at home? There’s so many gardening opportunities available even if you do not own a house, or a lot of land, there’s sprouting at your kitchen counter, container gardening, balcony gardening, allotment gardening plots, and different types of community gardens. What options are available in your area?
My plan was to plant some Jerusalem artichoke at my garden plot in the allotment garden today, but that is going to have to wait until I have more energy. The sun is laughing at me outside the window and it’s a gorgeous day! I’ve been looking forward to time in my garden all week…well, well..last weekend I planted a lot of garlic, and rhubarbs. I also picked some very delicious carrots, and a ton of chive (perhaps not a ton, but definitely a lot.) Within the next coming days I am going to pick the broccoli and cabbage at my balcony garden, that you can see in the background of the very first photo in this post. The nights are colder now, and they will not reach full maturity. Lesson learned, I will be planting them earlier next year. I am sure they will taste delicious anyways.
Ooo, and the other two books that arrived is about teaching sustainability in Kindergarten. I’ve read the first book, the one furthest to the left, I borrowed it from work a couple weeks ago. All the teachers have one book to share, so it’s not always available. I decided that I needed to have my own, to go back and read again as needed. It’s filled with valuable ideas of how to engage the children in the subject. The book in the middle is brand new from the prints, and I have yet to start reading that one. I am excited to get started.
I hope you are feeling well and are enjoying your weekend immensely. Thank you Natalie for hosting the Weekend Coffee Share. What are you up to this weekend?
Love,
Maria
GreenDreams 
I absolutely love sprouts! Perhaps I should try to grow some in the window later. The autumn colours are fantastic where you are, I remember that very well from Dalarna, the autumn is incredibly beautiful there and October is the best. I hope the leaves will remain for you to enjoy for a while yet.
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Yes, grow some sprouts! 🙂
I enjoyed your photos from your walks in Sweden. And it is true that Dalarna is magical place this time of the year. Thank you for your kind comment. I hope your new week will be free of pain.
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The tree colors are looking beautiful up there, Maria! Have a great new week! 🇸🇪
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Thank you so much John! I hope you are enjoying your weekend! Cheers to a fabulous new week!
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You’re welcome, Maria. ❤️🇸🇪
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Oh darn, I’m so sorry you’ve caught a cold. I hope you recover quickly! I enjoy sprouts but have never grown them. It truly is amazing everything that you can grow, micro gardening to container gardening, the list is great I just need motivation! 😀 That being said you are always so very inspiring!! I just Love all that you share. ❤️
I also enjoy immensely the beautiful fall photos as we do not see that kind of color change here so keep those photos coming. I just Love them and they are so peaceful to look at and admire. I hope your week will go well as you shake off your cold. Take care my friend! 💞
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Thank you Diana ❤ Sprouts are so easy to grow, you can use any glass jar. It really is an inexpensive, fast crop to grow, with such high nutritional value.
I'll be sure to keep the photos coming as soon as I get back outside 🙂 Have a wonderful new week ❤
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I’ll definitely have to grow some micro greens, that sounds super duper easy!!! 😀
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I enjoy sprouts very much but have not sprouted my own. I may try some! And they are so full of nutrition!
The fall leaves are looking quite lovely in your area. Such a beautiful time of year.
I hope you feel better soon!
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They are even more healthy when you sprout them yourself, since you can pick them at the exact right time. I always let every group of children I have in Kindergarten try spouting at least once. It’s always a big hit, you can see the sprouts grow day by day, and the whole process can easily be done in less than a week. (It only takes 2-4days, depending on light and temperature.)
Thank you for your kind comment.
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Sorry you are feeling ‘under the weather’… hope you’re feeling better soon. Your fall photos are lovely. Our foliage is peaking this week and it is the best it has been on years and years. Glorious!
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Thank you Eliza, I am sure I’ll be better soon. It’s mostly irritating to be unable to work.
Fall has indeed been glorious this year. I guess it’s the extended period of warm nights that contributes to the colour explosion this year? How is you fall garden coming along?
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We had a frost Sat. nite that put paid to the tender annuals. A few calendula and verbena soldier on. Always sad to see the end of the flowers that I love. The bees continue to mine the asters though! The fantastic fall foliage this year is helping me bear up. 🙂
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Yes, we had around 25F last night.
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Maria, Thank you for your weekend coffee share. Fall colours are beautiful in October. I hope you’re feeling better soon and you have a great week ahead.
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Thank you so much Natalie! Have a great week!
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The leaves here are starting to change to those beautiful fall colours. It really is a beautiful time of the year. I like the idea of growing sprouts on the windowsill. I haven’t done it is years, but I always feel so inspired when I visit your coffee share . . .
Thanks for the virtual coffee, Maria.
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That is wonderful. It truly is a blessing to live in place with different seasons.
Thank you! It makes me so happy to hear that you feel inspired 🙂 Have a great week!
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Microgreens and wheatgrass in the kitchen sounds like a great idea. I’ve got this nice window in my kitchen that is currently holding a few houseplant propagations. One of these days I’ll bring out a tray of microgreens for salad all year around.
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That sounds like a wonderful idea 🙂 Thank you for visiting 🙂
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Wow! A good post on sustainability. Thank you 🙏🌍😊
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