No Time Like the Present 🌱

I (Gil) write notes all month, so when I get to actually composing our newsletter, I have my topics all set. This March was wonderful for Lori and me. The weather was unbelievably good - with many 70 something and a few 80 degree days. I have a lot of projects - which I’ve told you about previously - and will no doubt tell you about again in future - BUT - I spent almost all of my time in our garden. Taking the time today, to write this - is keeping me from gardening - and I almost just skipped this. I have long said that our garden keeps me sane. Now that I finally have the time to fully invest myself in it - it’s grown even more precious.

The moments of perfection in life - the clarity - the feeling - the knowing - that everything has led to this moment and everything is exactly right - - - those are rare indeed - or have been up to now. In those fleeting moments I see/feel all of my life at once. In my experience they happen when I am completely present. In the moment. Here and Now. I’ve had more of those this past month than in the entirety of my life.

Lori and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary in March. Since Valentines day - the anniversary of our first hug, we have been spending time reliving and reminiscing about our experiences. Our lives have been spent very closely - working together as well as sharing every other aspect of life. We are one - and we cherish that, and all we have done together. I’m sure all of you who are long-partnered know what I mean. It’s just stupendous - to look back so far and see all we’ve been through together. All we have made and built - and survived.

So, my focus has changed. I do have topics to write about - but I desire to remain present, so I’m keeping it brief this time - and I expect to do the same in future. I know there are a few hundred of you 16,000 subscribers, that love my long ramblings - but I see my life differently now. What time Lori and I have left, we want to spend in the present. Together. Cherishing every moment possible.

My goal now is to remain in the NOW, but I do believe one of my tasks is to go through all of the stuff I have accumulated in my lifetime - and organize it, so when my time is over - I will leave a clear and orderly history. I have hundreds of thousands of pictures (film and digital), several hundred video tapes of our lives, decades of writings, and all my old 16mm films - and my mementos. Having spent these last 6 weeks reminiscing - I now know I can almost conjure moments from the past - to the degree that they feel like Now again. So I like to think my organizing will not take me out of the Here and Now, but will expand it across my entire timeline.

I view life from a gardener’s perspective. I see birth and death constantly in our garden - and so I am at peace with mortality. I hope to have a few decades - or more ahead, but I intend on leaving a lovely history when my season is over.

I apologize to you few loyalists who look forward to my ramblings. Maybe the organization project will include a book. I’m pretty sure I could sell 350 copies =;-)

I am very sorry we continue to have so many seeds out-of-stock. I can barely stand to look through our Seeds page nowadays because to it. Lisa, who has replaced me in seed sourcing, is Way better at finding seeds than I ever was. Most of our seeds came from her - and her parents before her - for all of our years as Sproutpeople. She too feels very badly about the inventory issues, but I assure you - she is doing everything possible, and like me - she will not consider selling seeds that don’t meet our high standards. Keep checking back. She has farmers growing seeds specifically for us now - so though it may take time - our inventory will get better.

This is one Lori found when considering new flavors. She typically prepares whatever is available - and she has an amazing (to me) talent for making delicious meals out of whatever we have at home. This time she actually found and followed a recipe. I can’t even remember the last time she did that - but it was great, so we’re sharing it.

Rasam Recipe (South Indian Hotel Style)

by Swasthi and Swasthi’s Recipes (indianhealthyrecipes.com/tomato-rasam-recipe)

1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi)

1 - 2 dried red chili

1 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed (jeera)

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 1/2 tablespoons oil (we use ghee or avocado)

3 -4 gloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon mustard seed

1/4 teaspoon curry leaves (dry)

1/4 teaspoon hing (or substitute 1/8 teaspoon onion powder and 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder)

12 ounce’s can of stewed tomatoes or 2 to 3 fresh

salt

1/8 teaspoon turmeric

1 tablespoon tamarind

1/2 cup sprouted lentils (or dry)

1 tablespoon jaggery (molasses)

1/4 cup chopped cilantro for garnish

Rasam is a S. Indian traditional soup made with tamarind and tomatoes, warming spices and aromatic herbs. The word means “juice” in Tamil and Telugu. It is a great aid to digestion. Its a thin soup and so we add 1/2 cup of sprouted lentils at the end, much the same way you can add rice. Or add both.

1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi) and one dried red chili: Dry roast both until the fenugreek turns slightly aromatic. Then add 1 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera) and 1/4 to 1/2 tsp peppercorns. Roast them all until the fenugreek turns slightly dark. Cool and add to a grinder jar. Or, you can grind them up with a mortar and pestle. Set aside.

Add 1 1/2 Tablespoons of oil to a hot pot. When the oil is hot, add half-broken red chili, 1/2 teaspoon cumin seems and 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds. As soon as they begin to splutter, add 3 to 4 crushed garlic cloves, 1 sprig (a pinch) of curry leaves and a big pinch (1/4 teaspoon) of hing but if you can’t get it substitute with a 50/50 mix of onion and garlic powder. Sautee until the curry leaves turn crisp.

Add the tomatoes (2 to 3 medium or a 16 ounce can of plain stewed) and a sprinkle of salt plus 1/8 teaspoon of turmeric.

Cook until it thickens, and now add the rasam mix that you ground up earlier.

Mix and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes and add 2 1/2 to 3 cups of water, a tablespoon of tamarind (if you don’t have it substitute lemon juice). Add jaggery to taste (it is molasses) but if you don’t have it, try maple syrup or sorghum. Then add 1/2 cups of lentils—they can be dry, washed lentils or you can sprout them over night.

Cook for 5 minutes on medium, then adjust the jaggery, salt, and tamarind. If you add the lentils dry, not sprouted, they will cook up in about 20 minutes. If you add them sprouted, 5 minutes should do.

Lori’s Note: It was fun to learn about different spices and the recipe is so flexible it would be fun to experiment with more of one thing, less of another, or, play with substitutions.

Here are some pictures from the past month. I still have no parrots to show you, but I’ve made friends with a raven/crow (I’m not sure which it is, but she’s pictured at the top) who comes to the garden as soon as I come to refill the sprouts and clean up the birdbath. I call her Blackie and she lets me work within 10 feet of her. A friend at Rainbow Grocery Co-op, here in SF, told me raw cashews are their favorite. He (my friend, Will) takes some to ocean beach, and he gets a flock that hops along after him while he shares the nuts. He even gets red winged blackbirds landing on him and eating them from his hand! Blackie likes the sprouts too, but I put a few cashews out in the morning. She takes them and puts them in the birdbath - and then eats them a few minutes later. It’s like she’s trying to sprout them first!

Come to Sproutpeople

Sproutpeople.org is an encyclopedic resource of our creation - for indoor farmers of Sprouts, Microgreens, and Grass. It is so enormous that it gives some the impression that we are a big business. The reality is that we are basically 2 people who eat and breath Sproutpeople - and 2 part-time helpers (one being our son). Our site has been online since 1996. It’s the employee that allows us to serve all of you.