Posts by Nyasha Denhere

When you want to impress your guest on the dining table, you have to find a variety of colourful veggies that will blend together.
One of the most important thing that you do not need to forget is your Microgreens.
Microgreens are nutrient packed and they are the best choice for health enthusiasts. You might want to know which one will give you that kind of attraction that will force your guest to request some more
I noticed that red amaranth does the best job. It is both nutrient packed and at the same time it is colourful that you can’t miss it when you want to decorate your visitor’s plate
Mix it with other colourful veggies like green,red and yellow peppers. I also add some fancy lettuce in my dish,
If you do this, I bet your visitors will never resist your food, they would definitely choose to come again.
So I will share with you guys, a picture of a salad plate with red amaranth microgreens incorporated.

Everyone need to eat healthy food but sometimes people might not behaving the resources to grow their own food. Using traditional methods of growing, it cost us a lot of money and we also need a lot of space and water.

so today I here for those who does not have land but they want to want fresh vegetables.

Do you know that you can also have your own fresh supply of vegetables even if you live in a single room, the question is how?

All you need is organic seeds, water and a colander.

I know someone is saying how can that be? And what is it that I can grow?

ok, be attentive, I am about to let the cat out.

so the vegiew that you can grow are sprouts, can you imagine, they do not need light.

so let’s get in our indoor farm and let’s farm.

choose fresh organic seeds which has the highest probability of germinating we need 100% germination to avoid molds .

soak one part of sees to four parts of water overnight. Make sure your seeds are smart.

in the morning drain and rinse the swelling seeds

take a clean colander and put the seeds and cover them with a clean towel .Make sure their enough moisture.

Place the colander in a dark place, keep checking the colander and after every 8hours wash and rinse again. After 2-5 days, you will be having your supply of fresh spouts.

nb: make sure you are use fresh organic seeds and you apparatus are smart and also your water must be fresh .

I will let you know what happens if you do not do so in the next blog.

We did not have water supplies for the past three days and it is so painful to watch my vegetables succumbing to excessive heat waves currently prevailing this season.

When I woke up today, I went straight to the garden to check on my vegetables. Most of my vegetable varieties are failing to withstand the heat worse still , there is nothing that I can do, all I could do is watching them withering and wilting. My day was very bad.

Yes I know that we have been experiencing water woos for more than a decade but this problem had not directly affected my business. We are used to spend only a day without water but this week it’s the third day.

It’s now horrible to set my eyes in the garden, it’s so painful to watch my herbs which were growing vividly looking stranded and dying.

So to relieve myself, I decided to spend much of my day in the green house, everything is normal, plants are doing pretty good, they are not even worried about what is happening to their colleagues out there.

I spent more than twenty minutes gazing on my Microgreens which are doing well in a passive hydroponics environment. They seemed not to care about the heat which is outdoors. Everything is fine for them. It seems as if they are growing on minute bases.

When I got in the greenhouse in the morning, they were about 3cm tall, but when I got in again in the evening, they are more than 5cm tall.

Looking at this growth rate, I realized why people are now concentrating on indoor farming and greenhouse farming.

Everthing is just good, no need to worry about the scorching heat and water shortages.

What is happening in my area is a wake up call, it’s high Time we need to concentrate on growing Microgreens and sprouts which does not need a lot of water .

Another advantage of growing Microgreens is you enjoy a variety of vegetables even when you do not have space. The quickly mature and usually you able to move your growing kits to areas with have best growing conditions when whether changes.

Every problems gives us an opportunity to come up with new ideas. So today I spent my day thinking on how I could improve my farming technologies to suit our Zimbabwean context

Next time I will open down my innovation which correct the problem of water shortages and heat waves.

I am writing this article for people who are very lazy and those who are very smart and do not like to play around with dirty.

So today I would like to talk about passive hydroponics,

what is it?

I know you want me to get straight into it so lets go

Passive hydroponics is a simple method of growing vegetables and other crops in non circulating oxygenated water.

Its obvious that someone is asking this question, “how?”

Stay put! What you need to understand is plants need oxygen, nutrients , carbon dioxide and nutrients to survive

So how can oxygen be present in non circulating water?

Naturally water is made up of oxygen therefore, the plants can still grow with the natural oxygen within the water but for the best growth you might need an air stone and also you can add hydrogen peroxide to allow more oxygen for your plants.

From the experience that I have, here is a list of herbs that easily grow in water without any problems

• Mint
• green onions
• Chives
• leeks
• garlic leeks
• oregano
• sweet rocket
• Basil
• lemon grass
• rosemary
• Thyme

the list is endless but you can start with these ones

The most important thing is to do your best agronomy practices so that the roots won’t rot

We are now supplying amaranth microgreens in large quantities because there has been a increase in demand for this indegenous weeds.

We decided to supply amaranth in the form of microgreens so that youths can also benefits from the phytonutrients and all minerals possessed by this edible weed

Generally amaranth is consumed by people who are suffering from chronic diseases and incurable diseases like cancer and HIV. It is well known in Africa as an immune booster. So if your immune system is compromised, consider eating so few grams per week.

The most appealing way to eat amaranth is to mix it with other baby greens in your salad. This give a very appealing colour at the same time blessing you with a health life.

Hie my friends! It s been long without any interaction, My schedule has been tight, what made me to write something to you is a client that I met yesterday. She is very interested in Microgreens but since this is something which is new in my country, people are just skeptic about trying Microgreens, so she said please explain to me what microgreens are? She vividly explained to me what sprouts are and what baby greens and the next utterance was , “then explain to me why you are saying Microgreens are more beneficial than all vegetables I know.”

So this question made me realise that I was not doing much to let my fellow Zimbabweans know what Microgreens are? This is why a Iam writing this blog. In this blog , I will let you know why Microgreens are considered to be better than mature vegetables, so let’s go!

What are Microgreens?

Microgreens are vegetables that are grown and harvested within a period of 7- 21 days depending on the seed variety being used. Microgreens are harvested when they have just developed the true leaf.

Difference between Microgreens and sprouts.

Some people are tempted to believe that Microgreens and sprouts are just the same. There is a big difference between sprouts and microgreens

• Sprouts are harvested within a period of less than a week, whilst microgreens are harvested when they are more than a week old
• The stems and leaves of microgreens are the only ones that are consumed but for sprouts everything is eaten including the roots.
• sprouts are prone to bacterial diseases such as salmonella and E coli but the chance of getting food poisoning is slim for Microgreens

Now let’s look at the difference between Microgreens and baby greens.

• baby greens are a little bit mature as compared to Microgreens usually harvested after three weeks from the day of planting but Microgreens are harvested between seven and twenty one days. Some plants cannot be eaten as baby greens because their stems can be bitter e.g. sunflower greens cannot be left to become baby greens because the stem because very bitter.

It has been researched and concluded that it more beneficial to eat Microgreens than mature vegetables. Different studies carried out in America shows that microgreens have more healthy benefits than mature vegetables. It was discovered that on average , Microgreens have a nutrient content which is at least seven times of that of mature vegetables. This the reason why many people from developed countries prefer to eat Microgreens than mature vegetables and herbs. Microgreens are great source of minerals such as potassium, iron, zinc, magnesium, copper and other minerals. So if you have an ailment which needs these minerals then with Microgreens you will never go wrong.

Another important thing is Microgreens are packed with anti- oxidants, their nutrient content is in vitamins. A study carried out in America showed that microgreens have magnesium, vitamins and anti- oxidants which are up to 40times higher than recorded for mature vegetables. This means that microgreens are the best option for those with compromised health and vegans

Varieties

Microgreens are grown from different seed varieties of cereals, vegetables and herbs , we can have wheatgrass Microgreens which are used to make wheatgrass juice and smoothies 🥤. Microgreens can be made from legumes such as beans and chick peas and lentils. The image below shows chickpeas microgreens

We at Bono Salus we have started our own blood builders and immunity builders Microgreens using locally sourced seeds of blackjack and amaranth. This has been welcomed by many chefs who sell traditional and indigenous food sources. Our blackjack and amaranth Microgreens have helped many people with ill- health and the health conscious people who want to improve their health through plant based food. Our clients toss blackjack Microgreens in their favourite smoothies, salads and sandwiches

health benefits of microgreens

Microgreens helps in the blood building process. Those who usually buy our blackjack and amaranth Microgreens use them in place of spinach and beetroot. Nursing mothers usually blackjack Microgreens especially first 2month just after giving birth. Many people claim that it cleans their immune system and help improve their blood.

People with heart diseases, diabetes are also recommended by their doctors to consume a lot of microgreens.

How to include Microgreens in your diet?

Microgreens can be included in a variety of dishes such as sandwiches, wraps, salads, smoothies , garnish, topping etc.

So those who enjoy pizza, burgers, omelettes and curries, Microgreens are the best option.

Problems which can be expected in microgreens growing:

Microgreens are usually grown in a fairly moist environment so they are prone to salmonella and E coli, so to avoid food poisoning, you need to buy Microgreens from well experiences farmers who use quality seeds and grow media.

NB: Microgreens are not GMOs, they are organically grown using organic seeds , organic fertilisers and grow media made from naturally occurring material like coco peat and saw dust from indigenous trees.

I hope this blog will help you understand that microgreens are more valuable as compared to mature vegetables, you need to understand that many restaurants and hotels in developed countries are now opting for Microgreens because:

• they nutrient dense
• flavourful

So the bottom Line is microgreens are the best options for the health conscious community.

Our skin is a living organ that report to the outside world what is happening silently inside us. The main indicator that something is wrong is the dullness of our skins. At times we might not know what we are suffering from but our skin can report that our body needs attention. So if your skin is not glowing, here is a smoothie that you can consume religiously and everything can turn to your side.

Fruits and veggies that you need

• One cucumber 🥒 sliced
• One orange 🍊 peeled and diced
• One beetroot diced
• one carrot 🥕 diced
• one small ginger peeled and diced
• juice lemon 🍋 squzzed from one lemon
• small pineapple 🍍 peeled and cubed
• half cup of beetroot Microgreens.
• One teaspoon honey – to taste.

Gather all the above ingredients and blend them up until smooth and drinkable, you can jump honey if you do not want this. To get the best consistence, half a banana 🍌 is very ideal.

Drink this twice a week and enjoy the results.

Blackjack is a weed that is known to have healing powers especially in Africa. People with compromised immune systems usually feed on dried and fresh blackjack. The fun part of this is many youths in my country do not appreciate this miracle weed. So we have come up with an amazing way to allow people of all age groups to consume blackjack.

We are now doing blackjack microgreens which you can mix with other salads, this will allow you to enhance the nutrient content of your food without even realising that you are eating blackjack.

Today we want to improve your blood using blackjack and beetroot so we have decided to make a smoothie for you.

Here is how to prepare your smoothie:

fruits and veggies needed:

• one big banana chopped.
• two big plums with pith removed.
• half cup frozen raspberries
• half cup blackjack microgreens.
• half cup beetroot microgreens.
• one cup cold water.

instructions.

chop your fruits into small cubes and put everything in a blender, add half cup of cold water and blend for 3seconds, add some more water up until you reach the desired consistency.

NB: you can replace water with animal based milk or plant based milk, I usually put water because I am not a fun of animal milk which is readily available here.

When your smoothie is ready, serve immediately, anytime is smoothie time! You can drink in the morning, afternoon and evening.

Continue doing this religiously up until you get desired results.

You can also blend in seeds and nuts to fight anemia..