Here come the sprouts, reaching for the heavens. Our first batch is nearly ready for their addition to some miso soup, and in the morning they will find their way into our juicer and onwards into a smoothy.

So it’s juvenile, adolescent, and maybe in poor taste, but I just couldn’t resist floundering down the lane of immaturity once on my blog with today’s entry. I’m hoping friends Brad and Mike can join me for a slurp.

Mixing semolina flour, amaranth flour, mesquite, whole wheat, and white flour I am making a pasta dough for making homemade fettuccine. We use organic flour when possible and our eggs come from the Little Farm in Gilbert, our CSA or Community Supported Agriculture supplier of fresh organic veggies.

I’m soaking walnuts, oat groats, sunflower seeds, almonds, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds to make homemade living granola. After 24 hours of soaking, I grind the nut and seed mixture, mix in rolled oats and then add coconut oil, honey, vanilla, raisins, and coconut. This mixture is then dehydrated for 48 hours before Caroline and I sit down for a breakfast of granola with homemade almond milk. Yep, you don’t get much more hippy than that.

South River Miso Company in Conway, Massachusetts, is now one of our all-time favorite companies to buy from. We ordered a sampler of misos that consisted of one-pound jars with the flavors of Dandelion Leek, Azuki Bean, Sweet Tasting Brown Rice, and, Caroline’s favorite, the Chickpea Barley. Their Tamari is also quite excellent, so much so, that customers are only allowed to order two bottles per year. My favorite miso is the Azuki but having only tried four and enjoying each and every one, we have ordered the other six varieties of South River concocts.

In about a week we should receive a large box with Chickpea, Hearty Brown Rice, Three-year Barley, Sweet White, Garlic Red Pepper, and Mellow Barley misos. We had to order now as South River doesn’t ship during warm or hot months, because the miso is unpasteurized, allowing all of its living glory to remain intact.

As part of our ongoing attempt at eating healthier, we purchased a nearly seven-pound sampler of beans and seeds for sprouting from the Sproutpeople. We’ll add the various sprouts to salads, soups, juices along with fresh living granola and crackers.

The Sproutpeople sent us 20 packets of stand-alone beans, seeds, and a wide selection of custom mixes. A partial list of what was included: wheat, barley, rye, spelt, triticale, oats, Kamut, sesame, millet, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, sunflower, pumpkin, peanut, lentils including French, crimson, red, chief, pardina, eston, green, black and white, peas including green, speckled, marrowfat, yellow, and bill jump, adzuki, mung, garbanzos, red clover, cress, garlic, alfalfa, radish, fenugreek, mustard, onion, broccoli, arugula, dill, and more.