Growing microgreens
For a few years, I have been intrigued by the subject of growing microgreens. I've never overcome my personal inertia to grow them myself but considered that they would be a good source of food in areas that have been devastated by some disaster. A package of seeds is capable of producing enough to feed a couple of people in 1-2 weeks. It requires the seeds, daily watering, a medium to grow the seeds in and a tray or other flat container to grow them in. It is far simpler to transport packages of seeds than fully grown produce. While it is not an immediate solution for a crisis (it does take 1-2 weeks) it provides an opportunity for longer-term and sustainable sustenance.
My own personal inertia has been overcome by this current pandemic ... you know the CPP Virus (so named because of the government body who exacerbated the spread). I encourage anyone to go to your local grocery store (if yours are like mine) and buy quantities of seeds packets to experiment if nothing else.
The trays and growing medium I purchase online but one can be innovative and create your own using often disposed or recycled materials. Plastic bottles could be split to form two "trays" or anything else to create a flat container to grow your plants in. In this case, the white growing medium is a "felt" Biostrate. It is a material that is made from jute or cotton or possibly some wood fibre product. It is possible to use paper towels or even soil (considering that this is where plants normally grow). I acknowledge that one might have difficulty getting soil if you live in an apartment in the middle of a city (and the zombies are outside) so any material that will retain moisture and is permeable enough for the roots to cling to should work. You notice that I mist the material to dampen it before seeding the bed. I distill my water so there should be no issue of PH or harmful chemicals. If you have access to refrigeration you can freeze a pot of water to purify it. As water freezes, impurities are pushed into the center leaving the ice relatively clear. Once it is fully frozen or just as the center is in the process of freezing, one can dig or empty the center and you get a donut of cleared ice. If you don't want to go through this process, leaving water out for a day or so will allow the chlorine to off-gas. If there is an issue of PH, you can make the water a little more acidic by adding drops of lemon juice or vinegar. Baking soda will make the water more alkaline. Obviously this consideration is unnecessary to worry about unless your water is in the extreme.
After fully misting the medium, I spread the seeds. While I suspect that I need to improve the distribution, I believe you can get a sense of how much would be planted. On another note, if you are looking at the raggedy nature of my clothes, what can I say ... my gardening sartorial sense has much to be desired.
The final task with the initial planting is to cover the seeds ... put them in the dark so they can germinate. While you could cover them with a cloth, or put them in a dark closet, I stack an empty tray on top. The following day or two I added an additional tray of seeds on the bottom. Within two days, the seeds started to germinate. About the fourth day, the seeds will have sprouted enough to enable the plants to be exposed to light ... but I will need to get back to you on this later...