>> Marjory: Hi everyone this is Marjory Wildcraft,
and today I really have the pleasure of being with Sherri Willis,
and Sherri has created an incredibly innovative technique for growing greens and micro-greens.
A small forage system you can grow indoors, in an apartment.
Very, very low lighting levels with no soil;
it uses very little water, and basically is a food source that you could feed rabbits
or other small livestock.
You could actually conceivably raise rabbits in an apartment up in Toronto, and be able
to feed yourself using this system.
But Sherri, tell us a little bit, you've got a system here, and you've got trays of greens.
It looks like you've got six trays of greens.
>> Sherri: This system runs on a six day cycle.
So you would, this is the first day down here.
You can see that the greens have barely sprouted.
Within six days this is what you get, it's ready to feed at this point.
I used wheat, barley can be used too, but it tends to mold a little easier, and it tends
to be not quite so forgiving.
And this system has been sitting on my carpet for about six months.
>> Marjory: And I can see on the floor, this is absolutely perfect.
She's totally figured out how not have this splash, or how to be a mess with something
you can do indoors.
And basically, you're working with one tray on the bottom here.
You're putting in about two pounds of grain.
>> Sherri: Correct.
>> Marjory: And then at the end of the six day cycle you're ending, if I can turn that
up just a little bit, with this big tray of greens that's a mat of greens.
You say that this one tray, this mat of greens is one days' worth of food for...?
>> Sherri: You can feed about forty chickens on this.
Thirty rabbits.
If you had miniature goats, this will feed about seven miniature goats in milk.
A day.
>> Marjory: And this would be rabbits that are lactating rabbits.
>> Sherri: Correct.
Correct, meat size lactating rabbits.
>> Marjory: Wow.
And this one tray is going to feed thirty of them.
This is not a complete diet though, so you'd need, this is going to be their complete nutrition
in protein, but they'd also need some hay or roughage.
>> Sherri: Right.
Hay or, a breeder friend of mine uses straw.
He likes oat straw best, because they don't get hair bound and that kind of stuff with
the oat straw.
So he feeds this and oat straw.
>> Marjory: Right.
But the oat straw and stuff is pretty easy to store, and it's not like a real high quality
food.
It's more of the just the roughage.
>> Sherri: It tends to be inexpensive.
The only thing you have to check with that is just to make sure it's not moldy.
>> Marjory: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
And keep it dry and clean.
>> Sherri: Mm-hmm yeah.
>> Marjory: And so this, like one little chunk of this, is just going to be rich in nutrients
and proteins.
>> Sherri: Correct, this runs between fifteen and seventeen percent protein.
>> Marjory: Wow.
>> Sherri: And it's actually higher, I have some sunflower seeds in there.
If you can see some of those little sprouts are the sunflower seeds.
That will push it up to almost twenty percent.
The other advantage is, it's already hydrated so the animal doesn't have to take any reserves
out of its own body to hydrate it.
>> Marjory: To process it.
>> Sherri: And the process of sprouting and growing breaks down the nutrients.
So it's almost digested, it takes almost no energy to digest.
Over eighty percent digestible.
>> Marjory: Now, the way this works is you have the water that pumps up here and mists
on these top trays, and then it just drips, drips, drips on down.
You're not adding anything to that water, there's no fertilizers or anything?
>> Sherri: No, no.
And I haven't noticed any difference between tap water and well water.
It doesn't seem to matter much; the real critical thing with this is the temperature.
The temperature needs to be between seventy and eighty degrees to really get a nice mat.
>> Marjory: Yeah.
>> Sherri: You'll see a huge difference if it drops below.
>> Marjory: Yeah, but that's the kind of living temperature's that you're going to be having
anyway if you're going to be living in an apartment or house somewhere.
>> Sherri: Right.
>> Marjory: So.
>> Sherri: If you're comfortable, most of the time the fodder is comfortable too.
>> Marjory: Wow.
And this actually, you're put the grain on there pretty thick when you're first putting
in a half inch to three quarters of an inch of grain in the bottom.
>> Sherri: Right.
>> Marjory: And then the grain isn't all completely grown.
There's some fermented and sprouted grain.
>> Sherri: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
>> Marjory: That's an extra bit of nutrition.
>> Sherri: Right, right.
The grass part adds a lot of bulk, but they eat the roots and all.
There's no waste.
So, like when you feed hay, they pick all the leaves off and leave the stems.
(laughs)
>> Marjory: So you and I, we've been walking around Sherri's yard.
She has trees everywhere, so it's shaded almost all year round.
She's living on this rocky clay soil, there's really no soil here.
>> Sherri: No.
>> Marjory: And not a lot of room.
We're talking a very small home.
You know, pretty small suburban lot.
So you're able to raise chickens and rabbits, and you're actually looking at getting a couple
of small goats.
>> Sherri: Yes.
>> Marjory: That you'll be using to feed the goats with this, so that way you'll get goat
milk from this.
And one of these trays would feed how many lactating goats?
>> Sherri: I'm going to have Kinders, which are kind of a mid-size.
They're not miniatures but they're not full size goats either.
And you can feed probably five.
I'm only going to have two, but I need it for my chickens and rabbits too.
But this tray will feed the four chickens that I want.
I'm going to have six or seven rabbits, and then my goats.
>> Marjory: So one tray would be one for food.
And you've almost got a weekly system.
>> Sherri: There's every day you get a tray.
So it's a continuous system.
Once you get it up to full production, you have a full tray every day.
>> Marjory: Wow.
Incredible!
If you want to get more information about this, and believe me it's been a bit of a
trick to figure out the size of the holes and the placement, and where you want it.
Sherri, you have plans available?
People, who are a little bit handy, do it yourself.
Most of this stuff looks like PVC, and things that you can buy.
You also have a kit, where just some of the harder things to get, like some of more difficult
parts, and the pump you have available.
Then you also have the whole full system for people who just aren't going to deal with
it, and want to buy it right off the shelf.
>> Sherri: Right.
>> Marjory: What's your website, and how can they contact you?
>> Sherri: My website is at www.half and that's like half of a cup.
Dash, and you have to put the dash in or it doesn't work, pint as in a pint of beer, homestead.com
>> Marjory: half-pinthomestead.com, and it really is true.
It's really a little tiny house, little tiny suburban yard, and she is figuring out how
to have chickens, and rabbits, and goats.
And grow most of the food for them.
You are importing the wheat seed to get that going, but that's a pretty small amount considering
all the meat, and eggs, and different products you're going to be generating from this.
>> Sherri: Well, the nice thing is I can store the wheat seed.
Whereas fodder doesn't store, it needs to be used right away.
But I make 300 pounds of fodder from fifty pounds of wheat.
So that's a huge return from that little bit.
>> Marjory: Yeah, wow.
So, half-pinthomestead.com, and this is Sherri Willis.
Thank you all so much.
There are so many alternatives, and so many people coming up with innovative new ways
that you can grow your own groceries, and grow your own food.
Thank you so much Sherri, and we'll see you all on the next segment.
This is Marjory Wildcraft.