Zero Waste SEries-Post #1: Make Your own Greens powder

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     Back in August, I shared with you my Garden Journal and my plan to try to have something growing all year round in my garden.  I used my Garden Journal to plan everything out and kept notes about everything that happened in my garden.  As you can see, I've been having tremendous results! I'm harvesting peas, spinach and beets, along with the beet greens.  My Broccoli is beginning to flower and a few carrots are sprouting.  Hopefully, my Fall Garden Harvest will get done this month and I can start putting in my Spring Garden after that! I've already starting sprouting transplants.   I feel like I'm kicking off the New Year right!  

     It is so exciting to have a successful harvest!  With the price of groceries today, it is a blessing to have this food that I am producing myself available to us.  I like to use every bit of what I grow or purchase without any of it going to waste! 
     That waste issue can be a problem when you have an abundant harvest!   Sure, you can leave zucchini and tomatoes on your neighbor's doorsteps and you can cook every meal with things from your garden, but eventually there is more than anyone can eat without it going bad first, and greens are notorious for not lasting super long.  Some produce really isn't suitable for canning or freezing, so then what?  
      As I contemplated what I could share to address the issue of not wasting food, whether it be something you grow  or something you purchase, I realized that there are way more answers to help with this problem than I could address in one post.  So, I've decided to do a short series about how to make the most of the food that you grow or get from the store that will cut back on waste, save you money and help you be prepared by having food storage for the long term.  I'm hoping that you will chime in with your ideas as this series progresses so that we can help each other.  I love trying out new ideas and many that I will be sharing I have gleaned from other people. 
  

     This first zero waste post comes from an idea that Alicia gave me and has to do with those greens that are so healthy for us and so abundant that it is difficult not to let any go to waste! 
       Alicia belongs to a food co-op over in Georgia.  It is amazing and she gets weekly deliveries of food for her family at a very low cost! ( I've looked for something like it here, but haven't found anything.)  She never knows what she will be getting, but it has always been tremendously awesome overall.  Sometimes, she receives large amounts of salad greens.  and the first time I asked her what she was going to do with all of them.  She told me that she had decided to dehydrate them and make a greens powder with them!  I thought that was genius and have wanted to tell you about it for a long time now. 

Have you priced Greens Powder? This is the least expensive one I could find on Amazon. It contains 24 servings at $12.74. It has a long list of ingredients. 39 super foods, whatever that means.

      Now, don't get me wrong, I understand why these containers of greens powder cost so much because once you dehydrate your food, it takes a lot of it to fill a container of that size.   Let me demonstrate: 

      What I Put In My Greens Powder:

     The reality is that you can put whatever you want in your personal greens powder.  One of the most prolific things in my garden are the beet greens!  And don't forget, those beet greens are a super food if anything can be called that!  Here is a post where I give you some ideas for using fresh beet tops as well as beet root.   Even before you harvest beet roots, you can harvest the leaves.  It doesn't hurt the plant if you take a few leaves off, the plant will grow more leaves.  I never take all of the leaves off of one plant, just a couple at a time and spread out what I take between all of the plants.  So, the first thing I harvested for my greens powder was beet tops, including the stems.  
     I've also already been harvesting peas!  They are so delicious!  Of course, the pea pods are also edible, so when I shelled my peas for dinner one day, I saved the pods to dehydrate into my greens powder.  
       My baby spinach is doing great so I picked some of it as well!  
      If you had other greens growing, you could use any of them, from arugula to kale, carrot tops and even some fruit could be added.  If you wanted to put in the actual peas and not just the pods, you could do that by putting a mesh liner on the trays to keep them from falling through, (like I did for sprouted wheat on this post)
       I already had some dehydrated squash, so I used some of that in my formula as well.  Here is how my dehydrator trays looked.

I know that I could fill them all more, but this was my first experiment. I put the stems on their own tray at the bottom because I thought that they would take the longest. But, no need, they were quick. The entire process for dehydrating these greens only took a few hours.

     Once the greens were all dehydrated, I put them in the blender and powdered them up! 

•   Some of the fibers and chunks didn't powder very well.  I used a fine mesh strainer to sift out the powdery part.  Then I would spin the bigger chunks again and get a bit more powder. 
• I had two jars, one for the greens powder and one for the little chunks which will be great in soups and sauces. 

All dry!

First sift. I put those big chunks back into the blender and made more powder out of them.

First sift! I sifted twice.

One jar for powder and one for chunks.

    I realize that jar doesn't have much powder in it after using my entire dehydrator, but remember, I could have filled it a little more fully, and also, think how potent that stuff is in its concentrated form!  You won't need more that half a tsp to get a lot of benefit from those greens!  
      Alternatively, you can also use your oven to dehydrate to be able to get more of the greens done at once.  My plan is to do a load in the dehydrator as needed throughout the harvest season to start filling up that jar.   I already did some more today!  Now the jar is closer to half way full.​

Why Make Your Own Greens Powder

Here are a few great reasons for making your own greens powder:

• You already have the greens in your garden, or you were able to get a bunch from the store and you don't want them to go to waste! 
• Not wasting food is a money saver!
• Not buying greens powder is a money saver!
• It is easy to store and takes very little space! 
• Greens Powder is an easy way to add more nutritional value to your food! 
• You know exactly what is going in your homemade greens powder!  You don't have to worry about hidden allergens or weird chemicals because you put it all in there yourself! 

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What Are Some Ways To Use Greens Powder?

There are so many ways to put your greens powder to work!  It will add to the nutrients and fiber in your diet and is great to boost the vitamin intake of picky eaters! 

• Alicia adds some of the powder to her baby's yogurt or oatmeal to increase his fiber and vitamin intake.  She says he doesn't even notice it.​
• Some people sprinkle green's powder on salad or sandwiches.
• You can include it in your bread dough or cake and cookie batter.
• Use it in your pasta sauces or in your homemade pasta noodles! 
• And, of course, it is great in smoothies!  Here is a recipe for one I just made yesterday!  (The glass is half full because I shared with my husband!)  Just click on the recipe for the printable version.

Tools I Used To Make Greens Powder

Be sure to come back to more Zero Food Waste Ideas over the next few weeks!  Also, tell me what you would like to see discussed or more insight into this topic!