Traveling with Hamama!
Social distancing is the new normal nowadays, so summer vacations are looking a bit different this year. There’s still the classic road trip...camping...boating…! Whatever you’re up to with your end-of-summer travels, bring along those greens! Read on for some tips and experiences travelling with your Hamama greens - whether still in the package or already growing in the tray!
When you're away from home — whether in a hotel, flying on a plane, sailing the open waters, or driving cross country — maintaining your normally balanced diet isn't always top of mind or even a possibility. This may cause some unwanted consequences. Big changes in your eating habits, not drinking enough water, and just the stress of traveling can be followed by digestive problems. Hamama microgreens to the rescue! Our microgreens are packed with essential vitamins and nutrients and will be sure to keep your body happy while travelling or vacationing.
If you have already grown your greens and want to take your harvest along with you, here is an awesome plastic free storing technique from one of our Hamama growers:
“Cut a piece of cotton cloth (about half the size of a standard tea towel). Run it under water, wring it out, fold it in half and then spread the sprouts out loosely in a row across the top. Then fold the bottom just up and over them so they are in a little "pocket" with their heads upright. Roll the cloth from end to end (like a Jelly Roll) loosely so the sprouts are secure but not crushed. The roll fits into a mid-sized tumbler and goes into your cooler - but you could use a wide-mouth jar or full size coffee mug. When you want sprouts, unroll just for as much as you need, and then re-roll the rest to back up to return to the fridge. This keeps the sprouts fresh with no mold or mildew. Launder the cloth when you've used all the sprouts, and let it line dry before using it again for the next batch!”
If you can’t take your greens with you (sad!) and they are ready for harvest, you can freeze or dry them (or harvest and gift to a neighbor ). Otherwise, your harvested greens will last up to 10 days in a baggie (like the Stasher bag) in the fridge!
To freeze, simply place your harvested microgreens in a tupperware of baggie and store in the freezer for later use in smoothies, stir fries, or curries!
To dry, spread your microgreens on a sheet and bake at the lowest temperature setting for 20 minutes. Then mix into sauces, use for tea, or sprinkle on top of dishes as for seasoning!
Car / RV:
Camping and road-tripping are the new go-to outdoor activities and Hamama growers can’t wait to take their greens with them. Our grow tray and packaged Seed Quilts make it super easy to make that happen. And the best part, you can get some of those delicious greens in as little as 7 days! If you are thinking of traveling, consider taking your greens along for the ride to ensure a healthy, delicious addition to any campfire meal.
If you need to take an unexpected trip but aren’t ready to harvest your greens just yet.. No worries - you can take your baby greens with you!
Depending on where you go you may need to make minimal adjustments to the growing processes of your greens. You will want to keep your tray in an area with minimal direct hot sunlight, covered at night to avoid them getting chilly, and away from water where they may get more moist! It’s also important to keep them nice and flat in your vehicle (we’ve found the floor of the back seat is best) to avoid any accidental water spills. If that does happen though, it's important to not fill your tray back up to the fill line!
We always recommend keeping the water level touching the bottom of the coco mat. This way there is enough water for the roots to reach but also good oxygen flow!
Pour a little water out of the tray before travel so it doesn't slosh around too much. Carefully pack your Hamama Greens on the floor of the backseat if possible. Surround the tray with sturdy items so your tray can't move around, but be sure that nothing can topple over on your delicate greens. You can be extra cautious by putting your tray on top of a non-slip rubber grip pad!
Microgreens living their best life :D Don’t leave home without them!
*Hamama greens are intended for indoor growing.*
Our friend Becky shared her own own experience traveling with her Hamama Greens:
“Have Hamama; will travel. My Wasabi quilt wasn't ready for harvest when we left Georgia for our camp hosting gig at Mueller State Park in Colorado, so I scooped it up and brought it along. I was comical finding ways to get it out of the trailer each afternoon when we stopped so that it could get a bit of sunshine. I nearly fried it in the Texas heat yesterday but it rebounded nicely today!”
Becky’s Hamama greens cross-country cruisin’
Elizabeth Vassel Smithson from our Hamama Friends Facebook group shared her own experience as well:
“My traveling little friends. 😀 🚙 We are gone for 4 days, checking on my parents, and picking up my MIL to spend a month with us. I have been babying these little guys (salad mix) for weeks and they are finally starting to perk up and fill out in the middle. I wasn’t about to leave them home and chance them drying out! I think they are enjoying the sunshine. ☀️ I rotate them every few hours."
Sailboat / Yacht:
All gardeners aboard! Sailing & spending some time off the grid can be an extremely unique and rewarding adventure, especially when you can rely on growing fresh food from the edge of your floating vessel. Microgreens add freshness, crunch, and added nutrients to a potentially bland or mushy diet of canned meats and vegetables while out at sea. With Hamama, they are so easy to grow aboard your boat!
Fiona and Randy Woods are a crew of 2 navigating the open water. They explored the Atlantic coast until the spring of 2018 when Jupiter (a 2013 Grand Banks Aleutian Raised Pilothouse Motor Yacht) was transported to British Columbia to begin the next adventure: navigating the inside and outside passages to Alaska! The Woods have cruised together over 35,000 nautical miles and they each hold US Coastguard 100 Ton Merchant Mariner credentials. Super cool, right!? They also took their Hamama with them for the wild ride - Check out their blog to see their experience in doing so (plus their genius recipes)! Be sure to peek at their Instagram to follow along with Jupiter’s whereabouts :D
Having found a transportable growing system excellently engineered by a company called Hamama, we stocked the boat with grow trays and seed quilts which are stowed in a parky dark cavity near the hull on the starboard side below the water line to prevent premature germination.
Every three days a new quilt is brought to light, soaked in its tray and tended through a ten day growing cycle. Amongst the manifold varieties to hand are many different flavors and colors to complement a variety of dishes and preparations. Thus far the crew has successfully averted scurvy.
Plane:
Can you take your Hamama Grow Tray & Seed Quilts on an airplane?
-Domestically: Yes! Try to make sure that your packaged Seed Quilts remain in a dry, dark, and cool area. Wrap some clothes around your grow tray to ensure it doesn’t get damaged in your luggage.
If you need to update your shipping address for your Seed Quilt refills (temporarily or permanantly), just shoot us a message at contact@hamama.com and we’ll take care of that right away so you don’t go without your greens for long. You can also update your shipping address right from your account any time. :D
-Internationally: Not so much. Traveling with seeds, growing medium, or plants on international flights unprepared is usually a bad idea. On international flights, the customs laws usually limit plants only to a few species, which aren’t invasive and wouldn’t cause harm to the ecosystem.
Even if you’re allowed to bring a specific plant through the customs, you’ll have to follow additional rules:
- Plants have to be bare-rooted and pest-free, which means they’re stripped from any soil and transported in a towel or a damp newspaper.
- In the U.S., you’re allowed to bring 12 or fewer articles of allowed plants without a permit.
- Some plants have additional restrictions: Permits, post-entry quarantines, ESA or CITES documentation, and additional treatments.
- You’ll need a phytosanitary certificate from the country of origin.
- Plants have to be free of insects.
You could always just give it a try, but your Seed Quilt(s) may get confiscated.
Hope this helps, Hamama Friends! If you have any of your own experiences traveling with your Hamama greens, let us know below! We'd love to hear your story. Much love!
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sue cotner
December 10, 2020
Anyone try to bring seeds into Mexico, specifically Puerto Vallarta via airlines..?