Rediscovered Chia

So this blog about my chia pet kind of failed. The chia kitty was a success, but then I forgot to water it for a few days, so it died:(

However, I have rediscovered chia seeds after reading about it in Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. I followed a recipe I found online and this far it is delicious. Don’t really feel any beneficial effects as I have not gone running yet (have a knee injury).

Here is the recipe:

To make 1 glass:
8 oz of water
2.0-2.5 teaspoons of Chia Seeds
1 lime to squeeze
2 teaspoons of sugar (or however much you want to sweeten the taste, I found two works best for me).
Mix water, sugar, and juice from the lime until dissolved. Add Chia Seeds and shake or stir. Serve it chilled.

Fail

I’ve been delinquent in updating everyone on the status of my kitten chia.  I’m back on the wagon for now and should have some new pics up.  We’ve got some serious green chia going on.

Day Eight

Success!  I see fields of green…

Day Seven

 

*Photos Courtesy of Sheeva Ghassemi

Day Six

Meow!

Day Five

Like watching grass grow.

Most of the seeds have developed little sprouts as shown in the photo below.

I’m concerned that I don’t have enough seed coverage, so I’m fearing that it’ll look nothing like this:

Behind the Chia

The Chia Pet Story: How Do They Do It?

Since there isn’t any major growth breakthroughs yet, I thought I’d discuss the elaborate process that is required to bring a Chia Pet to life.

Chia Pets are handmade by artisans using techniques passed down from the Indians of ancient Mexico.  Each Chia Pet is sculpted from rich terra-cotta clay.  The multi-stage process takes several days for shaping, drying, kiln firing and finishing.

Chia (salvia hispanica) was popular among the Aztecs.  It was eaten as food and included in medicines.  Chia seeds were ground into flour and pressed for oil.

I don’t know if I believe all that, but it sounds nice.

How to Make a Unique Chia Pet: Apparently you can make your own, homemade Chia Pet using a woman’s nylon

Day Four

Unfortunately nothing super exciting, but it does look like a few of the seeds have stems growing from them, however, its not very visible. 

The box said 3 to 5 days and we are dangerously coming close to a breach of warranty here.

Day Three

As you can see the front of the kitten chia is seriously lacking in seed coverage. Also the tray fills up with water very quickly.

Day Two

After a long 24 hours (actually more like 18) the chia kitten was ready for seed implantation.

Gel-like paste of seeds

 

Chia Pet fully soaked

Step 3

Spread water-soaked Chia seeds on animal.

Beginning with a teaspoon

 

Having to spread seeds with my hands

 

Sticky Icky

 

It's a lot messier than the commercial made it look

Ready – Set – Grow!

Seeds should sprout in 3-5 days (we shall see)

Alright, so after that messy debacle it’s time to chart the Chia Pet’s progress.  

I’m supposed to keep the chia pet full of water (see hole) and make sure that it gets the appropriate sunlight.  

Hopefully the seeds take, if not we can always try again.