Make your own chia seed friends! We've all seen the famous infomercial with the catchy jingle, but did you know you can make your own chia plant friend at home? Chia seeds are one of the fastest growing at home gardening you can do and the results are adorable.
All you need is a terra-cotta pot, potting soil, chia seeds, and a nylon sock.
(Some tips: you can make a sock by cutting up pantyhose that have a rip. Also, you can use the same chia seeds that you get at the grocery store for eating purposes - they can sprout into little plants!)
Directions
First, soak 1-2 Tablespoons of chia seeds in water for 4 hours or overnight. Next, take a porous nylon sock and fill the end with the seeds and some nutrient rich potting soil. Then, ball up the sock so the chia seeds are on top of the soil (make sure they aren't mixed in!) and place it upright in a small pot in a sunny spot. Finally, water the ball of soil and decorate however you want! The seeds will start sprouting in as little as 3 days!
You can even give your chia friend a "haircut" after a few weeks and eat the sprouts in a salad or sandwich (it will grow back!).
An alternative project if you don't have potting soil or a sock is to flip the terra cotta pot over, make a thick gel by mixing 2 teaspoons of chia Seeds with 1⁄4 cup water, and spread that chia gel on the terra cot pot to grow sprouts all over the pot.
If all you have on hand is the chia seeds, you can still do a fun project to sprout chia seeds by laying them in a tupperware on a damp paper towel (spritz it every day). Since they are without soil, they'll only last a couple of weeks, and you should harvest the sprouts when they are a couple inches tall.
Lastly, for a tasty and healthy snack, check out our recipe for fruity Chia Seed Jam.