I'm not quite ready to call Jack to begin scaling this fledging stalk. No, not yet. We've got a way to go still. Tell him the Simple Saturday Chia Challenge is moving along at a steady and promising pace. Tell him, "Soon, pal. Soon."
Just four days ago I set the stage for the competition by slicing the tops off of three small carrots. Oh, maybe I cheated a wee bit - or shall we say 'played the advantage' - because I chose a few carrots with leafy, feather-like remnants on top. (Not that it mattered at all in the ultimate growth process.) Then I placed my treasures on a saucer filled with water. Now, I didn't drown my little darlings. Instead the water level remains comfortably between the leafy upper nub and the sliced edge below.
Well, if you think a watched pot doesn't boil, try 24/7 carrot top surveillance. Gadzooks! S-l-o-w going, er...growing.
But then, finally, on Day 3, I saw it. My glorious, tenacious shoot bursting up through those dried leaf remnants. Hot diggity dog! It worked! My carrot top is still re-growing and at a semi-speedy rate!
I tell ya, it doesn't get much simpler or more fun than this, my friends. Wahoo! You know... its kinda sad that a large majority of our kids have never done this simplistic, miraculous activity. That's a shame...a crying shame.
Maybe next week we can sprout a few of Jack's magic beans. Wanna?
A Chia Challenge update!
One week later just look at my Simple Saturday carrot top, will ya? It has not only grown taller than a lamp (See it, in the background? Trembling in fear?), that brave little tuber is sprouting another stalk!
Can you believe that all we did was trim the top off of a carrot, stick it in a saucer of water, and let it grow. That. Is. It.
Isn't this the coolest thing you've ever seen?
Surely one of the simplest, right?
Who knows...soon it may take over my kitchen, then the whole house...then the entire world!!!!
Here we are, almost one month since the initial wondrous Chia Challenge, and our carrot chip is still growing strong. Un-freaking-believable!
And look at this, will you? Not only do we have two might looking stalks flourishing from the chip...there is a third fighting its way from the center.
Oh, yes! And, to top it off, roots are emerging from the base of the carrot chip. You heard me right. Roots.