by Ruth
How awesome are chia seeds?
We love chia seeds at our house and now I’ve found a new way to enjoy their super powers as I explore and the world with my daughter as I grow on this mothering journey.
There are heaps of articles floating around on the net talking up the health benefits of consuming chia seeds as a food. Do some research and educate yourself if you haven’t already.
I came across a beautiful idea for growing a fairy garden from chia seeds, in a Steiner inspired homeschooling resource. It totally inspired and excited me, and I hope it does the same for you…
Step by step…
- Find a large shallow terracotta dish, like the ones that you buy from gardening stores for pot plants to rest on top of.
- Fill it with a thin layer of dirt
- Make a chia seed paste: about one cup or less of chia seeds to about 4 cups of water in a large glass jar. Stir it up real good and then let the gel form while you hunt for fairies and treasures and decorations for your fairy garden.
- After at least 10 minutes of letting the chia paste thicken, take a large spoon and drop spoonfuls of gel onto the dirt in the tray. Keep the spoon clean of dirt as you put it back into the jar. Spread the paste thinly over the dirt. Usually we ened up with lots of left over gel. Save this gel*
- Adorn your garden with found treasures and wee little fairies, we made a ‘pond’ with a little blue tray… some ideas for garden decoration include: shells, flowers placed with stems in the dirt, rocks, half a clam shell makes a good pond too, crystals…anything your little ones want really, there’s no set rules.
- Mix up some filtered water with your choice of diluted ocean water, kelp powder or other sprout growing enhancer (don’t worry if you don’t have this, pure water works fine) into a spray bottle.
- Get your little gardener to spray the garden at least 3 times in a 24 hour period. This is a great activity in learning to care for plants, if the sprouts grow and the faerie garden is beautiful, then the fairies will want to come play there.
- After a day of two, you should see little green shoots emerging from the chia seeds… magic!
- After 4-7 days depending on the air temperature, you’ll have one epic little faerie garden, one contended and excited child, and huge sense of accomplishment.
- And guess what the best part of this whole activity is? You can eat the sprouts. Just snip off the shoots above the dirt and enjoy. Kids that grow the sprouts themselves are way more likely to eat the sprouts too…
TIP: We turn the leftover gel into chia pudding: mix in carob powder, pinch salt, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and your choice of sweetener to taste. Yummy chia power goodness that kids love!
If you like Ruth’s creative ideas, have a peep at her brilliant guide to making Avocado gems: Transform Avocado Stones Into Beautiful Pendants