Cha Cha Cha...CHIA

Any one remember this:


I do...(and in the spirit of full disclsoure, I had one, I think a looney tunes one?). So why are we remembering terrible infomercials from the 90's? Because I never grew up Because I am trying to grow one again! I have tried growing chia seeds in the past, we never got very far-which is incredibly frustrating seeing as they GROW WILD IN THE DESERT! (useful wild western plants).  However there is incredibly little information on growing them. Why do I want them? Well glad you asked:

Omega 3x6 baby                                

See-healthy!

Chia seeds are amazing-besides being a delicious sprout to add to salads, they are are high energy food. They have protein, fiber and fat and are a whole grain food you can absorb (which makes them beat out flax seeds) and they are incredibly high in anti-oxidants and have Omega 3 and Omega 6 (I don't make this stuff up )They get "goopy" when you add them to liquid (technically called mucilaginous but that sounds gross.) and so when used with chocolate milk you get a rich desert. I add them to iced coffee for a delicious drink/snack halfway through the day.  My husband adds them to his protein shakes when he rides his bike.   However they are HARD TO FIND.  There has been a chia seed shortage) due to limited growers and natural hardship. This is just another example of how important your own foodshed is.  These little seeds are costly as well, I can find them at Costco for 6.99 a pound but the grocery store has them for 10.00 a pound.

So over the next few months I am going to figure out how to make these guys grow. I am growing from my last purchase of seeds from costco (http://nutiva.com/chia-seeds/). I have some sprouts going in sheltered spot and as they get bigger I am putting them into the garden. Follow along!

Where I started:

growing chia seeds: This is a great article to figuire out needs/size/temps/harvest

Desert Harvesters: A lot of sites say the flowers are harvest in the spring but Desert Harvesters guide tells me to plant in the fall-and they are one of my garden bibles here in this hot pot

"the baby plants". I put in small pinches and this patch has been thinned like crazy-i have probably pulled 50 seedlings out of this batch. These are some fertile babies, almost every seed I planted sprouted. 

Toddler Babies: These guys have been transplanted into the garden. They almost died the other day when after two nights of rain were no match for the sunny 100 degree weather.