Think Green!

When you open your blinds to a winter wasteland and start feeling a little blue...

It's time for some green therapy!

Our latest project has been growing wheatgrass and it was so much fun! Anyone can do it! Some people do this to celebrate the advent of spring (equinox March 20th), but I think it's a great winter activity too. It has been ideal for Maddie because the whole growth cycle happens in 7-10 days and every day there is visible change. She loved checking on the grass!

1. Gather your materials. FIRST: Go to your food storage (or grocery store grain bins) and scoop about a cup of wheat. Place in a tupperware or other waterproof container and cover with water. Soak for 8-10 hours, changing water about halfway through. NEXT: Choose containers. We used mason jars because we wanted to be able to see the whole process, from sprout to root to shoot (note, use wide mouth jars if you have them). Really any container will work... bowl, vase, pot, mug, anything! We put a little bit of sand in the bottom for drainage, but it's not that important. You just want to make sure there is never standing water.

2. Add your soil. We used a bagged potting mix. Fill container within about an inch of the rim. You can see we didn't use enough--next time we will know better!

3. Add your soaked wheat berries. We used about 1-2 tablespoons per mason jar. Spread them out in a thin layer on the surface of the soil. Spray them down with a squirt bottle until all are moist. Cover the jar with saran wrap and place in a dim place (just a dim corner of my kitchen was fine).

4. Water (mist with spray bottle) night and morning to keep everything moist. Think greenhouse effect.

Day 3: Sprouts!

5. Day 5: Shoots and roots! Once the shoots are coming up, remove the saran wrap and place in a sunny area--the grass needs to photosynthesize! Change your watering technique: fill container with fresh water and then dump it all out. This flushes and wets the soil while preventing mold from growing. (Note: this container is a big shallow square vase, which used about a cup of wheat in itself. I soaked a double batch.)

Day 7: GRASS!

Ah, it's like a breath of fresh air. So cheerful all lined up together!

Use your grass to decorate! This would be such a fun centerpiece for parties or even weddings. Add anything you want to make it interesting!

We had fun thinking of different things to use.

Citrus (plastic--ha!)

Various flowers

Perfect for Easter, yes?

Our favorite: butterflies.

Day 10: Haircut! The grass was getting pretty tall and the wheat berries a little mushy, so I called it quits and let Maddie mow it down! She loved it. I guess if you wanted to eat the wheat grass you could juice it or put it in a smoothie. (Yuck :)

Did I mention this was so much fun? Who's going to try it???