Chia Power

Where Can Chia Seeds Grow?

Who is Josemne08 and why is he growing chia seed on a brick? Maybe someone can explain it to me.

Chia Love

A parody throw-back to glam-rock hit: "Cheetah Love by the Cheetah Girls" this video was created by Aaron K and appeared on Disney Radio in 2008.

 

Chia Pet Pet Costumes?

Apparently this is a thing now!

 

A lame attempt made with real chia seeds! Seen at Tompkins Square Park, NYC.

But usually these costumes are made with artificial plants of some sort. Example DIY instructions.

 

Chia Pet Growers -- A collection of videos and blogs

Greening of Betsy's Kitty
7 Day Kitty Blog
Major Mom has a Homer
Brownwynmerri's Chia Tree with Starlight Video
Gaeasoldier's Tree with Star Light
Teena's Smelly Cat
Sarah's Dino on Flickr
Mia's Chia Kitty
Mr. Banks' Einstein
Jillian's Tweety is Cute Overload
The Barfield's: Homer
Josh Madison's Garfield
The Real Deal in Oaxaca
Elizabeth's Hippo
Calvin's Chia Family

Adding Nutrients to a Chia Pet???

A question posted on the Twiggers website.

Question:

if you added nutrients to a chia pet would it live longer?

Wrong Answer: Technically, yes – a little longer. It wouldn’t radically change the time it lives – simply because they are very short lived plants in the first. place.

My Answer:

No,no,no! Chia is not normally short lived. These plants can grow to be huge! Over 15 feet tall. But that's if they're growing in soil and aren't crowded together.

But on the chia pet, the seeds are crowded, and no amount of added nutrients will extend their lives beyond about 3 weeks.

The only exception is if you refrigerate them. You can add weeks to their lives if you leave them in the cold and dark.

Good luck!!

Chia Does a Strip Tease!

4 weeks old and here she is behaving like this!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Her outfit came off all in one piece. So guess what I did with it!

 

(Note: republished from 9/7/2007.)

Timelapse of Growing Chia Seeds

Someone should make an animated GIF of this. Not sure how many hours this timelapse video covers. But don't let anyone tell you that plants don't move.

 

Chia Pet Evolution

It is a little known fact that the Chia Pet evolved from a more primitive life form,

Murro, the Wonder Pig!

Proof may be found in this 1904 ad from a German book, FLIEGENDE BLATTER, which pictures a grass-growing pig that was popular back in the day.

 

Sehr Gut!

 

Chia Pet FAQs

Chia Pets are distributed by Joseph Enterprises, a California company that also sells The Clapper. 

If you have any questions about how to care for your Chia Pet, you might want to check out these FAQs.

Timelapse Video

 

 

Another chia: Salvia columbariae

Salvia columbariae is another species of chia, native to the California and the American Southwest. Here is a descriptive datasheet from the USDA.

S. columbariae is also highly nutritional, and is the original "Indian Running Food."

S. columbariae is not cultivated anywhere, to our knowledge, and some reports state that it is the seed used in Chia Pets. But Michael P. Hirsch of the Chia Pet company, told me that Chia Pets once were sold with S. columbariae, but now S. hispanica is used.

 

Lady Liberty Likes a Good Laugh

From the Annals of Improbable Research

Back in 1998, (when he should have been working on his Ph.D. dissertation on Surf Clams at the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences of Rutgers University), Eric J. Weissberger published this entertaining but superficial treatment of the evolution of chia pets in the Annals of Improbable Research (AIR).

Dr. Weissberger  investigated the family Chiaceae (chia pets), which he claims is the first known missing link between plants and animals. He discusses the nature of the cardboard cocoon and the role played by the human host in facilitating the synchronous hatching of chia pets on December 25th each year.

Dr. Weissberger speculations that chia pets are  descended from a common ancestor (i.e., they are monophyletic), but acknowledges that convergent evolution cannot be ruled out from the (non-existent) fossil record.

He goes on to suggest that chia pets may, in fact, be closely related to humans, as evidenced by the existence of the Chia Professor!

Unfortunately, Dr. Weissberger now works at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and has turned his back on his earlier work with chia pets. He has become known as an expert on oysters and surf clams!

Chia Jesus

Given up on Chia Obama? Try this:

 

Westminster Presbyterian Church high school youth Cabaret program, in Minneapolis.

Learning About Plants with Chia Pets

Illinois Cooperative Extension created a chia activity flyer suitable for elementary and middle school student use.

It mentions the little-known fact that Chia Pets were invented in Illinois.

You can download this two-page pdf file HERE.