Grains of the World - Part 2

I was shocked and amazed when I pulled out the jars of soaking grains for the lessons today! They had sprouted. Not only sprouted, but some of the new little plants were more than an inch long! Amazing considering they had just been grain on Friday.

Even the rice had sprouted... which I wasn't sure it would even do. But I do have to admit that the idea of the food still being 'alive' that I usually eat actually made me feel really good. If it can grow a small plant, then it certainly must be good for our bodies.

We did have one that didn't sprout at all... the Oats. I wasn't sure that they would, and I am not sure I will be able to find live Oat seeds anywhere but online. These were called "Oat Groats" and they were obviously processed somehow, and not just the whole grain. I knew that rolled oats wouldn't work... and steal cut oats will not work either. Any ideas on where to find live Oat seeds would be welcome, as I am kind of out of options and it is a important grain in our diets as a family so important to include if I can.

We took the sprouted plants outside and put them down in our school garden plot. Most of them were starting to root into the paper towels, so we just put the whole paper towel into the soil with the seedlings in it. (Note to those of you who want to do this project... you really only want to soak the grains until the plant emerges.... I waited too long, but we had a long weekend in between soaking day and planting day. If I had known, I would have started the seeds soaking on a Monday and then added planting them to the curriculum of the day whenever they were ready that week.)

Here is our sweet little cluster of Rye:

So far, in our book work, we have covered wheat and corn. As we move through the book work with the other grains, I will post about that. But just really quickly, I wanted to post Cyan's picture of a corn plant:

She made it so whimsical and fun, and yet, all of the parts are accurate and included. I was impressed with my artistic little girl. :)