SEEDLINGS

For a school science project, Talea had to soak some beans, then let them sprout on a wet paper towel in a baggie. After a few days, the beans sprouted. I was surprised, because I used old beans that had been in a cabinet display and had been repeatedly manhandled by all sorts of children, especially Kiersa. Did you know that bean sprouts grow really fast? Even from old beans. After a couple days, they were getting big enough that I figured they'd start dying if they didn't get some dirt.

Tilly wanted to plant our cute little sprouts rather than just toss them out, but it's too cold still to start a garden, and I didn't have any peat pots to start growing them indoors, so I looked online and learned how to make my own seedling pots with newspapers. If only I had newspapers...

We went on an impromptu bike ride to the recycle bins by Walmart and snagged a few newspapers, then we came home and made our little pots (they're compostible in the end too!) Luckily, I had potting soil already, and the top few inches had finally thawed, so we planted our bean seeds and we are now anxiously awaiting the day when the little sprouts we saw coming out of the beans will pop up out of the soil.

Look! Our pathway is thawed! No more ice rink! It's really strange walking on grass in the backyard, in tennis shoes, rather than walking on snow in snow boots. I'm looking forward to spring!