Chia Pets, 1995, by Elisabeth Shoop

From MemoryArchive

Who: Elisabeth Shoop
What: Chia Pet
When: 1995
Where: Leesburg, FL

When I was ten years old, I begged and begged my mother for a Chia Pet. Chia Pets are these terra cotta pots in the shape of animals or people, in which you grow some sort of cheap grassy plant. However, when I was in elementary school, everyone thought they were the coolest thing. All my friends had their own little plant covered kittens and turtles and such. I simply had to have one.

After pestering my mother for a really long time, I finally got my very own Chia Pet. On Christmas morning I opened a plainly wrapped rectangular box and inside was the cutest little clay stegosaurus. I opened it that very day.

Now, the care of a Chia Pet is a very complicated process. First the planter has to be soaked in water overnight. Then you have to spread seeds along the grooves in the pot. The, a few days later, the tiny little plants would grow.

I was so excited when the little green seedlings began to sprout from the terra cotta stegosaurus. My fun was short lived, however, when after a few days the little sprouts began to die. They first turned brownish, then they Chia Pet began to grow mold. My mom took it away from me to clean it up. My little clay dinosaur spent the rest of its life as an ornament on my windowsill.

In my small town in Florida, Chia Pets had gone through waves of popularity. They were popular before I got mine, and they were all the rage afterwards. A few years ago my younger sister decided she needed a Chia Pet too, and we went through the ordeal all over again.

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Chia Pets