Valentine’s Day Treat

This year my girls received an early Valentine’s Day gift: a parcel of fresh green grass. Yes, it’s still the middle of winter here in the Icebox Capital but my girls are walking barefoot through the grass! I was fortunate enough to receive the grass after we used it in a photo shoot for Cooking Pleasures magazine. The chicks are as thrilled with their present as I would be if I received a large box of Jacques Torres chocolates.

Fresh Grass under a Snow-Covered Canopy

The grass is actually wheatgrass, the early growth of wheat plants, not sod. However, it turns out wheatgrass is extremely beneficial for chickens as well as people. Interestingly, scientist Charles Schnabel experimented with wheatgrass in 1931 while looking for a way to bring sick chickens back to health. His experiments showed that wheatgrass not only improved the health of the hens, it also increased their egg production. He was so enamored with the benefits of wheatgrass that he began expounding its virtues for humans and animals alike. Today wheatgrass is available in dried, powdered and tablet forms or you can order up a yummy wheatgrass shake in any respectable health food store. Fresh wheatgrass is available in many co-ops and health food stores or you can grow your own with self-starter kits.

Barefoot Through the Grass

I’m sure my chicks don’t really care about the health benefits of their grass. I think what they really love is dreaming about summer and pretending they are running barefoot through the park.

For the Valentine Treat I would rather receive watch for my next post, Chewy Chocolate Brownie Cookies.