Bella woke up early in the morning and he ran to the balcony. He looked at the pot with eagerness.

“Brush your teeth”, Mama said.

Bella looked at her. He looked at the pot again, slightly disappointed.

“Have patience Bella”, Mama said. The seed will germinate.

The day before, Bella had learnt how to sow a seed in the soil. He had gone to a workshop where they taught him all about growing plants.

At the workshop, the teacher told everyone, “Seeds need soil, water and sunlight to grow. Cover a pot with soil halfway. Take a seed and put it in the pot. Now cover the rest of the pot with soil and water the pot. If you water the pot everyday and keep the pot in the sunlight, then a plant will grow”.

Bella had read the Jack and Bean Stalk story. In the story Jack got a bean seed and he sowed it in front of his house.

The next morning when Jack woke up, the bean seed had grown into a very big plant.  Jack realized that the seed was magical. The plant was so big that the top of the plant was not visible. The plant had gone high up into the clouds.

Jack wanted to know what was on top of the clouds so he climbed the beanstalk. When he reached the clouds, he saw a giant’s house there. The giant was ten times bigger than Jack and when he saw Jack, he started to chase Jack. So Jack climbed down quickly on the bean stalk. The giant had just started climbing down and Jack cut the bean stalk and the giant fell down and died.

Bella was wondering if the bean seed he had sown the previous night would be big like Jack’s bean stalk.

“When will it grow, Ma?”, Bella asked.

“The seed needs two to three days to germinate. Germinate means a small green shoot will appear above the soil. After a few days it will grow bigger. In a few weeks the beans plant will grow into a creeper and after a few more weeks it will yield small beans. Once the beans are ripe we can make a beans stir fry for dinner with that”, said Ma smiling.  

“Really? Can we eat the beans from the plant?”, asked Bella excitedly.

“Yes Bella, that’s how a farmer grows it in the field. He then collects all the beans and brings it to the market.”, said Mama.

Bella was very happy.

Bella ran to the balcony every morning as soon as he woke up. For the first two days there was no green shoot to be seen. After that when he woke up the next morning and went to the balcony, he could see a tiny green shoot. He was so happy. He smiled looking at the shoot.

“Mama look! There is a shoot today!! Look how green it is. The bean seed is growing.”

“Yes Bella. Brush your teeth and now come for breakfast”, Mama said.

Bella was eating the tasty sandwich his mother had made for breakfast and then it suddenly struck him. How does the bread grow?

“Mama, how does bread grow?”

“Bread doesn’t grow Bella, it is made from wheat. Wheat is grown. Just like the bean seed, the wheat is sown in the soil and it grows into a plant. Wheat is then dried and powered and bread is made from that.”, Mama said.

“So if I sow a wheat seed into another pot then can we have bread with the bean stir fry, when the beans grows?”, asked Bella eagerly.

“Hmmm…. We will need a lot of wheat. A pot may not be enough Bella. Let me take you to a wheat farm one day. You can see how wheat is grown for yourself”, said Mama.

Bella was very happy that Mama would take him to a farm. The last time Mama took him to a farm, he had seen cows and ducks. A small calf ate dry grass from his hands. He was very happy to be on a farm. 

After a few weeks there were little beans on the plant. When the beans had grown enough, his mother plucked the beans from the plant and made a beans stir fry for dinner.

Bella’s father was very happy with his work. Next day Bella took a little of the stir fry in his lunchbox to school and showed it to his best friend and said, “I grew this beans”.

His friend, Vada, looked at the beans and she wanted to grow them too. After a few weeks Vada too brought the beans she had grown in her lunch box. They were both very happy with their bean growing project.