These Pencils Can Grow Into Real Food

Pencils can be used to plant some solid ideas down on paper, but what if they were also used to plant a vegetable garden?

Danish company Sprout World (no, it's not a Brussels sprouts-themed amusement park) makes a kind of pencil that can be thrown into the ground once it has completed its writing duties, according to CNN. New life then sprouts in the form of tomato, lavender, basil, sunflower, green pepper, cilantro, mint, sage, thyme, marigolds and more.

The pencils are made of cedar appropriately grown in Pine City, Minnesota. Taking the place of an eraser is a biodegradable pit filled with seeds and peat. The idea behind the writing utensils is sustainability, the company's CEO, Michael Stausholm, told CNN.

"[One] dying product is literally giving life to a new product," he said.

Sprout currently has shops in all throughout Europe with U.S. stores in the works. For those Americans who can't wait, Amazon and Whole Foods sell eight-packs for $19.95. Colored pencils are also available, so you can really taste the rainbow.