Seed Balls: Planting all Rolled into One

Title: Seed Balls: Planting all Rolled into One
Description: Learn what it takes for a seed to grow and how to easily plant and even restore depleted land.
Season: Late spring to mid-summer
Length of Activity: 30
Age: All ages

Seed Balls: Planting all Rolled into One.

If you open up your refrigerator and pull out the produce drawer, you may find things like lettuce, celery, beets or tomatoes. While these fruits and vegetables are all different shapes, sizes and colors, they have something in common: they all grow from seeds.

In fact, most of the foods we eat each day start out as a seed. Things like beans and rice and even popcorn! But those seeds don’t just grow on their own. They need the perfect conditions of light, water and soil if they are going to sprout and grow to bear food.

Seed balls roll two of those three into one powerfully effective way of restoring farmland that dates all the way back to the ancient practices of the Egyptians.

By rolling your seeds into nutrient rich, moist soil, you will be creating an ideal growing condition for your seed of choice.

Supplies and Tools needed:
● Clay (available from craft stores)
● Compost or potting soil
● Seeds (we suggest using native varieties)
● Your hands!

Getting started

Step 1: Organize a workstation by dividing your materials into three separate piles:
5 parts clay, 1 part composting/potting soil and 1 part seeds.

Step 2: Combine the clay and compost in a small pile, adding a small amount of water in the case that your mixture is dry. It should be the consistency of cookie dough.

Step 3: Add your seeds to the clay and compost mix. Using your hands, thoroughly work the materials together.

Step 4: Shape the mixture into small balls the size of a golf-ball.

Step 5: Plant the seed balls while they’re still moist, or allow them to air dry. Seed balls grow best when planted just before a good rain.

Step 6: Find areas outside your backdoor or in the surrounding community that could use a little green. Toss or place your seed balls directly onto bare soil. As long as they are watered (either manually or by rain), the clay will break down and the seeds will grow.

Taking it Deeper
Now that you’ve made seed balls and contributed to adding a little more green to the areas outside your door, let’s take our understanding of seeds a little deeper.

1. Look inside your cupboards and make a list of which food items come from a seed. What journey has that seed taken in order to become what it is today? (ie: cookies are made from wheat, which is ground into flour etc)
2. Which foods do NOT come from a seed?
3. What do you notice about the difference between the foods that come from a seed and the foods that don’t?

Further Reading
We absolutely love to read and there are so many lovely books about the journey of seeds. Take a look at the  following list of suggested children’s books and see if you can check them out at your local library or purchase them at your local bookstore. Or, if you’d rather listen to a story, we particularly love this book about how a seed travels and moves.

Further Watching
Do you want to learn more about the science behind how a seed sprouts and grows? Check on this awesome video made by Scishowkids.