Seed Bombs
a fun way to help save our future
#solarpunk
#solarpunkActionWeek #SolarpunkDIY #SolarpunkDIY
(excuse the messy quick post)
SolarPunk action week is a week for solarpunk activism, direct action, and community building
held on March 8-14 2020. TheCenter for a Stateless Society (C4SS) is an anarchist think-tank and media center. Its mission is to explain and defend the idea of vibrant social cooperation without aggression, oppression, or centralized authority. They describe SolarPunk Action Week thus:
“A week of independent decentralized and autonomous actions all undertaken with the goal of helping to create a solarpunk society.”
To
begin in brief — what is solarpunk? This can be difficult but I
like this version I read on a Tublr page:
An
optimistic, eco-friendly vision of future Earth (without being
blindly utopian) which shows the costs of getting or maintaining that
sort of world (usually a severe struggle, hence "punk")
Or
from Wikipedia:
“Solarpunk
is a movement that encourages optimistic envisionings of the future
in light of present environmental concerns, such as climate change
and pollution, as well as social inequality. Solarpunk encompasses a
multitude of media such as literature, art, architecture, fashion,
music, and games.”
Solarpunk
seeks to answer and embody the question “what does a sustainable
civilization look like?” At 65 years of age I have been attempting to
envision this future since the late 1960's. So today I proudly say,
“I am a SolarPunk.” An ethos which aligns well with my “hippie”
roots. In the past I have proclaimed, “The hippies were right!”
Now I say as well, “The SolarPunks ARE right!”
For
the first day of SolarPunk action week is a week I have chosen a fun
action for us as well as for an activity children may love.
Seed
Bombs
To
begin — in brief — a little history.
Fukuoka
Masanobu,
2 February 1913 – 16 August 2008 was a Japanese farmer and
philosopher celebrated for his natural
farming and re-vegetation of desertified land. Fukuoka
re-invented and advanced the use of clay seed balls. Clay seed balls
were originally an ancient practice in which seeds for the next
season's crops are mixed together, sometimes with humus or compost
for microbial inoculants, and then are rolled within clay to form
into small balls. A modern variation is to include additives such as
cotton-fibres or liquefied paper mixed into the clay in order to
strengthen it, or liquefied paper mash coated on the outside to
further protect the clay ball during sowing by throwing, or in
particularly harsh environments.
The
term "seed green-aide" was first used by Liz
Christy in 1973 when she started the “Green Guerrillas”. The
Liz
Christy Bowery Houston Garden (LCBH)
started in 1973 is the first and oldest community garden in New York
City. The first seed green-aides were made from condoms filled with
tomato seeds, and fertilizer.
They were tossed over fences onto empty lots in New York City in
order to make the neighborhoods look better. It was the start of the
guerrilla gardening movement. Seed balls are also known as "earth
balls" or nendo dango in Japan.
Do
you hate those blank vacant lots on the side of road and city
streets? Have you wanted to put a flower garden in one of those lots?
Well let's get started making our Seed Bombs!
Basically
everything needed is — compost, clay and seeds. They say
“preferably volcanic pyroclastic red clay.” And seeds can range
from flower seed of all sorts — perhaps pollinator specific like
milk weed for monarch butterflies. Kitchen herbs, edible flowers, and
veggie seed bombs. My preference is pollinator-friendly wildflower
bombs!
Michael
Franti says, “We can bomb the world to pieces but we can't bomb theworld to peace” But perhaps we can just a little.
The
simple formula is the 5-3-1 method. —
5 parts
clay 3 parts compose 1 part seeds. A little water to the mix then
start rolling the balls in your hands. Remember to flatten one side
if throwing on to hillsides to prevent rolling. After the seed balls
have been formed, they must dry for 24-48 hours before use. For added
fun use a slingshot! Seed bombs are the major weapon in this ground
attack in this battle to save the planet.
This post could
be much longer if I were to talk about drones and other aerial
methods being used around the world for reforestation efforts.
Methods enjoying great success.
A quick search
on the web will result in all this information and more. From
articles on Medium —
to Twitter and Tublr — to many YouTube videos. Have fun exploring
my dear friends.
For
now have a thoughtful SolarPunk action week.
