Author and guerrilla gardener Josie Jeffery has created her own little seed bombs, which I am completely overexcited about! As she says on her website, they are little balls containing everything needed to grow a plant. The concept is that you launch them into any location where you want to add a little beauty: an abandoned lot, an unsightly roundabout or even your own garden.
This idea appealed to me so much that I started doing a little more digging (no pun intended!) and came across project MAYA, an amazing group of people trying to create a more sustainable society. They have applied a permaculture technique used since ancient times to formulate their own seed balls. With bee and butterfly populations in decline, here's your chance to really make a valuable difference!!
"If the bee disappeared from the surface of the earth,
man would have no more than four years to live."
Albert Einstein
The ready-made seed bombs/balls are about the size of marbles and there are a variety of different combinations you can buy: ones for bees, ones for butterflies, ones to create a wildflower meadow.... Just pick your combo, place your order and start a little beautifying revolution. I am currently on the prowl around my neighbourhood to identify some good spots for brightening up! So what are you waiting for? Get out there and lift the spirits of your community with some natural gorgeousness!
There is also a wonderful story by Barbara Cooney called Miss Rumphius, which would be great for introducing this concept to younger children. Each illustration is a little work of art and I love its premise: "Alice Rumphius wanted to travel the world when she grew up, and then to live by the sea -- just as her grandfather had done. But there is one more thing, he tells her: she must do something to make the world more beautiful. Young Alice does not yet know what that will be...". Could it be that Miss Rumphius was the original guerrilla gardener...?
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