Seed bombs are a kid magnet

Here is the tray of seed bombs we made at the Really Really Free Market on Sunday - muddy little blobs of clay, compost, and seeds. Our first foray into seed bombs could not have been more successful, or more fun. It was all thanks to a horde of kids, and this magic formula:

KIDS + MUD = AWESOME FUN TIMES

With the help of a few new friends from Treasure City Thrift (organizers of the Really Really Free Market, a play on Milton Friedman's "free market"), the Garden Posse set up shop on a bench in Chestnut Park. No sooner had we begun to mix clay with compost than the boy pictured above wandered over to ask what we were doing. We told him he could help us mix up our batch of seed bombs. "I don't want to get my hands dirty," he said. But after we told him he could wash them later, he was all about seed bombs. Then three more kids showed up....

And then every kid in the park was huddled around our bucket, grabbing a handful of muddy clay, and rolling it to spherical perfection in their hands. It was awesome. Even after all the seeds had been cleared out of the bucket, the kids hung around admiring their handiwork, pointing out which seed bombs were theirs, and asking when they could throw them. They all wanted to make seed bombs again, one girl wondering if she could do it at home with her mom. A particularly adorable brother-sister pair picked out seed bombs to take home and plant. "I wonder what it will grow into," said the girl. "Maybe tomato seeds!"

I think it's the combination of playing with mud and the excitement of an experiment that makes seed bombs such a great kid project. The demo having been an unintentional kid project, it felt pretty magical. We'll have to see on Tuesday if adults can match the joy and excitement shared by the kids on Sunday.

We were convinced by the folks at Treasure City to repeat this at the next Really Really Free Market, on February 22. They also took a lot of unbearably cute pictures of the kids with the seed bombs (while my hands were covered in mud). Hopefully I'll be able to post those on the blog.

The next demo will be tomorrow, at 7:30pm, Carly & Greg's house. Contact Greg if you need directions at GregGardenPosse@gmail.com. Bring native seeds and snacks if you have them. The possibility of going to Clementine's for music and $2 beer will be on the table as well.

See you then!