Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

Molly de Aguiar, Program Associate

Seed bomb by Heavy Petal

If you’re not familiar with them, seed bombs are small balls – a mixture of clay, compost and seeds – that you can toss onto an empty lot or a neglected patch of ground to help green your community. The clay and compost protect the seeds from drying out in the sun (which makes seed bombs especially useful in dry/arid areas) or getting eaten by birds. When enough rain has permeated the ball, the seeds will begin to sprout, nourished by the compost mixture.

There are several varieties and creative shapes of seed bombs (see Guerrilla Gardening’s Seed Bomb Guide for examples and instructions), and you can make them, or buy them (here and here)

But what do seed bombs have to do with gumball machines?

The duo of Daniel Phillips and Kim Karlsrud of Common Studio created Greenaid, a project that cleverly repurposes old gumball vending machines to sell seed bombs.

Common Studios: Green Aid from ISHOTHIM on Vimeo.

You can purchase a machine (or several machines) directly from Common Studio, and they will work with you to develop a seed mix that’s appropriate for your location as well as a strategy for using the seed bomb machine effectively.

They are already in place in San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles—but wouldn’t it be great to see them in Newark, Trenton, Camden and other urban locations across New Jersey?

Now that you’ve been seeing those crocuses in your yard and around the neighborhood, and the daffodils are poking through the ground too, are you starting to think about your garden?

The National Wildlife Federation‘s website has a superb section on gardening tips and resources that includes how to attract birds, butterflies and other wildlife to your yard, how to use native plants (and even a map that helps you find plants native to your region), as well as tutorials on building bat and bee houses and many other interesting and useful articles designed to help you create a sustainable haven for wildlife in your neighborhood.

And once you’ve made your garden the favorite gathering spot for all the furry and feathered friends in the neighborhood, you can register your yard as a certified wildlife habitat, and share your photos with the National Wildlife Federation’s Flickr group.

Photo by Craig Pitts

Continuing our series of Environment Stories, this next post is from Education Program Director Ross Danis, whose visit with the folks at the Pinelands Preservation Alliance reminded him how important it is to be passionate about your work.

Planting the Seeds of Change

Sometimes chance encounters during our site visits to grantees and prospective grantees leave an indelible impression. Recently I visited with the folks at the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, and on the way back to my car, I met a staff botanist whose wonderful story of his work touched me at an unexpected moment.

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