I picked seed bombs as favors because I didn’t want to give out “stuff” (i.e. things that will just end up in a landfill), but rather give something small that was enjoyable, expressed our ethos, and was delightfully biodegradable. My husband and I had a great time making these and getting dirty! They were really easy and took no time at all.
I found the recipe for the seed bombs on the Instructables website. But here’s how we made ours in particular…
What you will need:
- Clay (found in your area if you’re lucky, or the fabulous Crayola air dry clay in “terra cotta” that I found online for cheap). If you can only find wet clay that’s also fine! Just use less water to make the balls.
- Seeds (we mixed native flowers with edibles like peas and spinach)
- Water
- Organic compost
- Big bowl for the dry mixture and a small bowl for the water
- Drop cloth/bags (old paper shopping bags were perfect)
- Round circles of fabric
- Ribbon or cord
- Hole punch
- Printed labels (I made the template on Word and printed it on regular paper)
Instructions:
In a big bowl or bowls, mix five parts clay with one part compost and one part flower seeds. Scoop up a little bit of the mixture in your hand, and add a little water. Be careful not to overdo it on the water! Mix into a sticky dough. When it is the desired tacky consistency, roll in your hands to make one inch balls. Set them out to dry for forty-eight hours or so.
And be sure to tell everyone in the house that they’re dirt and not chocolate truffles (they look deceiving).
Now, for the wrapping:
Ideally, a nice organic fabric would be perfect, but I had a remnant stash of old fabric that I decided to use instead. I used a soup bowl for a template, and my girlfriends helped me cut out 70 rounds of fabric.
I made a quick template for the label using a neat Art Nouveau boarder I found online. I figured instructions were important so people knew what they were! Then I cut them out and hole punched the edge (be sure to leave space for the hole!).
When the balls were dry, I wrapped them in their fabric and tied the top with a bit of ribbon, attaching the tag.
This is a great little eco-friendly favor to share with guests, and hopefully they will take them out to the world to do a little guerrilla gardening of their own!
