Rebel gardeners wage veggie war with 'seed bombs'

[IDemo]

'Art farmers' in Buenos Aires aim to create public awareness, appetite

By Eduardo Garcia
Reuters
updated 2/8/2011 5:47:21 PM ET 2011-02-08T22:47:21


BUENOS AIRES — Forget potted plants and privet hedges; a group of Buenos Aires artists want to make the Argentine capital a free-for-all kitchen garden, turning neglected parks and verges into verdant vegetable patches.

Following in the footsteps of "guerrilla gardeners" who have been scattering flower seeds in vacant lots and roadsides in cities such as London and New York since the 1970s, the Articultores group is taking the concept a step further.

Armed with vegetable seedlings and seed bombs — seeds packed with mud for throwing into neglected urban spaces, their goal is to provide organic food for city residents.

"We want to make the city prettier, but in a different way. The zucchini plant can be as beautiful as an orchid, but it can be eaten," said Articultores coordinator Judith Villamayor after watering vegetables planted next to a parking lot.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41476916/ns/world_news-americas/

[PDJane]

1. You know, those are people after my own heart........

I've planted love in a mist and other things in vacant lots and on bland spaces......the food thing is a grand idea.......

[shireen]

2. seed bombs, i LOVE the idea!

How do you make seed bombs?

It would make good use of all the expired seed packets that get thrown out after the expiration date.

I really love the idea!

[Lochloosa]

22. Nothing to it. Complete instruction here.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Seed-Bomb/

step 1

Materials
All materials in this instructable are cheap, easy to find, and are natural and organic.


Crayola air dry clay (can use dried red clay), and is found in walmart for about $5.00
Water
Tough Flower seeds such as baby's breath, sunflower, and forget me not.
compost or worm castings
yogurt container top or any large flat surface
Clay from a dried riverbed (Red or Brown)

For the dried red clay mix 5 parts clay with 1 part compost and 1 part flower seeds, put some careful drops of water into the mixture(make sure not to make it into a goopy sloppy mess!), Knead with hands into a ball, flatten it out and cut to desired size. Now just make into a small ball and let it dry in the sun. Now you have a red clay seed bomb.

[prolesunited]

3. Cool concept

but I would be worried about inadvertently growing food on contaminated sites, which easily could happen in urban areas. Flowers would work well, but I would be uneasy about things for human consumption.

[Luminous Animal]

5. Food is grown in contaminated sites all of the time. We call it conventional farming.

[prolesunited]

19. That's why I have my own organic garden

and grow and preserve as much as possible. Unfortunately, I live in Zone 5. And although fertilizers and chemical farming are bad, usually the fields aren't laced with lead, arsenic and other industrial pollutants.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea, just that caution in warranted.

[Statistical]

4. Imagine if we had used seed bombs in Afghanistan. You know instead of the killing bombs. n/t

[Odin2005]

6. That is so fucking cool!

What a great idea! :D

[HuckleB]

21. +1

[defendandprotect]

7. Beautiful -- and fruits and vegetables are not only our nutrition...they're our medicines!!

Try to plant a dollar bill -- try to eat it!!

:)

[mindwalker_i]

8. Almost sounds like another BS charge

against Assange.

[Luminous Animal]

9. No charges mentioned in the article. It's pretty much a celebration of citizen activism.

[JDPriestly]

10. This is a great, great, great idea.

I have veggies mixed in with flowers in my front yard. Actually, it was not intentional. I just forgot what seeds I had planted in which pots and thought that some of the veggies would turn out to be flowers.

It looks fine. I would like to see vegetables in the parks if only to inspire city dwellers to plant a few pots of veggies on their balconies.

[Shallah Kali]

11. Food Not Bombs

http://www.foodnotbombs.net/

Food Not Bombs shares free vegan and vegetarian meals with the hungry
in over 1,000 cities around the world to protest war, poverty and the destruction of the environment.
With over a billion people going hungry each day how can we spend another dollar on war?


Kitchen Gardeners International
http://kitchengardeners.org/

Kitchen Gardeners UNITE!

The Challenge: Feed more people healthier food while preserving and enhancing the health of the planet.

Our Solution: Harness the power of people who grow their own nutritious, delicious, and sustainable food to help others do the same.

We are a nonprofit community of 20,000 kitchen gardeners from over 100 countries.

We answer each other's questions through blogs, forums, and social networking; work with partners around the world; organize local, national, and global activities; and sow high-impact projects such as our campaign to replant a kitchen garden at the White House.

[tavalon]

12. People who might resemble myself and one of my partners

may be making seed, um, balls using seed encased in clay. And said people may be doing this come the spring. Or not. The great thing is if you make them about softball size, they can travel over fences and into areas that they might otherwise be unable to reach. Assuming of course, that I have any idea about this or really know anyone who might be doing this.

Edited to add: The aforementioned possible people have been doing this for years, maybe and perhaps they aren't alone. They certainly didn't realize it was going on in South America. Viva la People!!

[eilen]

14. You may want to determine if the soil in your area is

suitable for seed bombs. Check in with a local permaculture group, they may be able to give you some answers. Alas, the clay soil in my region is not. And I was very excited to be a guerilla gardner! There are other things you can do besides seed bombs.

http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

[tavalon]

16. If I were talking about myself

This is Seattle! LOL. Our soil needs clay.

[eilen]

35. I'm in the Northeast

I live in the Town of Clay.

LOL. our soil is clay, very difficult to dig. When it rains, it is mucky.

[Earth_First]

17. You are not alone...

:hi:

[OneGrassRoot]

13. Huge K&R! :) n/t

[phantom power]

15. self-replicating biological weapons

:evilgrin:

[Earth_First]

18. Someone should do this with wildflowers on overgrown & vacant lots...

I think it'd be a remarkable scene to see vacant lots in Detroit, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Atlanta start cropping up with beatifully wild displays of wildflowers whisping in the breeze.

[Kolesar]

31. Wildflower seeds would do much better in poor soil than would vegetable seeds...eom

[Alameda]

37. there are many wild things that are pretty and edible...

Arugula, various types of lettuce...onions. Calendula aka marigolds are edible as are cana Lilies, bamboo shoots and many more. One needs to look at what grows wild in the area. I've been doing guerrilla gardening for years....but I just throw seeds around, you know, like it's done in nature?

[HuckleB]

20. K & R!!!!!

[stuntcat]

23. K!!! R!!!!

yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Joe the Revelator]

24. WMC= Weapons of Mass Consumption

[Vinca]

25. Great idea! I routinely save a bagful of flower seeds at the end of the growing season.

Maybe I'll spread half alongside the road somewhere.

[RT Atlanta]

26. bump

this is beautification & betterment at a granular level

[AngryAmish]

27. The damn squirrels eat all my food.

yeah, I know, the squirrels can be food themselves but my wife won't let me shoot a gun in the yard.

[era veteran]

28. Have been doing this here for a long time.

100% organic at the home garden.

[Tribalceltic]

29. K & R

Love this idea!

:nuke: :grouphug: :hide:

[JEB]

30. Grow, Baby, grow.

Let the Motherfucker grow.

[greiner3]

32. Problem might be;

Monsanto will sue each and every one of them.

[jwirr]

33. This needs to happen all over the world. My neighborhood has a

huge open space in our backyards and every time I walk out the door I think how great it would be if we all planted gardens to feed ourselves and the good shelf. It is not likely to happen but we can dream.

[niyad]

34. k and r

[flvegan]

36. I love this idea.

Can't believe I missed this OP all day. Fantastic!

Food Not Bombs? Food Bombs!