Saturday, April 28, 2018

Making Seed Balls with School Kids

Last week I had another amazing opportunity to volunteer at one of my favorite schools.  The Sage School Garden invited Mary's Heirloom Seeds back for Earth Day Celebration and my station was making Seed Balls.  However, we didn't "just" make seed balls.  Before each class, I gave a short explanation of the importance of planting for pollinators.

Fact: 1 in every 3 bites you eat required pollination from a honey bee.
Honeybees aren't the only pollinators.  Just as important but not really discussed are birds, bumblebees, ladybugs, hummingbirds and even the wind (to name a few)

Planting for pollinators can increase crop yields in your garden so we recommend adding a few extra seeds to your garden or around your garden.



I enjoy volunteering and teaching.  This was AWESOME! So awesome that I plan on doing this again with my sister and her kids for our garden.  These will be great for our Pollinator Protection Patch.

"An Ancient Method of No-Till Agriculture"
The rediscovery and popularization of seedballs (or “Clay Dumplings” as he called them) in modern times is typically ascribed to Japanese natural farmer and philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka.

As with many natural farmers, Fukuoka believed that tillage over large areas is laborious, destructive to soil health, and ultimately not needed and thus a waste of time and energy. Thus, seedballs have become an important aspect of many natural farming and conservation enterprises around the world.


Learning how to make seed balls is a fun activity for kids. It’s easy to do and can be easily adapted to your region. The seed ball recipe can be altered simply by changing the ratio of ingredients and/or seeds.

Ingredients:
potting soil
clay powder
water
seeds
large tray to mix ingredients
box to store seed balls

Directions:
I've seen different ratios of soil and clay so feel free to adjust depending on your ingredients

Start with 2 cups of potting soil, 1/2 cup clay powder, seeds and 1 cup of water.  Add more water if your mix doesn't stick together.

We used the Butterfly garden Mix seed pack for this first batch




 ALL of the kids in my 6 classes had a chance to get their hands dirty making seed balls to take home!



To make it easy for them to transport, we stapled the instructions to small bags for them to take home.  A cardboard box would be better to store them in but that wasn't possible this time around.  Funny thing happened to my seed balls.  I forgot to take my "sample" seed balls out of my go-bag from the event.  About 5 days later I opened it up to prep for my next school volunteer day and the seeds had SPROUTED!!


When you're ready to plant your seed balls, don't bury them.  You can place them carefully over the area to be planted or you can gently toss them one at a time.  From there, Mother Nature will take over!


I hope you have enjoyed another educational article.  If you have additional questions, please leave a comment below or send an email to mary@marysheirloomseeds.com


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Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Tuesdays with a Twist #261 LINKUP

Good Morning and welcome to another No Rules Party!

It's a bit chilly in parts of the US but it's nice and warm here.
Time to plant our Heirloom Seeds!
If you're interested in planning your next garden (or your first garden), check out Mary's 2018 Planting Guide for the US




Are you ready for the party?   We're your hosts 
Add our button if you've been featured!


The party starts every Tuesday at 7am EST and will continue until Saturday at 11:59am.  Feel free to stop back any time and "like" your favorites.  Please visit other blogs if you have a moment. 
Share older posts as well as new ones.  No limit on links!
*Pictures should be your own* 
By linking up you give us permission to use these photos
 (with proper link backs) in our features.   And now for the party!


Friday, April 20, 2018

EARTH DAY SEED GIVAWAY

We LOVE Giveaways!!!!
As promised,  Mary's Heirloom Seeds is sponsoring Another Giveaway.
Are you ready???

This is a super simple giveaway with loads of seeds to celebrate Earth Day!  This Giveaway will run from Friday, April 20 thru Monday, April 23rd at midnight and is open to residents of the US and Canada
We will pick One Lucky Winner on Tuesday, April 24th


ONE lucky winner will receive a Salad Garden starter Kit and our Edible Flowers Seed combo pack.  Our Second winner will receive our Edible Flowers seed combo pack.

SALAD GARDEN STARTER KIT INCLUDES
Seeds: Speckled lettuce, Rainbow Swiss Chard, Tom Thumb Lettuce, Endive and Arugula

Coconut coir growing medium comes from the coconut's fibrous husk (known as coir) that is bound together by lignin (known as pith).  With the addition of water, coir expands to an easy to work with growing medium. The addition of water increases the volume 3 to 9 times, depending on the packaging of products. This process results in a 100% organic, biodegradable growing medium, making it a natural and safe growth medium of choice for growers


A unique mix of medicinal herbs and companion plant!
-Borage
-Calendula
-Nasturtium
-Purple Coneflower (Echinacea)
-Plains Coreopsis
-Yarrow



Mary's Heirloom Seeds is a "mom and pop" small business created out of a desire to help people become more sustainable and self-sufficient. Our customers know that we are a simple phone call or email away
We currently offer over 500 varieties of open-pollinated, non-gmo &a non-hybrid Heirloom Seeds.  Mary has signed the Safe Seed Pledge AND the Declaration of Seed Freedom.

Are you ready to enter the giveaway?


Giveaway is open to all Residents of the US and Canada.
Giveaway opens 4/20/2018 and ends Monday, April 23rd at Midnight.
All giveaway entrants will be added to Mary's Heirloom Seeds mailing list.
Your information is never sold and we never send spam emails.

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Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Tuesdays with a Twist #260 LINKUP

Good Morning and welcome to another No Rules Party!

It's a bit chilly in parts of the US.
I'm staying warm thinking about our 2018 gardens.
If you're interested in planning your next garden (or your first garden), check out Mary's 2018 Planting Guide for the US




Are you ready for the party?   We're your hosts 
Add our button if you've been featured!


The party starts every Tuesday at 7am EST and will continue until Saturday at 11:59am.  Feel free to stop back any time and "like" your favorites.  Please visit other blogs if you have a moment. 
Share older posts as well as new ones.  No limit on links!
*Pictures should be your own* 
By linking up you give us permission to use these photos
 (with proper link backs) in our features.   And now for the party!


Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Tuesdays with A Twist #259 LINKUP

Good Morning and welcome to another No Rules Party!

It's a bit chilly in parts of the US.
I'm staying warm thinking about our 2018 gardens.
If you're interested in planning your next garden (or your first garden), check out Mary's 2018 Planting Guide for the US




Are you ready for the party?   We're your hosts 
Add our button if you've been featured!


The party starts every Tuesday at 7am EST and will continue until Saturday at 11:59am.  Feel free to stop back any time and "like" your favorites.  Please visit other blogs if you have a moment. 
Share older posts as well as new ones.  No limit on links!
*Pictures should be your own* 
By linking up you give us permission to use these photos
 (with proper link backs) in our features.   And now for the party!


Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Tuesdays eith a Twist #258 LINKUP

Good Morning and welcome to another No Rules Party!

It's a bit chilly in parts of the US.
I'm staying warm thinking about our 2018 gardens.
If you're interested in planning your next garden (or your first garden), check out Mary's 2018 Planting Guide for the US




Are you ready for the party?   We're your hosts 
Add our button if you've been featured!


The party starts every Tuesday at 7am EST and will continue until Saturday at 11:59am.  Feel free to stop back any time and "like" your favorites.  Please visit other blogs if you have a moment. 
Share older posts as well as new ones.  No limit on links!
*Pictures should be your own* 
By linking up you give us permission to use these photos
 (with proper link backs) in our features.   And now for the party!