Seed Ball Recipe

We must embrace seeds as never before

We must be there with seeds, for seeds; must witness their incredible seed-to-seed as we do our own seed-to-seed

Let us repeat their vital statistics the way we do for movie stars and sports heroes

Let us save seeds, trade seeds, let us cherish seeds as sacred messengers from our parents’ parents

Let us be at home with seeds on this earth we share as home,

Yes to their inherent expansiveness no less than to our own

--excerpt of Seed Declaration by Dan Jason, Salt Spring Seed Sanctuary


The Recipe
The basic recipe for seed balls is 5:3:1; 5 parts clay to 3 parts compost (or rich soil) to 1 part seeds and enough water to make it stick together. For example: five cups clay, 3 cups soil, and one cups of seeds makes enough seed balls for a group. If you make them for yourself at home use 1 1/4 cups clay, 3/4 cup soil and 1/4 cup seeds.

The clay is the trickiest thing to find. It must be powdered dry terracotta clay. You can buy it at a potter's supply such as The Mad Potter in Richmond. You should wear a filtration mask when you're handling it so the dust doesn't get into your lungs. For the soil, I use sea soil that has been sifted to remove rocks and chunks of woody vegetation. As for seeds, you can use anything that self-seeds and is not invasive. Use seeds that are meaningful to you. I like to use seeds that I have collected with permission from sites where I do volunteer work. My mother sends me seeds from Saskatchewan in the mail and my friends give me seeds from their gardens. Joining a garden club is also a great way to learn to save and share seeds. If you are going to buy seeds, try to use local ethically sourced seeds from small organic farms, such as The Salt Spring Seed Sanctuary. Van Dusen Gardens holds a Seedy Saturday Festival in March where you can buy and exchange seeds and attend workshops.

Mixing it Up
First of all, remember to wear clothing that is easily washed! I like to mix the clay and soil and spritz it with a bit of water to keep the dust down. Next, you add the seeds. (You can use a mix of seeds or make separate batches of seed balls with single varieties.) Now it's time to get your hands dirty! Mix everything with your hands and spritz with water until you can form balls with the mixture. You want to make balls the size of marbles (about the circumference of a penny).

Next, put the marble-sized balls in paper egg cartons to dry out for at least three days. They can be sown after the first frost, or in April. Place the seed balls on top of the ground and then nature will take its course and let the seeds germinate when there is enough warmth and moisture (around April in Vancouver), or you may water them in the spring after the danger of spring frost has past.

--recipe adapted from Path to Freedom