STATUS REPORT: The Seed Bombing of Water Street

We now have almost everything we need to carry out the seed bombing of Water Street on May 1, as you can see from the above photo, which I just snapped in my living room. The seeds arrived today from Native Connections, and, on my way home from work, I purchased 100-pounds of red clay powder from Rovin Ceramics. (I thought that I was going to have to buy the clay online and have it shipped, but I kept searching and finally found Rovin, which is a subsidiary of Motawi Tileworks, through a tip from someone at the Ann Arbor Art Center. Not only were they great people to work with, but we saved quite a bit of money by not having to ship the clay across country. So, we’ll have a little more cash left over than we’d expected, with which we can buy shrubs and the like to augment the plants we’ll be growing from seed.) I also bought a tarp, six dust masks for those individuals who will be mixing the dry clay, and a couple of slingshots, which I thought might be fun to launch seed balls with.

Here’s what we’ve spent thus far.

Clay: $42.40
Seed: $306.92
Dust masks and tarp: $51.82
Slingshots: $33.55
TOTAL: $434.69

And, as of today, we’ve taken in $676.80 from the 27 donors who contributed to our FundRazr campaign. (Thank you so much to all of you. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I launched the campaign, and it was incredibly cool to see us zip past our goal in less than one day.) After the FundRazr and Paypal charges, which were $56.83, that gives us a total of $619.97 to work with.

And, after the charges incurred today, which I outlined above, that leaves us with $185.28.

I’m sure there will be a few more incidental charges here and there, but I expect that we’ll end up spending the bulk of what remains at Wildtype Native Plant Nursery later this spring. (Bill, the owner of Wildtype, has some ideas for shrubs and other plants that might work well with the forbs and grasses we’ll be planting on May Day.)

So, now we need to start focusing on making seed bombs, and preparing the site. I hope to have a little more clarity tomorrow, after I speak with representatives of the two schools that have expressed an interest in being involved, but I’m thinking that we’ll need to set up a few seed bomb making events over the next several days, and at least one site prep day. (My hope is that the students, who are looking for an opportunity for project-based learning, will help not only with the seed bomb making and throwing, but also with the math… marking out our seed bomb target areas, figuring out how many bombs we’ll likely get from 100-pounds of clay, and therefore how much seed to put in each, etc.)

If you’re interested in helping, and haven’t already, please join the Seed Bomb Water Street Facebook group, as that’s how I intend to distribute most of the details from here on out. And, speaking of Facebook, there’s also now an event page for the May 1 seed bombing, in case you’d like to see who else is planning to attend. (As of right now, it’s only me.)

And, one last thing… The seed bomb throwing is just one of a few different things that will be taking place on Water Street come May Day. I don’t have a comprehensive schedule, but I’m told that events will be taking place from noon onward, culminating in a pot luck at 5:00, so, if you’re coming to toss seed bombs, you might also want to bring a dish to pass… I hope to see you there.