Faith In Seeds

At site after site, seeds turn out to be crucial to restoring healthy and naturally diverse ecosystems. 

Seeds for "Mesic Woods Turf" - before they're mixed.

Carrying bags full of specialized rare seed mixes, we walk through an irregular and partly blighted landscape, recently cleared of deadly brush. In the original sense of the word, we broadcast handfuls of tens of thousands of seeds, from big to tiny. There’s the tactile feeling of those valuable and beautiful plant embryos. The smell of dirt and fresh air and the vision of recovered richness … all this motivates and inspires us.

We broadcast seed mixes in the Somme preserves. It’s hard work, a lot of moving parts. We’re switching back and forth among 14 different seed mixes, according to slope, wetness, amount of tree canopy, and more. The seeds we’re broadcasting represent thousands of hours of dedicated, unpaid work by perhaps 100 people. When we finish, our GPS tracker will record that we’d broadcast those seeds over 1.8 miles. From time to time we exchange thoughts. Eriko said, “I’m so happy to start these seeds on their journeys … and just in time for Rosh Hashanah!”

Really? Rosh Hashanah? She’s of Japanese ancestry and religiously a Bahá’í? I grew up sort of Christian. But I got her meaning: let's celebrate at every opportunity. Life is good!

 Finding and gathering is the hardest part. Here 12 Leiberg's panic grass seeds are more-or-less in focus by an edge of prairie dock leaf and silhouetted against Black-eyed Susan petals. Leiberg's is one of the most important, hardest to spot, rarest, and rarely gathered species in restoration. Few will notice it. And yet, it's key to the structure and sustainability of a high-quality grassland. 

"Hard work" doesn't mean "not fun." There's space for deep conversation and pleasant banter. A photo of Emma Leavens and Eriko Kojima seed gathering at Shaw Woods and Prairie catches the spirit pretty well. The context goes a long way toward ensuring happy work.  

When we see hepatica in bloom, we love its beauty, but we're equally inspired by those seeds we see forming where the petals have dropped. They'll go in our spring seed mixes. 

And soon, the big fall seed season will begin. Young and old will all chip in at so many worthy prairies, woods, and wetlands across the region. It's becoming a Rite of Passage of the Seasons.  

And yet, our happiness is not matured until the seeds are broadcast and resurrect themselves as new generations of healthy and sustainable life. They are coming attractions.

Seeds rule!

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Eriko Kojima, Christos Economou, and Kathy Garness for proofing and edits.