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Seedballing Makes NPR!

We were just on NPR for our Guerilla Gardening project. We had a fun Sunday walking around with Margot Adler and dropping seedballs in some underloved spaces.

Neighborhood organizations across the U.S. that want to improve the environment are using a surprising weapon: seed balls. It's a technique for planting in abandoned places and often inhospitable land that was developed in Japan by Masanobu Fukuoka, a pioneer in "natural farming."

The technique has worked its way to Brooklyn, N.Y. In the Greenpoint neighborhood on a recent Sunday afternoon, a small group of activists walked the streets carrying paper bags filed with little balls made from clay, compost and seeds. They are members of a local group called NAG, or Neighbors Allied for Good Growth. They drop the balls on dirt piles and throw them into abandoned lots...

Gallagher says that seed balls allow people to take control of their small piece of the planet. She says walking around on a Sunday morning throwing seed balls is fun and easy.

"I think it is really important to break down these larger tasks — of taking back our neighborhoods and cleaning up our open spaces — into tasks that are completely doable," she says.

Check out the story, audio available online at 7pm

Creating More Open Space for North Brooklyn

The guerilla gardening activities have gotten off to a great start with our placing wildflower seeds in abandoned lots throughout the community. We are continuing these efforts and planning a "Where's My Park?" Day on May 16th to ask the city where the new waterfront parks we were promised during the 2005 rezonings are.

Open Space Group meeting: April 6th, place TBA.

Contact Emily openspace@nag-brooklyn.org