I changed my avatar!

A while back, I changed my avatar from one that showed glasses full of colored pulp (which was pretty but a bit confounding to people as to what they were looking at - see photo at the bottom of this post) to the sprouting seed bomb I now use.

The reason I chose this image is because Seed bombs are fascinating things to me. They originated from an ancient Japanese practice called Tsuchi Dango, meaning ‘Earth Dumpling’ (because the original seed bombs were made from earth, though I make mine with biodegradable paper). They were reintroduced in the 1930s when a man named Masanobu Fukuoka incorporated his ancestral gardening techniques into his own farming methods and started a farming revolution by making seed bombs - but with clay instead of earth - and vegetable seeds. Decades before it was a trend, Fukuoka practiced sustainable agriculture with seed bombing, believing that Mother Nature would take care of which crops would succeed with the process of natural selection. He didn't used chemicals or heavy machinery. He simply seed-bombed roadsides, river banks and wasted spaces with his vegetable seed-filled balls. (His seed bombs also contained clover seeds that would grow right along with the vegetables because clover acted as a living mulch and conditioned the soil.)

The background story about seed bombs is so fascinating I thought it was an injustice not to share it, and I like using an avatar that has a history to it. Ironically, the year that Fukuoka died was the same year I began my Etsy shop and started selling my plantable paper. I hope he approves.

Here's my old avatar: