Seeds are therapeutic

Ever since I was in grade school and would walk along the sidewalk collecting wildflower seeds and then dispersing them in the green lawns of my town, I've found collecting flower seeds to be so fun and relaxing.

In high school, a good friend had a cottage style flower garden and while we would chat, I would be searching through the flowers for seed pods to collect. She and her mom were some of the first people to help me learn plant names.

One of my kids has a collection of sensory and fidget toys to help her concentrate. I think seeds are nature's fidget toys!

Radish pods are nature's bubble wrap! Radishes are not my favorite vegetables. I eat a few roots and later the flowers and immature seed pods but then leave plenty of them to go to seed so I can pop the seed pods. Is that a little crazy? 🤣

Do you think the inventor of the Koosh ball ever played with an allium flower head?

Interesting observations.  It seems plausible that the rise in demand for sensory toys may be colinear with displacement from the natural world.

Another example: Wood ear mushroom (Auricularia auricula-judae) as gelatinous blob toy.







source: Laird Woodland Farm on ig

Jenny Wright wrote:Ever since I was in grade school and would walk along the sidewalk collecting wildflower seeds and then dispersing them in the green lawns of my town, I've found collecting flower seeds to be so fun and relaxing.

Ha ha! I expect if they'd known they'd have cursed you - you started guerrilla gardening young!

I don't know about fidget toys, but seed sorting is one of those relaxing things, like cross stitch or knitting you can do with a talking book or radio programme on and let your mind wander.

for me as a child, seeds represented miracles and the embodiment of magic itself.

I remember accompanying a parent to a garden center, circa 1957.

While my parent shopped, I stood in front of the seed rack and pondered how it could be, that the tiny woody rattling contents of the paper packet could produce the flowers pictured on the front.

My parent took some time with their shopping.  That left me a lot of time to covet possession, or maybe to covet the opportunity to witness the miracle.  What I recall was a tremendous deep longing….

Reader, at the age of 7 years old I stole hollyhock seeds, and a few other packets.  Was discovered, and shamed, and made to return the seeds, and apologize to the nurseryman, but I was allowed to keep one packet of seeds.  I kept the hollyhocks, which don’t flower until their second year.  Another miracle:  we stayed in that house long enough for me to see them bloom.

I was subsequently  shamed numerous times in my childhood over my incident of shoplifting.  Rather a confusing development because my older sister, quite a bully and a regular shoplifter, who also systematically stole significant amounts of money from me(in 1960, hundreds of dollars was a lot of money).  She was never shamed for her thieving, nor required to apologize to me, let alone repay me.

I have always believed that by not being a favorite, or anyone’s darling,  I got the best part of our shared family situation.  Whew, lucky me!

And I still love hollyhocks, and seeds are still miraculous, and I appreciate this particular episode of my early life because it shows me just how early in my life I felt that deep connection to plants and a oneness with cosmic processes for it must have already been well developed in me by the time I stood before the seed rack contemplating the Mysteries.

Jewelweed seed pods make a wonderful toy! We spent time as kids trying to find the pods that would explode when we touched them. I taught this to my children and they have loved doing that too. There was some sort of succulent, a type of sedum, that we played with too. We would pick a leaf, carefully press it all over between our thumbs and forefingers then separate the top and bottom layers of leaf at the stem end and gently inflate with a puff of our breath. We called that making frog bellies. We also would strip the petals away from vinca flowers to get at the fairy toothbrush hiding inside.

Rachel Royce wrote:Jewelweed seed pods make a wonderful toy! We spent time as kids trying to find the pods that would explode when we touched them. I taught this to my children and they have loved doing that too. There was some sort of succulent, a type of sedum, that we played with too. We would pick a leaf, carefully press it all over between our thumbs and forefingers then separate the top and bottom layers of leaf at the stem end and gently inflate with a puff of our breath. We called that making frog bellies. We also would strip the petals away from vinca flowers to get at the fairy toothbrush hiding inside.

Rachel, have you tried eating jewelweed seeds?  Taste just like walnuts!  Adds to the fun.

Thank you Greg! We will try that next time we are by the river where the jewel weed grows. That’s the payoff for putting myself forward to post; I learned something new!

Rachel Royce wrote: There was some sort of succulent, a type of sedum, that we played with too. We would pick a leaf, carefully press it all over between our thumbs and forefingers then separate the top and bottom layers of leaf at the stem end and gently inflate with a puff of our breath. We called that making frog bellies.

What fun!  I want to try it!

And I have a 17 month grand niece with whom I look forward to sharing the fast approaching magical years of exploration and play.

I’ll have to start practicing making frog bellies!

Can you remember how wide the leaves were?

Thekla McDaniels wrote:

Rachel Royce wrote: There was some sort of succulent, a type of sedum, that we played with too. We would pick a leaf, carefully press it all over between our thumbs and forefingers then separate the top and bottom layers of leaf at the stem end and gently inflate with a puff of our breath. We called that making frog bellies.

What fun!  I want to try it!

And I have a 17 month grand niece with whom I look forward to sharing the fast approaching magical years of exploration and play.

I’ll have to start practicing making frog bellies!

Can you remember how wide the leaves were?

About an inch wide and 2 or more inches long. I remember working diligently to learn to do it carefully in order not to tear the delicate leaf membranes. A very important skill:-)

Thank you ❤️

I will begin to search the nurseries, and look at public and private landscaping

Rachel Royce wrote:Thank you Greg! We will try that next time we are by the river where the jewel weed grows. That’s the payoff for putting myself forward to post; I learned something new!

We also have a wild sedum growing at my place that we do that to.  It's edible as well, in this case its leaves.  I wonder if we have the same species, by any chance.  I have Sedum ternatum, which has a range that does extend to you.  What other plants do you play with?
Eat the weeds, sedum

Rachel, I can hardly wait for next Spring and the vinca to bloom.  🧚‍♂️ toothbrushes!

Thekla, I find it remarkable how you have nurtured your love of Hollyhocks.  Some experiences like that, especially with an overlay of shame, only leave bad associations.   You mentioned, "I appreciate this particular episode of my early life because it shows me just how early in my life I felt that deep connection to plants..."  From my observer view, it sounds like you also felt and retained a strong connection to yourself.  Priceless.

I learned to make hollyhock dolls by connecting a flower-bud head with an open-blossom skirt using half of a toothpick for the connector.

Greg, thank you for the link, I have never heard of that website.  A great resource!

Charlie, always valuable to hear another perspective.

We used to made ballerina dolls, or fairies, out of fuchsia flowers😊.

We would remove the green stem,  make a slit in the upper colored (tubular)part of the flower, and pass the stem through the slit to make her arms.  Sometimes we would remove the stigma and all but the two most evenly matched or gracefully positioned stamens, making her legs.

Sorry, a little off topic from seeds.  If someone starts a thread on playing with plants and plant parts, please post a link here!  It’s such a rich topic.

Thekla McDaniels wrote:Greg, thank you for the link, I have never heard of that website.  A great resource!

He has lots of great videos on YouTube:  Eat the Weeds Youtube channel

My daughter (7 years old) and I LOVE to explore plants to figure out where the seeds are.  It's an activity where she gets very calm and focused, and carefully opens seed heads to explore what's inside.  Often we use a magnifying glass to examine all the beautiful shapes!  She's also a great buddy when it comes time to strip seeds from pods to save seed for next year.  It's tedious, but nice, and very satisfying, at the same time.

A few years ago I wrote a blog post inspired by my seed-searching adventures with my daughter.  It explains the basics of seed saving for beginners.  You can see it here: https://ortakitchengarden.com/blogs/news/seed-saving

Anne Fletcher wrote:My daughter (7 years old) and I LOVE to explore plants to figure out where the seeds are.  It's an activity where she gets very calm and focused, and carefully opens seed heads to explore what's inside.  Often we use a magnifying glass to examine all the beautiful shapes!  She's also a great buddy when it comes time to strip seeds from pods to save seed for next year.  It's tedious, but nice, and very satisfying, at the same time.

A few years ago I wrote a blog post inspired by my seed-searching adventures with my daughter.  It explains the basics of seed saving for beginners.  You can see it here: https://ortakitchengarden.com/blogs/news/seed-saving

That's a good article! Thanks for sharing!

I have not thought to have my kids examine seeds under the microscope. We will have to do that. The shapes are so interesting and I just got two field microscopes for them to examine bugs with; seeds will be even easier to look at!

Today we were having fun examining the way marigold seeds sit so compactly in their little "cup". It feels like how a magician pulls a scarf from their hat- they just keep coming and coming and coming...