The Making of Seed Paper (That will change the course of your future)

In choosing plants for the "50 Plants that Changed the Course of History" project. It dawned on my that many of these plants are already a part of my life. I love my garden and have seed, plants, vines and flowers that all had fascinating parts to play in history.

Since these plants are a part of my life, I wanted to weave my story in with theirs, and then share them with others to make these plants a part of their lives. These plants are part of our past, present, and future.

I chose plants that I knew I could make well into seed paper. The seeds needed to be small enough and common enough in home gardens that I could get my hands on them. Two (opium poppies and chives, meant to represent onions) were seeds I harvested from my own plants this year. The other three (lavender, jalapeno peppers and foxglove) were bought at my local gardening store where I buy many of my own seeds.

My garden:

The materials I used, other than the new seeds, were all remnants of previous projects, representing my past creations. The paper was recycled scraps from my practicum. The thread used to colour the paper was left from sewing projects. The kits I used to make the stamps were remnants from an art night I hosted with friends last summer. This project was connected to many things I consider a part of my identity - I am a teacher, a gardener and a maker.

Making seed paper:

I selected images for the stamps based on the history of each plant:
Opium poppies: a prescription bottle to represent their importance as a drug
Foxglove: a human heart to represent their use as medicine for the heart and kidneys
Jalapeno: a fire to represent their introduction to Europe as a shocking source of heat in food
Chives: Chives here represent onion, an important plant in creating our current classification of plant species. The stamp includes the genus name "Allium", common to both chives and onions. It also has a crying eye to show that the tears from cutting onions are shown to be chemically different from tears of sadness.
Lavender: was the first official eau de cologne and is represented by a perfume bottle.

Rubber stamps:

I also colour coded the paper:
Opium poppy: Black
Foxglove: Magenta
Jalapeno: Olive green
Chives: Yellow
Lavender: Blue

Finished product:

Seed paper is great to give as gifts. In general, the seeds are sprouted by just putting them in the ground covered with a little soil and keeping them damp until they grow, though some seeds may be a little more complicated (jalapeno needs warmth and lavender is stubborn). If you want to make your own, here is a little info on how I made the paper and the rubber stamps:

SEED PAPER

Seed paper is basically made by tearing up paper and blending it with water to make a mash. Create a mold with a mesh bottom (mine was just panty hose attached to a round of pop bottle with an elastic) and put your seeds and any other bits of decoration (thread or flower petals) in the bottom. Then add a few spoonfuls of the wet paper pulp on top, smoothing it out. Let the water drain from the bottom as much as possible. Try to dry it quickly in a warm area with good airflow, or else the seeds may start to grow.

Here is a tutorial from NASA: https://climatekids.nasa.gov/seed-paper/

Seed paper drying :

You can buy kits to make the rubber stamps. Basically, you draw what you want to stamp using a pencil on a piece of paper, rub it onto a layer of stamp rubber, and carve away anything you don't want included in your design using the provided tools. It is super easy and fun - just watch that you don't carve into your finger. Those tools are sharp!

Carving rubber stamps:

Classroom Community Reflections

I love how everyone in this class worked together as a community. We all came from different backgrounds and disciplines and that made for a much richer experience. I fed off of the creative energy of the other students and was not afraid to bring my own creative side to the projects and activities.

It was particularly easy and wonderful to see all the sharing in a botany class. Plants are an everyday part of our lives, particularly in the food that we eat. We all contributed things to eat and share, and it made us think more about where our food comes from and how it gets to us.

I loved creating the seed papers for everyone. It was a lot of work, but I don't get to work with my hands often enough, and so much of myself went into making it - my teacher side, my gardener side, and my crafting side. My partner helped in the making, so even that was a communal effort. I hope that they grow and flourish in the future!

We shared more than just food and gifts in this class, but we shared our personalities and inspirations. Working on the fern rubbing with Alexis we had to troubleshoot from our original idea of just doing a rubbing of a fern and eventually wound up with a really neat finished product.

We were going for something like this:

(Image from Sm'Arties)

These were our many failed attempts (from right to left):

The conversations and communal projects among students of varying backgrounds made for a really unique and enjoyable experience.

Plant Journal; Day 16 and Final Thoughts

Well, today is my final day with Budd. He has grown significantly and is now much taller than I am.

He has not yet bloomed, but has very obvious buds - much more than when I first met him and didn't even think he would bloom.

Many of the surrounding flowers have died and gone to seed, especially the vetch with its popping seed pods and the fireweed turning to airborne fluff.

This project has given me a sense of the passage of time that I don't normally get from my classes. I often find myself wondering when it started to be spring or summer, having completely missed the transitions. The seasons pass by without much of a thought.

Continuing to watch Budd and Leia, I would eventually see their flowers dry and shrivel up, revealing whatever kind of seed pod it is they make. The leaves would die off and they may even finally be cut down by UBC to prepare for the winter. I can see the past and future of this plant in its branches, leaves and flower buds. How it got here and the potential it has to spread more little buddlejas. It can help feed insects and birds, shade smaller plants and animals, and clean the air for all of us.

It is related to this place - to the wind and rain and concrete. Everything needed to work in just the right way for this plant to end up here. It is beautiful and random but also not - the plant is disrespected, cut, trampled and torn. But it's still here and will live on. I hope to be able to say the same for many other plants in my life.

Plant Journal; Day 15

It is much much cooler today and there is obviously much wind. The clouds are flying by in the sky and the grasses and tree branches are swaying all over the place. It's really lovely to watch.

When I arrived at my plant, a few of my friends were there. It was really hard to ignore them and just sit on my own, but was surprisingly comfortable once I settled in. There was still so much to watch and explore that I didn't miss their company.

The thing that surprised me the most today was a pigeon. It was walking along the ground pecking at (and eating) little black specks. Those specks were the seeds that had been popping out of the vetch (previously called wild peas) in the heat! It hadn't occurred t me that those seeds might feed animals around - I was still thinking of it from the perspective of a gardener trying to avoid weeds in the garden. But those seeds have lots of purposes in the wild other than just propagating plants.

Plant Journal; Day 14

It is so very hot today and I just could not bring myself to sit with Budd. I am further away watching from the shade for my own personal safety. Maybe it is the fact that i'm not in direct sunlight today, but I can see lots of fluffy plant seeds floating on the wind. This must be how Budd and Leia got here.

Today I discovered another buddleja around the corner just growing out of cracks in the pavement.

And on my walk to the UBC Farm, there was a lovely buddleja in bloom growing on the edge of a forest. These all seem to be volunteers!

I love that they are taking hold in man-made landscapes of their own volition. They are beautiful and great for insects!

Plant Journal; Day 13

It is so hot out sitting in the sun by Budd! How these plants are still alive is beyond me. I have never seen anyone water them - though I am not here all day long. I always come around lunchtime. I would der what this place would be like in the evening?

The good news is that Budd's neighbor Leia started to bloom over the weekend!

The sad news is that someone came along and destroyed one of the flower stalks.

My guess would be a child that has not yet been taught how to care for plants, but honestly some Univerity students have yet t learn that lesson.

Budd is close to blooming, so my hope is that he will be better respected and that Leia will be left alone in the future.

I am surprised that I have not thought to write about this before, but I am starting to get tired of the constant sound of mechanical humming next to this plant. I have no idea what this machinery is, but it makes noise in the background nonstop. Even with the constant sound of wind in the trees today, this mechanical noise dominates.

I noticed the sound every time I was here, and yet never mentioned it. I guess I just expect that kind of noise in aN urban environment - so why has it started to bother me now?

Thoughts on Payne and Wattchow's "Phenomenological Deconstruction..."

I'm a big fan of getting students outdoors without an immediate objective. I love how, in this class, we have just been sitting outdoors for our discussions and experiencing nature while having our discussions. There have been interesting moments during my outdoor classes - experiences where other students have shared their knowledge of plants, times when spiders or bees have distracted us and begun a conversation on whether or not these bugs are a "good" thing, and beautiful moments when someone notices an eagle flying overhead, or a hummingbird in a tree. These are moments that won't happen if you are just sitting in a classroom, and the best part is that they are student-driven. They are not forced as the students notice it and naturally begin a conversation.

Most schools have some kind of outdoor space. It may just be a field for sports, but there will usually be at least a handful of trees or landscaped flowers and that is enough to just get out and enjoy. Experience. Connect. Even those spaces will grow and change with the days, weeks, months. They will attract insects and animals, and the plants themselves will change and interact with one another.

Sitting with my plant every day has made me feel a connection to it - I felt a connection from day one and was heartbroken when someone walked through the little greenspace without thinking. I can imagine students wanting to protect their surrounding plants - clean up any litter and remind their friends to not tear the plants apart without reason.

An ongoing journal as well as just using the outdoor space as a place to learn and experience would do a lot to make students (hopefully even the most city-dwelling of them) feel their connection with the living things around them every day. Drawing attention to their place and their connections that they may already have with it, or with the plants in it (even just the oxygen they breathe) would be a great place to start. Discussing gardens, parks, forests, beaches, etc. that they love, as well as *why* they love them.

In other words, they are already connected to the living things around them. They just need to realize it.