On a Sunday morning when it was raining, some 100-people got together under a rain shelter and learnt how to make seed balls. The participants were of all ages, shapes, and sizes – from kids to children to senior citizens who crowded into the rain shelter at Sector 6, Park Plaza.
The participants were taught how to make seed balls using earth, cow dung, and seeds of trees – peepal, babool, neem, Ashwagandha, Guava, Behl, Seetaphal, Jamoon and others.
Organised by Uttishta Bharatha and Awakening (spiritual branch of Gargy Astrology Research Center) in association with Art Of Living, there were experts present to guide the people in making the seed balls.
A resident of Phillips Tower, Sector 23, Gargi Jaitely was instrumental in organising the event told City Spidey, "We tried to work for green environment. We made about five thousand seed balls which will be thrown in parks and open spaces during the rainy season. In areas around Dwarka. The response of the community was good and they enjoyed making the balls in this very first of its type programme.”
Gargi further said, "Uttishta Bharatha envisioned this unique initiative Seed Ball preparation to increase the number of trees. It has been conducting such camps for the past two years.”
One of the experts from Uttishta Bharatha, Neeraj Kamath explained how the seed balls were to be prepared.
"Seeds are placed in the middle of a ball made up of moist mixture of fertile soil of that region, clay, cow dung and cow urine from Native/ Indigenous/ Desi Cow (Ox, Bull, Cow) in the ratio 4:1. The cow dung and urine acts as natural compost and provides microbial inoculants. Then this seed ball is dried up in shade and becomes hard. This dried, hard seed ball is then sowed or thrown in waste lands, dry lands, uninhabited lands just before the monsoon or rainy season,” Kamath said.
The rains soak the seed ball, and the seeping water germinates the seed inside the seed ball. The sprouting seed uses the nutrients of the seed ball and its roots spread inside the land and grows up to become a tree sapling. This sapling grows up to become a big tree. Since the seed struggles for its survival to grow up into a sapling, the sapling adapts to its environment, he added.
Arvind Agrawal, a resident of New Millennium Apartments, Sector 23, said that it was an amazing experience for him. “Such things are important in today’s situation,” he said.
An environment lover and a resident of Brahma Apartments, Munish Kundra concurred that it was a unique experience for him and others from the community.
