Fresh from our farmers: Plant seed balls for spring wildflowers

Although we think of our farmers markets and farm stands primarily as sources for the best and most wholesome foods, they can also surprise and delight us with unique offerings. I stumbled over one such delight -- wildflower seed balls -- recently at the Sebastopol Farmers Market.

The seed balls, about the size of a flattened ping-pong ball, are made of terra cotta clay, organic worm casings and organic, GMO-free wildflower seeds, 60 per ball. They are sold in reusable cardboard canisters, perfect for saving seed, under the name Throw Me Grow Me!, which is exactly what you do with them. Toss them into your garden, field or meadow right about now and make sure they stay moist for a month. A canister of ten balls will fill about 300 square feet with colorful flowers.

There are two types, one with 13 varieties of flowers and one that features six varieties of poppies. If you don’t have a lot of time for gardening or if you have a lot of space to fill, you will love these. In wet years, rain will take care of moisture needs as late winter and early spring are the perfect time for tossing them, but in a drought cycle, they will need to be watered. Do not be tempted to plant the balls, as they need direct sunlight to germinate. Tightly webbed grasses will need to be roughed up.

The seed balls are the inspiration of Dale Englehorn, who turned a passion into a small family business at the urging of her grown children, Drew and Hana Englehorn.

Englehorn, who is currently a social worker managing home health care, worked as a gardener and arborist at Santa Rosa Junior College until changing careers about 15 years ago.

She has never lost her interest in and passion for the natural world and has a strong sense of stewardship. A decade or so ago, she heard a story on National Public Radio about guerrilla gardeners in Detroit. As the city was in disrepair, facing bankruptcy, high crime, high unemployment and widespread despair, a few young people with abundant passion made balls of seeds and tossed them into vacant lots. Come spring, the lots filled with beautiful flowers, bringing residents out of their homes to admire what they thought of as little miracles everywhere.

Englehorn was inspired and began experimenting with different formulas. Eventually, her son and daughter urged her to take her passion to the public. Her son, a park ranger currently stationed in Fort Collins, Colorado, designed a website. Her daughter came up with both the product name and the company name, Seed-O-Sphere, and designed the labels. The reusable canister was her inspiration, too.

This is the time of year to plant the seed balls so that they have germinated and set down roots before hot weather sets in. At the end of the season, you can, if you are so inclined, save the seeds they produce. Throw Me Grow Me! makes a lovely gift, too, especially for anyone who has the passion but no time for gardening. I’ll be tossing mine in the meadow west of my office sometime this week.

Seed-O-Sphere, founded in 2013 and owned and operated by Dale Englehorn, attends the Sebastopol Farmers Market on Sunday and the Santa Rosa Original Farmers Market on Wednesday. For more information, visit seedosphere.com.

Michele Anna Jordan has written 19 books to date, including the new “More Than Meatballs.” Email Jordan at catsmilk@sonic.net. You’ll find her blog, “Eat This Now,” at pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.