Seed Bands- Pack of 7: WE Beyond US

Includes:

1. Seed Bands: 7 pcs; tied on 7 seed paper.

2. Seed Balls: 2 pcs; 1 of Paddy seeds representing 'chawal' & 1 of Bixa seeds representing 'roli'.

3. Seed Balls information card.

4. Seed Box: Seed Bands tied on Seed Paper, Seed Balls & Seed Balls information card all packed in a plantable box embedded with seeds.

SB2310001: Leapfrogging Upwards

Seeds: Sword Bean, Amaranthus, Purslane, Basil

We often think of frogs as earthbound creatures—amphibious by nature, leaping over water & land. There is so much we don’t imagine them being—arboreal, for example!

Frogs like the monkey frogs, tree frogs, & even some bush or shrub frogs spend large parts of their life among tall trees & even bamboo! Endemic to the Western Ghats, the rare white-spotted bush frog breeds inside shoots of bamboo. Father frogs look after the eggs, which hatch directly into froglets!

The frog in this band, playful & googly-eyed, has a tongue made from the sword bean seed which peeks out whenever its head is pressed. The world will be revealed if we pay attention, it seems to tell us. All we need is curiosity, & ready…set…jump!

SB2312002: Dear Diary

Seeds: Sponge Gourd, Amaranthus, Purslane, Basil

“Save your energy love, it’s too hot this summer.” “Take this herbal tea I just made for you sweetheart; infections are on the rise”. Before doctors or healers existed in our societies, this is how our mothers have been keeping us safe.

Now, research suggests that this “us” goes beyond humans. Mother trees seem to communicate with their seedlings & other plants in a similar way. Through a fungal network below ground, they talk, share resources, & form a system more complex than the internet that starts inside the earth & reaches for the skies.

These findings not only humble us but also invite us to connect beyond our own species. Maybe the blank pages of the diary in this band are waiting for us to do just that…

SB2312001: The Metamorphosis

Seeds: Soapnut, Amaranthus, Purslane, Basil

Caterpillars are astonishing creatures. Their way of transforming into butterflies moves from egg to larva to pupa. And finally, the cocoon breaks to reveal the winged wonder of an adult butterfly.

This movement is completely alien to us, but over 75% of known insects (bees, beetles, flies, wasps, moths, even ants) use this technique to grow. When we take such a complex process, & cut it off at its beginning because we think of these insects as pests, we unintentionally stop pollinators from growing—which means a less colourful, less playful, & less diverse ecosystem.

This band, which moves between stages when you pull on the caterpillar, is a gentle reminder that there are things beyond our reach & understanding which should invoke awe & surprise in us.

SB2355001: Love Is In The Air

Seeds: Spinach, Amaranthus, Purslane, Basil

SB2395001: Love Is In The Air

Seeds: Malabar Spinach, Rice Bean, Amaranthus, Purslane, Basil

Bright, wide-open sunflowers & blushing lotuses, fragrant jasmines & twinkling periwinkles: the diversity of flowers can take our breath away.

They are nature’s most vibrant realisation of desire; their evolution is tinted with a hint of magic. Pressed in books & adorning our hair, these sensuous blossoms signal romance to us too, not just pollinators like bees & birds.

This band is an invitation to travel with these pollen & seed laden wonders: through the scented wind & flowing water, on the bodies of bats & the beaks of hummingbirds.

Let’s make offerings of love, kinship, & gratitude by tying, sowing, & nurturing these bands, & open a window into wonder.

SB2390001: Every Stone Is A Life

Seeds: Sponge Gourd, Amaranthus, Purslane, Basil

Rivers tell stories. They rumble & murmur, roar & soar. The mountains sing, wind swirling along their peaks & valleys. Every stone is a life.

We live among mysteries much older & miraculous than we are, & we can only hope to catch up to what these beings are telling us some day. Perhaps, water has memory, soil remembers our touch, & when our voice echoes in a valley, something hears it after all.

This band is a bridge to a universe beyond the living—where rainbows curve in an alien language, oceans reveal deep portals to a world under our world, & we,

Each of us

Are made up

Of stardust.

SB2313001: Into The Deep (Band for Couples)

Seeds: Fever Nut, Amaranthus, Purslane, Basil

It is hard to imagine a creature more alien to us than the octopus.

In the depths of the sea, here is an eight-limbed wonder with three hearts—one whose body changes shape & colour, whose blood runs blue, who squirts venom when threatened & even tastes with its skin!

And yet, octopuses show individual personalities, recognise others, form social bonds, & even exhibit curiosity—traits that we consider quite human.

So tie this band & extend a gentle tentacle into the water, connecting with all its deep blue mysteries, until it feels familiar again.

Float out among the octopuses & fishes, the otters & corals, seaweeds & stars—the ocean floor is a place so wondrous that we can’t help but be humbled by it.

WE beyond US

each thread has a story to share…

Only WE, humans, are conscious. WE are intelligent. WE have feelings & families & histories…

All of these beliefs have been challenged & it means that “WE” need to expand beyond the human realm & imagine a new way of co-existing in this world. To accept this shift in our consciousness—to always be becoming—is our essence.

Like a cocooned caterpillar, the blossoming bud, water flowing downriver, or the continuous rounding of a stone—there is a tender beauty in evolving.

These bands are also ever-evolving—a bond from the transforming ecosystem in our farm to the quiet changes in all of us. “Pay attention to the transformation within & without,” they seem to say. It will surprise & nourish us on this journey.

Plantable & Gender-Inclusive Seed Bands handcrafted from non-Gnentically-Modified & Intellectual-Property-Rights-free naturally dyed & hand-spun yarn of organically grown, Indigenous cotton. Plantable Seed Papers on which bands are wrapped are handmade, up-cycled & biodegradable.