Seed bombing is a tactic used by communities to respond to environmental degradation. They mix seeds, soil and water in close correspondence with the environments they come from and travel to. The following story unfolds between two riparian communities and their spontaneous encounters between Berlin and São Paulo.

Seeds of mint and other cultivated and wild plants were collected by members of the gardening group and Floating’s soil expert Martina. Wrapped in recycled prints, they travelled with the group to São Paulo as gifts for the other riparian groups. When Floating arrived in São Paulo, an employee of the Goethe-Institut saw the seed balls: “Ah, we have seeds too, let’s meet and exchange them”.

Packages of maize, açaí jussara, urucum, feijão guandu and cotton seeds were given to Floating members to take back to Berlin.

During the visit, the group began gardening together and found a Taioba plant in the Institute’s garden, which was soon found on the streets of São Paulo as part of another tactic.

The gesture of bringing seed balls was found to be something that Floating and Salve Saracura had in common. In a workshop with children on mapping the buried Saracura River, Jacinto told many stories about seeds. In a community garden, over lunch, Neide handed over seeds of native species from the Atlantic Forest. Later, on the street, a woman gave them lots of mirabilis seeds she had in her pocket.

With this collection of seeds and stories, the children drew their relationship with the river. Jacinto joked that the seed balls looked like food they loved: Coxinhas, fried Brazilian chicken balls.

“Muvuca de nascentes”, a mixture of seeds and water sources, became the tactic of making seed balls to restore the deforested slopes of the Bixiga Valley, where the Saracura water sources are located. Muvuca is an indigenous word for a restoration method that involves planting seeds that can be mixed without eradicating the others.