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Earth Day Kits

We are excited to announce our involvement in a fantastic new project! A few months ago PlanToys asked if we would be interested in collaborating with them on a new product in development for Earth Day. A long-time fan of their toys, we were eager to partner with them on their Earth Kit campaign!

Every year, PlanToys holds a national contest for the best Earth Day Window Display at its participating retailers. Stores in over 30 states submit display entries, with a grand prize winner receiving $500 worth of Plan Toys merchandise and two runner up winners receiving $300 in merchandise.

This year however, PlanToys has partnered with Eco-Kids USA, Of The Earth LLC and Action Print Center Inc., to create the best Earth Day kit yet!  From Missouri to North Carolina, retailers embraced the importance of sustainability and eco-mindedness with colorful window displays, games and fun activities for the whole family.

For this year’s contest, participating stores will receive a PlanToys® Earth Day kit for their customers that will include a sheet of seed paper with a choice of 4 different designs to choose from and color, a multi-colored eco-crayon, a souvenir pencil made of rubber wood, and a fact card about Earth Day, neatly packed in a PlanToys® folder.  Once the child colors the picture printed on the seed paper with the eco-crayon they can then take it home, and with a the help and supervision of their parent, plant the colored seed paper and watch it grow!  We hope that this can be a fun and exciting activity kids can do with their parents and instill a deeper appreciation for the earth.

Today is the one month mark from Earth Day and a fitting time to share the video launching this unique and innovative educational campaign.  Spread the word, share with your community, and most importantly: educate your children on the importance Earth Day!

 

 

 

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Seed Paper – how does it grow?

I just wanted to drop a quick note to those folks considering using seed paper for their wedding or promotional items. When was the last time you bought a seed packet and started a garden? For some of us the answer was just last season we pushed our seeds into the soil for our garden veggies. For many of us, we have not held a seed for years. When we wanted to add flowers to our window box we bought starts from the grocery store, when we wanted that indoor plant we bought a mature plant from the big box home store. Many of us have had sunflower seeds at a baseball game or pumpkin seeds from our Jack-o-Lantern but have not touched a live seed nor potting soil since elementary school.
As papermakers who embed our paper with seeds, we often are asked about how our paper grows. The easy answer is “that depends on the gardener”. We test our seed paper extensively as we understand that people need to know that when they tell their family there invitation will bloom – it has to bloom! The problem with this situation is not the viability of the seeds but rather the inexperience of the gardener. We would love to offer a guarantee that you will have a beautiful garden of flowers when you plant our paper goods however there are just too many factors out of our control to offer such a guarantee. We can guarantee that our papers contain viable seeds that have the potential to grow but as you supply the conditions under which those plants are starting their tender lives, we cannot guarantee your success.
Our seed papers do have live seeds that can sprout if you properly care for them. If you cut the paper into escort cards or business cards; you will find enough viable seeds in the trimmed pieces that have the potential to sprout. That being said we have heard from people over the years who stopped watering their seeds in frustration after just three weeks when nothing pushed through the soil. With our paper there are seeds that can take six weeks to germinate. These people who expect immediate results and tire of caring for the seeds, letting them dry out; effectively killing them before they have the opportunity to sprout are more often then not disappointed with the paper (rather than their gardening). For this reason we do not offer a guarantee. We would be happy to mail you a free sample that you can carefully test under your own gardening conditions before you decide to use seed paper for your wedding or business event. Most people these days are very removed from soil and seeds. Most of us buy our plants (and vegetables) that have been started (or fully grown) by professionals under optimal conditions. If you are considering offering your guest or client the opportunity to start a flower from the seeds you send them keep in mind the challenges they will face.

The bulk of our seed paper contains the following seeds:

Perennial
English Daisy

Perennial
Tussock Bellflower

Annual
Lilac Godetia

Annual
Monkeyflower

Biennial/Perennial
Foxglove

Annual
Dwarf Spurred Snapdragon

Perennial
Showy Evening Primrose

Annual
Red Corn Poppy

Biennial/Annual
Catchfly

Perennial
Creeping Thyme