When you walk into an IKEA store, you have to try out the sofas and chairs in the IKEA sample rooms, hug the elephants, goldens and dinosaurs in the plush doll section, and check out the new plates, cups and dishes in the tableware section. Then there's that 'nine-circle' mall where you turn into that fragrant IKEA restaurant.
▲Image from: IKEA
The Swedish meatballs with a mini flag are a classic dish in IKEA, and many of you who have been to IKEA will have tried this wonderful combination of meatballs and jam.
▲Image from: IKEA IKEA Official Weibo
While everyone has different tastes, this new 'meatball' from IKEA in Denmark will unify people's tastes. Because, this is a dish that humans can't enjoy, but rather a food for hungry insects.
▲Image from: IKEA
As more and more territories embark on the path of urbanization, the once natural habitats of animals are gradually eroded, like mowed lawns, and without diverse plants, there are no hiding places for insects. The loss of living space, coupled with climate change, inevitably results in biodiversity taking a hit, such as a decline in insect populations.
▲Image from: IKEA
According to WWF, only 1% to 2% of Denmark's natural environment is actually wild, putting thousands of animal species at risk of extinction. In order to raise awareness of the lack of wild habitats for insects and to provide food for insects that are having a hard time, IKEA Denmark has partnered with WWF to invent this new 'meatball'.
▲Image from: IKEA
This pill is actually a seed ball (Fröbullar, which translates directly as 'seed packet'), and every square meter counts when the smallest inhabitants of the planet need more space. Unlike ordinary seeds that require gardening skills to grow, this meatball-shaped seed ball can be planted in a garden or in a pot on a balcony.
▲Image from: IKEA
Danish IKEA offers seed balls containing corn cockles, chamomil and poppies, but only 7500 kits are available and exclusively for members of the IKEA Family Club loyalty program. Don't worry if you can't buy them, you can make your own seed balls (Fröbullar) by following the tutorial on the Danish IKEA website.
▲Image from: IKEA
To make 6 seed balls you need 3 dl of clay or clay powder (dl is the volume in decilitres, 1 dl = 0.1 litre); 2 dl of compost or other garden soil; 0.5 dl of wildflower seeds (the seeds put into the Fröbullar have to be native so that they are most suitable for biodiversity), and about 1.5 litres of water.
▲Image from: IKEA
Once the clay, soil and water have been thoroughly mixed together, the mixture can be divided into 6 parts and rolled into a ball, a hole punched in the centre of the ball-shaped Fröbullar and filled with the prepared wild seeds. You can wait for the 'feast' of insect seeds.
▲Image from: IKEA
Planting these seed balls in your own space isn't enough to make the environment 'wild' again (back to wild), but it might provide a temporary resting place for insects, and if you don't have a backyard it doesn't matter, you can also plant them in pots bought from Ikea.
▲ Image from: IKEA
As well as the 'hidden benefits' of potentially boosting turnover for IKEA, the project is also part of IKEA's plans to mitigate climate change. Not only that, but IKEA Denmark is also re-imagining the space around its Danish stores: the plan is to replace the lawns with wild plants, flowers and insect hotels in the hope of making Denmark more 'wild'.