One Boy’s Effort to Bring Beauty Back to the Palisades

Rummy Goodyear developed the Seed Bomb project to bring beauty to the devastated and empty  Palisades/Altadena lots.

By LAUREL BUSBY

Special to Circling the News

Rummy Goodyear, 15, understands flower power.

After his beloved Pacific Palisades community was devastated by last January’s fire, recovery was a struggle. He and his family moved 10 times before settling in a Santa Monica rental about six months later. Their Alphabet Streets lot is still empty aside from a toxic garage that is complicating their insurance coverage and reconstruction plans. Childhood memories became filtered through a layer of ash.

Yet, flowers and the 6,500 seed bombs that he’s help make and distribute in both the Palisades and Altadena have given him a way forward.

“Dwelling in past memories is not such a good thing because all of those memories have been a bit tainted by the fire,” Goodyear said. “Going back up there to do a new positive thing and creating new positive memories … has definitely been a really great part of the project. It’s really transformed the way I approach returning to the Palisades, and I think it’s done that for a lot of other people as well.”

These seedbombs are ready to be packaged and then put on lots.

The seed bombs, which are balls of clay, compost and native wildflower seeds, are designed to change cleared lots into colorful pollinator-friendly fields that both replenish the soil and fend off incursive nonnative plant species. The chosen flowers, a mixture of California poppies, evening primrose, California buckwheat, yarrow, and sunflowers from the Theodore Payne Foundation, are also known as fire followers, because thrive in post-fire conditions, according to Goodyear’s mother, Dana.

Dana initially suggested the seed bomb idea to her son for his Crossroads School service-learning project, and he soon embraced it.

“A lot of the seeds in the mix actually help cleanse the soil of toxins,” Rummy said. “When you seed bomb, you’re giving back to the Palisades and also helping the Palisades start anew for the future generation.”

So far, Rummy has brought the endeavor to various schools, including Aveson Charter School (formerly in Altadena, now in Pasadena) and his school, Crossroads, where students made about 2,000 seed bombs. This month, he also handed out seed bombs at Aldersgate Historic Center in the Palisades and made them with students at Altadena Arts Magnet School. Marquez Charter Elementary will make seed bombs on Thursday, Jan. 15, and Snap, Inc. is providing support for the effort since the seed bombs cost about $5 apiece to make, mainly due to the expense of the seeds.

Last month, Rummy held perhaps his favorite event when he welcomed people to his family’s lot on Hartzell to pick up seed bombs. Around 150 people came, and he and his family gave away 700 seed bombs.

“We really loved it,” Rummy said. “It was great to be there giving back to the community.”

Rummy’s family has spent about $10,000 over the past year to fund the project, but others have also provided substantial support, Dana said. Donations from individuals, nonprofits, and businesses totaled $25,300 in 2025 with most of the money arriving in December.

Until January  17, Anawalt Hardware will offer its customers the chance to round up their purchases and give to the Seed Bomb Project, while an Amalfi Estates realtor donates a portion of his sales to client-selected local nonprofits, including the Seed Bomb Project, Dana said. Malibu Compost, a company run by someone who lost his childhood home in the fire, gave 10 huge bags of compost. In addition, the Pacific Palisades Community Council, L.A. Strong Foundation, Village Rising Foundation, and the Department of Angels have provided grant support.

Since May, the seed bombs have been spread on numerous Palisades residential lots and public parkways. Even though some of the resulting flowers will be removed during the rebuilding process, Rummy hopes that many will also return year after year “so they can serve as a permanent reminder of resilience.”

His mother added, “Ultimately, this has been a primary way in which our family has healed or is healing from the grief and loss of the fire. As a parent, it’s been really a very satisfying and beautiful thing to see Rummy grow into this project and reframe his experience of the fire to have a completely different relationship to the Palisades—this place that he loved so much and then felt so much pain about.”

Rummy’s sister, Willa, 13, and father, Billy Lehman, have also joined the effort, and a number of his friends have become involved. As the months have gone by, Rummy has treasured watching the flowers emerge in various parts of the Palisades.

“It’s like the work has paid off; we have been able to make a difference,” said Rummy, who first noticed wildflowers growing on his family’s lot in October. “I was really excited. I never expected to be 15 and be excited about the growth of a flower, but I was and I still am. I am also excited that other people are excited about the project. They take seed bombs for neighbors. They take them for friends. It really seems our community has bonded. The goal of the project is to bring back beauty to the Palisades, because the Palisades has given so much to us. It’s been really rewarding to see that come to fruition.”

Rummy Goodyear is joined by Pacific Palisades Community Council President Sue Kohl and developer Rick Caruso on a lot that will have seed bombs planted.

(To learn more about the Seed Bomb Project or donate to it, visit theseedbombproject.com.)