This episode is all about the Fish Pepper, an extremely flavorful, productive, and decorative variety that makes an excellent hot sauce. The white unripe fruit were used to flavor seafood dishes in the Black catering community of Baltimore in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Horace Pippin, the now-famed painter, shared this variety (and many others) with H. Ralph Weaver in the early 1940s in exchange for bee-sting therapy. Weaver's grandson (William Woys Weaver, who you will hear from in the second half of this episode) found the seeds in a baby food jar in his grandmother's deep freezer a couple decades later, many years after his grandfather's death, and was able to reintroduce them via Seed Savers Exchange. In this episode, you will hear from Xavier Brown from Soilful City in Washington DC who makes Pippin Sauce from fish peppers grown by black farmers and urban gardeners in the DC and Maryland areas (including Denzel Mitchell, who you will also hear from). Soilful City offers their seeds through Truelove Seeds. You will also hear from Michael Twitty, author of the Cooking Gene. See links to the work of each of the speakers below. SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE: Fish Pepper Buena Mulata Pepper MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE: Xavier Brown, January 2020 Soilful City on Instagram: @soilful Soilful City: soilfulcitydc.wordpress.com Soilful City at Truelove Seeds Denzel Mitchell, January 2020 Instagram: @fatherof5fivefifths Denzell Mitchell at Farm Alliance Baltimore futureharvestcasa.org/denzel-mitchell "Introducing Denzel Mitchell of Five Seeds Farm in Baltimore”- Afroculinaria Blog by Michael Twitty, 2012 Dr. William Woys Weaver, August 2019 Instagram: @roughwoodseeds, @williamwoysweaver Roughwood Seed Collection: www.roughwoodtable.org Signed copies of Heirloom Vegetable Gardening Michael Twitty, April 2019 Instagram: @thecookinggene Buy The Cooking Gene Book: Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble Michael W. Twitty Facebook Page The Cooking Gene Facebook Page Michael W. Twitty on Twitter: @koshersoul www.Afroculinaria.com Article Owen wrote from this original interview [PDF] ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Xavier Brown Denzel Mitchell William Woys Weaver Michael Twitty Horace Pippin Sara Taylor
This episode is all about one plant with countless names: Molokhia (Corchorus olitorius). You may know it as Jute, Jew's Mallow, Egyptian Spinach, any of the names in the title of this episode, or as something else altogether! This plant is beloved throughout the world and so we talked to people whose roots are in Vietnam, Haiti, Philippines, Nigeria, Palestine, and Syria about how they grow, harvest, prepare, eat, and save seeds from this delicious, nutritious, healing, and slimy plant. You will hear many similarities and differences. One thing is clear: everyone holds it dear for the way the flavors, textures, and even the tedious plucking of leaves transports them back home. SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE: Palestinian Molokhia Palestinian Kusa Squash Francois Syrian Molokhia MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE: Lan Dinh and Soi Trinh, "Rau Ðay," March, 2020 VietLead: vietlead.org Resilient Roots Farm on Instagram: @resilientrootsfarm Order Lan and VietLead's seeds, including Rau Den (Vietnamese Amaranth), Smooth Bitter Melon, and Lá Tía Tô (Vietnamese Perilla)! Chef Chris Paul, "Lalo," March 2020 Instagram: @chrispaulchef Legim (Haitian Stew): tasteatlas.com/legim One Book, Many Voices Community Dinner, March 11, 2020 Nick, "Saluyot," January 2020 Philadelphia Seed Exchange Saluyot and Cleopatra Ruby Olisemeka, "Ewedu," March 2020 Farm School NYC: farmschoolnyc.org Egusi Amala Flour Red Hook Farm: added-value.org Ruby's Teacher, Oríadé Ìp?`s?´lá Ajét?`lú - indigenous Yorùbá spiritual uses of Ewedu: oriade7.7network@gmail.com www.agloglob.com Anan Zahr "Mlukhiyie," February, 2020 Anan's Musakhan and Sumac class at the Free Library of Philadelphia Anan Zahr Instagram: @ananzahr Anan's Mlukhiyie: click here to see a photo and description Seeds mentioned in this interview: Palestinian Molokhia Palestinian Kusa Squash Lebanese Za'atar (Thyme) Hoda Mansour and her daughter Noor "Mloukhia," August, 2019 Instagram: @ootybabo Visit to harvest at Truelove Seeds: see photos here Mason Harkrader, Bear Bottom Farm, "Molokhia," August, 2019 Instagram: @bearbottomfarm Mother Earth Gardener, "A Taste of Home:" [PDF] or read online here François Selim Moussalli, 1923 - 2018, Obituary Francois Syrian Molokhia All Bear Bottom Farm's Syrian and Appalachian seeds at Truelove Seeds ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Lan Dinh and Soi Trinh Chef Chris Paul Nick from the Seed Swap Farmer Ruby Olisemeka Anan and George Zahr Hoda Mansour and her children Mason Harkrader and Mo Wiley Sara Taylor
In this fourth episode, we talk with Chris’s parents Rufus and Demalda Newsome of Newsome Community Farms in Greenville, Mississippi at Christmas. While Rufus pulls seeds from cotton he talks about growing up at ten years old working in the cotton fields as a weed chopper, a hoe filer, and a water boy. While Demalda chops vegetables for the Christmas meal, she describes growing up harvesting fruits from neighborhood trees and beans from an overturned bean truck, and getting watermelons from the watermelon man. While she and Chris make tamales, we talk about how they’d always eat them with hot donuts in the Delta at Christmas, which brings us to talking about segregation and desegregation. She describes her advocacy and food sovereignty work with Newsome Community Farms, Community Food Security Coalition, and Food First. There’s a hidden track at the very end where Rufus opens his very first moringa pods (see the videos here) and the grandkids get to taste the seeds and the way they transform water, and we discuss seed maturity and storage, and the importance of eating good bacteria. SEED AND FOOD STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE: Cotton Mustard and Turnip Greens Tamales Moringa MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE: Newsome Community Farms, by WhyHunger Demalda Newsome, Food First Food First An Introduction: Hot Tamales and the Mississippi Delta, Southern Foodways Alliance. The brutal murder of Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi, by the History Channel. Fannie Lou Hamer founds the Freedom Farm Cooperative in the Mississippi Delta, by SNCC. ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Rufus Newsome and Demalda Bolden Newsome Aunt Veronica Jala, Jacob, Amareion Sara Taylor PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT: Rufus Newsome Rufus Newsome: Years ago as a boy. Um, the field wasn't very far away from where we live. We lived in Mississippi, Greenville Mississippi. We lived on white people's land. They were called the Dominic's. They were pretty decent folks also. But we went to other people fields to pick and chop cotton. I can remember as a small child smelling that fresh cotton smell and I crave the smell now. But this cotton doesn't smell the same way it did 50 years ago. It's different. Doesn't have a smell at all. But, progress goes on. Owen Taylor: Do you remember the first times you smelled cotton and what was that like and where were you? What were you doing? Rufus Newsome: I was in the fields when I was about 10 years old. At that time I was chopping because I think people had stopped picking cotton. That was combines picking cotton then, but we still needed to chop the weeds between the rows and there weren't a lot of herbicides used on that time. So we had to chop the weeds and I can remember seeing maybe 60 or 70 people chopping cotton. It seemed like those rows were a hundred feet long, hot. And so we're chopping and the aroma of the cotton, the smell just rises from the cotton and the smell is all around. Every so often you stop and pull some cotton and just sniff it up your nostrils and then you'd go back to work. Owen Taylor: What does it smell like? Can you describe it to someone who's never smelled it before? Rufus Newsome: It was fresh smell. I mean it was fresh. Uh, it smell like fresh air. Beside that, I can't describe it though. It's just really fresh. Like after a new rain when the sun comes out and clears up, everything smells so fresh. Remind me of the wash. My mom used to wash outside and hang the clothes up on the line and once the sheets, the white sheets dried that aroma and it would just, I mean it would just suffocate you. Owen Taylor: So what are you doing right now? Rufus Newsome: Right now I'm removing the seeds from, uh, some cotton that I picked from a field about two weeks ago on my way home from work. Uh, this is left over cotton in the field. So I went out and picked some, I'm sure the owner doesn't mind. And so what I'm doing now, I'm removing the seeds from the cotton itself. This is what our ancestors did. Everything was done by hand. They removed the seeds from the cotton. It was done by hand. And this is what I'm doing and I'm reminiscing of my ancestors, my great, great grandparents. As they sat there on the plantation, probably after noon, they've done all that picking. Now it's time to remove the seeds and so they're sitting there removing the seeds, talking and having a good time. It was very important that they remove the seeds because of course you know those seeds were planted the next year. Owen Taylor: Have you ever grown cotton at your house? Rufus Newsome: Oh yes we have. We, we grew cotton in Oklahoma. It was so beautiful. People would stop by older people, and say, you know what? That reminds me when I was a boy, when I used to pick cotton, I hadn't seen cotton in 50 years. And so we had planted a couple rows out in front of the house on the main street there, one of the main streets there in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was, it was a beautiful sight to see. That was about four feet tall. This is white and beautiful. That's why so many people stopped - they had never seen cotton up close before, just on television. Rufus Newsome: Well, you know, cotton been around for thousands of years. They Egyptians grew cotton and cotton is what kept the South alive. Major crop. Major crop cotton. Owen Taylor: Do you have a question? If so, get close to the mic? Jala Newsome: Did you ever have a brother or sister that died during slavery? Rufus Newsome: Well Jala, you know, I wasn't in slavery, but I'm sure we had relatives that died in slavery that we, we've never met. Owen Taylor: How old were you when you worked in the, in the fields chopping cotton? Rufus Newsome: I started in the field when I was about 10 years old. I started, uh, I think first I did do a little picking and then as I said, the combine, it was already developed, but I guess he was a poor farmer. He hadn't had it yet, but he got it later. And so we just basically chopped. I started off as a chopper chopping grass between the rows and then I was promoted to the water boy. That was a great promotion. All you did would carry water back and forth, uh, to, uh, the workers. And I did that so well I was promoted to a hoe filer. I filed hoes. Kept the hoes sharp and all. That's what we cut the weeds with. And I did that all the way up to high school. I earned most of all the money during the summer, uh, by working in the field cause Mama was working a job, she wasn't making that much. But I, I worked the field all summer and I made $13 a day for almost a month and a half. Imagine how much that was. So that helped bought my clothes along, my sisters and my brothers and food for the house also, I never regretted working so hard and rushing home and I couldn't wait to get home and get my money to my mother. You were paid in cash of course? Actually we made $15 an hour, but the driver took three. Demalda Newsome: $15 a day. Rufus Newsome: $15 a day. I'm sorry. Actually, we made $15 a day and the driver took three of it I guess for transportation and all. And I recall Mama, I would get up early in the morning about two, three o'clock because the truck left about five and mom would fix me my breakfast and fix me lunch also. She would make me baloney sandwiches and um, I think even she would put some, uh, teacakes in the bag/container. Teacakes were like homemade cookies and all. I mean they were just wonderful. They were like just a flat cookie, just delicious. We call them teacakes. Owen Taylor: Was it like the sugar cookies that Jala made the other day? Rufus Newsome: They weren't sugar, they didn't have sugar on it outside, but they were sweet though just from the inside. Chris Bolden Newsome: It's basically a sugar cookie recipe. Just thicker. Rufus Newsome: It's thicker. Yeah, it was a thicker, it was a thicker cookie. It was. It was a flat cake. Owen Taylor: So did, did other people in your family work in the same field? Did your brothers and sisters do the same work? Rufus Newsome: I remember my brothers, well my brothers had left already, but I do remember my sister, they tried it. Uh, the oldest sister. Um, of course you understand it was hot during that time, really hot. And I do recall my sisters going a few times, but they, they couldn't maintain. And then my baby sister Emma, she tried and she couldn't maintain because it was just so hot. Well there were several people that just couldn't do it. They couldn't work in the field. But for me, I worked, I had to work, I needed to work for my family's sake. Jala Newsome: Did you ever get tired of picking cotton for them? Rufus Newsome: I didn't pick cotton a whole long time. I didn't do it a long period of time because the cotton machine... Someone developed the cotton machine. The combine. Yeah. Jala Newsome: I thought they didn't care? Rufus Newsome: You thought who didn't care? Jala Newsome: The people that you had to pick cotton for. Rufus Newsome: Yes they cared, they want their crop in and they want things done cheap, they want things done as cheap as possible. Chris Bolden Newsome: That's why people use machines. Even though the machines hurt the earth. Rufus Newsome: One machine can do the work of 100 men or more. Chris Bolden Newsome: They wouldn't have pay to have paid 100 men or boys $13 a day. Rufus Newsome: For example, when I was watching the BBC, the history channel on BBC was talking about talking about a certain whale can eat up to like 200 pounds of a certain fish a day, but now the fishery can collect four to 5,000 tons of it in a day. And so they just, I mean what they're doing, they're taking more fish. They just takin
In this third episode, Ira Wallace from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange talks about her faves: collards and roselle. She also describes her life growing up, her work with southern and African Diasporic seeds and stories, and takes questions from Truelove Seeds apprentices (and adoring fans) Amirah Mitchell and Chris Keeve and from a visitor named Mimi. SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE: Collards Roselle MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE: Ira Wallace: Writer, Seed Saver, Educator Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Grow Great Vegetables in Virginia, by Ira Wallace Collards: A Southern Tradition from Seed to Table, by Edward H. Davis and John T. Morgan Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land, by Leah Penniman Black Urban Growers Conference ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Ira Wallace and Gordon Sproule Sara Taylor Julia Aguilar, Althea Baird, Chris Keeve, Amirah Mitchell, and Zoe Jeka of Truelove Seeds Mimi Puga The voices of the youth and other staff of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram's Garden
Welcome back to Seeds And Their People! In this second episode, Owen interviews his seed friend Kristyn about her Korean seed stories, her food, farming, and activist community, and our mutual love for Jewel in the Palace. SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE: Mugwort and Ungnyeo (Bear Woman) Better Chamoe Korean Melon 38N Kkaennip (Korean Perilla) MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE: Kristyn Leach on Instagram Namu Farm at Truelove Seeds Second Generation Seeds at Kitazawa Seed Co. Great Big Story (video documentary about Kristyn's work) Chuseok (Harvest Festival) Jewel in the Palace / Dae Jang Geum ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Kristyn Leach Sara Taylor Laura Starecheski of Reveal Althea Baird, Amirah Mitchell, and Zoe Jeka of Truelove Seeds Adele, Elena, and Remy
Welcome to Seeds And Their People! In our first episode, we share some seed stories that are important to us, our ancestors, and our story as partners in life and love. You'll hear about the Irish Lumper potato, the field pea, the Borlotto bean, and okra. We also share how cotton and apples helped bring us together. ----more---- SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE: Irish Lumper Potato Field Pea Borlotto Bean Okra Cotton Apple MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE: William Woys Weaver and Roughwood Seed Collection 2020 Seed Keeping Calendar Lasting of the Mohegans by Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel British slave ship image: Brookes The Cooking Gene by Michael W. Twitty Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery by Anne Farrow, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank Growing Food and Justice Initiative ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Sara Taylor Rufus and Demalda Newsome of Newsome Community Farms Laura Starecheski of Reveal Autumn Brown of How to Survive the End of the World Tagan Engel of The Table Underground Verónica Bayetti Flores of Radio Menea Jonas Moody of The Raisin at the Hot Dog's End Althea Baird, Amirah Mitchell, and Zoe Jeka of Truelove Seeds
Vivien Sansour is an artist, storyteller, researcher and conservationist. She uses image, sketch, film, soil, seeds, and plants to enliven old cultural tales in contemporary presentations and to advocate for the protection of biodiversity as a cultural and political act. Vivien works with a global network of farmers and seed advocates to promote seed conservation and agrobiodiversity. As part of this effort, she founded the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, with the goals of finding and reintroducing threatened crop varieties and to collect stories to assert the ownership of seeds by communities. This episode features a conversation between Vivien and Owen in East Rock Park in New Haven, Connecticut from dusk to darkness amongst deer and woodpeckers, with mariyamiya tea and einkorn cake, and about grief and doing good things in the world with seeds. SEED STORIES: Qarn al-Ghazal Khobaizeh fruits / Mary's Cake Bamyeh (Palestinian Okra) Filfil Gazawi (Gazan Peppers) Olives Jarjir (Arugula) Molokhia Wild Asparagus Figs Loquat Jazar Ahmar (Palestinian Purple Carrot) Mariyamiya (Sage) LINKS: Palestine Heirloom Seed Library homepage Palestine Heirloom Seed Library newsletter 12/2/2025 Instagram: PHSL and Vivien Sansour Donate to PHSL's The Apple Path: planting another 2,000 heirloom fruit trees in Palestine THIS EPISODE SUPPORTED BY: YOU! Please become a Patron for $1 or more a month at Patreon.com/trueloveseeds Scribe Video Center and WPEB, West Philly Community Radio ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Facebook | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden
This episode features an interview with our friend Maria Hernandez of Cruz Family Little Farm about an hour northwest of Philadelphia in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania. Maria grows vegetables, herbs, and flowers for her community, including many Mexican specialties, some of which she shares through our seed catalog as well. We discussed Maria's life from growing up with eating mangos with chili in a hammock in her grandmother's orchard by the river in Mexico as a child, to moving to NYC, and then starting a farm in Pennsylvania. We walked the field visiting her favorite plants, including Cempaxochitl, which filled her grandmother's house with their aroma and beauty. Cempaxochitl are orange marigolds planted in May or June and harvested for Day of the Dead celebrations in October. SEED STORIES: Cempaxochitl Papalo Epazote Cilantro Macho Jicama Flor de Jamaica (Roselle) Tomatillo LINKS: Cruz Family Little Farm web page Cruz Family Little Farm at Truelove Seeds Cruz Family Little Farm: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok THIS EPISODE SUPPORTED BY: YOU! Please become a Patron for $1 or more a month at Patreon.com/trueloveseeds Scribe Video Center and WPEB, West Philly Community Radio ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Facebook | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden
This episode features an interview with our friends Hassan Muamer, a seed keeper and environmental advocate and engineer, his wife Hannan, and mother-in-law Fatimah. They had been visiting Philadelphia from Battir, Palestine for an extended stay and we were able to build a friendship through a shared love of seeds and land over a couple of years. For this interview, we made a fire at our farm, harvested young Yakteen gourds and tomatoes, and they cooked a delicious stew while we talked about Palestinian vegetables back home and in diaspora, Hassan's work to establish his farming village of Battir as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the work of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library - which is how we first met. In early 2024, our friend Vivien Sansour, the founder of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, came to speak at Bartram’s Garden and introduced us. Hassan, Hannan, Fatimah and their family began visiting our farm and with some of our other Palestinian friends, they helped us cultivate molokhia there for their family and for a big molokhia feast at the farm. We have also been working with the PHSL the past couple of years as one of their many US based seed protector sites, increasing several varieties of seeds from their collection here in the diaspora, and it has been such an honor. This year Hassan and his family grew many traditional crops at our farm, which you will hear about in this interview. SEED STORIES: (some links take you to our friends at Hudson Valley Seed Company and Experimental Farm Network, who work closely with PHSL) Molokhia Battiri Eggplant Yakteen Gourd Faqus White Cucumber Kusa Farfahina / Purslane LINKS: Palestine Heirloom Seed Project Palestine: Land of Olives and Vines – Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir - UNESCO World Heritage Centre THIS EPISODE SUPPORTED BY: YOU! Please become a Patron for $1 or more a month at Patreon.com/trueloveseeds Scribe Video Center and WPEB, West Philly Community Radio ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Facebook | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden
Sama Mansouri of Reyhan Herb Farm grows foods from Iran in the San Francisco Bay Area, California for her community members in the Iranian Diaspora. She also shares seeds through our Truelove Seeds catalog, and we met up in January of 2025 to talk about some of her favorite food plants. In June 2025, Israel and the US attacked Iran, accusing Iran of violating their nuclear nonproliferation obligations. There were thousands of casualties, mostly civilians. Sama and I spoke again a week after the ceasefire to introduce this episode and I'm finally getting around to sharing it with you! Listen in to learn about the various Iranian herbs of Sabzi and many other vegetable friends, as well as some thoughts and tips on growing and saving seeds from them. Find seeds from Sama's farm, including the following, at: https://trueloveseeds.com/collections/reyhan-herb-farm REYHAN HERB FARM SEEDS IN OUR CATALOG (8/25): Bademjan (Iranian Eggplant) Laboo (Iranian Beet) Marzeh (Iranian Summer Savory) Pache Baghala (Gilani Bush Bean) Shambalileh Iranian Fenugreek "Medzmama" Arevatsaghik (Armenian Sunflower) LINKS: Reyhan Herb Farm THIS EPISODE SUPPORTED BY: YOU! Please become a Patron for $1 or more a month at Patreon.com/trueloveseeds Scribe Video Center and WPEB, West Philly Community Radio ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Facebook | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Sama Mansouri!
In late November, 2024, we finally recorded an episode featuring Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram's Garden and many of the voices of the farmers there. This podcast in many ways is an extension of their work to "Go Back and Bring Forward What You Left Behind" - which is a take on the meaning of the Twi word "Sankofa". Its corresponding Akan proverb is, “Se wo were fi na wosan kofa a yenkyiri.” In large part, this approach to farming, community building, and cultural preservation with a heavy emphasis on learning the practices and foodways of our ancestors inspired the genesis of Truelove Seeds and this podcast lifting up the voices of people sharing about their ancestral foods. So please enjoy this episode where you hear reflections from many of the farmers from Sankofa, including: Chris Bolden Newsome, Laquanda Dobson, Lailah Lindsey Glass, Maria Jose Garcia, Ty Holmberg, Keyone Carter, and Hajja Glover. FOOD PLANTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Collard Greens Siling Labuyo Pepper Sehsapsing Corn Okra Castor Beans Roselle Hill Rice (Trinidad) LINKS: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram's Garden THIS EPISODE SUPPORTED BY: YOU! Please become a Patron for $1 or more a month at Patreon.com/trueloveseeds The No-Till Market Growers Podcast Network (which includes our friends at the Seed Farmer Podcast) Scribe Video Center and WPEB, West Philly Community Radio ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Facebook | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Sankofa Community Farm staff! Scribe Video Center
In late October, 2024, we (Chris and Owen) walked down our Germantown, Philadelphia street to interview our friend and neighbor Ms. Valerie Erwin on her porch. We talked about traditional (and less traditional) Gullah Geechee foodways with a focus on rice, field peas, okra, cornbread, shrimp and grits, thyme, hog jowls, Nan-e berenji (a Persian rice cookie), duck confit with fried Hoppin' John, and much more. Of course, with Chris and Ms. Val on the same porch, there are lots of easy segues into the African influence on Southern food. We talked about her former restaurant, her work as a chef now, and we took a walk around her garden. Here is an excerpt from Ms. Valerie’s bio from Les Dames D’escoffier’s member directory (with some updates): Valerie Erwin is a longtime Philadelphia chef who, for 12 years owned the critically acclaimed Geechee Girl Rice Cafe. Valerie specializes in the food of the Low Country—the coast of South Carolina and Georgia—where her grandparents were born. During its tenure, Geechee Girl was featured on many major media outlets, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Magazine, The Food Network, and NPR. For two years Valerie was the General Manager of EAT Café, a West Philadelphia neighborhood restaurant with an innovative pay-what-you-can model. Since 2020, Valerie has managed Farm to Families, a produce access program of St Christopher’s Foundation for Children. Valerie has served on the board of the Southern Foodways Alliance—the country’s premier institution for the study of food and culture. She now serves on the board of the Wyck Historic House Garden and Farm, a Germantown historic home, and the People's Kitchen Philly, a mutual aid kitchen. Valerie spends her time catering, doing business consulting, and working on food related projects with cultural institutions such as the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Jazz Project. FOOD PLANTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Sea Island Red Peas Sea Island Okra Hill Rice (Trinidad) Corn Thyme LINKS: Valerie Erwin / Geechee Girl Cafe on Instagram Anson Mills, Columbia, South Carolina Kilimanjaro Restaurant, Philadelphia Black Rice, by Judith Carney Chef Edna Lewis Culinary Historian Jessica B Harris Culinary Historian Michael W Twitty Fish Pepper episode on Seeds and Their People THIS EPISODE SUPPORTED BY: YOU! Please become a Patron for $1 or more a month at Patreon.com/trueloveseeds The No-Till Market Growers Podcast Network (which includes our friends at the Seed Farmer Podcast) Scribe Video Center and WPEB, West Philly Community Radio ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Facebook | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Valerie Erwin Our son, Bryan :) Elissa Fredeen of Scribe Video Center
This episode, recorded in late September 2024, features the voices and wisdom of East New York Farms youth leaders Jemel Thomas, Gaby, and Hope, as well as staff member Alexx Caceres as they talk about their community food work and seed keeping in particular. We were chatting moments before I (Owen) led a seed keeping workshop for an awesome group of community members and visitors where all had a chance to share knowledge, swap seeds, and shell several types of beans (this part was not recorded, sorry!) After Alexx, you hear from Ms. Marlene Wilks and her twin sister Ms. Pauline Reid while we sit at their farmers market table outside East New York Farms' gates during a bustling market. The two are from Jamaica and have been farming in East New York since 1990 and selling their Caribbean vegetables, herbs, and plants at this market since 2000. Several customers also share about their cultural foods: another Pauline from Jamaica, Molly from Senegal, and chef Desma Ross from Trinidad and Tobago. FOOD AND MEDICINE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Callaloo (Amaranthus spp.) Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia) Long Beans (Vigna unguiculata) Jamaican Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) Gungo Peas / Pigeon Peas (Cajanus cajan) Shado Beni / Culantro (Eryngium foetidum) Scotch Bonnet Pepper (Capsicum chinense) Cerasee (Momordica charantia) Moringa (Moringa oleifera) Guinea Hen Weed (Petiveria alliacea) Soursop (Annona muricata) Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon citratus) LINKS: East New York Farmers Market (homepage) East New York Farms (instagram) GreenThumb, City of New York Marlene Wilks at East New York Farms Pauline Reid at East New York Farms by Leave it Better New York gardens produce Caribbean treasures - New York Times / The Bulletin A Community of Growers How East New York Farms builds food security and provides jobs for its neighborhood. - Civil Eats In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa’s Botanical Legacy in the Atlantic World by Judith Carney THIS EPISODE SUPPORTED BY: YOU! Please become a Patron for $1 or more a month at Patreon.com/trueloveseeds The No-Till Market Growers Podcast Network (which includes our friends at the Seed Farmer Podcast) Scribe Video Center and WPEB, West Philly Community Radio ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Facebook | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Youth: Jemel, Gaby, and Hope Staff: Alexx Caceres and East New York Farms Ms. Marlene Wilks and Ms. Pauline Reid Customers: Pauline, Molly, and Desma Ross Elissa Fredeen of Scribe Video Center
This episode features a conversation in early July 2024 with Mohegan tribal members Sharon Maynard and Rachel Sayet about traditional Mohegan food. Sharon Maynard is a Mohegan elder and a Tribal Nonner. Retired after serving 12 years on the Council of Elders, Sharon’s interests include food sovereignty, seed saving, and decolonizing our diets. She has a BA in anthropology and an AS in food service management. Rachel Sayet (Akitusut) is a Mohegan writer, teacher, and indigenous food specialist. Rachel has a BS in restaurant management and an MA in anthropology. She has spent her adult life trying to cultivate awareness of Native New England. She worked for the Mohegan tribe for 8 years in their cultural department spearheading grassroots efforts in revitalizing traditional foods and diabetes prevention. FOOD AND MEDICINE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Maple, Birch Blueberries, Strawberries, Fiddlehead Ferns Milkweed, Sassafras, Elder, Boneset Corn, Beans, Squash, Sunflowers, Tobacco Succotash (Corn, Beans, Salt Pork, Salt and Pepper) Johnny Cakes (Journey Cakes) Yokaeg (traveling food made of dried, parched corn which has been ground finely with a mortar and pestle). Clams, Quahogs, Scallops, Shad, Salmon Fry Bread, Indian Tacos, Buffalo and Alligator Burgers Rachel's Johnny Cake Turkey Sandwich on America the Bountiful, PBS LINKS: Mohegan Tribe Rachel Beth Sayet, Indigenous Educator, Lightworker, Chef, Herbalist Wikôtamuwôk Wuci Ki tà Kihtahan (A Celebration of Land and Sea): Modern Indigenous Cuisine in New England by Rachel Sayet in Dawnland Voices 2.0 Tantaquidgeon Museum Gladys Tantaquidgeon - in Memorium Makiawisug, or the Little People at Mohegan Hill Eastern Woodlands Rematriation Sherry Pocknett, Mashpee Wampanoag chef, Sly Fox Den Restaurant The Man Who Weeps, story by Dale Carson, Abenaki cookbook author, in Dawnland Voices 2.0 Strawberry Thanksgiving, by Paula Dove Jennings, Narragansett Sioux Chef, Sean Sherman, Oglala Lakota Sioux Yazzie the Chef, Brian Yazzie, Diné Rowen White, Mohawk/Kanienkeha:ka, seed keeper THIS EPISODE SUPPORTED BY: YOU! Please become a Patron for $1 or more a month at Patreon.com/trueloveseeds The No-Till Market Growers Podcast Network (which includes our friends at the Seed Farmer Podcast) Scribe Video Center and WPEB, West Philly Community Radio ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Facebook | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Rachel Sayet and Sharon Maynard Elissa Fredeen of Scribe Video Center
Join us and 15 of Karen Washington's dear friends, family, mentees, and collaborators in wishing her a very happy 70th birthday with this episode featuring food and plant stories about our Farmy Godmother. Karen has been instrumental in the creation and guidance of neighborhood organizations such as Garden of Happiness, La Familia Verde Coalition and Farmers Market, and Bronx Green Up, as well as Farm School NYC, Black Urban Growers, and the Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference. She serves on the board of Soul Fire Farm, the Black Farmer Fund, and the Mary Mitchell Center and has been a part of so many others such as Just Food (where we first met) and New York Botanic Garden, and was once the president of the New York City Community Garden Coalition, organizing to protect the gardens from development. She is one of the four co-founders and owners of Rise & Root Farm in Chester, NY. More importantly, Karen is a fierce fighter for gardens and justice and loves her friends and families with gusto and grits. We hope these stories reveal her love and knack for investing in community and her life-long commitment to rising and rooting for justice. PEOPLE WITH KAREN STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: Karen Washington Lorrie Clevenger - Rise and Root Farm, Black Urban Growers, and Farm School NYC; formerly of Just Food and WhyHunger. Leah Penniman - Soul Fire Farm Cheryl Holt - Karen's neighbor, Garden of Happiness Kendra Washington Bass - Karen's daughter Kady Williams - Taqwa Community Farm, Iridescent Earth Collective; formerly of Bronx Green Up Ashanti Williams -Taqwa Community Farm, Black Yard Farm Julian Bass - Karen's grandson Nicole Ndiaye - NAHE, Bathgate Community Garden Gabriela Pereyra - Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust Aleyna Rodriguez - Mary Mitchell Center Ursula Chanse - Bronx Green Up, New York Botanic Garden Michael Hurwitz - Landing Light Strategies; formerly of Added Value and Greenmarket Kathleen McTigue - AmeriCorps; formerly of Just Food and New Roots Community Farm Frances Perez Rodriguez - Farm School NYC Jane Hayes Hodge - Rise and Root Farm; formerly of Just Food and Farm School NYC THIS EPISODE SUPPORTED BY: YOU! Please become a Patron for $1 or more a month at Patreon.com/trueloveseeds A Bookkeeping Cooperative: https://bookkeeping.coop/home/ ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Facebook | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Queen Karen Jane Hayes Hodge for helping make this happen Emilio Sweet-Coll for help with audio editing Our Patreon members and A Bookkeeping Cooperative
This episode is a compilation of recordings by seed geographer Chris Keeve and Truelove Seeds' business manager (and Owen's sister) Sara Taylor at our annual growers gathering at our Truelove Seeds farm in November 2023. They recruited party goers to their table where they mapped seed stories with strings and notes on a world map, and where they asked people to share about how their favorite seed became their favorite seed. There are a few recordings at the end that we added after the fact as well. SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE: Lex Wiley, Sankofa Community Farm - African Rice Hannah Thompson, Truelove Seeds - Black-Eyed Peas Tamanda Chabuuta, Texas A&M researcher - Corn Chiamaka Alozie, Truelove Seeds apprentice - Cotton and Malabar Spinach Nate Kleinman, Experimental Farm Network - Nigella sativa, Nanticoke Squash Olivia Gamber - Hilige Bean (Dutch Holy Bean) and O'Driscoll Pole Bean Linda Clark, Strawflower Farm - Strawflowers Gabe Lewis, SeedEd Farm - Cherokee Purple Tomato Cassandra Brown, Haverford College Farm - none yet :) Wren Rene, filmmaker + Dr. Ashley Gripper, Land Based Jawns - Sunflowers Bahay215 (Nicky Uy, Omar Buenaventura, and Ira Angel Aurelio Buena) - Siling Labuyo (Nicky) Ampalaya/Bittermelon (Omar) Sam Stern, SeedEd Farm - Cabbage Owen Taylor, Truelove Seeds - sauce tomatoes, San Marzano + Cow's Nipple Ruth Kaaserer, filmmaker - Dandelion, Dahlia, Fava Bean Miki Palchick, Truelove Seeds - Watermelon PREVIOUS GROWERS GATHERING EPISODE: Seeds and their People - EP. 17: Mycelial Networks of Seed Growers & the Truelove Seeds Listening Project ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Facebook | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Chris Keeve and Sara Taylor for recording most of these stories Emilio Sweet-Coll for help with audio editing and compiling show notes!
This episode features an interview with Zee Lilani at Kula Nursery in West Oakland, California in January 2024. Zee grows Doodhi (Lauki/Bottle Gourd) and Kalonji (Black Seed/Nigella) seeds for our Truelove Seeds catalog as well as many varieties for Second Generation Seeds at her farm in Petaluma, California. In this episode, we hear how Zee left her work as a hydrologist, became a farmer, worked in food sovereignty and food security supporting other farmers, and then started her own nursery business focused on South Asian plants during the pandemic. During the partition of India, her family was displaced from the city of Surat, in the state of Gujarat, in India to Pakistan. Her work with plants familiar to her mother and grandmother bring Surat back to life many decades later, far from home. In her words: 'Kula Nursery is a grassroots urban nursery working within and for BIPOC communities to increase food sovereignty through gardening education and culturally relevant plant starts. The mission at Kula Nursery is to reconnect the diaspora with heritage food, strengthen food sovereignty among these communities, and promote cultural and biological diversity. As a heritage nursery, we believe the act of growing, tending to, and eating heritage foods encourages folks to reclaim their power within the local food system while simultaneously honoring and reconnecting to their ancestors, immediate family and community at large.' Basically, this interview is right up our alley at Seeds and their People, focused on how plants connect us to our people, power, place, ancestors, and community. SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE: Cuban Oregano, Indian Mint, Patta Ajwain, Coleus amboinicus Curry Tree, Murraya koenigii Night Blooming Jasmine, Raat Ki Rani, Queen of the Night, Cestrum nocturnum Mogra, Arabian Jasmine, Belle of India, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Jasminum sambac Henna, Lawsonia inermis Amla, Indian Gooseberry, Emblica officinalis Sugarcane, Saccharum spp. Taro, Colocasia esculenta Bindhi, Okra, Abelmoschus esculentus Doodhi/Lauki, Bottle Gourd, Lagenaria siceraria Kalonji, Black Seed, Nigella, "Onion Seed", Nigella sativa Krishna Tulsi, Ocicimum tenuiflorum Desi Girl Tomato, Solanum lycopersicum Lal Mirch Indian Pepper, Capsicum annuum Baingan Indian Eggplant, Solanum melongena Surti Papdi and Valor Papdi, Lablab purpureus MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE: Kula Nursery webpage Kula Nursery Instagram Kula Nursery at Truelove Seeds Second Generation Seeds (direct links to Kula Nursery varieties above) Diaspora Co. Seeds and their People - EP. 22: Gujarati Seeds and Flavors with Nital Vadalia-Kakadia Seeds and their People - EP. 2: Kristyn Leach and Namu Farm ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Facebook | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Zee Lilani Nital Vadalia-Kakadia Ruth Kaaserer Emilio Sweet-Coll
Bryan O'Hara speaks about wholistic reasons for seed production on his vegetable farm, including working with natural processes such as growing winter annual crops for seed from summer to summer for better pest control and better flavor. He also discusses hybrid vigor and how to achieve this with genetically diverse populations of open pollinated plants, and explains how he selects for winter hardiness, more or less uniformity, earliness, flavor, and so on. In line with our theme of ancestral seeds, he talks about being both Polish and Irish and some connections to his farming practices through plants and ways of being and seeing. We end the episode with a traditional Irish song, Moorlough Shore, featuring Bryan on guitar, his daughter Clara O'Hara on vocals and flute, her boyfriend Sparrow Belliveau on Piano, and his brother Raven Belliveau on lead and backing violin. Bryan O’Hara and Anita Johnson have been growing vegetables at their three acre farm for over 30 years. Tobacco Road Farm produces high quality, nutrient-dense food using no pesticides and working with nature as much as possible in a close relationship. With an intensive focus on building the health of the soil, they use no-till natural farming methods. They also introduce indigenous microorganisms (IMOs) from the surrounding forest into their compost systems and foliar sprays to feed, protect, and invigorate their field soil and vegetable crops. Bryan is also the author of No-Till Intensive Vegetable Culture: Pesticide-Free Methods for Restoring Soil and Growing Nutrient-Rich, High-Yielding Crops. Tobacco Road Farm provides ten carefully selected open-pollinated seed varieties for the Truelove Seeds catalog, which are listed below: SEEDS GROWN BY TOBACCO ROAD FARM FOR TRUELOVE SEEDS: Ice-Bred Arugula Tokyo Bekana Wonnegold Turnip Polish Watermelon Mizuna Landrace Big Pink Tomato (not in episode) Vit Mache Presto Cress Vertissimo Chervil (not in episode) Claytonia MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE: Tobacco Road Farm at Truelove Seeds No-Till Vegetable Intensive Culture from Chelsea Green Publishing Several No-Till Growers Network podcast episodes featuring Bryan O'Hara ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Facebook | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Bryan O'Hara and Anita Johnson Clara O'Hara, Sparrow Belliveau, and Raven Belliveau Ruth Kaaserer
Dr. Bryan Connolly is a botanist, horticulturalist, and professor of Biology at Eastern Connecticut University in Willimantic, CT, my (Owen's) hometown. His research interests include rare plants of New England, the nightshade family, the rose family, and cannabis. Before Eastern, Professor Connolly was a faculty member at Framingham State University in Massachusetts and also worked for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, University of Mississippi’s Medicinal Plant Garden, New England Wild Flower Society, and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. He is also involved in his family farm: Cobblestone Farm CSA in Mansfield Center, CT. Bryan appreciates his family's tolerance of his growing unusual plants, especially his wife Diane Dorfer, and he is sorry about the Erubia spines all over the yard a few years back. He thanks his son William for helping to take care of the spiny Erubia as well! In this interview we hear about Bryan's 33 year journey with seed saving, seed production, and plant breeding; his work with giving a boost and sometimes reintroducing native plants from New England to Puerto Rico; his work with students around growing cannabis for medicinal uses; and his trials and initial breeding work with some crops we shared with him, including pigeon peas, field peas, and roselle. SEED AND PLANT STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE: Chenopodium formosanum (Taiwan) Grass Jelly (Taiwan, Indonesia) Erubia (Puerto Rico) Corpse Flower (Indonesia) Easter in August Cherry Tomato Minnesota 13 Field Pea Bo (Black-Eyed Pea Leaves) Mississippi Purple Hull Pea Northern Adapted Pigeon Peas Solanum chacoense (South America) Cannabis (specifically the beverage, Bhang from India) Chin Baung (Burmese Roselle Leaf) MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE: Bryan's ECSU professor bio Bryan's instagram: Northeastern Connecticut Botany Breeding Organic Vegatables, NOFA publication, by Rowen White and Bryan Connolly Organic Seed Production and Saving, NOFA publication, by Bryan Connolly Stewarding Indigenous Seeds and Planting by the Moon with Stephen Silverbear McComber, Seed Savers Exchange Ploidy (number of chromosomes in a cell) Ploidy, genetic diversity and speciation of the genus Aronia ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Facebook | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden
While visiting Greenville, Mississippi, we asked farmer and food justice elder Mama D (our mother, Ms. Demalda Newsome) to co-produce an episode about the farmers of the Delta. This is the first of multiple episodes about Black Farming Vibes in the Delta, we hope! FEATURING: 7:26 - Ms. Demalda Newsome interviews Kevion Devanté Young, CTE Diversified Agriculture instructor (Leland, MS) 23:21 - Owen Taylor interviews Mr. Rufus Newsome, Newsome Community Farms, Greenville, MS 49:20 - Owen and our son Bryan record animal sounds and talk about the surrounding farm fields, Greenville, MS 54:05 - Rufus and Demalda Newsome interview Mr. Elgin Johnson, farmer and wood seller in Greenville, MS SEED AND PLANT STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE: Carolina Broadleaf Mustard Turnip Greens Collard Greens Mississippi Purple Hull Peas Mississippi Silver Hull Crowder Peas Cow Horn Okra Speckled Brown Butter Bean MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE: Kevion Devanté (Linktree) Rufus and Demalda Newsome on Seeds and their People, episode 4, February 2020 Newsome Community Farm on YouTube, 2008 Newsome Community Farm (in Tulsa, OK), Guardian article, 2016 Visit Mr. Elgin Johnson for greens and firewood on Highway 1 at Short Irene in Greenville, MS. ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Facebook | Instagram | Twitter FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden THANKS TO: Demalda Newsome for coproducing, cohosting, and interviewing Rufus Newsome for interviewing and being interviewed Kevion Devanté and Elgin Johnson for being interviewed Bryan for helping Owen with editing ideas during animal noise section