Seeds And Their People

EP. 33: Ms. Valerie Erwin, Philly's Geechee Chef on the African Influence on American's Foodways

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

EP 32: East New York Farms and Caribbean Vegetables and Herbs in Brooklyn

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

EP. 31: Mohegan Food with Sharon Maynard and Rachel Sayet

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

EP. 30: Happy 70th Birthday Karen Washington! Food and Plant Stories about our Queen.

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

EP. 29: How Did Your Favorite Seed Become Your Favorite Seed? Truelove Seeds Growers Gathering 2023

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! 

Ep. 28: Zee Lilani, Kula Nursery, and South Asian plants in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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

EP. 27: Improving Vegetable Crops through Seed Production with Bryan O'Hara of Tobacco Road Farm

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

EP. 26: Saving Spiny Nightshades, Breeding Cannabis, Adapting Tropical Crops, and much more with Northeastern Connecticut Botanist Bryan Connolly

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

EP. 25: Black Farming Vibes in the Delta: Three Wise Men

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

EP. 24: Mary Menniti and the Italian Garden Project

Mary Menniti grew up with her Italian immigrant grandfather growing vegetables, figs, and tending sheep in her family's backyard. She created The Italian Garden Project to celebrate the joy and wisdom inherent in the traditional Italian American vegetable garden, preserving this heritage and demonstrating its relevance for reconnecting to our food, our families and the earth. Over the past few years, we have been connecting over our shared love of growing Italian American seeds and their stories, and are now collaborating on preserving on various farms and sharing her seed collection through our seed catalog. 

In this episode, we also hear the voices of Concetta Liberto, Antonino Machi, Fenice Mercurio, Charles Adornetto, Domenic Carpico, and Michele Vaccaro from interviews conducted by Mary.

 

SEED AND PLANT STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE:

 

• • Figs

  • Broccoli Rabe

  • Poverella Pole Bean from Concetta Liberto

  • Cow's Nipple Tomato from Mariano Floro

  • Lunga di Napoli Squash

  • Cucuzza from Antonino Machi

  • Cucuzza seed saving with Charles Adornetto

  • Fagiolina del Trasimeno

  • Long Bean

  • Vinny's Neapolitan Friariello (Frying Pepper)

  • Ischia Eggplant

  • Nepitella

  • Fennel from Fenice Mercurio

  • Black Fava (Mora de Precoce) from Nicola Ranieri

  • Swiss Chard from Caro Simbula

  • Sabatino’s "Peppe Insalata" Lettuce from Sabatino DiNardo

  • Floriani Red Flint Corn

 

MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:

• • Italian Garden Project (web)
  • Italian Garden Project (IG)
  • Italian Garden Project (YouTube)
  • Italian Garden Project (Facebook)
  • Bruno Garofalo's Bidente (Two-Toothed tool)
  • Italian American Podcast on Unification
  • Growers Grange Italian Heirloom CSA, Corbett, OR
  • Eggplant Parmesan recipe by Cooking with Nona
  • The Feast of the Madonna del Sacro Monte, Clifton, NJ

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:

• • • Mary Menniti
    • Concetta Liberto
    • Antonino Machi
    • Fenice Mercurio
    • Charles Adornetto
    • Domenic Carpico
    • Michele Vaccaro
    • Ruth Kaaserer