Episodes
Thursday Dec 01, 2022
EP. 17: Mycelial Networks of Seed Growers & the Truelove Seeds Listening Project
Thursday Dec 01, 2022
Thursday Dec 01, 2022
Chris Keeve is a former Truelove Seeds apprentice and current seed grower in Kentucky who drove out for our annual Truelove growers gathering at our farm on October 22nd, 2022 to deliver seeds and conduct interviews for their dissertation: the Truelove Seeds Listening Project. With Truelove business manager and web wizard Sara Taylor recording the audio and interjecting occasionally, they talked to growers about their involvement in our network, including occasional seed stories, testimonials, suggestions, and which seeds they'd bring to another planet. This episode is a compilation of some of the interviews.
SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE:
- Korean Hong Gochu Pepper
- Paul Robeson Tomato
- Charleston Grey Watermelon
- Bitter Melon
- Mississippi Purple Hull Pea
- Cherokee Purple Tomato
- Potawatomi Pole Lima
- Shawnee Calico Bean
- Astronomy Domine Sweet Corn
- Heilige Boon (Holy Bean)
- Butternut Squash
- Seminole Pumpkin
- Kernza Grain
MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:
- Truelove Seeds Growers Gathering post
- Chris Keeve featured on Seeds and Their People
- Care of Creation Ministries, Kenya
- SeedEd Farm
- Arcadia University Veteran Farmer Program
- Appel Farm Arts Camp
- Rowen White's Seed Seva Seasonal Mentorship Online Course
- Food as Public work by Pantaleon Florez of Maseualkualli Farm
- Poor Prole's Almanac
- Strawflower Farm
- Experimental Farm Network
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:
FIND CHRIS HERE:
Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden
THANKS TO:
- Chris Keeve
- Sara Taylor
- The Cassell Family
- SeedEd Farm
- Amy June
- Olivia Gamber
- Jonathan Minick
- Nathan Kleinman
- Cecilia Sweet-Coll
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
EP. 15: Seeds of the African Diaspora with Amirah Mitchell & Sistah Seeds
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
In this fifteenth episode, Amirah Mitchell of Sistah Seeds gives us a tour of the African Diasporic seed crops on her farm in Emmaus, PA. She also describes her work to preserve seeds and stories of African-American, West African, and Afro-Caribbean foodways, how she got to this point, and where she is headed. Amirah worked for four years as an apprentice and coworker at Truelove Seeds, and we are so grateful for our continued collaboration as she embarks on the next phase of her work as a farm owner, seed keeper, educator, and inspiration to so many.
AMIRAH MITCHELL, SISTAH SEEDS:
- Web: sistahseeds.com
- Instagram: @sistahseeds
- Amirah in the press:
- Amirah Mitchell at Temple University
- Amirah's Seed Keeping Fellowship at Greensgrow
SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE:
- Moses Smith Yellow Cabbage Collards
- Sea Island Brown Cotton
- Blue Shackamaxon Bean (Lenape)
- Ezelle Family Fish Eye Pea
- Fish Pepper
- Benne (Sesame)
- Green Striped Cushaw Squash
- Sea Island Red Okra
- White African Sorghum
- Celosia
- Egusi Melon
- "Odell's" Large White Watermelon
- Chocolate Scotch Bonnet Pepper
- Aunt Lou's Underground Railroad Tomato
MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:
- Heirloom Collard Project
- Heirloom Collard Project on NPR (featuring Amirah and Mama Ira Wallace!)
- Truelove Seeds Indigenous Seeds Rematriation (scroll to bottom)
- Kris Hubbard, Appalachian Seed Keeper
- Fish Pepper episode, Seeds and Their People
- Cushaw Squash in Michael Twitty's Afroculinaria blog
- The Whole Okra: A Seed to Stem Celebration, by Chris Smith
- Herbal Affirmations, 'San' Kofi Sankofa, GoFundMe
- Lost Crops of Africa, Egusi
- Watermelon Men of Philadelphia, Inquirer article on the Carter family
- Ben Burkett, Federation of Southern Cooperatives
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:
FIND CHRIS HERE:
Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden
THANKS TO:
- Amirah Mitchell
- Cecilia Sweet-Coll
Tuesday Sep 20, 2022
EP. 14: Iris Brown: Afro-Puerto Rican food and culture in Philadelphia
Tuesday Sep 20, 2022
Tuesday Sep 20, 2022
In this episode, we hear from Señora Iris Brown of Loíza, Puerto Rico, who grew up learning to cook and use herbs from her grandmother and the strong women of her hometown. She came to New York in 1967 for economic reasons, and moved to Philadelphia in 1970 when she fell in love with the back yards here. She said “I saw the possibilities of planting flowers, hanging a hammock, and looking at the stars!!”
In the 1980s, she and her friend Tomasita Romero co-founded Grupo Motivos, a collective of Puerto Rican women that worked with West Kensington residents to establish the historic and award-winning Norris Square gardens on many blighted, vacant properties that had been used for selling drugs. Now part of Norris Square Neighborhood Project, these spaces are filled with life and beauty and Puerto Rican culture.
SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE:
- Northern Adapted Pigeon Peas (Gandules)
- Aji Dulce (Seasoning Pepper)
- For a more complete list, see bottom of page
MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:
Please Support Hurricane Relief in Loíza, PR:
Resources and organizations mentioned:
- Norris Square Neighborhood Project (NSNP)
- NSNP: Instagram; Facebook; Web
- Documentary: Grupo Motivos presents: Villa Africana Colobó (Vimeo)
- Cookbook: El burén de Lula
- Reference book: Earth And Spirit: Medicinal Plants And Healing Lore From Puerto Rico by Maria Benedetti
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
SUPPORT OUR PATREON!
Become a monthly Patreon supporter! This will better allow us to take the time to record, edit, and share seed stories like these.
FIND OWEN HERE:
Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter
FIND CHRIS HERE:
Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden
THANKS TO:
- Iris Brown
- Norris Square Neighborhood Project
- Luz Maria Orozco
- Akoth Tutu
- Maebh Aguilar
- Tania María Ríos Marrero and Grimaldi Baez
SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE (CONTINUED):
- Oregano de Puerto Rico (Lippia micromera)
- Avocado, Aguacate (Persea americana)
- Papaya, Lechosa (Carica papaya)
- Annatto, Achiote (Bixa orellana)
- Vicks (Plectranthus tometosa)
- Leren (Goeppertia allovia)
- Red-Stemmed Yuca, Cassava (Manihot esculenta)
- Mother of Millions (Kalanchoe daigremontiana)
- Rue, Ruda (Ruta graveolens)
- Basil, Abahaca (Ocimum basilicum)
- Lemongrass, Limoncillo (Cymbopogon citratus)
- Life Plant, Oja de Bruja (Kalanchoe pinnatum)
- Soursop, Guanábana (Annona muricata)
- Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
- Plantain, Llantén (Plantago major)
- Krapao, Thai Holy Basil (Ocimum spp.)
- Pigeon Peas, Gandules (Cajunus cajun)
- Aji Dulce, Seasoning Pepper (Capsicum annuum)
- Peppermint, Menta (Mentha piperita)
- Ornamental Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas)
- Zinnia (Zinnia elegans)
- Black Eyed Peas, Frijol de Caritas (Vigna unguiculata)
- Cleome (Cleome hassleriana)
- Castor, Higuereta (Ricinus comunis)
- Coconut, Coco (Cocos nucifera)
Thursday Aug 25, 2022
EP. 13: Halima Salazar & Dria Price: Building a Bridge from Mississippi to Nigeria
Thursday Aug 25, 2022
Thursday Aug 25, 2022
This episode features Halima Salizar and Dria Price of Justevia Teas in Watervalley, Mississippi with a focus on their beloved food and medicine plants, their work, and the ways the food cultures of West Africa and the Southern US mirror each other. They grow, harvest, dry, and package their tea blends at their farm, and they host pop-ups with local restaurants featuring Nigerian foods. They also grow the seeds of Nigerian vegetables as well as heirlooms from Mississippi and Alabama for the Truelove Seeds catalog.
SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE:
- Honey Bean
- Purple Hull Pea
- Hibiscus
- White Velvet Okra
- Ginger
- Efo Aleho (Coming soon. Similar to Callaloo)
- Egusi
- Ewedu (Coming soon. Similar to Palestinian Molokhia)
- Ugu (Fluted Pumpkin)
- Locust Beans, fermented, aka Iru
- Stevia
MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:
- Help Justevia buy a Farm!
- Justevia's Linktree
- Mr. Brown's Farm, Watervally, MS
- Chicory Market, Oxford, MS
- The Potlikker Papers, John T. Edge
- Southern Foodways Alliance podcast: Gravy
- Ewedu Broom on YouTube
- Seeds and Their People, EP 5: RAU ĐAY, LALO, SALUYOT, EWEDU, MOLOKHIA
- Molokhia Survey, by Antonio Tahhan
- Antonio Tahhan's Linktree
- Braiding Seeds Fellowship
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
SUPPORT OUR PATREON!
Become a monthly Patreon supporter! This will better allow us to take the time to record, edit, and share seed stories like these.
FIND OWEN HERE:
Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter
FIND CHRIS HERE:
Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden
THANKS TO:
- Halima Salazar
- Dria Price
- Maebh Aguilar
- Zainab Muhammad
Thursday Aug 18, 2022
Ep. 12: Mrs. Pearlie Mae Jackson Trotter: a Jewel of the Mississippi Delta
Thursday Aug 18, 2022
Thursday Aug 18, 2022
This interview overflows with deep wisdom, rough experience and a heapin’ side of humor all in Ms. Pearl’s pecan smooth Mississippi cadence and style. It is uncharacteristically long for our conversations and we know you will be BLESSED by every minute! Ms. Pearl is a daughter of the delta and migrated north. She was born and raised in what would today be considered deep poverty in the then and now poorest state of the union in a time and place where slavery was dead in name only. White supremacy and deep oppression of the working class was and remains a very real and present danger to peace, health, economic and spiritual progress in our beloved Mississippi.
There will be some parts of Ms. Pearl’s personal life story that might be hard for some listeners to hear. Also Ms. Pearl will be speaking from her deep life experiences, in her dialect and through her ways of knowing the world in which she matured. Please listen as always with a beginner's mind and an open heart to her intense sharing. Due to strong language and vivid descriptions of racist violence, this may not be suitable listening for young children.
SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE:
- Speckled Brown Butter Bean
- Mississippi Purple Hull Pea
- Mississippi Silver Hull Crowder Pea
- Seven Top Turnips
- Florida Broadleaf Mustard
- Collard Greens
- Rutabagas
- Okra coffee
- Shamrock/Wood Sorrel
- May Apples
MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:
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
SUPPORT OUR PATREON!
Become a monthly Patreon supporter! This will better allow us to take the time to record, edit, and share seed stories like these.
FIND OWEN HERE:
Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter
FIND CHRIS HERE:
Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden
THANKS TO:
- Mrs. Pearl Trotter
Thursday Jul 28, 2022
Ep. 11: Kai Delgado Pfeifer and Filipinx ancestral food and plant medicine
Thursday Jul 28, 2022
Thursday Jul 28, 2022
In this episode, we hear from former Truelove Seeds apprentice Kai Delgado Pfeifer in an interview from last fall 2021 when they visited our office and seed room in Philadelphia. There is also a short update from this week so we can hear the awesome things Kai is up to now and in the near future. This is the second of two back-to-back episodes featuring former apprentices, but we will certainly do more in the future.
Kai Delgado Pfeifer (they/them) is a Filipinx/Mixed European descent earth tender activating ancestral food, plant medicine, and spirituality as mediums for healing and liberation. Kai is also an educator who moves with the belief that our children are the light beings who will re-awaken our lineages of wisdom for the liberation and regeneration of our Mama Earth.
SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE:
- Smooth Bitter Melon
- Saluyot (Molokhia)
- Burdock Root
- Rice Beans (Tahores/Tapilan)
- Rice Peas
- Northern Adapted Pigeon Peas
- Hill Rice (South Trinidad)
MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:
Interviewee: Kai Delgado Pfeifer
- Kai on Instagram:@lolas.apo
- Kinabuhi ang Pag-Kaon / Food is Life Class
Resources and organizations mentioned:
- Bahay215: Filipinx traditions in Lenapehoking
- Neal Santos: Philadelphia friend and photographer, and former co-owner of Lalo, a fast-casual Filipino food stall
- Beatrice Misa Crisostomo, Global Seed Savers
- MASIPAG: Rice and freedom in the Philippines
- Kai Farms: A permaculture farm in the Philippines
- Farm School NYC
- Amirah Mitchell's 2021 seed keeping fellowship at Greensgrow
- GMOs and their Implications on the Filipino Peoples' Food Security, Lorelei Beyer
- Article: the Philippines has become the first country to approve the commercial production of genetically modified, nutrient-enriched Golden Rice
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
SUPPORT OUR PATREON!
Become a monthly Patreon supporter! This will better allow us to take the time to record, edit, and share seed stories like these.
FIND OWEN HERE:
Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter
FIND CHRIS HERE:
Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden
THANKS TO:
- Kai Delgado Pfeifer
- Yawa
Thursday Jul 21, 2022
Ep. 10: Chris Keeve: Seed Keeper, Chaotic Gardener, and Cooperative Geographer
Thursday Jul 21, 2022
Thursday Jul 21, 2022
In this episode, we hear from former Truelove Seeds apprentice and current Truelove Seeds seed producer and collaborator Chris Keeve in an interview from last fall 2021 when they visited during our annual growers gathering at our farm outside of Philadelphia, PA. There is also a short clip from the summer of 2019 while a group of us harvested peas and Chris narrates, and a short update from this month so we can hear the awesome things Chris is up to this summer.
Chris Keeve is a seedkeeper, chaotic gardener, and PhD student in Geography at the University of Kentucky. Their work focuses on the political ecologies and cooperative geographies of participatory seed work, especially through lenses of Black, queer, and liberatory ecologies. They've been known to write things here and there about seeds, politics, ecology, histories, futures, and materiality. Their apprenticeship with Truelove has led into their work with projects like the TradeRoots Culinary Collective in Wisconsin, as well as their current work in central Kentucky as a seed grower for Truelove, as well as for Ujamaa Seeds and Experimental Farm Network. This season they are most excited about the Paul Robeson tomato, with an upcoming growout of blue collards a close second. You can find them at c.keeve on Instagram, christiankeeve on Twitter, email keeve@uky.edu, or through their department page.
SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE:
- Spilanthes (Bullseye)
- Spilanthes (Lemon Drop)
- Hill Country Red Okra
- White Velvet Okra
- Green Glaze Collards
- Tulsi (Kapoor)
- Tulsi (Vana)
MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:
Interviewee: Chris Keeve
- Chris on Instagram: @c.keeve
- Chris on Twitter: christiankeeve
- Chris on email: keeve@uky.edu
- Chris's department page
Resources and organizations mentioned:
- Zora Neale Hurston on Florida Food: Recipes, Remedies & Simple Pleasures, by Frederick Douglass Opie
- Heirloom Collards Project
- TradeRoots Culinary Collective
- Lobelia Commons
- Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
- Experimental Farm Network
- Ujamaa 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
SUPPORT OUR PATREON!
Become a monthly Patreon supporter! This will better allow us to take the time to record, edit, and share seed stories like these.
FIND OWEN HERE:
Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter
FIND CHRIS HERE:
Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden
THANKS TO:
- Chris Keeve
- Althea Baird
- Amirah Mitchell
- Maebh Aguilar
- Sara Taylor
Thursday May 19, 2022
Ep. 8: Lettuce Amongst the Stars: Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seed
Thursday May 19, 2022
Thursday May 19, 2022
Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seed in Philomath, Oregon visited our Truelove Seeds farm during a cross-country road trip in July, 2019. Frank began in the early 1980s as a salad grower providing greens for grocery stores throughout the country. As you will hear in this episode, an accidental hybrid between two of his lettuces sparked a deep passion for breeding new varieties, and he has been doing so ever since, now with varieties in many seed catalogs, and even in space.
Frank has been a invaluable mentor for so many people in the organic and small regional seed company world. We are so grateful for the wisdom he shares.
SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE:
- Outredgeous Lettuce
- Lava Dome Lettuce
- Wild Garden Kale Mix
- Chickweed
- Wrinkled Crinkled Crumpled Cress
- White Russian Kale
MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:
Interviewee: Frank Morton
- Wild Garden Seed: website
- Wild Garden Seed on Instagram: @wild_garden_seed
- Dr. Alan Kapuler and Peace Seeds
- Renee Shepherd and Renee's Garden
- John Navazio's The Organic Seed Grower
- Rob Johnston and Johnny's Select Seeds
- Luther Burbank's Wikipedia
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
SUPPORT OUR PATREON!
Become a monthly Patreon supporter! This will better allow us to take the time to record, edit, and share seed stories like these.
FIND OWEN HERE:
Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter
FIND CHRIS HERE:
Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden
THANKS TO:
- Frank Morton
- Chris Keeve
- Jonah Hudson
- Maebh Aguilar
- Sara Taylor
Monday Feb 03, 2020
Ep. 3: Ira Wallace and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Monday Feb 03, 2020
Monday Feb 03, 2020
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:
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:
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