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

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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