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

• Inquirer, 12/21

SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE:

• Moses Smith Yellow Cabbage Collards

• Sokoyokoto Lagos Spinach (Leaf Celosia from EFN)

MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Heirloom Collard 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

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FIND CHRIS HERE:

Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden

THANKS TO:

• Amirah Mitchell

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)

MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:

Please Support Hurricane Relief in Loíza, PR:

• Taller Salud

Resources and organizations mentioned:

• Norris Square Neighborhood Project (NSNP)

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

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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:

Truelove Seeds

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FIND CHRIS HERE:

Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden

THANKS TO:

• Iris Brown

SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE (CONTINUED):

• Oregano de Puerto Rico (Lippia micromera)

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

MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Help Justevia buy a 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

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:

Truelove Seeds

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FIND CHRIS HERE:

Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden

THANKS TO:

• Halima Salazar

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

MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:

• The Community Garden at Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram's Garden

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:

Truelove Seeds

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FIND CHRIS HERE:

Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden

THANKS TO:

• Mrs. Pearl Trotter

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

MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:

Interviewee: Kai Delgado Pfeifer

• Kai on Instagram:@lolas.apo

Resources and organizations mentioned:

• Bahay215: Filipinx traditions in Lenapehoking

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:

Truelove Seeds

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FIND CHRIS HERE:

Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden

THANKS TO:

• Kai Delgado Pfeifer

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 [email protected], or through their department page.

SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE:

• Spilanthes (Bullseye)

MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:

Interviewee: Chris Keeve

• Chris on Instagram: @c.keeve

Resources and organizations mentioned:

• Zora Neale Hurston on Florida Food: Recipes, Remedies & Simple Pleasures, by Frederick Douglass Opie

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:

Truelove Seeds

Facebook  |  Tumblr  |  Instagram  |  Twitter

FIND CHRIS HERE:

Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden

THANKS TO:

• Chris Keeve

In this episode, Palestinian chef Anan Jardali Zahr describes her beloved foodways and ingredients, including Molokhia, Kusa, and Zaatar. Anan was born in Akka, Palestine and came to California at age 11, after the Six-Day War of 1967. She graduated from University of California at Berkeley’s Department of Near Eastern Studies and attended Graduate School at West Chester University in the Department of Education. She and her family have lived in the Philadelphia area since 1980 where she previously taught in the school system.

From 1995-2001, Anan had a Mediterranean restaurant in Wilmington, Delaware and she continues to share her love for Palestinian food through cooking demonstrations (which is how we first met, at the Culinary Literacy Center of the Free Library of Philadelphia) and through Instagram: @ananzahr

SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE:

• Palestinian Molokhia

MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:

Interviewee: Anan Zahr

• Anan on Instagram: @ananzahr

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:

Truelove Seeds

Facebook  |  Tumblr  |  Instagram  |  Twitter

FIND CHRIS HERE:

Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden

THANKS TO:

• Anan Jardali Zahr

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

MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:

Interviewee: Frank Morton

• Wild Garden Seed: website

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:

Truelove Seeds

Facebook  |  Tumblr  |  Instagram  |  Twitter

FIND CHRIS HERE:

Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden

THANKS TO:

• Frank Morton

This episode features four interviews with Karen farmers from the mountains of the Karen state of Burma (Myanmar) who spent roughly a decade in Thai refugee camps before resettling in South Philadelphia. They now grow their traditional crops at Novick Urban Farm.

The Karen way with food plants was key to their survival and joy while living in the center of a civil war; then again while hiding in the jungle and escaping to Thailand, biding time in the tight quarters of refugee camps; and today, farming and foraging here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their heirloom vegetables and traditional foods have become a lifeline, a heartstring, a refuge, and a delicious portal home.

SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE:

• White Flowering Mustard (Rat-Tail Radish)

MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:

Interviewees: Naw Doh, Hte Da Win, Hser Ku, and Tay Aye, Karen farmers from Burma, at Novick Community Farm

• Memories of Myanmar: Article Owen wrote in Mother Earth Gardener, May 2020, from the 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

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:

Truelove Seeds

Facebook  |  Tumblr  |  Instagram  |  Twitter

FIND CHRIS HERE:

Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden

THANKS TO:

• Naw Doh

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

MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:

Xavier Brown, January 2020

• Soilful City on Instagram: @soilful

Denzel Mitchell, January 2020

• Instagram: @fatherof5fivefifths

Dr. William Woys Weaver, August 2019

• Instagram: @roughwoodseeds, @williamwoysweaver

Michael Twitty, April 2019

• Instagram: @thecookinggene

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:

• Xavier Brown