#pentridge children's garden

[seedkeeping]

Efo Shoko (Lagos Spinach) is back in stock! Grown by our coworker Zainab Muhammad @ainbaz and other members of the @pentridgegarden on Southwest Philly for the African Diaspora collection of our Truelove Seeds catalog. Here’s the description and story: Efo Shoko (sometimes called Lagos Spinach or Nigerian Spinach) is a type of Celosia eaten in soups, stews, and side dishes in parts of Nigeria, Benin, Congo, and Cameroon, as well as in Indonesia and India. Shoko leaves can be all green or more colorful, like this particular strain, and are harvested along with the young stems and flower spikes. A member of the Amaranth family, it is believed to be native to Africa and is easy to grow in climates with suitable soil moisture, attracting few pests or diseases and thriving in heat, unlike many other common greens. Our seeds originally come from a local farmer friend who grows Shoko for a Liberian customer. #efoshoko #lagosspinach #nigerianspinach #liberianspinach #celosia (at Pentridge Children's Garden) https://www.instagram.com/seedkeeping/p/CZCvcV7OyfG/?utm_medium=tumblr

[seedkeeping]

This wonderful crew planted our seed keeping beds at Pentridge Children’s Garden today in West Philly. It the seventh year I’ve grown seed crops with Ms. Carol, her daughter Nicole, and her grandchildren, and it’s so nice to see the kids grow up in the garden. We planted Glass Gem Corn from the late corn breeder Carl “White Eagle” Barnes of Oklahoma, Pippin’s Golden Honey Pepper from Horace Pippin and the Black catering communities of Philadelphia and Baltimore of the turn of the last century, and the newly named “Marlene’s Jamaican Pea”. Years ago, my friend Ms. Ena McPherson from Tranquility Farm Urban Oasis in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn gave me these seeds as “Jamaican Cowpea”. She had gotten them from Ms. Marlene Wilks from Triple R Garden in East New York, Brooklyn, who has been growing them since leaving Jamaica for NYC so many years ago. Are they different from the black eyed peas we can find here? Marlene is not sure - she has only ever grown and eaten these ones - these that taste of home. I’ve known both Ena and Marlene for over a decade since my previous work was with community gardens and farms in NYC. I’m so grateful for the continuity of this work with people and the earth and how the seeds bring us together time and time again, as my friend Jackie so perfectly said earlier today. “I stand in a radiant Glory. My roots in the heart of Mother Earth. My crown in the clouds of Father Sky. The Four Winds encircle me in spirals of Love. One going up, then down, One going down, then up. They meet in the Center of Complete Perfection-- The Human Stalk of Corn.” --Carl Barnes #seedkeeping @pentridgegarden @enak.mcpherson @concrete_and_compost @fluffmcduff (at Pentridge Children's Garden) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAluVw8A5DN/?igshid=g90ht6zyfx7a

[seedkeeping]

Beautiful people at Pentridge Children’s Garden today for the Neighborhood Garden Trust’s Community Gardens Day. This is my 6th year as part of this garden. After spending long days in the sun at my farm working hard, it’s a pleasure to come home to the neighborhood and be part of a collective, volunteer-led, inter-generational effort where we spend as much time relaxing in the shade and telling stories as we do growing food, seeds, and young minds in the sun and soil. Also - it was great to meet Peter (far right) from Sierra Leone, who lives around the corner and planted Bitter Melon and shared with the group about its powerful healing powers for diabetics. #planthealing @pentridgegarden @ngtrust @fluffmcduff #pentridgechildrensgarden (at Pentridge Children's Garden)

[seedkeeping]

Spent the morning at Pentridge Children’s Garden with these wonderful people: Clara (it’s her 84th bday!), Carol, Deb, Mary, and Aley (and Algernong 📷). We collectively grow food and seed crops in our shared beds. The garden is addressing food sovereignty issues in the neighborhood by providing organic veggies and herbs to those who help out. We harvested some mugwort and dandelion, and planted potatoes, kale, collards, carrots, spinach, scallions, and mustard. #pentridgechildrensgarden #foodsovereignty (at Pentridge Children's Garden)

[seedkeeping]

“That’s Because...”: a Sea Island Red Pea journey told backwards with photos. You can order these seeds now at www.trueloveseeds.com! That’s because...they are germinating at 98% after a brief dormancy that passed with time and a month of refrigeration. That’s also because...Debbie Killingsworth saw me planting this variety at Pentridge Children’s Garden, learned they are Gullah-Geechee like her, and helped me plant and later harvest them. These are her hands, holding enough to finally offer to the public. That’s because...we’ve been increasing them at Pentridge for a couple years. We started with a small handful that we planted with a group of children in a George Washington Carver-inspired “Three Mo’ Sisters” garden where they grew up sorghum with sweet potatoes vining below. That’s because...our dear friend Shakara Tyler of the Black Dirt Farm Collective shared some with Chris and me at dinner one evening, years ago. That’s because... she received them from CheFarmer Matthew Raiford and Jovan Sage while visiting them in Georgia, where Matthew and his sister Althea are the sixth generation of farmers on their family’s Gilliard Farm (established 1874). He grew up eating Sea Island Red Peas and rice in a Gullah-Geechee dish called Reezy Peezy. That’s because... black eyed peas have been an essential ingredient in foods of the African diaspora - a way to hold onto tastes of the motherland. I imagine that’s also because...Geechee people along the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia have been able to hold onto more pieces of their African culture - particularly from Sierra Leone - better than most for various reasons under white oppression and enslavement. These peas, also known as Geechee Red Peas, have roots in Sierra Leone as well. That’s because...these very flavorful, delicious, storied peas are a type of southern field pea, or black eyed pea, which is a species that was first domesticated in West Africa. The story is in the seed. It’s a powerful, rich story, that tastes of all the lands and hands that have shaped it. Thanks to those with the dreams and the hard work that got this pea to future generations. #seaislandredpeas #geecheeredpeas #redpeas

[seedkeeping]

Teosinte is now recognized as the ancestor of corn, having been domesticated 9,000-10,000 years ago in the Central Balsas River Valley of southern Mexico. There is no plant in nature that produces ears of corn as we know them: 🌽. The oldest remains of cooking utensils with teosinte residue, which were found in the Balsas region, are dated to 8,700 years ago. That time alone is about 340 generations of our human family, slowly selecting for kernels that don't break apart when ripe, that don't have a hard shell around them, that are arranged in multiple rows instead of one, that are useful for popping, or flour, or hominy, or eating fresh and sweet. Thanks so much to our ancestors, human and plant, who have worked with nature to coax food from the wild and into our bellies to feed us and our future generations. Thanks also to our friends Lan Dinh and Lorrie Clevenger who shared seeds of this unnamed variety (anyone able to identify?) while at the UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems a few years ago. It is now growing at Pentridge Children's Garden on Lenape land in West Philadelphia. #teosinte #cornancestor #corn #zeamays #seedkeeping #seedsaving #seedselection #plantbreeding

[seedkeeping]

An alternative spring break group from Allegheny College helped me pack seeds following a talk about seed keeping and Truelove Seeds. Before that we cleaned fluffy cardoon seedheads and Fagiolina del Trasimeno seeds. Then we made a quick visit to Pentridge Children’s Garden, right around the corner from the new Jewish Farm School office, which is hosting the weeklong visit. #alleghenycollege #asb2018 #acgatorgram #tourofasiaslife #seedkeeping #trueloveseeds (at Jewish Farm School)

[seedkeeping]

The literal movement of seeds has begun! I have started receiving precious packages of seeds to list in the forthcoming Truelove Seeds catalogue from rad growers (with a focus on community food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture), including Soul Fire Farm (NY - @soulfirefarm), Namu Farm (CA - @namu_farm), East New York Farms (NY - @enyfarms), Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram's Garden (PA), the historic kitchen garden at Bartram's Garden (PA), Pentridge Children's Garden (PA), and Bear Bottom Farm (VA). I also received a beautifully decorated box of seeds and garlic from my childhood friend Beth (@elizandrews195) in CT, who skillfully replenishes and increases some of my varieties that are dangerously close to the end of their shelf life. Also in this photo is a box of donated seeds from Philadelphia Seed Exchange, my farm, and my partner's farm (Sankofa Farm at Bartram's Garden) that I will hand to a friend of a friend who is going back home tomorrow to grow food, resilience, and community in hurricane ravaged Puerto Rico. Finally, the papers are my first 12 germination test results of the year from the Maryland Dept of Ag: all 90% or above! So I can say with certainty that I'll be listing: Landis Winter Lettuce, Cima di Rapa Broccoli Rabe, Green Nutmeg Melon, Schimmeig Stoo Tomato, Plate de Haiti Tomato, Mikado Tomato, Borlotto Beans, Pois Geant Sans Parchemin Pea, Syrian Pea, Petit Marseillaise Sweet Pepper, Motherwort, and Winterspinat Haldenstein (Winter Spinach). Stay tuned for dozens and dozens and dozens more!! #seedkeeping #seedsforpuertorico #seedsovereignty

[seedkeeping]

This Spring, Debbie Killingsworth saw me planting Sea Island Red Peas at the children's garden and jumped in to finish the job when she heard they were Gullah Geechee like her! Today she helped with the harvest (and hand modeling for the 2018 Seed Keeping calendar!). This black eyed pea is used in coastal Carolina Hoppin’ John and Reezy Peezy. It is an important companion to Carolina Gold Rice in the pot, and it is a great crop to add nitrogen back into the soil between rice rotations. It’s a delicious pea, and so we’ve planted these for Hoppin’ John (a staple in our home). Very excited and grateful that Karen Washington of @riseandrootfarm is growing this variety for our forthcoming seed catalogue. Thanks as always to Shakara Tyler for sharing these seeds with us three years ago, and to Matthew Raiford who shared them with her from his century old family farm on Gullah Geechee land in Georgia. #redseaislandpeas #seaislandredpeas #gullahgeecheecuisine #vignaunguiculata #blackeyedpeas (at Pentridge Children's Garden)

[seedkeeping]

Plate de Haiti is a vermilion red, apple-shaped tomato that has been associated with Hispaniola since the 1550s. In 1793, the Creole refugees who fled the successful uprising of enslaved people in Haiti brought this tomato with them. It was reintroduced to North America in 1992 when Norbert Parreira (France) shared the seeds with tomato connoisseur Dr. Carolyn Male, who shared them with Dr. William Woys Weaver, who later shared the seed and its history with me. We grow this tomato at Pentridge Children’s Garden in West Philly so the kids can learn about, taste, and pass on a piece of Caribbean heritage. #platedehaiti #platedehaititomato #heirloomtomato (at Delaware County, Pennsylvania)

[seedkeeping]

Sea Island Red Peas (Vigna unguiculata). This is their third year growing at Pentridge Children's Garden, ever since our friend Shakara Tyler shared the seed with my partner Chris and me. She got them from Mathew Raiford's 100+ year old family farm on Gullah land in Georgia. This Gullah Geechee variety is still used in coastal Carolina Hoppin' John and Reezy Peezy, and besides being an important companion to Carolina Gold Rice in the pot, it is a great crop to add nitrogen back into the soil between rice rotations. It's a delicious black eyed pea, and so we've planted these for Hoppin' John (a staple in our home) AND as a backup seed supply. Very excited and grateful that Karen Washington of @riseandrootfarm is growing this variety for our forthcoming seed catalogue. The mural is of some of the kids who are now young adults a few doors down from the garden. #redseaislandpeas #seaislandredpeas #gullahgeecheecuisine #vignaunguiculata #blackeyedpeas (at Pentridge Children's Garden)

[seedkeeping]

Community Gardens Day at Pentridge Children's Garden was about reconnecting with the soil and our plant relations. Up top, Debbie saw me planting Sea Island Red Peas, and as someone with Gullah Geechee ancestry she asked to plant the rest of her seeds. I think she mentioned wanting to cook these black eyed peas with kidneys and okra - which is not a recipe we have in our vegetarian house but I'd love to try it once! Below, a few neighborhood kids stopped by and learned and taught each other how to lift carrots, which they took home with them. There is joy and healing in the soil! #communitygardensday #neighborhoodgardenstrust #pentridgechildrensgarden #seaislandredpeas #vignaunguiculata #daucuscarota #eachoneteachone #seedkeeping (at Pentridge Children's Garden)

[seedkeeping]

Fig (Ficus carica). When you've been underground for months, holding tight, eating your reserves, what does it feel like to push up the first leaf of spring from the soil? Maybe it feels like the first breath after you've stayed under water too long? The sandwich at 9pm after fasting all day? The visit home for the first time in years? Or maybe an embrace with a lover you just saw yesterday? Or just a waking up after another night of sleep? I may never know. But also, I might someday know. #ficuscarica #figleaf #figtree (at Pentridge Children's Garden)

[seedkeeping]

Winter at Pentridge Children's Garden (yet we have a record high of 65 degrees today). The Fig (Ficus carica) and Pomegranate (Punica granatum) are wrapped in remay cloth and the winter greens are covered with clear plastic row covers. I thinned the Black Raspberries (Rubus occidentalis) and got rid of their dead canes. Phil Forsyth from Philadelphia Orchard Project brought ladders and tools to tackle the giant Apple (Malus pumila) trees. We pruned about a quarter of the Currant (Ribes rubrum) branches. Daffodil (Narcissus spp.) shoots are emerging. #pentridgechildrensgarden #wintergarden#winterpruning #seasonextension 

[seedkeeping]

Had such a nice time at Pentridge Children's Garden in West Philly today. We pulled very sweet over-wintered carrots and planted and learned about the histories of Horace Pippen and the Fish Pepper; Plate de Haiti Tomato and the Haitian Revolution; Paul Robeson Tomato and the Russian tribute; the Black Peanut from Seagrove, North Carolina; the pre-Incan Yacon Blanco and Yacon Morado; and the Aztec food Dahlias. In this bed pictured, we imagined a version of the three sisters of the Indigenous North Americans (corn, beans, squash) that Dr. George Washington Carver might have planted. We came up with sorghum, black eyed peas, and sweet potato. We hope the peas climb, the sweet potatoes sprawl, and the sorghum stands tall!