Just Planted: A Seed Playlist
By: Angela Choe
It’s finally spring and whether you’re a seasoned or amateur gardener, you’re probably getting excited to get your hands into the soil. These podcasts discuss gardening basics, seed sharing, and reinventing vegetables as well as education, art, time travel, sustainability and beyond. Get your seeds started and tune in!
Fields Episode 2: Amy Franceschini of Futurefarmers on Art, Seeds, and Public Space: How does grain cultivation relate to urban agriculture? How can growing food in cities function as art? As education? Why do so many people love flatbread? Amy Franceschini, founder of Futurefarmers, joins the Fields team to discuss these and other aspects of her work. They also talk about seed banking, using agriculture to bring new social life to post-industrial waterfronts, and urbanization and the movement of knowledge about heritage grains. (Oh, and, yes—the King of Norway does get involved.)
Time For Lunch Episode 34: Seeds!: Harry Rosenblum and Hannah Fordin are going back to their roots to learn about the source of all plant life: seeds! Special guest Shannie McCabe of Baker Creek Seeds teaches them about the importance of having a colorful assortment on their plate and much more. Plus, as always, this episode is chock full of fun facts, jokes, and music.
Feast Yr Ears Episode 184: Grow Your Own, and Help your Neighbors: Lucy Lesser lives in Brooklyn NY and has been gardening, first on a balcony and later in a back yard, for the last 8 years. She has expanded her garden and now grows a large variety of food in her own backyard focusing on things that are hard to find in stores, or that seem overly expensive. She saves seeds, trades seeds and this spring she gave away more than 1500 seedlings to her neighbors so that they can grow some of their own food too.
Fields Episode 1: Seeds and Time Travel: How are seeds gender-defying time travelers? Melissa and Wythe talk to plant-focused artists Ellie Irons and Anne Percoco of the Next Epoch Seed Library and to Ken Greene, expert seed breeder and seed librarian. They explore how different seeds travel across time and space—sometimes becoming “invasive” “weeds,” and sometimes disappearing from human cultivation. Anne and Ellie are working to help everyone, especially those in big cities, rethink their relationships to the plants traveling all around them, to their neglected environments, to their politicized borders, and to the world’s rapidly changing climate. Ken is working with indigenous leaders to grow, save, and return—without keeping—sacred seeds. They talk about organic seeds, the ethics of growing, and farming while queer. They learned so much from their first guests, and they know listeners will, too!
Feast Yr Ears Episode 202: Garden NOW!: Shannie McCabe is an educator writer and farmer with Baker Creek Heirloom seeds. Growing up on an island off the coast of Rhode Island Shannie didn't have much exposure to heirlooms, but once she hit the mainland it was ON! Living in Florida now she can grow things all winter and then she travels to the Missouri HQ of Baker Creek for the summer. Tune in for some awesome tips on seed saving, what to do about tomato hornworms spring planting and more!
The Farm Report Episode 367: Super Seeds: How Row 7 Is Reinventing Vegetables: Created by renowned chef Dan Barber, breeder Michael Mazourek, and seedsman Matthew Goldfarb, Row 7 is “a seed company grounded in the notion that deliciousness might just change the world.” In this episode, host Lisa Held sits down with Mazourek to talk about how the company has been working with a network of chefs and farmers to develop vegetables like the Badger Flame Beet and the Purple Beauregarde Snow Pea. They also tackle why breeding for flavor can produce more nutritious vegetables, how to breed plants for resilience in the face of climate change, and what seed farming really looks like.
Queer the Table Episode 4: Fall in Love with Truelove Seeds: Nico sits in a park with Owen Taylor- queer seed keeper and social justice activist Owen Taylor. They talk about how seed keeping is tied to cultural sovereignty and, maybe, queer family building. This episode also features music from Owen's band, My Gay Banjo!
Feast Yr Ears Episode 122: One Tiny Delicious Seed: Shelby Zitelman and her sisters Jackie and Amy run Soom foods. Based in Philadelphia, they import tahini from Israel that is made from single-origin sesame seeds sourced in Humera, Ethiopia. While finishing a business degree Shelby was visiting her sister in Israel and met her then boyfriend (now husband) and got her first real taste of tahini that he was making. Why wasn't this quality of product available in the US? This simple question launched Soom, They now have expanded their line to include a chocolate tahini spread as well as Silan, a date syrup. Tune in to hear how this company got started, what it's like working with family, and where tahini goes in the supermarket.
