#urbantreeconnection

[seedkeeping]

Central to our seed keeping work is supporting urban and rural farms in deepening their food justice and food sovereignty work trough producing culturally important seeds for their communities and beyond. Today I visited Urban Tree Connection in Haddington, West Philly where Dan and Nat are harvesting and processing the Paul Robeson Tomato seeds that will later be offered in our online seed catalog (we are sold out for this year). Today we talked through tomato plant health, selecting ideal plants and fruits for seed, how to cut, squeeze, ferment, decant, strain, squeeze, dry, and store the seed crop! Paul Robeson was a singer, actor, and outspoken civil rights advocate. He performed and spoke out against racism, in support of the labor movement, and for peace. Urban Tree Connection is growing these tomatoes just over a mile from the historic Paul Robeson House where he spent his final years in West Philadelphia. I happened to drive by his house (third photo) after visiting their farm today! As with all our varieties, half of each sale goes back to the amazing farmers who do such essential food sovereignty work in their neighborhood. On top of all this, this is a beautiful, smokey, and delicious tomato. While the Paul Robeson Tomato was bred in Moscow, it is featured in our African Diaspora Collection for its role in representing and teaching an important aspect of Black History in America. #paulrobeson #paulrobesontomato #urbantreeconnection #seedsovereignty #seedkeeping #foodjustice #foodsovereignty #civilrights Final photo by another amazing community farm focused on food sovereignty (who we are grateful to partner with): @vietlead and their @resilientrootsfarm (at Urban Tree Connection) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCo8HJzgz12/?igshid=1lvpga9h016vu

[seedkeeping]

Nykisha Madison lovingly inspects her hedge of Burgundy Okra under a setting sun(flower) at the Neighborhood Foods Farm. This farm and food justice project is run by our friends at Urban Tree Connection, who grow many crops of the African diaspora for their neighborhood markets, and produce seed for their community, their farms, and for the Truelove Seeds catalog. #urbantreeconnection #neighborhoodfoodsfarm #burgundyokra #seedsaving #seedproduction #seedkeeping (at Neighborhood Foods Farm)

[nightowlvegan3]

Roasted Veggie Pizza

This pizza was made from vegetables harvested from a wonderful West Philadelphia neighborhood farm, Urban Tree Connection. Squash, Kale, Peppers, Zucchini all Philly planted, grown and harvested!!

[seedkeeping]

I had a wonderful time at the Neighborhood Foods Farm Co-op's community health fair today - despite the nearly 100 degree heat. We sat in the shade and shelled beans, okra, motherwort, money plant, and we talked seeds and beyond. I also got many sign-ups of gardeners and farmers who plan to grow and save seeds to share with Philadephians through the Philadelphia Seed Exchange. Photo credit: Noelle Velan! #seedsaving #seedkeeping #neighborhoodfoodsfarm #urbantreeconnection #communityhealthfair #philadelphiaseedexchange (at Neighborhood Foods Farm)

[seedkeeping]

Soil Generation - a coalition of Philadelphia gardens and farms - values community self-determination at the neighborhood level, and community self-representation at the policy level. Here we are on Tuesday night at Urban Tree Connection's Neighborhood Foods Farm synthesizing our lists of priorities and demands for upcoming Urban Agriculture hearings in city council, and discussing who should give testimony. #soilgeneration #urbantreeconnection #communityselfdetermination #selfdetermination #healthyfoodsgreenspaces (at Neighborhood Foods Farm)

[urbanstead]

Sue snapped an awesome picture of me volunteering at Neighborhood Food Farms on Friday! <3