#vietlead

[seedkeeping]

Basil Seed Drink at VietLead's first Tết Lunar New Year Festival, called "A Taste of Home/A Story of Resilience". These drinks were made by Thao Nguyen (second from right), by first brewing Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citrates), and then dissolving rock candies in the water. You add the Basil (Ocimum basilicum) seeds, which form a fluffy jelly coat around the tasty hard seeds. Add ice and enjoy! This was much tastier than my Holy Basil seed drink I posted a month ago (I didn't add any tea, sugar, or ice, and I over-soaked the seeds!). @vietlead #basilseeddrink #ocimumbasilicum #basilseeds #thaibasil #lemongrass #cymbopogoncitratus #tetlunarnewyear2017 #tetlunarnewyear #vietleadtet2017 #vietlead #yearoftherooster (at Furness High School)

[seedkeeping]

Ngan Tran, VietLead: "Our community is already growing in whatever small spaces they have--backyards, even buckets! However, the biggest obstacle to growing in our conversations have been the lack of access to land. As refugees from the wars in Southeast Asia, our community also believes that land and gardening holds a very precious and meaningful place within our hearts. It is a therapeutic escape for us to heal from the scars of the Khmer Rouge genocide and the Vietnam War. With the power of gardening, it gives us strength to believe that those memories may scar us but it cannot and will not leave a permanent mark. We’ve been using the step by step process outlined by the land bank but still face difficulty." Ngan Tran, OurRoots Youth Apprentice, testifying at the Land Bank Hearing standing with fellow Soil Generation members. (Speech cowritten by fellow member Neary Narom) We want an easily accessible, transparent, and accountable Land Bank because we want land to go to the good of the community! #vietlead #ourroots #soilgeneration #phillylandbank #landsovereignty #foodsovereignty (at 1515 Arch St)

[seedkeeping]

On Tuesday night at Resilient Roots Farm in Camden, New Jersey, Co Phuong shares her peppers with Chris and his/our parents, Demalda and Rufus, who run a community farm in North Tulsa, Oklahoma (the same neighborhood where Terence Crutcher was killed on Friday by police, #restinpeace and #stopkillingblackpeople). Resilient Roots is an amazing garden run by Vietnamese elders in partnership with area youth, and filled with trellises heavy with winter melons, bitter melons, luffa, and so on - one of the more inspirational places on earth. #resilientrootsfarm #vietlead #communityfarm #communitygarden (at Camden, New Jersey)