EP. 36: Preserving Seeds, Culture, and Farming Traditions of Battir, Palestine

EP. 36: Preserving Seeds, Culture, and Farming Traditions of Battir, Palestine

Author: Seeds And Their People October 27, 2025 Duration: 1:11:17
This episode features an interview with our friends Hassan Muamer, a seed keeper and environmental advocate and engineer, his wife Hannan, and mother-in-law Fatimah. They had been visiting Philadelphia from Battir, Palestine for an extended stay and we were able to build a friendship through a shared love of seeds and land over a couple of years. For this interview, we made a fire at our farm, harvested young Yakteen gourds and tomatoes, and they cooked a delicious stew while we talked about Palestinian vegetables back home and in diaspora, Hassan's work to establish his farming village of Battir as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the work of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library - which is how we first met. In early 2024, our friend Vivien Sansour, the founder of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, came to speak at Bartram’s Garden and introduced us.    Hassan, Hannan, Fatimah and their family began visiting our farm and with some of our other Palestinian friends, they helped us cultivate molokhia there for their family and for a big molokhia feast at the farm. We have also been working with the PHSL the past couple of years as one of their many US based seed protector sites, increasing several varieties of seeds from their collection here in the diaspora, and it has been such an honor. This year Hassan and his family grew many traditional crops at our farm, which you will hear about in this interview.   SEED STORIES: (some links take you to our friends at Hudson Valley Seed Company and Experimental Farm Network, who work closely with PHSL) Molokhia Battiri Eggplant Yakteen Gourd Faqus White Cucumber Kusa Farfahina / Purslane LINKS: Palestine Heirloom Seed Project Palestine: Land of Olives and Vines – Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir - UNESCO World Heritage Centre THIS EPISODE SUPPORTED BY: YOU! Please become a Patron for $1 or more a month at Patreon.com/trueloveseeds Scribe Video Center and WPEB, West Philly Community Radio 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 Facebook  |  Instagram  |  Twitter   FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden  

There’s a whole world of history, culture, and personal connection tucked inside every seed packet, and that’s the world Seeds And Their People explores. This isn’t just a gardening show; it’s a series of conversations that dig into the rich soil of human experience. Hosts Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden sit down with growers, seed savers, and community elders to hear the stories that these living heirlooms carry with them. Each episode feels like a quiet chat on a back porch or in a garden row, where the talk inevitably turns to the seeds that have been passed down through families and communities. You’ll hear about the journey of a particular bean variety, the memories tied to a specific tomato, and the profound cultural resilience that keeping these seeds alive represents. The podcast moves beyond simple horticulture to touch on food sovereignty, ancestral knowledge, and the simple, powerful act of planting something with a story. It’s for anyone curious about where their food really comes from, not just geographically but historically and emotionally. Listening, you begin to understand that a seed is never just a seed-it’s a keeper of traditions, a spark of identity, and a quiet promise for the future, all held in the palm of your hand.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 40

Seeds And Their People
Podcast Episodes
Ep. 9: Anan Jardali Zahr’s Palestinian Kitchen [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:13
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-D…
Ep. 8: Lettuce Amongst the Stars: Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seed [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:13
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 t…
Ep. 7: Karen Farmers from Burma [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:17:30
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 th…
Ep. 6: Fish Pepper [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12:53
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 com…
Ep 5: Rau Đay, Lalo, Saluyot, Ewedu, Molokhia [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:40
This episode is all about one plant with countless names: Molokhia (Corchorus olitorius). You may know it as Jute, Jew's Mallow, Egyptian Spinach, any of the names in the title of this episode, or as something else altog…
Ep. 3: Ira Wallace and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:40
In this third episode, Ira Wallace from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange talks about her faves: collards and roselle. She also describes her life growing up, her work with southern and African Diasporic seeds and stories,…
Ep. 2: Kristyn Leach and Namu Farm [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:49
Welcome back to Seeds And Their People! In this second episode, Owen interviews his seed friend Kristyn about her Korean seed stories, her food, farming, and activist community, and our mutual love for Jewel in the Palac…
Ep. 1: Seeds And Their People - Meet Chris and Owen [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:58
Welcome to Seeds And Their People! In our first episode, we share some seed stories that are important to us, our ancestors, and our story as partners in life and love. You'll hear about the Irish Lumper potato, the fiel…