EP. 38: Vivien Sansour on Palestinian Seeds, Longing, and Love

EP. 38: Vivien Sansour on Palestinian Seeds, Longing, and Love

Author: Seeds And Their People December 4, 2025 Duration: 1:06:16
Vivien Sansour is an artist, storyteller, researcher and conservationist.She uses image, sketch, film, soil, seeds, and plants to enliven old cultural tales in contemporary presentations and to advocate for the protection of biodiversity as a cultural and political act. Vivien works with a global network of farmers and seed advocates to promote seed conservation and agrobiodiversity. As part of this effort, she founded the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, with the goals of finding and reintroducing threatened crop varieties and to collect stories to assert the ownership of seeds by communities. This episode features a conversation between Vivien and Owen in East Rock Park in New Haven, Connecticut from dusk to darkness amongst deer and woodpeckers, with mariyamiya tea and einkorn cake, and about grief and doing good things in the world with seeds.  SEED STORIES:  Qarn al-Ghazal Khobaizeh fruits / Mary's Cake Bamyeh (Palestinian Okra) Filfil Gazawi (Gazan Peppers) Olives Jarjir (Arugula) Molokhia Wild Asparagus Figs Loquat Jazar Ahmar (Palestinian Purple Carrot) Mariyamiya (Sage) LINKS: Palestine Heirloom Seed Library homepage Palestine Heirloom Seed Library newsletter 12/2/2025 Instagram: PHSL and Vivien Sansour Donate to PHSL's The Apple Path: planting another 2,000 heirloom fruit trees in Palestine 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…