This episode’s guest, Bonnetta Adeeb, calls herself “an extended mom” as the advisor for youth programs and farmer support programs. As the director of Steam Onward and the Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance, she fosters the idea that anything you want to do in life, you can do through agriculture. Hear about how the youth in these programs are empowered to brainstorm (that’s “brain barf”) and put into practice solutions to real-world problems and how one particular brain-barf session led to the gardening and food sovereignty programs central to their work today.
Bonnetta also talks about the organizations’ role in supporting hundreds of farmers and gardeners as a seed hub since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, why they’re focusing on seed saving, and how they developed their catalog of heritage and heirloom seeds. Perhaps most importantly, you’ll hear about how to learn your own seed story and the imperative to understand your family’s culturally appropriate seeds. Be sure to listen to the end for Bonnetta’s seed-saving advice, which she calls yucky but fun, and for info about how you can become a seed producer with the Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance.
Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance
