>>This is not something that I would see in a typical gardeners toolbox.

Tell me about that.

>>That's an African hoe, and it's a traditional African hoe in which you have to bend your back.

I like to use it because it does allow you to stretch, so you're constantly doing yoga while you're working.

And a two hour yoga workout is good for anybody.

>>A lot of seeds that people buy are actually grown overseas.

I'm kind of part of a movement of a regional seed companies selling seeds grown on the farms that they're operating.

I think it's really important for having seeds that work for gardeners and farmers and also having control over our seed supply.

>>Production funding for Virginia Home Grown is made possible by... (birds chirping) (upbeat music) >>Welcome to "Virginia Home Grown."

August is coming to a close and the cooler temperatures of September means the fall planting season has begun.

Fall is for planting.

Today we're highlighting specialty crops to learn more about unique varieties you can grow in your garden.

We're also talking about the advantages of local seed stock and the movement of small farms producing regionally adapted seeds.

But before we get started, I wanna remind you to send in your questions on our website at vpm.org/vhg.

A little later, we'll visit Carter Farms in Unionville to talk with Michael Carter Jr. about growing African crops in Central Virginia.

But first, we'll visit Edmund Frost in Louisa to learn more about the mission of Common Wealth Seed Growers.

Let's get going.

>>By doing seed work here, we're able to research and adapt and select and breed plants that will do better here.

>>When you say that these are being cultivated to survive in this ecosystem, in this environment, what do you mean by that?

>>I'm working on a particular farm in Central Virginia, particular soils.

So what the work that I'm doing is gonna be best adapted to this farm, this region, but I found that it also has a lot of relevance to a much broader region, Piedmont, Virginia, much of the State of Virginia, and actually, much of the South because most seed companies are not operating in the South at all.

So even work that we're doing in Virginia here has been really useful even for growers as far south as Florida.

>>And these crops are beautiful.

Can you tell me about them?

>>Yeah, so I put a lot of focus into having crops that will really do well in this season when there's a lot of disease pressure.

And so we've got cucumbers.

We've got melons.

We've got squash that I've been doing research with and breeding work with so that they will do well this time of year.

>>Well, I have to share that my cucumbers are just toast from powdery mild has just totally, completely destroyed them.

So to see beautiful leaves on yours.

>>So a lot of it is research.

I just tried a lot of stuff.

I started doing variety trials in 2014.

I had a grant from the USDA to do a variety trial of cucumbers and melons and squash.

And it's kind of how I got started.

The downy mildew was really the the disease that I had been running into so much trouble with.

It was making my crops melt down this time of year.

So I wanted to find stuff that would do well with that.

And so I had about 50 varieties of cucumbers, and I grew them all and took notes on how the foliage looked, and recorded all the harvests, and really was able to come up with good information about what did well.

And then from there, I took some of the best varieties I found and started crossing them together, and then selecting out of those populations.

>>Tell me about pollinating a cucumber 'cause those flowers are pretty small, Edmond?

>>So cucumbers are actually pretty easy to hand-pollinate because they're separate male and female flowers.

So you can just take male flowers from one plant and bring it to the female flower on another plant, and put the pollen from the male flowers on the female flowers.

But the thing about it is you want the bees to not interfere with it.

>>I was gonna say, how do you keep the insects out?

>>Yeah, what I do is I go out the evening before, and I tape the flowers shut with masking tape, and then the next morning, I'll take the tape off and do the pollination, and then tape the female flower back up.

>>Ah, so it's nice and secure.

And then what are you watching for as the plant grows on?

I mean, you've got the pollination.

The harvesting of the seed, I guess, is the next project.

How do you do that?

>>Yeah, so there's a lot of elements.

When I'm making the cross between the two parents that I want, that's one year.

And then the next year, you need to grow out that cross.

And then it's not until the following year that you have a diverse population from that cross that you can really select from.

And at that point, I'm looking for the plants that that just do well, that produce a lot of cucumbers, that taste good, that have fruit that's the kind of shape that I want.

So I'm looking for all those things when I do breeding trials.

>>How do you position your crops so that they don't cross-pollinate each other and kind of foil your pollination efforts?

>>I'm growing cucumber crops in like five different locations right now, and you have to isolate them so they don't cross with each other.

About a quarter mile, maybe a little less if you have forest in between.

So that's something that I really think about a lot when I do the layout of my gardens.

>>So what is the process of harvesting these cucumber seeds?

You just don't pluck 'em when they're about eight inches long, do you?

>>Right, so you get to the edible stage of cucumber, and then you just leave it on the plant for several more weeks.

And usually, they turn yellow.

Sometimes, they'll turn brown, like even russet brown, some of them.

And you really kind of leave it on the plant for as long as you can 'cause that facilitates the seed development.

The plant is feeding that seed development.

And then eventually, the plants will be dying back, and some of the fruits might be starting to rot a little bit, and that's when you go in and cut them open, scoop the seeds out and do the seed processing.

>>It is part of the cucurbit family, the cucumbers, but what other crops do you grow in that family?

>>So I do a lot of work with winter squash, especially butternuts.

That was another crop that early on, I had noticed that we had a really hard time with during the late season, late summer.

Had several crop failures of things that just were dying from downy mildew this time of year.

And so I do a lot of research and breeding and seed production work with butternuts, and also with other kinds of winter squashes.

I have a project to breed a kabocha squash that will- >>Oh really?

That sounds interesting.

>>That will resist vine borers.

>>Oh, wow.

>>That's the goal with that one.

>>That was that one really will grab the attention of many people as we all battle with those borers throughout the growing season.

So I'm very curious to hear how that's coming along, as well as the mildew resistance.

That's got my eye too.

I'll be honest with you.

>>Cool.

>>So it's exciting to hear the work that you're doing here.

So people don't realize where are the seeds that they're purchasing from big box stores and and other places, where are they coming from?

>>Most seeds that people buy are grown overseas, or maybe out West, often in places that have a dryer climate.

For instance, you can just grow pole beans on the ground and harvest them with a combine.

You don't have to go through and pick all the beans, but then you end up with pole bean varieties that aren't well-adapted to the Southeast.

So doing the work in the Southeast for the Southeast is just really important.

I hate seeing beginner gardeners that are trying to grow things that just don't grow well here.

>>Yes, and then they give up.

And it's not their fault.

It's just bringing in a plant that's really not suited for this environment.

Is there anything else that you wanna share with us about your work here?

>>I would love to see most farmers and gardeners saving seeds and adapting seeds, and doing some research and breeding work.

So I really encourage that.

>>There are some short-term benefits to just saving your best selections and replanting them year-after-year.

That's exciting.

>>You're saving seeds from tomatoes, and every year, you select stock seed from the plants that have the least cracking of that variety that you like.

And eventually, you'll have, it'll be the same variety, but it'll be more resistant to cracking.

And I did that with a variety recently, and after just three years, it was really much improved.

>>Well, this is great information, and I think you've inspired some of us to go out and try to start looking at our fruits and vegetables a little bit differently.

And I thank you so much for having us, Edmund.

>>Thank you, guys, for coming.

I love talking about seeds and spreading the word.

It's really fun and fruitful.

>>Edmund's dedication to breeding plants for disease resistance has attained success with cucumbers, butternut squash, pumpkin, watermelon, and melons.

And now Edmund is here with us to demonstrate how you can harvest and clean seeds to prepare them for storage.

But before we get started, remember to send in your gardening questions on our website at vpm.org/vhg.

Well Edmund, you've got a variety of vegetables here and some of them I'm very familiar with and some of them I'm not.

So what do you have here to share with us?

>>I'm really excited to be here to talk about seeds.

And what I have here is stuff that we're harvesting this week.

So I guess I'll start with this watermelon, it's called Yellow Moon and Stars.

It's done really well for us this year.

It's beautiful yellow on the inside, very sweet.

>>And I can see where it gets its name from.

Here's the moon and there's the stars.

I love it.

I love it.

And then what do we have here?

>>So that is sweetcorn seed crop.

So what you do with that is you grow the sweetcorn, but then you let it sit there on the plant and get dry like that.

And it's actually a little bit tough to do in Virginia because it can rain on the corn as it's drying.

So field corn has no trouble drying, but sweetcorn, you have to really harvest it just at the right time so that you can...

So it doesn't get moldy.

>>So it's something that if you found out that you wanted to leave it on the stock, is it about another two weeks you'll leave it on in typical Virginia weather, or three weeks, or about how much?

Or is it just variable so much by the weather?

>>I think it's about three weeks.

Three or four weeks.

>>Just to give it a timeline.

And then these beautiful red peppers, these are gorgeous.

>>So that a variety called Sweet Bullnose.

So a lot of what we do is just find varieties that really work well and then steward them and work with them and continue to save the seeds.

So that's a pepper variety that I really like.

It holds well, it gets to the red stage without going bad.

And then it keeps well, and it's really sweet and a little bit tangy as well.

>>Wonderful.

So what's the cultivar again?

>>Sweet Bullnose.

>>Oh, beautiful.

Gorgeous too.

But then you have things I'm familiar with, the cucumbers, and some others I'm not.

Talk about something a little more familiar to me, the cucumbers.

>>So I've been doing research work with cucumbers for a number of years, and I've got three varieties here that I'm really excited about.

A lot of the focus is Downy Mildew resistance because that's a really big problem in the late season for Cucurbits.

So I wanted things that you can harvest in August, September, October, when most cucumber varieties won't survive.

>>Yeah, they've petered out because of the mildew.

Yes.

So what's the one on the far right there?

>>So this one is called DMR 401.

It's the first one that I kind of started working with in collaboration with Cornell University.

And basically I trialed their stuff, I trialed a bunch of different like seed stocks that they sent down and figured out that this was my favorite.

And then Michael, who I'm working with at Cornell, said "yeah, that's my favorite too.

Let's do something with it."

So our seed company, Common Walth Seed Growers, started selling it and putting it out there.

>>For people to enjoy?

>>Yeah.

And that was starting in about 2016 I think.

>>And then the pickling ones.

>>So these picklers, this is something that I bred myself.

I did a research trial in 2014 where I looked at a lot of different cucumbers to see what did well with Downy Mildew.

And then I ended up crossing my favorites and have been selecting them every year since then to come up with this.

And I just really love pickling cucumbers.

They have thinner skin than slicers.

And they're just delicious to eat fresh.

>>Briefly tell me about these because we wanna get to this.

>>Yeah.

So this is actually related.

These are related.

They come from the same cross, the same three-way cross, but the breeding diverged about four years ago, maybe.

So this is called South Wind Slicer and it's a little bit different than the DMR 401, a little bit different color but it's a really Downy Mildew resistant plant that's also drought tolerant and-- >>Mildew resistant?

>>Mildew resistant and bacterial wilt resistant as well.

>>Fantastic.

Well tell me about this because we were gonna do a demonstration on seed saving.

>>So this is actually a cucumber.

Some varieties got this russet when they get mature, a lot of them turn yellow, but when you're saving seeds from cucumbers, you let them get really big, way past the eating stage.

So I'm gonna cut this open.

And we're gonna take the seeds out.

>>Sounds great.

That's a nice sharp knife you've got there.

>>Yeah, I kind of like to cut around the outside so you don't risk cutting the seeds so much.

>>Oh look at that, beautiful seeds inside.

Yes.

>>So then you take and scoop it out.

I'll just do one side here.

>>Yes.

So you've got the seeds in the pulp.

What do we do next with it?

>>So next you let it sit here for about three days, it's called a fermentation.

And that allows...

There's a kind of a coating, a gel coating on the seeds that has to come off and that happens during fermentation.

And then after that, the basic principle is that the seeds sink and the pulp floats.

So you add water and kind of wash the pulp away from the seeds and then you take the seeds and you dry them on a screen in front of a fan.

>>For about how long?

A few days or?

>>I'd say about a week.

It depends on your conditions.

We have sort of a dehumidified room that we do it in.

And after about a week, you can put them in an open container to keep sort of curing a little bit.

>>Interesting.

Quickly, we've got one minute.

Tomatoes are a little different, you were sharing.

So real quick, let's do tomatoes >>Tomato seed saving.

Let it get really ripe.

Maybe riper than this one even.

And then you just mash it up.

And after this, it's similar to the cucumber.

>>Where you've gotta let it ferment?

>>Yeah, let it ferment for about three days.

I also want to note that it's good to stir them during that time once or twice a day to keep mold from forming.

And then you pour it off just like the cucumber and put the seeds on a screen.

>>The water and the seeds will float and it will float again.

And then the most important thing is to label.

Label what you've got.

>>A good Sharpie and masking tape is very important.

Put the date and the variety abbreviation.

>>It's more important, you'll never remember.

Edmond, this has been fun.

And I thank you for bringing in some of the, I'll say newer cultivars of vegetables we've been growing in our garden, but that have been bred here in Luisa County and we'll be very successful in this unique growing environment of the high humidity of central Virginia.

Thank you very much.

>>So good to be here talking about seeds with y'all.

>>And now we're going to get ready to answer your questions, but first, Amyrose Foll has some unique vegetable varieties to share.

(upbeat rhythmic music) >>Preserving ethnic and rare vegetables are a really great way for a gardener to reconnect with their heritage.

No matter whether we're from Ethiopia, Germany, or your Native American, you can really just go back one or two generations and all of us can find a farmer in the family somewhere.

So in growing these corn, beans, and squash, all of which are not readily commercially available, to preserve these cultivars for future generations.

The fingerprints of the farmers that came before us are embedded on these, and they really are a gift to us in the present.

And if we preserve them to pass on to other farmers and future generations, they are a promise to the future.

So here we have Tuscarora white corn.

This evolved in North Carolina.

So you can see that this is pretty dry, and it's got a little bit of red, that's normal.

Sometimes the silks are red as well.

And when we save them for seeds, we aren't gonna pick them green like you find in the grocery store.

The seed garden looks a little wild behind me and that's because we let them go through their full life cycle.

So well, this one's got a little somatoform mutation.

So this one we won't save for seed because it has a little bit of an abnormalities here.

I wanna see eight uniform rows.

You see this side, those are nice rows.

But when we get down here, this is not a form that I wanna preserve.

I want all of my rows to be nice and uniform.

I had checked some last week and the other ones were perfect.

So those ones will save seed.

And these ones will likely be nixtamalized and ground for flour, or to make corn cakes.

And basically we'll take these and hang them up to dry.

I braid my corn and then I hang it in a very dry area that's protected from the water.

And we've got also Raramuri beans.

They're a long season bean from the Southern border of the U.S. and Mexico.

And these are going to just start putting out their pods.

It's pretty late in the season for Virginia standards.

We wouldn't wanna start a lot now, but we've got about two more months where these guys are really gonna start putting out.

And they're a vining variety.

You can see them going up over the cattle panels.

And down below, we have Apache Giants.

Apache Giant squash are huge.

They are of course from the Apache and they aren't available here or for sale really but we grow them and I share them with other native seed keepers and make sure that they are going to be around for future generations.

So as a gardener, you can take control of your garden.

You can make it your own artwork.

You don't have to settle for the same 30 varieties that you see in the grocery stores.

From Maine to Arizona, you can have a beautiful pallet of interesting vegetables for your year and you can do the world a service by really preserving those for future generations.

So I hope that next year when you're choosing your seeds, you have a little bit of variety in your seed bundle for that year when you're planning out your garden in the spring.

>>On Facebook right now, members of our team are answering your questions.

So please send them in via Facebook or through our website.

We always enjoy hearing from you.

And Amyrose is here to help with us in answering some questions.

So welcome, Amy.

>>Thank you.

So I guess the first thing that I wanna have addressed here is Jeny from the fans in Richmond.

And she wants to know, "for those of us that are too lazy", and that's in her words, "where can I buy local seeds?"

>>So we sell, Common Wealth Seed Growers has a seed sales platform.

So we sell the stuff that we're breeding and selecting.

>>And they are excellent seeds.

I've used them for years now.

And so what's your website that they can find those?

>>Commonwealthseeds.com.

>>Awesome.

So another thing is Deborah asked, and specifically about squash, how can you tell male and female?

>>So the female flowers have a little fruit on them below them, the ovary, and the males just kind of stick up on a longer-- >>Little petiole.

>>Yeah.

Thank you.

>>Yes, you're welcome.

>>It is wonderful.

And it's a great way to teach people too about plant biology.

So we also have Mary that's close by and she's from north Chesterfield and she wanted to know, do you recommend getting seeds through seed swaps?

>>I do seed swaps with my friends.

>>I love seed swaps.

Usually the problem with seed swaps is I get too many seeds and then I commit to projects that I don't have-- >>I've seen that happen for you in real time, it is.

And I'm guilty of that as well.

Yeah.

Okay.

So another thing is... Oh, I guess I don't have a name for this one, but how can you know where the seeds that you're purchasing really actually come from?

>>It can be confusing.

A lot of seed companies don't really say where the seeds originate.

You might have to ask.

And the person on the phone might not know.

And a lot of seeds that we buy from seed catalogs come from overseas or from out west.

And so I'm part of kind of a movement to be like, "no we're not doing that, we're growing them here.

We're gonna be really clear about where they come from".

>>I feel like that's really important especially for climate adaptation, especially with climate change that's going on.

I don't know whether you've noticed the same things.

But for me, I have at my farm, and we're local.

>>And it's important that if you use a small specialty seed company that you look up to where they are, what part of the United States are they in?

Because it'll say typically for a smaller seed company in the catalog itself.

And so you can look at their catalog or look on their website.

>>And a lot of times you're also supporting local businesses or small family businesses.

And that's really important, especially in agriculture these days.

>>Absolutely.

It's very important.

>>Sometimes there are seeds from other regions of the country that I will try out and they do great.

So that is something to try as well.

>>Do we have time for more?

>>Yes, we do.

>>Awesome.

Okay, great.

We've got tomato disease.

So Dan wrote in asking or stating "I have a full grown tomato plant and it's dying from wilting, but we're not underwatered.

What could have possibly caused this?"

>>If it's wilting from the bottom up, that kind of happens to most tomato plants and it's Early Blight Septora or Verticillium Wilt probably.

And I really like to address that with doing a hot water seed treatment.

You can look it up online.

I do that with all the seeds I bring in, the tomato seeds I bring in and it reduces those disease pressures on the seed.

>>There's also, when you're looking through your catalogs and you're sourcing your seeds, many times if a plant is resistant to the Fusarium or Verticillium Wilts, then it will be a V and an F after the name because it's been bred, just like Edmond is doing with the Cucurbits to be resistant to those.

>>Yeah.

It's very interesting.

So I found a lot of success in making sure that I'm heavy mulching or a cult method, making sure that there's no contact with the ground.

Have you had success with that as well?

>>I have done that and had some success with it, but I didn't do it this year.

And we're actually doing really well with our tomatoes this year on that front.

>>Yeah.

Your garden is absolutely beautiful.

I've been there recently.

It's so beautiful.

I'm jealous honestly.

>>The other thing I'd do is limb up and remove the lower leaves of the plant.

And plus I look at the whole plant and cut out leaves to make sure I get good air circulation throughout that plant.

>>Absolutely, by this time every year, my tomato plants are naked from 24 inches down.

And just specifically to cut out disease transmission and give them a little bit of a leg up.

We've got ants on cucumbers.

So tons of ants attacked my cucumber plants this year.

Any solution?

>>No, I don't know about that one.

>>I haven't had problems with ants either.

>>I've never had it either.

No, we'll have to get back to that.

>>Well, one thing you can do because ants will a lot of times farm aphids, right?

And I know that putting just plain old Vaseline around the edges of the bottom stem, if you're gonna trellis up, if you put it around the bottom stem, it will keep the ants from getting back up on the cucumbers.

So you can actually blast them with some water, knock all the aphids out, and then if you Vaseline around there, it will keep the ants from getting back up there and the aphids from getting back up there so they can't farm those aphids.

It's a good, really cheap attack.

>>So the Vaseline doesn't bother the plant at all?

>>Not at all.

No, just the patrol, and the rain won't wash it off either.

>>Well, we've got enough.

We've got one minute left.

So one more.

>>Okay.

So we have Susan.

So she asked, "I have a problem with Staghorn Sumac roots invading my lawn, garden beds, and even near my house foundation.

I hate using chemicals, but must do something to protect the garden plants in the house.

What do you recommend?"

>>Oh, this question here is one that you're gonna do a lot of digging because it has a lot of runners, and it's a great plant, but it just runs everywhere.

And it is a little bit evasive, but you've got that central, I'll say trunk, and then the runners go out from there.

And you basically have to dig down and just keep cutting and cutting and cutting and removing.

And it's a lot of work, but you can do it.

The other thing is you can mix up for areas where you don't wanna keep your plants, there's nothing important, you can make up a vinegar and salt solution and pour it on there.

>>That is a good idea.

And also Staghorn Sumac when it's mature, delicious seasoning for your food.

>>It is, it is.

But thank you.

That's about all the time we have right now.

And we look forward to answering more questions later in this show.

Thanks for being with us tonight.

And we appreciate you spending the time.

And next up we visit Carter Farms in Unionville to talk with Michael Carter Jr about his family's farming legacy and the agricultural contributions of his ancestors to American culture.

(bright music) >>We rarely equate agriculture and music.

These were, you know, instrumental pieces of crops.

They also created a nice rhythm.

>>Oh, and you said, this was the precursor from West Africa to the guitar- >>Mm hm.

>>And what is this called again?

>>You can call it the core, the African banjo, we do banjo workshops here at the farm- >>Oh my goodness!

>>Yeah, every couple of weeks.

And you know, it does give you a sense of the importance of music, even for the enslaved Africans that were here, they still maintained this musical culture.

>>Mm hm.

>>And when the drum was banned, they turn to instruments like this, where they could create their own rhythms to help them through that situation.

>>Yeah, and so, tell me a little bit more about this place and your family's legacy here in Central Virginia and the reason why you're keeping all of these things alive in your life now.

>>Well, this place here we're at is, we call it the home place, or the ponderosa, Carter Farms.

My great, great grandparents purchased this property November 5th, 1910.

A lot of African Americans own land along this area.

So this is our little version of Black Wall Street in our community.

>>And I believe you are an 11th generation farmer, is that correct?

>>I'll say 11th generation.

Our history in America goes back to, at the latest, 1745, possibly the earliest, 1622 or even beforehand.

>>Oh, wow.

>>Our family, a portion of our family, was enslaved at the oldest plantation in America, which is our Shirley Plantation.

There's a lot that connects us in terms of food and food ways, and these African crops tell a different story about our relationship with the land, that can really challenge the stigma of slavery and our thoughts about slavery and agriculture.

Crops and seeds were kind of like, all that most of the enslaved people had when they came here.

A lot of them put 'em in their hair or they came from this on the ships, 'cause they had to eat something.

So things like the cowpea, which they called the cowpea because the colonists didn't feel like they were suitable for human consumption.

So they fed it to the cows.

>>Mm hm.

>>They became a staple in our community, as well as the cowpea leaves or the black-eyed peas as we know it today.

Things like okra, gumbo.

The Senegal name, Senegalese name for okra is gumbo.

So when you're calling it gumbo, you're just calling okra stew.

As they really were making at the time.

>>Oh, wow.

>>This is celosia, or feather cockscomb, or what's known as Nigerian spinach or Lagos spinach.

We're growing this here for multiple purposes.

One, the celosia that we know, is usually used as an ornamental.

>>Mm hm.

>>However, you know, the one that's grown in West Africa is used as an edible, as a food.

So you can actually eat the leaves, gets to be about six to seven feet tall, sometimes eight feet tall.

And this particular plant, I see as a solution for climate change.

It's a climate-smart vegetable, it doesn't require any irrigation, it's drought tolerant and insect resistant and most importantly, deer and rabbit resistant.

>>Oh, that's the bane of a lot of gardener's existence.

So tell me about this.

What would you use this for?

>>This is amaranth.

There are about, several hundred different varieties of amaranth.

The amaranth that we grow is used for cultivation of leaves, for eating.

This variety that's known as callaloo in the Caribbean- >>Mm hm.

>>Is used as a stew.

Amaranth can also be grown for grain, you know, to create breads, flours and things like that.

Amaranth is another one of those natural plants that are fairly drought resistant, another climate-smart plant.

Unfortunately, the insects and the rabbits and deer kinda like those a little bit, but it's another great grain that provides a lot of nutrition 'cause there's a long taproot.

So you get that extra vitamin A, vitamin C, some of the other micronutrients out these vegetables, yeah.

>>That's really interesting.

Can you tell me a little bit about this?

>>Of course.

>>And what the significance is of this to you?

>>Oh, this is probably my favorite green.

(Michael chuckles) >>Really?

>>This is called, it's called nkontomire in Ghana, West Africa, in the Twi language, but it's also known as taro cocoyam.

In Hawaii, they refer to it as poi.

>>Oh, okay.

>>And this particular leaf again, is a drought-tolerant leaf.

A lot of us grow it and know it as elephant ear.

>>Mm hm.

>>This particular variety that we have is actually edible.

A lot of the ones that you get from big big box stores and nurseries are not edible.

They have variegated leaves, hybridized for leaf color.

Don't eat the purple and the pink and the white leaves.

(Amyrose laughs) But this particular dish has oxalic acid in it, so you have to cook it before you eat it- >>Mm hm.

>>But when it's cooked and cooked well, it's outstanding.

>>Oh my goodness.

I'm gonna have to try that.

>>Yeah.

>>Now, can you tell me a little bit about how you use these things here at Carter Farm, in an educational way, to pass that knowledge on to the next generation?

>>Mm hm.

Well, our nonprofit is called Africulture.

>>Mm hm.

>>And Africulture is the principles, practices, plants, and people of African descent that's contributed, and continues to contribute, to agriculture worldwide.

>>Mm hm.

>>So we tie in various stories, various food ways, of, you know, things that we never would consider are African crops.

Cotton is an African crop.

Indigo's an African crop.

You put those two together, and you have now Levi Strauss or American Denim.

Or cocoa, or vanilla, or even Coca-Cola.

>>Coca-Cola?

>>Coca-Cola.

Within Coca-Cola, most of us know that Coca-Cola has cocaine in it, or the coca plant in it.

>>Uh huh.

>>But the cola comes from the cola nut, which comes outta West Africa.

>>Oh!

>>They just spell it differently.

>>I did not know that.

>>K-O-L-A as opposed to C-O-L-A.

>>Oh my goodness.

I had no idea.

You're dropping some knowledge on me here, today.

>>There's a lot of history within a lot of those crops, whether it be gumbo slash okra- >>Mm hm.

>>Whether it be red beans and rice, whether it be, you know, peppers, and even rice itself.

We try to tell those stories because I think a lot of that has been missed in our terms of our food ways and our cultural ways, of sharing the stories, the value of those stories and the value of the contributions again, to agriculture from those people of Africa and especially West Africa.

And I strongly believe that there are nutritional and health benefits to eating these crops.

Everybody has a different genetic profile.

So we have, working on this concept of eating for your ethnic type- >>Mm hm.

>>Where you can challenge various health issues by eating the proper foods.

So for Africans, we need to be eating more African foods in our diets to ensure that we get the proper genetic expression from those foods into our bodies to help us live and be healthier, long term.

>>It's really beautiful, because you're almost saying that food is medicine, both for your body and almost your soul, too.

>>Oh, yeah.

>>Because it's connecting you to your ancestors and everyone that came before you.

>>Absolutely, it is.

Yeah.

>>And you're preserving it for them, too.

>>It is medicine.

And it's medicine like you said, to your soul.

And then when you start incorporating things like being outside, getting your vitamin D, getting fresh air.

And then listening to the birds and getting your ears acclimated to nature again.

Those are things that are healing in a way that we really can't quantify- >>Mm hm.

>>But you have a better value and appreciation of life.

And I think that's what society is missing a lot more today is the value of all life.

Plant something for the stranger.

>>Yeah.

>>You know, so ideally, you know, you wanna be able to plant something.

And a stranger may not always be a person- >>Mm hm.

>>You know, especially as development happens more and more, where we, you know, build more and more in places that we haven't in the past, nature has to go somewhere.

>>Mm hm.

>>And ultimately we have to eat something.

So being able to provide these type of things for nature as well, and conserving certain things, to make sure that we still have a balanced ecosystem, 'cause that becomes a part of our sustainability on this planet, and if we don't do that, we're gonna be not here as long as we wanna be.

>>Yeah, yeah.

It's interesting, 'cause in my culture we say that the insects and the animals and all of the living things around us are our kin, too.

>>Mm hm.

And that's one of the things we also focus on as well, is going past what we know as, you know, who you care for.

>>Yes.

>>So we grow, on the farm here, we try to grow microorganisms, you know, so we try to grow the soil, we try to grow, you know, various insects and pollinators, as well as farmers, because we have to really embody individuals to return back to the farm.

Black farmers at this point are almost an endangered species.

>>Mm hm.

>>And with any endangered species, you need to really readdress what is the environment that made them endangered and then redress that to try to bring them back.

So that's what we try to do here, is try to create an environment that they feel much more at home- >>Mm hm.

>>Where we can see the value of what we're growing and the value in terms of nutrition, in terms of culture, in terms of history, in terms of music, in terms of art, they're all interconnected.

And I think, you know, our cultures are very much similar, in terms of how we see and appreciate nature and the wholeness of being one.

>>Mm hm.

>>And, you know, so this farm tries to embody that as well.

>>It's really amazing because it's basically, your ancestors transformed American culture as a whole, through all of these things that you touch on.

>>And through adversity.

>>Yes.

>>You know, and through adversity, and we use it without formal education.

>>Mm hm.

>>So that becomes another, you know, thing that we share is like, you know, you can do more because you had more.

Because they did a lot more with a lot less.

>>Yes.

That's really beautiful.

Thank you so much for sharing all of these things with us today, Michael.

>>Thank you.

(birds tweeting) >>Our ancestors have a stronger influence on today's garden than we realize, passing down their knowledge and stories is a wonderful way to honor their contributions.

And now Michael is here with us to share how one man helped revolutionize the South's agricultural economy, with three crops from Africa.

But before we begin, I wanna remind you to send in your gardening questions through our website, vpm.org/vhg or through Facebook.

Michael, you've got some pretty interesting crops here, and some of them I know, and some of them I don't.

So, you know, please tell us about them.

>>Thank you.

This particular crop here is the celosia.

>>Uh-huh.

>>Or the Nigerian spinach, or feather cockscomb.

>>Mm-hmm.

>>It's an edible, but here usually it's grown as a ornamental.

>>Yes, I use it in gardens all the time.

>>Absolutely.

>>Yes.

>>But within west Africa they eat the leaves.

Leaves are extremely tasty, delicious.

>>Do they stir fry them?

>>They stir fry, cook 'em with garlic and onions, and saute it, and it's excellent.

You also eat it raw as a salad as well.

>>Well, I might go home and try some, I've got some growing at home.

>>As long as they're not the ornamental type, but the edible type.

>>Oh, okay.

I gotcha, alrighty.

But then there is a plant that I'm very familiar with that probably a lot of people aren't familiar with.

>>Very good, this is the tree that kind of gets everybody up in the morning.

>>Yeah.

>>This is known as coffee.

So this is the coffee plant here.

>>Uh-huh.

>>The coffee plant originates in Ethiopia.

Kenyans grow it quite a bit as well.

Ethiopia is the home of coffee, and it's one of those plans that came over after colonization as well and became our beverage of choice for morning breakfast.

>>Yes, Waking everybody up, interesting.

The crops, though, I mean, I know coffee is probably a unique plant to bring over here to Richmond, Virginia, or central Virginia to grow.

So how did you make choices, such as just these two alone, how do you determine whether you think it's gonna grow here?

>>Well, I bring plants over for different reasons.

One, some for just educational purposes.

We're exposing individuals to i.e.

coffee.

>>Yes.

>>Something that you partake of of every day and have no idea its origin, where it comes from, ultimately what it looks like.

Other crops, like Nigerian spinach, I would bring over because I understand that it's much more hardy, drought tolerant, and can grow in our summers, and I can replant it, it grows pretty much by seed now.

It drops seeds plentifully.

So now I have about maybe four or five rows of this crop all over the fields.

>>Interesting.

>>Yeah.

>>But this is one right here, it's a Solanum, and we're all used to the nightshade family, but you were sharing that this one is edible.

>>Right, this is called mangagu, which is out of Kenya and east Africa.

And the leaves are actually eaten.

It's related to the huckleberry.

>>Interesting.

>>Yeah.

And there's several Solanum that are edible, that they eat the leaves, one is called gboma.

In Liberia and Sierra Leone, some other places, they eat the potato leaves.

So just like the tomato was kind of forbidden in the early 1800s and 1700s, you also had the leaves saying that they weren't able to be eaten.

So presently the leaves of these plants can be eaten, and has been eaten for eons in Kenya and in some parts of west Africa.

>>Interesting.

Soil though, what's the soil like?

'Cause we have very heavy clay soil over there, and my conception, my thoughts are the soil is not heavy clay over in Kenya.

>>There are some heavy clays.

>>Okay.

>>There are some very much heavy clays in Kenya.

I've seen heavy clays in Burkina Faso, as well as in Ghana.

>>Interesting.

>>So the biggest thing for a lot of these crops is soil temperature.

>>Ah.

>>So once the soil temperatures get about 65 or so they'll grow anything that you can grow in west Africa, with the exceptional of trees, 'cause as soon as the ground freezes, they'll die back.

>>Yeah, they'll die back.

>>But a lot of these grow, and I generally start planting them around May, probably Mothers' Day weekend, a little bit after that.

And it will grow all the way up until about October, to our first freeze.

>>Interesting.

Well, we wanna get onto the other questions.

So, this plant here, this is what I call a sensitive type plant, which means when you touch the leaves, it just collapses.

>>Correct.

>>So tell me more about this one.

>>Well this is a sensitive plant, as you said, Pudica mimosa.

>>Yeah.

>>I first discovered this tree, or noticed this plant in west Africa.

And I was just amazed by its ability to be the introvert that it is.

>>Yes.

>>And be so proud to be introverted.

'Cause right now it's showing its introverted ways.

>>It surely has shut down, yes.

>>It shut after the ride.

And my father was a 35-year agriculture teacher.

When he saw this plant, he was amazed.

He played with it for like five, 10 minutes.

>>Poor plant.

>>In the garden.

But this is a great plant for children, as well as adults, to really get them engaged into the garden and into the farm.

A lot of plants that we grow, again, are try to attract plants.

We have a lot of trap plants for people.

>>Mm-hmm.

>>So we try to bring plants- >>Trap plants for people.

I just got that.

>>So we try to bring in plants that like people are, "Oh, ooh, ah," and they can actually relate it to them, and really challenge the stigma that's associated with agriculture, and especially African Americans.

So we can really focus on the Africans and the African contributions to agriculture.

And in that way it engages individuals another kind of way, in terms of learning things on the farm, besides your pigs, your sows, your cattle and things like that.

>>Right.

Well, speaking of African contributions, there's a very significant man in our history that made a huge difference in Southern agriculture.

We've got just one or two minutes, could you share us?

>>Dr.

George Washington Carver was a tremendous scientist, and agriculture innovator, and conservationist.

And he really conserved agriculture as a whole.

He utilized dew plants, two of those are African descent.

The soybean, I'm sorry, not the soybean, the sweet potato, and the peanut, or the ground nut, or what he preferred as the goober, and utilized that to revitalize the agriculture industry in the South, which ultimately revitalized the agriculture economy within the whole country.

>>'Cause I think people forget that the whole economy was three crops.

It was cotton, It was basically- >>Tobacco and corn.

>>Tobacco and corn, and all of those rape the soil.

>>Absolutely, so utilizing the soybean and the peanut, he actually revitalized the soils by fixing nitrogen back into the soil with those legumes, and then utilizing the sweet potato to expand or create- >>More air pockets and things.

>>Air pockets, exactly, with those plants.

And then we know him for being what they call the peanut man.

>>Yes.

>>But it became, he was really the value added producer.

>>Yes.

>>Or farmer.

He created 300 different ways of showing value of how to utilize the peanut, so that the farmer could actually create crops they could generate income from.

>>You know, he's amazing than that.

We don't give this man the proper due for how he turned around the agriculture industry of of the South at a time that it was at its lowest.

>>Exactly, and that's what we try to do at the farm is kind of give various individuals their recognition, and their due, to not just denote them as a single person, as the peanut guy, or the kola guy, or the chocolate guy, but really talk about their contribution in terms of changing agriculture in the United States of America.

>>Oh, sounds great.

Because my memory from grade school is of a very distinguished Black man, who's in a lab coat doing research.

>>Yes.

>>And I think that's the kind of memory we need to have for such a fine American.

So thank you.

>>I so agree.

>>Yes, well thank you, Michael.

>>Thank you.

>>And now we're going to get ready to answer more of your questions, but first Dr. Robyn Puffenbarger has a tip to share about ecotype seeds for the plants in your landscape.

(rhythmic instrumental music) >>We're talking about native plants and why we would want to get our seeds, seedlings, and plants locally.

Plants that are grown from Virginia seeds mean they are adapted to all of our Virginia ecosystems, from our hot, muggy summers to our cool winters.

So today, I'd like to talk about a couple of our native plants that are excellent for your pollinator garden.

And this is New York ironweed, with this beautiful purple flower and the dried seed heads that are just getting started.

And it's sort of tragic to have weed in your name because the modern connotation for weed is something that you wouldn't want.

One of the reasons people called things weeds in the past were because they were so easy to grow.

And New York ironweed is an amazing pollinator plant, just getting blooming here in the late summer and very active for both butterflies and bees.

We also have, here in the garden, this yellow sneezeweed.

This is another nice, native plant, in terms of providing access to pollen and nectar for our native bees.

This is another very tall native plant with yellow flowers.

And I like the yellow of the sneezeweed with the purple of the ironweeds, so I get some contrast of color.

There are many other natives that aren't as big as this.

And let me show you a couple of seeds.

My Golden Alexander has just finished blooming, and now the seed heads are starting to dry.

So I would take these seeds and I could store them for planting next year in a cool dry place.

Or if I've got a bare spot, I could just start sprinkling the seeds right there.

They'll go dormant for the winter and they'll come up the next year.

Very easy to grow and an excellent pollinator plant, with yellow flowers that would bloom earlier than either the ironweed or the sneezeweed.

The other seeds I have today are from our wonderful native Virginia tree, the redbud.

Redbuds are a small tree.

So they don't grow particularly tall.

They have a beautiful pink, purple flower in spring, heart-shaped leaved all summer.

And I picked some of their seed pods.

Now, these are too early.

They're not quite ready yet.

But you might have thought I picked pea pods, but this is the actual pod from the legume, the redbud tree.

Now, if we wanted to plant these for next year, we want to wait 'til a little later in fall when the seed pods are dried up and brown, and then we can collect the seeds.

Again, you could put them right down on the bare ground where you want them and let them germinate in place, or you could save them in a cool, dry place over the fall and winter, and then plant next spring.

So make sure you look for Virginia native plants from Virginia native plant nurseries and seed exchanges.

That way, you'll get your local ecotype seeds, plants, and seedlings for your garden.

And that will give you your best growth chances.

(insects chirruping) >>Robyn, thank you for reminding us to keep it local when sourcing seeds and plants.

If you decide to collect your own seeds, always remember to get permission from the landowner.

And now we have more questions to answer.

Thank you, Michael.

So, my first question is from Michale from Unionville, and he asks, "How do you grow African spinach?

And when is the best time to plant it?

And where do you get the seeds from?"

>>Very good.

Michale is my son.

(all laughing) >>He's after you, Dad.

>>You can grow it...

I would recommend growing it probably starting in May, like after Labor Day as the soil heats up.

How do you grow it?

You just drop a seed in the ground and walk away.

Let it rain on it, and it'll grow very nicely.

And you can get the seeds from carterbrothers.net, my son's seed company.

(all laugh) >>That's a shameless plug.

>>Shameless plug.

>>I love this kid already.

>>But yeah, you can get it from there.

You can also get it from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Truelove Seeds, and, I believe, Sow True Seeds as well.

>>Sounds great.

Thank you.

And I'm gonna say that it's very important, a gardener's toolbox should always include a soil thermometer.

Because if you put that soil thermometer in the ground, you'll be able to know when it's 60 to 65 degrees, and you'll be able to know when you can put in those really warm temperature and long climate-loving vegetables, such as your tomatoes and your peppers and other things such as celosia.

So, thank you.

What is your all-time favorite African crop though?

>>Oh goodness.

That's a tough one.

'Cause I like three.

>>Okay.

>>So, one is Moringa.

>>Mm-hm.

>>The Moringa tree, it's a superly nutrient-dense tree.

I eat the leaves.

Every part of the plant is edible.

The second one would probably be Nigerian spinach because of its ease.

It grows eight feet tall, and all I have to do is nothing.

(Michael chuckles) And then lastly, the nkontomire or taro leaf, or cocoyam leaf.

It's a tuber.

It grows extremely well.

Also known as the elephant ears, we mentioned.

And that is another great one that I enjoy growing as well 'cause the taste is delicious once you cook it well.

>>You actually inspired me to start planting that in my Cultivate Charlottesville Gardens for our kids.

I love that.

>>I'm humbled.

>>Yeah.

>>Love it.

>>Well, another good, fun thing to grow for kids though are gourds.

Do you grow the gourds to make instruments at your farm?

>>We do grow gourds.

We actually have some seeds from Common Wealth Growers, Common Wealth Seeds, for the drum gourd.

There's maybe three, four, five, six different type of gourds that you can do.

So, yes, we do grow some gourds there at the farm to grow the gourds for the production of- >>Is there a local person that creates the instruments from the gourds?

>>Yes, Dr. Dena Jennings, a neighbor of ours in Orange County.

She does gourd workshops at our farm.

>>Wonderful.

>>She can do kalimbas, which are smaller thumb pianos, as well as banjo-like gourds instruments as well.

Phenomenal artist, instrumentalist.

She takes you through the whole step.

And it's a great family activity.

>>Well, there's a question here.

Is Carter Farms open to the public, or is it just special times only?

>>Usually special times only.

We'll probably close down for this season.

And next season, as we open back up, as the temperature warms up, we'll have more events at Carter Farms.

You can check us out at our website at thecarterfarms.com, and go to events.

And we have all of the events that we'll have both virtually and on farm on the website.

>>I was gonna ask a question.

What, to me, is the most satisfying aspect of culturally-significant crop production with Carter Farms?

>>I think the most significant aspect is understanding the history and making the connection of what has been lost.

It's extremely fulfilling when you can discover things that's been lost in your family for generations.

It's also fulfilling to understand how your ancestors, my great-grandmother, Grant, utilized certain things in her dinners that have an African history to them.

They inherently knew it.

It's just that we didn't understand it always.

And those stories weren't told.

So, being able to really brush out or bring out those stories and that history of those plants is so fulfilling for me.

>>It's reclaiming your birthright for you.

>>Yeah.

>>Absolutely.

>>It's beautiful.

>>Well, I was wondering, bringing crops over from another, I'll say, ecosystem even, have you had any challenges adapting those crops while farming in Ghana, from Ghana over here to Virginia?

>>I think I've had a few challenges.

The biggest adaption is deer.

(all laugh) >>Deer and rabbits.

>>That four-letter word.

(Peggy laughs) (Amyrose laughs) >>Oh no!

>>Within West Africa, there's no hunting season.

So, usually deer are our meals.

So, if you see some deer in a garden or on a farm, it won't be there long.

(Peggy laughs) (Michael chuckles) So, they're not as prevalent in those places to eat those crops.

And then some of your trees or your bushes that I have seeds for, having to have to grow them in bags because we need to move them to the greenhouse toward the end of the growing season because of frost worries, that's probably our biggest challenge is the climate and the temperature after you get into October, November.

>>We talked about soil, and Jeremy here is asking, "What is the best soil type?

Do you do soil amendments?"

And he's a new gardener and growing common vegetables, but it's for any vegetables.

Do you do any soil adaptations?

>>Personally, I don't do much soil adaptation, because, to me, the seeds should symbolize the strength and the integrity of what's going on.

So, if you plant a seed and doesn't grow on your soil, it's not a seed that's designed to grow there.

So, I wanna grow something that's gonna be able to thrive there so if I don't give it amendments, it'll still grow.

And I feel like that's gonna be the most nutritious or nutritionally-sound vegetables that I should be growing, not necessarily something that I will have to babysit and create the perfect environment for it to grow.

That's not necessarily the vegetables I wanna eat from.

>>Yeah.

>>Amen.

>>Yeah, and I think, too, it's important to get a soil test to find out what kind of soil you have.

>>Absolutely.

>>Beyond what your eyeballs are looking at.

>>We have tatum clay at our farm, which is a heavy clay soil, which if you can grow it there, you can grow it anywhere.

>>Do you use greensand?

>>Mm-mm.

>>No.

Interesting.

>>A little (indistinct) to balance out the pH.

>>Interesting.

Well, that's very, very interesting.

We're down to just 30 seconds, and I was just real quick.

Off the top of your head, what's the one thing you cannot live without in your gardens in Carters Farm?

>>Nigerian spinach.

>>Nigerian spinach.

I knew you were gonna say that.

(all laugh) >>Beautiful too though.

I've been there.

I've seen it.

It's so beautiful.

>>I love celosia, be it ornamental or edible.

Well, I wanna say that we're out of time, Michael, and I wanna thank you for being with us and for raising awareness about Africa, America agriculture connection because we are connected.

And remember to visit the "Virginia Home Grown" Facebook page to stay connected.

And if you're not watching on Facebook, then go ahead and switch over to catch "Eating Fresh with Jen Naylor."

She's celebrating growing fruit trees.

Also keep an eye on Facebook for information on this month's plant sales.

The Garden Club of Virginia Symposium is September 20th and 21st, and visit their website for more information.

And now I'm gonna be speaking at the Appomattox Regional Library on September 22nd.

And so visit the library's website for more details.

I wanna thank you again tremendously to Edmund and to Michael, our guests this evening.

And thanks to Amyrose and to Robyn.

And I wanna thank you for watching.

Next month, we'll visit two historical sites to talk about art in the garden.

I look forward to being with you then.

And remember, gardening is for everyone.

We are all growing and learning together.

Happy gardening!