We love food historian Michael Twitty’s Afroculinaria blog. Michael brings out the hidden food history of African Americans, who were the real cooks and gardeners to the reknowned hosts and hostesses of the South. Michael points out that many African Americans can trace their family histories through many generations, and that the food and seeds those families maintained is a big part of that.

Plus, he’s a crazy good cook over an open fire!

Now Michael’s embarking on The Cooking Gene Project: Southern Discomfort Tour. This May through July, he’ll be traveling the South, from Maryland to Louisiana, exploring these culinary traditions. We hope you’ll consider joining us in supporting the project through the fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo.

Michael Twitty sent us some words about the project:

From the Ground Up: Growing a New Future with The Cooking Gene Project: Southern Discomfort Tour  

When I first started working on early African American food culture and recreating that culture through culinary history and living history reinactments I stumbled upon a "little" company devoted to preserving, promoting and marketing the edible antiques of the Southern pantry.  Ten years ago I didn’t know what an "heirloom" was, I just knew my Grandfather grew some "old time" watermelons down on his farm in South Carolina, or that my Grandmother had an envelope with collard seeds behind when she left this world.  That was about it.  Then I wanted to re-create how enslaved people ate—and Home Depot’s garden department wasn’t cutting it.  Working on a project where I thought to recreate enslaved people’s gardens, I hit upon a new path–I had to grow what they grew or close to it–and I had to figure out how to cook it when it came to harvest.  Enter Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. 

Ten years later I’ve had the opportunity to develop my message and my approach to teaching about early African American foodways and their impact on our culinary history and gardenways.  Every day presents new lessons and insights from the distant past.  Now I am embarking on a journey to the Deep South to look for more heirlooms, to encourage community gardens and farmers to grow more African American heirlooms, to promote racial reconcilliation and healing and to find out more about my enslaved Ancestors.  The Cooking Gene Project blends contextual genealogy, heirloom gardening, culinary history and social justice into one cohesive project that looks at the impact of enslaved African Americans on Southern/American culinary history while looking at the long term influence and legacy and what it means for our contemporary best practices in food, community development, health and spirit.  Having been an Edna Lewis Lecture guest speaker for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello and a three time presenter at the Southern Exposure Heritage Harvest Festival, discussion with fellow heritage-food enthusiasts have fermented into a project like this where we look back in order to move forward.  I hope in being able to trace my Ancestors experience through food I can encourage others to do so and help bring us all to a greater understanding of our common culinary DNA. 

Our team could really use your help.  We only have a few days left to reach our funding goal.  By visiting our Indiegogo page we hope you will consider contributing to our campaign.  This year’s Heritage Harvest Festival will benefit from the project with a special class on using heirloom gardening to promote contextual genealogy.  We want to teach people how to use food to trace their roots–no matter what their background!  The past ten years have been just the start of a larger learning and sharing experience and we have so enjoyed learning with and from our friends at SESE and growing the plants that teach people about our heritage while making a way for a better future for all.  Please be sure to visit our campaign site and contribute whatever you can.  Our project is the only one of its kind and we hope if you follow us on the blog you will join us for some of our "Southern Discomfort Tour!"

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Learn more at The Virginia Food Heritage Project, and come celebrate our culinary heritage!

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Direct sowing seeds outdoors can give big results, fast, without all the fuss of caring for transplants. And many summer crops generally grow better when direct sown, forming deeper, more drought-tolerant root systems. In late spring we direct sow corn, snap beans, zucchini, summer squash, winter squash, and pumpkins.

We’ll wait until mid-May, when the weather has really settled, to sow melons, watermelons, cucumbers, okra, peanuts, southern peas, cotton, and lima beans. Direct sowing flowers in May lets us easily establish glorious, pollinator-attracting stands of sunflowers, cosmos, zinnias, marigolds.

Any gardener who has seen tomatillo and ground cherry volunteers come up in the garden knows that these nightshades are hardy enough for direct sowing.

When grown in pots, flats, or nursery beds, many crops will change their root systems – instead of a deep, water seeking taproot, which breaks off during transplanting, these wandering (plant) souls develop shallower and more spread out root systems. Plants sown directly in the ground quickly establish deep roots, so they’re better prepared for summer dry spells. They also don’t suffer transplant shock. And when you thin out all but the sturdiest seedlings, you get to choose the ones best adapted to the strong sun, wind, insects, and other demands of the great outdoors.

To direct sow squash, melons, okra, or any crop that needs a wide spacing, simply "station-sow": sow three or four seeds into each spot where you want to have a plant. You may want to sow a little more deeply than you would for transplants, as this will help prevent the seed from drying out. You’ll need to pay special attention to keeping the ground moist while the seeds are germinating.

Once your seedlings emerge and begin to show true leaves, you’ll want to thin them down to one per station, ideally before they begin to shade each other. Choose the sturdiest, most vigorous seedling to save, and snip or pinch off the others where they meet the ground.

To give direct sown seeds a head start before letting them loose in the great outdoors, simply soak them for a few hours before sowing. The seeds will plump up with water, giving them internal reserves to prevent drying out.

This year, think about direct sowing a crop instead of buying or growing transplants. You might be surprised by how quickly these plants catch up to early transplants, and how they’ll continue to thrive when those early transplants get touched by drought.

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A cannibalistic insect that emits a vicious smell when startled, with a bite that may be more painful than a wasp sting? Yes, that’s a bug that we love seeing on our farm. Wheel Bugs (Arilus cristatus) are insect predators that help control many pesky plant pests, like aphids and caterpillars.

Wheel Bugs are shy and slow moving, and are found throughout the United States, though they’re rarely seen. Don’t bother them and they most likely won’t bother you. The adults measure over an inch long.

These “true bugs” are the only insects found in the U.S. with a wheel-like crest behind the head, so they’re easy to identify. In the immature stage, usually seen in April through June, they don’t have the crest, but their red and black bodies are pretty easy to recognize. (The nymph photo at right comes from the University of Florida.)

So don’t be too hasty when you see these bugs on your garden plants – they’re lending you a helping hand!

Resources:

University of Florida Featured Creatures: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/trees/wheel_bug.htm

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“Family farmers need the protection of the court. We reject as naïve and undefendable the judge’s assertion that Monsanto’s vague public relations ‘commitment’ should be ‘a source of comfort’ to plaintiffs. The truth is we are under threat and we do not believe Monsanto. The truth is that American farmers and the American people do not believe Monsanto. Family farmers deserve our day in court and this flawed ruling will not deter us from continuing to seek justice.” –organic farmer and OSGATA President, Jim Gerritsen

“While I have great respect for Judge Buchwald, her decision to deny farmers the right to seek legal protection from one of the world’s foremost patent bullies is gravely disappointing. Her belief that farmers are acting unreasonable when they stop growing certain crops to avoid being sued by Monsanto for patent infringement should their crops become contaminated maligns the intelligence and integrity of those farmers. Her failure to address the purpose of the Declaratory Judgment Act and her characterization of binding Supreme Court precedent that supports the farmers’ standing as ‘wholly inapposite’ constitute legal error.  In sum, her opinion is flawed on both the facts and the law…” –Plaintiff lead attorney Daniel Ravicher

Read about the decision >>

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Some plants continue producing even during periods of extreme heat and humidity or heat and drought. Here are some of our recommendations:

Beans: If you want green beans and shelling beans throughout the summer, it’s best to expand your repertoire to a few different species. The common green bean, Phaseola vulgaris, doesn’t handle drought or high temperatures. But lots of classic Southern beans love our high-heat summers! Try growing Southern Peas (Cowpeas) like Whippoorwill, White Acre, and Pink Eye Purple Hull. Asparagus Beans (Yard Long Beans) also love heat and humidity – they’re slightly firmer than green beans and quite a bit longer. They’re commonly used in Thai curries. Green Pod Red Seed is the classic, reliable heirloom. If you’re in the Deep South, Chinese Red Noodle takes advantage of the long season and is more heat tolerant. Lima Beans (Butterbeans) are generally very reliable in heat, humidity, and drought.

Tomatoes: Look for tomatoes that come from the Deep South, especially those bred by the universities. The large red slicer Tropic VFN (from the University of Florida) produces through very hot summers.  Ozark Pink VF (from the University of Arkansas) is highly recommended for very hot climates. These blemish-free medium-sized tomatoes have very bright, crisp flavor. For market growers looking for reliability in heat and humidity, Neptune (also from the University of Florida) is a great choice. This medium-large red slicer recently did very well in trials conducted at the University of Georgia.

Eggplant: Take advantage of your summer heat by growing an eggplant that requires it: the flavorful French/Italian heirloom Listada de Gandia thrives in hot weather.  The better known heirloom Black Beauty is also dependable in the South. The long, narrow Asian eggplants like Ping Tung Long also produce well through intense heat.

Peppers: Nematode resistant bell peppers are the best choices for Southern gardeners. Carolina Wonder and Charleston Belle are both excellent. Hot peppers generally thrive in heat and humidity. (Lots of hot places use hot peppers in their cuisines – perhaps because these plants grow so well in hot climates!) Sweet, spicy Aji Dulce peppers have an unusual, complex flavor, with just a hint of heat. They’re generally unaffected by pests and diseases, but they take a little longer to mature than most peppers.

Cucumbers:   Find out which diseases are problems in your area and use the resistance codes to help you choose what to grow. Little Leaf H-19 (from the University of Arkansas) has excellent disease resistance and is well adapted to very hot summers. It’s classified as a pickler, but it’s also very tasty sliced and in salads. Ashley is a slicer particularly recommended where disease is a problem, but my favorite choice for a heat-loving slicer is Suyo Long (the long, slender fruits are best grown on trellises).

Summer Squash and Zucchini: We recommend growing Moschata type summer squash if you have trouble growing summer squash and zucchini in your hot climate. The Moschata types have better pest and disease tolerance and produce well straight through very hot summers. Tromboncino summer squash has the extra advantage of also making excellent squash blossoms for stuffing. Waltham Butternut winter squash can be harvested small (3-5”) for eating like summer squash.  (Moschata types need nights above 60 degrees F to grow well.) You might also try edible Luffa gourds. When harvested small, they’re a great summer squash alternative.   

Winter Squash and Pumpkins: As with summer squash, we recommend choosing moschata types when growing winter squash and pumpkins in the South. (Avoid pepo and maxima types.) Pretty much any moschata will thrive through hot summers, but particularly productive varieties are Seminole Pumpkin, Waltham Butternut, and Tan Cheese. Green-Striped Cushaw is from another type of squash altogether (argyrosperma or mixta). We know Southern gardeners who won’t grow anything but Cushaws: they’re super productive through our summers and their seeds are very large and tasty. The flesh tastes a little different than most winter squash and not as sweet, but it can be used in pies if you add extra sweetener.

Melons: Top Mark, Sweet Passion, and Kansas all have extra disease and/or pest tolerances. Edisto 47 is particularly recommended for hot, humid summers where fungal disease is an issue. Missouri Gold produces well through droughty conditions.

Watermelon: Crimson Sweet and Strawberry watermelon are good choices where heat and humidity make fungal diseases a problem.

Okra: Choose older and heirloom varieties of okra with deeper root systems. The deep roots give these plants resistance to nematodes and improved drought and heat tolerance, but these varieties also usually take longer to mature. Gold Coast is a variety particularly noted for its deep roots, but Stewart Zeebest and Beck’s Big Buck also are excellent heirlooms for the Deep South.

Greens: Lettuce is very difficult to grow outside when it’s hot, and spinach is pretty much impossible, but don’t give up on summer salads and cooked greens.

For cooked greens, Swiss chard and turnip greens are the best choices in the South. These plants are biennials, which means they usually won’t bolt (go to seed) until they’ve gone through their first winter. So they stay tender and mild all summer. Sweet potato greens, New Zealand summer spinach, and the young leaves and shoot tips of squash can all be used for cooking greens.

For salads, buckwheat leaves add an unusual nutty flavor. Grain amaranths like Mayo Indian are very productive in high heat and humidity. Many heat-loving herbs add flavor to salads, including roselle, anise-hyssop, dill, & basil.

We strongly recommend Red Malabar summer spinach to anyone who hasn’t tried growing it yet. The crisp, slightly succulent leaves stay mild in high heat and maintain healthy growth all summer. The gorgeous red vines need to be trellised or caged, but this keeps the leaves clean. They’re excellent as cooking greens and in salad mixes.

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In January 2005 Richmond Audubon began a program to “Leave No Child Inside”
Our partners would be children living in poor Richmond city neighborhoods. Most
of the children lived within two miles of the James River and the James River Park so
our vision was to introduce kids to the outdoors thru kayaking, hiking, and nature
exploration. This is still an important part of our focus.

BUT we quickly learned that getting kids from our two partner schools to the river
was logistically impossible. Thank goodness for Gardens! It has been a great way
to “leave no child inside —- nor their parents, siblings, teachers and neighbors.”

We now have two school gardens. They include vegetables, herbs, flowers, and
an emphasis on native plants, and lots of art work. Chesterfield County Master
Gardeners work with Richmond Audubon to provide guidance and activities for the
kids.
AND Southern Exposure has been a delightful part of our garden planning and
planting. Last year we used the quirky, so comprehensive catalogs to make our
seed selection with the teachers. This year teachers will have votes, but the 4th and
5th grade members of the after school Garden Club made most see selections. Big
favorites were more radishes, enough so we will have them from April to November,
zinnias and sunflowers which gave us flower bouquets from May through October,
and new this year are straw flowers. The Garden Managers will supplement the
children’s choices with other annuals that have been big successes in the past:
hyacinth bean, dwarf red cotton —– what a beauty —- and various gourds and
melons.

Click here for Mary’s seed catalog lesson plan.

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Okra: You might think okra is just for gardeners in the deep South, but we have varieties that mature fruit in as little as 50 days. Okra plants run the gamut from two and half foot tall dwarfs to ten foot tall giants: if your summers are short and cool, you should choose short, quick maturing varieties. Growers as far north as Maine have had success with the excellent heirloom dwarf okra Cajun Jewel. You might also try Lee and the classic heirloom Clemson Spineless. (Note: Pacific NW growers are, sadly, usually unable to grow okra, there just isn’t enough heat for okra to thrive.) 

Peppers: Don’t be intimidated by growing peppers! Lots of heirloom peppers come from Eastern Europe, where summers are more mild. You can grow peppers even if you have cool nights and mild summer days. We suggest looking for short-day varieties that originate in cooler regions: Bull Nose is a medium-sized red bell that’s ready in just 58 days. Medium-sized, early-maturing bells like Gamba and Doe Hill Golden Bell; wax peppers like Early Hungarian and Feherozon; smaller peppers like Lipstick and Ashe County Pimento; and frying peppers like Melrose and Marconi can all produce prolific harvests even in cooler summers.

Tomatoes: Generally, cool-climate gardeners are limited to small or medium sized tomatoes, unless you have a greenhouse. Sophie’s Choice, Eva Purple Ball, and Abraham Lincoln are all medium sized heirlooms that have just as much flavor as the big slicers. Ground Cherries are a tasty, unusual crop for cooler climate growers who want to expand their nightshade crops.

Eggplant: Early Black Egg is a standby for classic dark purple fruits in cooler climates. Ping Tung Long is earlier than Long Purple and perfect for Chinese-style dishes.

Southern Peas: Queen Ann Blackeye Pea is the classic southern pea for gardeners in cooler climates, but if you’re looking for something different, we’re excited to offer Fast Lady Northern Southern Pea, bred especially for very mild summers in the Pacific Northwest, brought to us by Carol Deppe, plant breeder extraordinaire.

Peanuts: Farmers successfully grow peanuts all the way up into the lower reaches of Canada, as far inland as Ontario. One of our growers gets good yields of Tennessee Red Valencia peanuts in Eastern Canada. To get a jump on peanut season, start the seeds in 2″ pots 3–4 weeks before transplanting them out.  

Watermelon: Not only is Blacktail Mountain watermelon very early, it also has the amazing ability to sweeten up in storage even when harvested a bit underripe. If your climate is truly marginal for watermelon, this is the one to grow. 6–8" drought-resistant Sugar Baby is also a good choice, especially for small gardens, and for yellow-fleshed watermelons Early Moonbeam is the best choice.

Melons: Super productive Ice Cream Melon (Green Machine) is sweet and early. The melons are quite small – just right for holding a scoop of icecream.

***A little extra attention is still important for early harvests, even when you’re choosing the ideal early varieties. Don’t start your seedlings too early, or they’ll get too large and will be set back by transplant shock when you do move them out to the garden (harvest could end up later than if you’d waited a couple weeks longer to start them indoors!). Wait to put down organic mulches like straw until after you’ve transplanted, otherwise you could cool the soil. Clear plastic laid down on the beds a couple weeks before transplanting will warm up the ground and help get your plants off to a good start. Raised beds also help the soil warm up earlier. Row cover on plants keeps them warmer and helps them grow faster during their first month. ***

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Don’t miss the chance to start your own seedlings from seed for planting this spring and summer! Depending on where you live, February through April is when you’ll sow tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants for planting out when the soil’s warm enough. February is a great time to sow brassicas like broccoli, cabbage, kale, and collards for spring transplanting. Ambitious gardeners who want to start harvesting a few weeks earlier or who have short growing seasons will even start delicate okra and cucurbits like watermelons, melons, cucumbers, and squash indoors in pots in March and April.

There’s also plenty you can direct sow in the garden over the next couple months, as long as the soil isn’t too wet. Once the seeds germinate, they’re no longer in danger of rotting in water-logged ground. So take advantage of dry spells to work the soil and sow your most cold-hardy seeds. For direct sowing outdoors in early spring we recommend snap peas, snow peas, English peas, herbs like cilantro and parsley, and mustard greens and lettuces sown close together (simply harvest by mowing down to about 2 inches, being sure to leave the growing point intact).

We’ve posted a new Beginner’s Growing Guide that covers the basics of seed starting for beginners. Novice seed starters should seek out other resources: talk to local gardeners, find your local Master Gardeners, and read gardening books for your region! We recommend Nancy Bubel’s classic guide The New Seed Starter’s Handbook for anyone learning about starting plants from seed.

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We’re on our way to the hearing in New York City, to support our lawyer in the lawsuit OSGATA et al. v. Monsanto. The lawsuit asks for protection for organic farmers whose crops have been contaminated by GE crops. Southern Exposure is a member of OSGATA, the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, the chief plaintiff in the case.

If you’re in the New York City area, we encourage you to come out tomorrow, Tuesday, January 31st, for the Citizens’ Assembly of Support.

RSVP to attend the Citizen’s Assembly >>

Sign Our Petition Supporting Farmers >>

When: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 @ 9:00 am

Where: Please gather respectfully at Pearl Street and Cardinal Hayes Place (45 Cardinal Hayes Place, New York, NY).  Link to Google Map >>

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