Mary Menniti grew up with her Italian immigrant grandfather growing vegetables, figs, and tending sheep in her family's backyard. She created The Italian Garden Project to celebrate the joy and wisdom inherent in the traditional Italian American vegetable garden, preserving this heritage and demonstrating its relevance for reconnecting to our food, our families and the earth. Over the past few years, we have been connecting over our shared love of growing Italian American seeds and their stories, and are now collaborating on preserving on various farms and sharing her seed collection through our seed catalog. 
In this episode, we also hear the voices of Concetta Liberto, Antonino Machi, Fenice Mercurio, Charles Adornetto, Domenic Carpico, and Michele Vaccaro from interviews conducted by Mary.
 
SEED AND PLANT STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE:
 

Figs


Broccoli Rabe


Poverella Pole Bean from Concetta Liberto


Cow's Nipple Tomato from Mariano Floro


Lunga di Napoli Squash


Cucuzza from Antonino Machi


Cucuzza seed saving with Charles Adornetto


Fagiolina del Trasimeno


Long Bean


Vinny's Neapolitan Friariello (Frying Pepper)


Ischia Eggplant


Nepitella


Fennel from Fenice Mercurio


Black Fava (Mora de Precoce) from Nicola Ranieri


Swiss Chard from Caro Simbula

Sabatino’s "Peppe Insalata" Lettuce from Sabatino DiNardo

Floriani Red Flint Corn




 
MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE:

Italian Garden Project (web)
Italian Garden Project (IG)
Italian Garden Project (YouTube)
Italian Garden Project (Facebook)
Bruno Garofalo's Bidente (Two-Toothed tool)
Italian American Podcast on Unification
Growers Grange Italian Heirloom CSA, Corbett, OR
Eggplant Parmesan recipe by Cooking with Nona
The Feast of the Madonna del Sacro Monte, Clifton, NJ



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
 
THANKS TO:


Mary Menniti
Concetta Liberto
Antonino Machi
Fenice Mercurio
Charles Adornetto
Domenic Carpico
Michele Vaccaro
Ruth Kaaserer

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