{"title":"Greensgrow","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGreensgrow is an educational urban farm and demonstration garden that provides an essential connection to food and nature in an urban community.\u003c\/strong\u003e We are a non-profit dedicated to promoting social wellness through community green space. Greensgrow reconnects city dwellers with rural food producers and promoting the greening of Philadelphia’s homes and gardens. Together we are building a better, more progressive and sustainable Philadelphia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe run two garden centers, educational programming, food access programs and other projects resulting in permanent jobs and sustainable income. A small, dedicated staff runs our multi-faceted organization.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGreensgrow Farms\u003c\/strong\u003e is our original farm location built on a site that was once a factory. Today visitors are greeted by three large high tunnel raised beds, green houses, a well stocked garden center and farmstand, our animal family, and a variety of community events and educational workshops.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGreensgrow West\u003c\/strong\u003e is a West Philly community hub built on a long abandoned site on Baltimore Avenue. The site features and features a tiny house with a reading library, a thriving garden center, greenhouse, mini-farmstand, chickens, and a variety of community-focused events and educational programming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWebsite: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.greensgrow.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003egreensgrow.org\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInstagram: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/greensgrow\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e@greensgrow\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"SGSpiceGallery10151\" class=\"SGSpiceGallery\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"white-garden-egg-eggplant","title":"White Garden Egg (Eggplant)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlease note: this listing is for \u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003eSEEDS\u003c\/span\u003e, not fresh eggplants!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis African variety has a delicious flavor. There are many varieties of Garden Egg, but this white variety is most popular among West African and Southeast Asian families. The fruit are versatile and can be eaten raw, boiled, sautéed, or in soups. They are slightly later to produce and taller than other eggplant but very productive once they get going. Many traditional African recipes can be found online but they also are excellent simply grilled or sautéed with other veggies. The rich flavor lends itself well to spicy dishes. Young leaves are cooked down into stews.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seeds for this variety originate from Yao, an immigrant from Togo and Ethnic Crop Specialist in Maryland. The seeds were sourced from relatives in Africa and have been grown out from years on a research farm. This variety, also known as Scarlet Eggplant or Gilo, is very sought after in the West African communities, especially those from Ghana, Senegal-Gambia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. In Ghana, they are one of the three most important vegetables along with tomatoes and peppers. They are valued for their rich and slightly bitter flavor, thin skin, and taste in numerous African stews. These are also popular with Burmese and Nepali refugee families. The white, unripe fruit can be eaten raw, boiled whole, and eaten with chili paste or most commonly cooked in stews. The leaves are also eaten and are rich in iron, vitamin c, calcium, and riboflavin. In one recipe, they are sautéed with onion, garlic, anise, mushrooms, hot pepper, parsley, and nutmeg. Then, served as a side dish over rice, couscous, boiled yucca, or yams.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDays to maturity:\u003c\/strong\u003e 88\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSeeds per pack:\u003c\/strong\u003e 40\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGermination rate:\u003c\/strong\u003e 88% on 01\/23\/2026\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003ePlanting \/ harvesting notes\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese are heat-loving and seeds should be started indoors about 1\/4\" deep, about 8 weeks before the last frost. Transplant into garden well after the danger of frost. The growing characteristics are similar to most eggplants. The plants reach about 4-5 feet tall and should be planted 12 inches apart. They need full sun and fertile soil. Staking helps as the plants become heavy. The eggplants begin green, but should be picked when they are about 3 inches long and white. They must be picked regularly to keep production and ensure they don’t over ripen. For seed saving the fruits ripen to orange.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eSeed keeping notes\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEggplants are generally self-pollinating, though we isolate different varieties of the same species by 300 feet, in hopes that flying insects will not cross pollinate them unexpectedly. Eggplant seeds are ripe when the fruits get far past their edible stage, and have turned another color, in this case orange. Cut the fruit, scrape out seeds (perhaps through a heavy-duty screen) into a vessel, add a little water (1-2\" is probably plenty) to your seeds and pulp to keep them from drying out, and allow them to ferment away from direct sunlight. Fermentation is not necessary with eggplants, but it makes seed cleaning a bit easier. Ideally, you will stir the concoction every day for 3-5 days. In the end, add more water to fill the vessel, stir one final time, and allow to settle. Pour off the floating material and then strain the seeds through a strainer. Sometimes, you will need to add more water and pour off the floating material several times until the water is clear and you can see the seeds sunken at the bottom. Squeeze dry the strained seeds in a towel, and then lay out to dry on a labeled screen or paper product in a ventilated place away from direct sunlight for a week or two.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Greensgrow","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":3454767267880,"sku":"EGG-002","price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2406\/3467\/products\/WhiteGardenEgg_Eggplant_sm.jpg?v=1671134808"},{"product_id":"rice-pea","title":"Rice Pea","description":"\u003cp\u003eRice Peas are a Gullah Geechee variety of lady pea used in coastal Carolina Hoppin' John and Reezy Peezy alongside Carolina Gold Rice. CheFarmer Matthew Raiford of \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/trueloveseeds.sbs\/collections\/gilliard-farms\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eGilliard Farms\u003c\/a\u003e sent these seeds to us from his ancestral farmland in Georgia, and he likes to use them in hummus, succotash, and blended with other beans: they have a good, fine flavor and aren’t as earthy as other peas. See the article at the bottom of this page by David Shields to learn lots more about this Rice Pea.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDays to maturity:\u003c\/strong\u003e 90\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSeeds per pack:\u003c\/strong\u003e 40\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGermination rate:\u003c\/strong\u003e 95% on 04\/17\/2026\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003ePlanting \/ harvesting notes\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDirect sow southern peas safely after frost, any time between late May and mid-July. This is a climbing vine crop, so it benefits from being planted next to a structure or trellis. Plant 1\" deep with 3-4\" spacing, either in 1 row on each side of the net trellis. Being a legume, it does fairly well in poor soil and adds nitrogen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eSeed keeping notes\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSouthern peas are self-pollinating, though it is best to isolate different varieties of \u003cem\u003eV. unguiculata\u003c\/em\u003e (including black-eyed peas, southern peas, cowpeas, and long beans) at least 20 feet, if not much farther to avoid unwanted cross-pollination. Allow beans to dry fully into a brown crispy state. This is when they are ready to harvest for seed. If necessary, lay them out to dry a little longer in their pods.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eRice Pea, by David Shields\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe following descriptions and historical records of this pea were published \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/davidsanfordshields.substack.com\/p\/issue-11-field-peas-part-5-rice-pea?fbclid=IwAR33iq0b4q2DshCSYcZEkZPes0isPk2GTADhszRKd-IcSNOksvz-L5LZ6Os\"\u003ehere\u003c\/a\u003e by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/slowfoodnations.org\/participant\/david-shields\/\"\u003eDavid Shields\u003c\/a\u003e, who is known throughout the American South as the \"Flavor Saver.\" He is Chairman of the Board of the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation, holds the Carolina Distinguished Professorship at the University of South Carolina, and chairs Slow Food's Ark of Taste Committee for the American South.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of that class of white pea called \"lady peas\", the rice pea for a century and a half has been reputed to be unexcelled in flavor. From the 1896 North Carolina Experimental Station Bulletin: \"The table quality of this pea is considered superior to that of any other of the cowpea family\" (342). Esteemed for its delicacy, its creamy texture, and its way of harmonizing with other flavors, the rice pea early attracted the attention of cooking professionals. From the Boston Cooking School Magazine 1914: \"There is a field pea called the rice pea, grown extensively in southern states, which is white, eye and all, with a slightly creamy tint, and it is even more delicate of flavor than the black-eyed peas; these are as delicate as early June peas, and they retain their natural color when cooked, and do not change the color of meat cooked with them. Perhaps the reason rice peas are not grown more generally is that they are not as hardy as black-eyed peas and other field peas. These delicately flavored rice peas, cooked with tender young pork, are far and away more appetizing than pork and beans, and almost or quite as nutritious. They are good, either cooked after they have become dry in the autumn and winter, or when young and tender in the late Spring and early Summer. Southern ladies often cook the tender young peas, pods and all, as snap beans are cooked.They are also good, creamed, either fresh in Spring or Summer, or when dry\" (59). Hoppin' John made using rice peas and Carolina Gold rice was considered the most refined form of that dish.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDescription of the Plant: Semi recumbent vine, vigorous growing; small light green semi-globose leaf and stalk; trails at end of vines. Snow white blooms. Pea form—small white kidney verging on semi-translucent. Pod, small, yellow. Very late ripening. Peas are heavy yielding. Some points worth noting—there was nomenclature confusion, with some persons calling the small lady pea or lady finger pea a white rice pea. But the small lady is a crowder pea with a roundish shape, not the kidney shape of the Rice Pea. USDA PI 663025\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeed for the rice pea does circulate in the seed saving circles. But as field peas go, the rice pea is peculiarly sensitive to local conditions. If the soil is too acid, or the weather too dry, the young plants wilt and die. So during the restorations of the crop in the Lowcountry during the 2010s, it took four years of selecting seed from the few plants that thrived in order to get consistently productive fields. But once Glenn Roberts, Ben Dubbard and others began steady production, the pea became a culinary favorite. At the April 9th, 2017, meeting of the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation (the one that introduced Moruga Hill Rice and celebrated Francis Morean's work), B. J. Dennis cooked some up curried West Indian style. Memorable. The peas lack the chalkiness and graininess of many of the black eyed and cream pea varieties.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile numbers of theories have arisen about why rice peas bear their name (there is actually a class of pulses that are designated rice peas\/beans that includes green and red rice peas), the general thought is that they were co-crops with rice in Italy, West Africa, and America. They were a water tolerant field pea (most aren't).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Greensgrow","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39852330025118,"sku":"VIG-019","price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2406\/3467\/products\/SeaIslandWhitePea.jpg?v=1620661190"},{"product_id":"green-glaze-collards","title":"Green Glaze Collards","description":"\u003cp\u003eGreen Glaze Collards are a beautiful, glossy, dark green, and historic variety known for its taste and some resistance to cabbage worms and cabbage loopers. Food historian Michael Twitty says this variety \"is my personal favorite. They are pretty, waxy, crisp, tough against bugs and extremely delicious. They also happen to be the oldest variety we have\/know of collard green dating back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with the Georgia Southern or Creole collard out of the Deep South going back to the 1860s-1880s.\" See \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/afroculinaria.com\/2016\/01\/16\/a-letter-to-the-newgrorati-of-collards-and-amnesia\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eTwitty's Afroculinaria blog\u003c\/a\u003e for a description of how this European crop combined with African tastes and became so closely associated with southern Black foodways. A sneak peek: \"In tropical West Africa, greens were available year round in gardens and markets and figured prominently in regular meals.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWilliam Woys Weaver describes the origin of this particular variety: \"One of the oldest [collards] to survive ... is the Green Glaze collard, a colewort that evolved out of the Green Glaze cabbage introduced in 1820 by David Landreth of Philadelphia.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur seeds this year were grown by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/sistahseeds\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eAmirah Mitchell of Sistah Seeds\u003c\/a\u003e as part of her Seed Keeping Fellowship at Greensgrow Farms in Philadelphia. This is her favorite type of collard greens as well, and collards are one of her most dear ancestral foods.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDays to maturity:\u003c\/strong\u003e 79\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSeeds per pack:\u003c\/strong\u003e 160-170\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGermination rate:\u003c\/strong\u003e 88% on 11\/08\/2021\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003ePlanting \/ harvesting notes\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEither start indoors or direct sow. Sow seeds 1\/4\" deep in potting soil 4-8 weeks before the last frost, and transplant when plants have three true leaves spaced at 1-2' apart, as early as just before the last frost. If we are growing them in the Fall, we either transplant as mentioned above or we directly sow our seeds 1\/4\" deep every few inches, and cover with hoops and plastic row covers. Regularly harvest these delicious leaves when young and tender!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eSeed keeping notes\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIsolate by 1\/2 mile from other flowering members of \u003cem\u003eB. oleracea\u003c\/em\u003e, including Collards, Kale, Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Brussels Sprouts to avoid unwanted cross-pollination. Allow seed pods to turn brown and dry before seed harvest. Protect from birds.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Greensgrow","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42042816463086,"sku":"BRA-019","price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2406\/3467\/products\/GreenGlazeCollards1.jpg?v=1636663460"},{"product_id":"korean-green-luobo-radish","title":"Korean Green Luobo Radish","description":"\u003cp\u003eSweet and spicy long green radish for making kimchi or fresh, crisp, crunchy eating. Lush green foliage with no spines for an itchless harvest. Recommended for fall plantings as it does not do well with summer heat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis seed was grown for our catalog by Jungeun Kim (J.e.) who hails from Seoul, South Korea. As part of her studies with the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.greensgrow.org\/seed-keeping-residency-2021\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eSeed Keeping Fellowship at Greensgrow Farms\u003c\/a\u003e in Philadelphia, she tended to some of her favorite Korean heritage crops from seed to seed. Here’s what she has to say about Korean radishes:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\"I think radish is an underestimated root vegetable in the U.S., well at least that's how I feel whenever I go to a grocery store. Radish Kimchi is as popular as cabbage Kimchi in South Korea. You may see sliced radish in cabbage Kimchi. There are so many main and side dishes (such as banchan) that highlight radishes and you can use them in various ways. It's pretty common to use them for different types of broth. You can slice them thin and dry them and make a side dish. You can use the green part of radish in various ways too. Some radishes are sweeter or more bitter than others. If you have garden space, try growing them! If you are a Kimchi lover, try making radish Kimchi.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast photo by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/goodenoughfarmnh.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eGood Enough Farm\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDays to maturity:\u003c\/strong\u003e 57\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSeeds per pack:\u003c\/strong\u003e 125\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGermination rate:\u003c\/strong\u003e 87% on 11\/4\/2025\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003ePlanting \/ harvesting notes\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDirectly sow radish seeds in loose soil after danger of frost in early spring, and again in late summer for fall crop (the latter is best for this variety). In frost free areas, sow in the fall. Space rows at least 6\" apart, and thin seedlings to 2-3\" apart within the row. Consider scattering seeds in bands 2-3” wide, 10 seeds per foot. Use row covers to keep out late season pests that munch brassicas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eSeed keeping notes\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor seed saving, leave them in for 65-80 days until the pods fully dry and become crunchy\/crispy. Harvest the seed head below the lowest ripe seed pods, and hang in a sunny, dry place if it needs to dry a little more. Thresh seed pods by pushing through screens, rubbing between your hands, or stomping in buckets. Sift out larger chaff and use wind, breath, or fans to winnow away the lighter weight chaff from the seed.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Greensgrow","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42296801525998,"sku":"RAD-005","price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2406\/3467\/products\/KoreanGreenLuoboRadish1.jpg?v=1641583422"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2406\/3467\/collections\/Greensgrow_sq.jpg?v=1612890957","url":"https:\/\/trueloveseeds.sbs\/collections\/greensgrow.oembed","provider":"Truelove Seeds","version":"1.0","type":"link"}