In an essay titled “Corn Tastes Better on the Honor System,” author and botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer describes the relationship like this: “Using Indigenous science, the human and the plant are linked as co-creators; humans are midwives to this creation, not masters. The plant innovates and the people nurture and direct that creativity. They are joined in a covenant of reciprocity, of mutual flourishing.” In this light, when we talk about seed stories, we are also talking about people’s stories. Seeds and people have been intertwined for thousands of years, and saving the stories is just as important as saving the seeds. 

One organization has made it its mission to salvage both. The Heirloom Gardens Oral History Project (HGOHP) is a collaboration between the Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance (UCFA), Princeton University and Spelman College that aims to collect and preserve stories related to Black and Indigenous foodways throughout the Southeastern United States and Appalachia. UCFA was launched during the pandemic when, along with the tragic loss of life, there was a massive loss of wisdom, knowledge and stories held by our elders. 

Bonnetta Adeeb of the Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance

With a mission of cultural reconnection, UCFA began the important work of seed reconnection. They hosted workshops and asked questions like, “What did your grandmother eat?” and “What 10 crops can you not live without?” 

These were simple but powerful questions because they asked about relationships, family, food and culture. These are questions you can, and maybe should, ask yourself and your family. The Heirloom Gardens Oral History Project grew out of these humble questions, aiming to preserve food, garden and seed stories so we can stand on the shoulders of our elders and grow a better future. 

During the summer of 2024, the HGOHP sent three oral history student interns to Asheville, and I was excited to be their regional host. The aim was to record regional interviews, but as we traveled around the state we were reminded that the work of oral historians is not without complications. Stories can be deeply personal; many folks told us they didn’t think they had anything valuable to offer (why would you want to hear my story?) and many Black and Indigenous communities are wary of institutions “swooping in” to “capture” their stories. I was reminded of an adage I heard from Cynthia Greenlee, historian and journalist: “Community before collaboration.” It speaks to developing trusting relationships before transactional ones.

As part of their time in Asheville, the students spent time volunteering at Southside Community Garden. They weeded rows, dug potatoes and planted seeds. They also interviewed Black elders from the historically Black Southside neighborhood. The Heirloom Gardens Oral History Project is clear in its intentions to record and archive stories, and also to have those stories be a gift to the communities that will value and use them. As a public archive it will continue to grow over time. This fall, we are recording collard stories that will also make it into the archive and be accessible to everyone. 

Neither seeds nor stories should be static things. Seeds need to be grown and stories need to be told; both draw on the past to inform the future. In this sense, seeds are stories, and planting and growing is an act of retelling. To learn more about the oral history project and access the recordings, visit heirloomgardens.princeton.edu