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blueandyellowmakes

Author • Speaker • Homesteader
Executive director of the utopianseedproject
The Whole Okra, 2020 James Beard Awardee

I've had Pam Dawling's book from @new_society_publ

I've had Pam Dawling's book from @new_society_publishers for over a year now. Excited to do some deep learning. One reason I'm looking forward to this is that Pam lives and grows in pretty much the same climate as me (USDA 7ish), which is quite different to many hoop house books written for the North!

Plus Pam is an awesome, funny, incredible British transplant living in the USA.

#hoophouses

Exploring some dilapidated hoop houses today!

Exploring some dilapidated hoop houses today!

Belle (@lieswine) and I reenact part of Okra's Fam

Belle (@lieswine) and I reenact part of Okra's Family Reunion in the latest episode of @theokrapodcast

#Repost @theokrapodcast
• • • • • •
We kick off Episode 4, Okra's Family, with a short reading from @blueandyellowmakes book, The Whole Okra, which finds the narrator at a Malvaceae family reunion, sitting next to a morose okra (played by @lieswine).

In leui of a traditional family gathering, this episode may bring a little smile to your day!

Full episode via the link in our bio.

#okra #thewholeokra #abelmoschus #abelmoschusesculentus #familyreunion

@chelseagreenbooks

A delicious thank you present for my Okra Talk wit

A delicious thank you present for my Okra Talk with @dsualumni and @thefightingokragoesglobal

It also ties in well with an article / @theokrapodcast episode I'm working on titled, In Search of the Perfect Pickled Okra.

Maybe this is it!

#okra #pickledokra #thewholeokra #indefenseofokra #okraloversunite

This is what happens when you ask a two year old t

This is what happens when you ask a two year old to smile ❤️

Doh! #fermentation

Doh!

#fermentation

It was a joy to interview Roy Blount Jr, but now w

It was a joy to interview Roy Blount Jr, but now we want to interview Stephen King to hear his side of things....

Listen to Episode 4 to hear Roy Blount Jr. reading his Song to Okra and some other great interviews with botanists, scientists and okra lovers.

Link via @theokrapodcast

#okra #botany #songtookra #scaredofokra #okrapodcast #science #abelmoschus #abelmoschusesculentus #royblountjr #stephenking

Let the okra retting begin! @ebony.by.nature #ok

Let the okra retting begin! @ebony.by.nature

#okra #okrafiber #thewholeokra #seedtostem #retting #plantfibers #naturalfiber #fiber #indefenseofokra

Dried mango in the woods!

Dried mango in the woods!

Saffron stigmas for sale, $10 per stigma. I've got

Saffron stigmas for sale, $10 per stigma. I've got 2 available.

#saffronforcash #expenaivespices #saffron

They keep getting bigger! #turnips

They keep getting bigger!

#turnips

Black Spanish Round radish. #radish #winterradish

Black Spanish Round radish.

#radish #winterradish #winteriscoming

This is the face you can expect to see if you give

This is the face you can expect to see if you give your 2 year old an ube flour bun with maple groundnut filling at six in the morning.

They are SO delicious and I'm amazed by @plantsb4people and their root orientated baking wizardry ❤️

#ube #rootflour #groundnuts #apios

NOW LIVE via @theokrapodcast Okra's Family: This

NOW LIVE via @theokrapodcast

Okra's Family: This episode is centered around okra. That may sound a little crazy given this is a podcast all about okra, but we really wanted an opportunity to get to know okra on okra’s own terms. We hear from Jordan Collins (@lovesomegreen), who shares some botanical origins and agronomic potential of okra. We're honored that Roy Blount Jr. shares his Song to Okra and some slippery stories. And two talented 'Botanists in the Kitchen' share botanical and culinary insights which may leave you hungering for a plate of fried okra and mole! We hope this episode leaves you knowing okra just a little bit better!

#okra #okrapodcast #mallow #malvaceae #abelmoschus #abelmoschusesculentus #okrafamily #familyreunion #botany #botanists #taxonamy #songtookra #okraonmars #futureokra #science #ethnobotany

@oldnorthshrub delivery leads to difficult decisio

@oldnorthshrub delivery leads to difficult decisions ahead.... So much deliciousness, so many options.

Thanks to the award winning, @saveurmag recognized @thechefsfarmer!

#thebestshrub #shrub

Sometimes life goals are realized and achieved in

Sometimes life goals are realized and achieved in the same moment. This picture represents one such moment.

#Repost @thefightingokragoesglobal (@get_repost)
・・・
💚💚The Okra Talk is happening in one week on Monday, November 9 at 6 PM (CST). Scan the QR to register for the event!

#thewholeokra #fightingokra #fightingokragoesglobal #dsugoesglobal #deltastateuniversity #okra #dsuhomecoming #teamfightingokra

Today I held Trouble as she died and then buried h

Today I held Trouble as she died and then buried her in the garden in a small white box and planted a pear tree on her grave. Trouble was the wild street dog who fell in love with our family. First with Deo, then with Belle (as I worked in India) and finally with our couch. I came home to discover that we hadn't so much adopted a dog as been adopted by one. She was our red haired hound who loved to run through the woods; a hell-hound gliding between the trees, or so the squirrels used to say. Her two passions were chasing things and laying in the sun (preferably on a couch in the sun). One day I caught her 12 feet up a large maple, squirrels scattered to the thinner branches. Another day she chased down a skunk and burst back into our house smiling and smelly; for a year or more, everyday it rained, the stench returned. One day all we found of the groundhog was a hind-leg and an ear, later Belle found its eyeball and screamed. Trouble once swallowed a rabbit whole and later vomited it onto the kitchen floor; she got sick and narrowly avoided stomach surgery. Once she treed a possum in the middle of the night, and yapped to let us know. She likely saved my chickens from that possum, which sort of made up for all the ones she'd killed before we taught her they weren't for her. Trouble refused to sit on command, only ever came back because she loved us, and could snuggle with the best of them. And now she's gone and I can't stop crying over that brown-eyed freckle-tongued friend of mine.

#Repost @thefightingokragoesglobal (@get_repost)
・・・
💚Okra Talk 💚 on November 9 at 6 PM (Central Time).
#fightingokragoesglobal #fightingokra #dsugoesglobal #thewholeokra #dsuhomecoming2020

#Repost @utopianseedproject (@get_repost)
・・・
Big thanks to Michael Fortune and Bob Lackey for the help and land to grow out a larger population of okra for our @seed_savers_exchange Whidley White restoration project, which is taking a somewhat strayed early 1800s okra variety and selecting it to be a relatively uniform, chunky white pod! Today I pulled in plenty of seed for the next generation, which will probably be the final year of refinement before releasing it to the world!

#okra #seedsaving #okraseed #farming #seedgrowing #heirloomseeds #heirloomokra #thewholeokra #okraloversunite

Sorghum all collapsed in the wind, but these seed

Sorghum all collapsed in the wind, but these seed heads are dense! This variety is Coral Sorghum from @experimentalfarmnetwork a variety from South Sudan. It was tall nd beautiful and late to produce. I've seen pictures of the seed heads turning beautiful reds, but these have only just begun that process. Nate Kleinman noted that the variety is very drought resistant and may even need a period of dry weather to trigger flowering (which we didn't have much of this summer!).

#sorghum #seedsaving

Puerto Rican Okra topping in at 14.5ft. I'm sendin

Puerto Rican Okra topping in at 14.5ft. I'm sending stalks and fiber to @melbelle206 for some fiber experimenting!

#okra #okrafiber #fibercrops #letskeepstalkingaboutokra #thewholeokra #okra

Turnips are looking beautiful this year #turnips

Turnips are looking beautiful this year #turnips

Baby goats 😍

#Repost @theokrapodcast (@get_repost) ・・・ We

Muscadine wine ❤️

Muscadine wine ❤️

Life is crazy, but at least we get to dig sweet po

Life is crazy, but at least we get to dig sweet potatoes.

#sweetpotatoes

#Repost @theokrapodcast (@get_repost) ・・・ Ep

#Repost @theokrapodcast (@get_repost)
・・・
Episode 3 is LIVE!

Okra Soul Soup: In previous episodes we’ve certainly talked a lot about eating okra, but this is our first deep dive into a specific dish: Okra Soup. We are very fortunate to have interviewed two incredible Charleston natives, Chef BJ Dennis (@chefbjdennis) and Amethyst Ganaway (@thizzg), who help weave a narrative of food and people and deep roots stretching back to West Africa. Okra soup is certainly delicious, and be prepared to salivate during the whole episode, but it's also a connection to community and culture beyond it's varied ingredients.

Listen via the link @theokrapodcast

#okrasoup #okra #okrapodcast #charlestonchefs #charleston #gumbo #okrasoulsoup #podcast #food #culture #cooking #soup #africandiaspora

Baby frog and baby ladybird on celosia.

Baby frog and baby ladybird on celosia.

The tiniest of knee massages from an eight legged

The tiniest of knee massages from an eight legged friend.

1. Abelmoschus esculentus 2. Abelmoschus caillei 3

1. Abelmoschus esculentus
2. Abelmoschus caillei
3. Abelmoschus manihot
4. Abelmoschus tetraphyllus

#okrafamily #abelmoschus #okra

We'll have plenty of Abelmoschus tetraphyllus to s

We'll have plenty of Abelmoschus tetraphyllus to share for next year through the @utopianseedproject ❤️

#thisisnotokra

#Repost @theokrapodcast (@get_repost) ・・・ Me

#Repost @theokrapodcast (@get_repost)
・・・
Mehmet Oztan is a Service Assistant Professor of Geology & Geography at West Virginia University, where he works on projects related to preservation and documentation of West Virginia’s and Appalachian Region’s agrobiodiversity, seed stories, race and culture of seeds, racism and discrimination in seed industry, advocacy of food diversity, and adaptation of seeds to changing regional climate/growing conditions.

Mehmet is co-owner of Two Seeds in a Pod Heirloom Seed Co, a small, family-owned seed company that specializes in Turkish heirlooms. His dedication to seed and food preservation is inspiring. Learn more @twoseedsinapod

#okra #okrapodcast #turkishokra #bamia

Autumnal fruit. Thanks to @ellenrubyc and @kouryc

Autumnal fruit. Thanks to @ellenrubyc and @kourycarol

#persimmons #figs

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