Edible Activist

#185: Nurturing Our Seeds: Detroit Roots, Community Power

Episode Summary

Erin Cole, founder of Nurturing Our Seeds in Detroit, shares how a porch-side safety moment on Helen Street—mowing vacant lots for elders—grew from a first flower patch into mustard and turnip greens, and ultimately a neighborhood farm and seed-saving hub. We dig into living soil, herb-based compost teas, seed starting as food sovereignty as they supply transplants to 14 Black farms and save okra seed with the Ujamaa Seed Cooperative, and adapting to climate chaos with part-shade cucumbers. We also talk land access and how the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund strengthens community control—plus Erin’s quest to breed a hot pink okra.