Ep. 53 Collard Greens: The Jazz of American Cuisine - Bonnetta Adeeb, Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance

Bonnetta Adeeb is a founding member of the Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance, a program of the non-profit STEAM Onward based in Maryland. Bonnetta is dedicated to increasing the number of BIPOC seed farmers stewarding culturally meaningful crops and liberating seeds from "seed jail".

In this episode, Bonnetta shares her journey to find the Stone Mountain Watermelon, a variety mentioned in family lore that allowed her ancestors to purchase land after slavery. We discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic transformed a local gardening project into the Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance, a regional network for seed production and training through the Ira Wallace Seed School.

In the deep dive, Bonnetta and I get into Collard Greens. We cover using Ultra Crosses as a community breeding method, the necessity of cold snaps for seed production, and why Bonnetta describes collards as the Jazz of American Cuisine. We also explore how the rhythmic movements of harvest are like dancing.

At the end, Bonnetta also talks about the upcoming Seeds & Culture 2026 Conference on March 6-7 in Washington DC.

Enjoy the conversation!

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Episode links

Ujamaa Seeds website

Ujamaa Coop Farming Alliance on instagram

Seeds & Culture 2026 Conference March 6–7, 2026 Washington DC. Columbia

Ira Wallace Seed School

Heirloom Collard Project

Steam Onward website

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