Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus)
OUR WORK
In 2018 Chris Smith grew out 76 different varieties of okra as a research project to support a book he was working on, The Whole Okra. That trial was funded by a successful Kick Starter Campaign and the generous sponsorship of Sow True Seed. Variety observations and trial notes from the 2018 Trial can be seen here. In Many ways that project provided the proof of concept for The Utopian Seed Project to get off the ground.
In 2019 The Utopian Seed Project is planning another large okra variety trial with a whole new set of okra varieties, further exploring and celebrating the diversity of okra.
Peter Taylor aka PTPIX
Peter Taylor is an award winning photographer and friend of the Utopian Seed Project. In 2018 he took a series of ‘beauty shots’ of many of the okra varieties we grew. See more of his work here and follow him on Instagram here.
The many faces of Motherland Okra (Abelmoschus caillei aka West African Okra). This is a dramatic variety from Liberia and stewarded by Jon Jackson of @comfortfarms
Last year @lovesomegreen was here in North Carolina helping to hand cross all our high oilseed okra varieties. This year we`re growing out the F1 populations to start the process of developing a higher oil content variety. Here`s one of the crosses growing in Arizona, where Jordan has an indoor growing operation and was able to get a big headstart. It`s exciting to have collaboration across the country!
Very grateful to @leeza.chen for spending a couple of days helping out. On Tuesday we planted the last of our garlic and shallots. Today we used Mark Dempsey`s (of @carolinafarms) obliterator to process about 35 lbs of okra. The Obliterator is just what I call it, it`s really a threshing, winnowing and screening machine. (Thanks also to Leicester neighbor Sal, who only turned up to say hello and then ended up spending half a day cleaning okra seeds!).
Chef TT (@chefttlivinandlovin) came out to our Puerto Rico Evergreen okra grow out at Two Sided Farm in Mars Hill. She tasted an okra pod of every single plant and left a pink landscaping flag next to the varieties that really stood out to her. It was very exciting to hear her talk about the flavor differences between the different plants - everything from sweet pea like to spicy to citrusy sour to nutty, there was only one plant with really off flavors but all of the others were producing tasty pods so I`m excited to save seeds from this planting and share widely next year.
Abelmoschus manihot flowers are beautiful ❤️ we`re growing a few different Abelmoschus manihot varieties this year and none of them are flowering yet, but this Korean Silk Flower is a variety that we`ve been growing for many years and is a reliable heavy producer. The flowers can be dried for tea and the leaves are edible and the plants are stunning!
One of the many Abelmoschus varieties we`re growing this year is a variety of West African Okra (Abelmoschus caillei) that Jon Jackson of @comfortfarms has been stewarding after receiving seeds from his mother`s homeland of Liberia. This variety is very special to him and he`s called it Motherland Okra. I`m very honored to be growing it.
This is what 121 varieties of okra look like in the back of a truck! Just wait until they all grow up 💚
The @sowtrueseed sponsored Whidby White Okra Community Seed Selection Project kits are ready for distributing.
It is late to produce pods, but the leaves are delicious, the petioles hollow (straws) and the flowers are large and fade to pink.
I really enjoy this okra and if you have a long season then you`ll get great production when your other okra is slowing down.
#okra #westafricanokra #abelmoschuscaillei #tuspokra
#Okra #oilseed #plantbreeding #tuspokra #oilseedokra #farming
This is a mix of about 80 different okra varieties that have been allowed to freely cross. I`ve been calling it an ultracross (inspired by @melbelle206) but have recently learned the technical term is composite cross. I`m hoping the mix can be used by anyone wanting to explore okra`s vast diversity, especially for local adaptation in cooler climates.
@experimentalfarmnetwork will be selling this mix in packets for growing next year.
#Okra #seedsaving #winnowing #threshing #seedcleaning #seed #ultracross #tuspokra
If you`re a chef in the Asheville area and you have an hour or two to spare and you want to come and taste the row of okra - about 100 plants - then I`d love to get more input so we can make the best seed saving selections for flavor possible! Get in touch!
#Okra #seedselection #tuspokra #culinaryevaluation #farm #farming
Abelmoschus manihot has a number of subspecies, including Abelmoschus manihot subspecies tetraphyllus var. tetraphyllus (aka. A. tetraphyllus). We`re growing two of these assessions from the USDA with an oil seed content of 23%, which is the highest we know of in any Abelmoschus species. They also produce pink flowers which can be harvested easily after pollination, so I`m considering the triple crop potential of A. tetraphyllus, with a leaf harvest, a dried flower harvest and an oil seed harvest.
Photo Credit @foodordeath_ (note: while these flowers look bigger than my head they are actually about 6 in across, there`s some camera trickery going on!)
#Okra #Abelmoschusmanihot #seedoil #experimentalfarm #tuspokra
So far it`s one if the healthiest looking cultivars in the field and when @lionpawlivity visited yesterday, she gravitated towards Motherland Okra with no influence from me and sat down next to the plants. I tried to explain that this wasn`t really okra even though it looks like okra and she said, `You can`t tell me this isn`t okra, who`s to say what is and isn`t okra.`
It was an eye opening moment that made okra even more expansive for me. Any of five squash species are collectively called squash, kale is split across two or three species. Well, guess what? Okra now claims at least two species in my mind and one of them is a kick ass hexaploid endemic to West Africa!
#westafricanokra #okra #abelmoschuscaillei #tuspokra #seedsaving #seeds #farming
#okra #tuspokra #farming #okratrials #varietytrials
Thanks to @southernexposureseed for sponsoring @lovesomegreen to come grow okra with us for a season (with support from @row7seeds and the @nellnewman Foundation).
It`s not too late to sign up via the link in our bio, but please make sure you write TUSP-INSTAGRAM in the notes section of the sign up form so I know to give our IG family priority!!
1. Packet of seeds
2. Color spectrum card
3. Flower isolation bag
#tuspokra #whidbywhite #okra #communitysupported #
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