EPF PIN member Tom Foster who convenes the local organizing work group for PIN, traveled with Eyewitness Palestine  last year.  He reflects on the Palestinian Heirloom Seed Library and we also share a link to an interview with its founder Vivien Sansour.

The Palestinian Heirloom Seed Library is based on the property of a beautiful, recently restored Palestinian home just beyond the annexation/ expansion wall in Bethlehem.  The beauty of the house, of the terraced gardens, and of the vision guiding this work stand in profound contrast to the slabs of cement, the barbed wire, and the violence of wall.

The land, yes.  

And on the land grow the Palestinian trees, the shrubs, and the flowers.  All have, through centuries of meticulous attention of farmers, adapted to this dirt.  These conditions.

The seeds collected, catalogued, and preserved here are an expression of a radical hope.  New challenges have arisen - how will the plants respond to so much exposure to tear gas?  We may not know what form a free Palestine will take.  But the people’s seeds will be ready.

Check out this interview with founder Vivien Sansour here.