Palestinian farmers check out seeds from West Bank library
Vivien Sansour discovered the need to protect Palestinian seeds while looking for red carrots six years ago and opened a seed library in Beit Sahour; the library will soon move its permanent headquarters to Battir.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Vivien Sansour’s quest to restore the rare seeds of Palestine started with a search for Palestinian red carrots.
Stuffed red carrots used to be her favorite dish from her childhood in the 1980s, so when she returned from the United States to Palestine in 2013, she went to the local market to buy a few. “I searched all over the market in Beit Jala but was told that red carrots were no longer available anywhere. I finally came across a vegetable peddler, who told me that I have to order them beforehand so he can get them from another vegetable peddler who sold them on demand,” she told Al-Monitor. “Finally, I returned home with two because that was all they had.”
