Join us for an inspiring webinar featuring Chris Smith (executive director of the Utopian Seed Project and author of The Whole Okra), Ekow Stone (Farmer-Researcher and on-farm okra breeder at It’s Giving Farm), and Stephanie Wang (cookbook author and farmer at Le Rizen) as they dive into the incredible diversity of okra.

A Zoom link will be sent to all registered participants.

About the Speakers:

Chris Smith is Executive Director of the Utopian Seed Project, a crop-trialing nonprofit working to celebrate food and farming. Within this work, Chris collaborates on The Heirloom Collard Project, hosts a seasonal Trial to Table event series, and publishes Crop Stories, a crop-specific multimedia project. His book, The Whole Okra, won a James Beard Foundation Award in 2020, and he is the co-host of The Okra Pod Cast. In 2023 Chris received the Organic Educator Award from The Organic Growers School and was named a Champion of Conservation by Garden & Gun. More info at utopianseed.org.

Ekow Stone has been working as a farmer and educator for the last 4 years focusing on youth engagement, cut flower production, and seed saving. He’s an artist working in the mediums of ink + pyrography, and has exhibited in a number of galleries across Southern Ontario. He enjoys passing the time watching anime, learning about ancient history and flower gazing.

Stéphanie Wang is the founder of Le Rizen in Frelighsburg, Quebec. Growing organic Asian vegetables gives her the satisfaction of a job that feeds mouths and a lifestyle rooted in the natural cycle of the seasons. In 2023, Stéphanie and her two sisters published “Asian Vegetables: Gardening. Cooking. Storytelling.” This book is a journey through a season of market gardening where readers will discover 15 Asian vegetables (including okra!), tips and ideas on how to grow them organically and cook them deliciously, and 40 recipes from starter to dessert by chefs and other food-lovers. It also shares the unique stories of the Wang family, who moved from China to Madagascar before emigrating to Quebec and elsewhere.