Lutfun Hussain

Seed Guardian, Spitalfields City Farm

My name is Lutfun Hussain. I started here in 1999 as a volunteer and began working as the Healthy Eating Coordinator in 2000, originally it was called Ethnic Minority Support Worker. I work with the Coriander Club, which is a gardening club. People come and help me with gardening, planting seeds, whatever I need. I teach people how to garden. Every month I also run healthy cooking workshops. In my register there are 27 women. I give them some fresh vegetables that they can share with their families.

My Story

About

Lutfun Hussain, Seed Guardian, Spitalfields City Farm

My name is Lutfun Hussein. I started here in 1999 as a volunteer and began working as the Healthy Eating Coordinator in 2000, originally it was called Ethnic Minority Support Worker. I work with the Coriander Club, which is a gardening club. People come and help me with gardening, planting seeds, whatever I need. I teach people how to garden. Every month I also run healthy cooking workshops. In my register there are 27 women. I give them some fresh vegetables that they can share with their families.

Why I grow my own food
I came to this country from Bangladesh in 1969. In that time you couldn’t find fresh Bangladeshi vegetables. I missed the taste of the fresh food we used to eat: kodu, lablab, amaranth. I tried at home to grow some but I wasn’t successful because of the weather. In the first year all the plants died. I tried again and again. The weather is different in Bangladesh. This is the way I learnt. With the weather.

Why I save seeds
There are many of types of kodu. You need to know which one you are growing, which one is good. Same with beans and amaranth. If you keep your seed, you know which kinds of seed you kept. It’s organic. You know it’s good seed. If you buy in the shop you don’t know how old it is, and how quickly it will germinate. My seed germinates quickly.

How I feel when I work in the garden
I feel healthy. I enjoy growing and cooking. Other people enjoy when I share with them. When people appreciate what I do, it inspires me to grow more. I take part in many growing competitions, and I have won lots of trophies and certificates. I feel happy and proud.

Hear from Lutfun

Connection between growing and my heritage
The vegetables we eat are connected to our culture. I love Bangladesh and I feel proud when I grow my country’s vegetables. When the community sees the vegetables from Bangladesh growing here they show their children and feel proud. Even people from other cultures appreciate it, and ask me how to grow and cook. I feel a connection to the village where I grew up when I see these vegetables freshly cut. I am proud that I am the first to grow these vegetables from Bangladesh successfully in London, and it gives me good memories.

Lablab Beans

Lutfun's lablab beans. Photo: Sara Heitlinger

Info

Lablab beans are grown as a food crop mostly in India and Bangladesh. They come in all shapes and sizes, so much so that the extremes resemble different species. The beautiful, long lasting flowers mean...
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Where the seed came from
First time I tried to grow it here it didn’t work. The Bangladeshi beans don’t produce fruit here because of the weather. But one of my club members has family in America, and she brought the seeds for lablab beans 6 years ago. This is the beans that I succeeded growing here. It’s the same bean but adapted to the climate.

How to grow
Beans are easy to germinate. Plant them the second week of May inside or in a greenhouse. Look after them for three weeks inside your home. In the first week of June, when there is no chance of frost, put them in the ground in fresh compost or manure. You have to be patient, otherwise the plant can die if there is frost. Give them support, with long sticks to climb up.
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Lutfun on Lablab Beans

Kodu

Lutfun's kodu. Photo: Sara Heitlinger

Info

Bottle gourd, kodu, or dudi are eaten widely within the Asian community. They have been cultivated for around 8,000 years. Regular consumption has medical effects including lowering blood sugar, cholesterol levels and blood pressure. Sow...
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Where the seeds came from
This is my seed. I have saved it here every year for the last 17 years.

How to grow
You have to know the timetable properly if you want to be successful. Kodu seed is difficult to germinate. At the farm I use a propagator to germinate, but at home I don’t use a propagator. At home, end of March, I start planting seeds in a pot. I put it on top of the boiler where it is warm. When the seeds start to germinate, I put the pot on the window. If you leave it on top of the boiler too long, the plant will grow too big and it won’t survive.
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Lutfun on Kodu