Our Story
I grew up in South Seattle — where everything was close except easy access to fresh food. What was available was processed, expensive, or both.
What nobody told me was that the communities around me had not always lived this way. South Seattle was home to the largest concentration of African American families in the city, alongside Chinese, Filipino, and Vietnamese families, Hispanic and Latino households, and Native American communities who had been here longest of all. All of them came from people who knew exactly how to feed themselves from the earth. That knowledge had not disappeared. It had just been separated from us.
Growing up, I did not lack the desire to eat well. I lacked the knowledge, the seeds, and the belief that growing my own food was something people like me were allowed to do.
Hearth & Pane exists to give that back. For the Vietnamese family that carried seeds across an ocean and can't find rau muống anywhere near their apartment. For the Filipino family that hasn't found bitter melon at a price they can afford. For the Black family whose great-grandmother grew collard greens in the South before the Great Migration carried the family north — and who wants to grow them now, with no yard.
This is not a gardening company. This is a knowledge company. The seeds are how we deliver it.
Ready to grow what your people have always grown?
Welcome to Hearth & Pane. You belong here.