Growing heritage seeds from Palestine and the region for our land and our people
What is Thurayya?
Thurayya is a community-led seed saving initiative to preserve, grow, and share heritage seeds from Palestine. We believe that seeds are more than just the beginning of food — they carry stories, memory, resistance, and the future of our collective nourishment.
Thurayya is the Arabic name for the Pleiades star cluster, a grouping of stars in the constellation of Taurus. Thurayya can also mean abundance, earth and possibly also moisture. Its setting on the western horizon in Autumn was a sign to the peoples of the region that the winter rains were soon coming to replenish the land and revive the green foliage of the desert.
At a time when our people and our lands are going through one of the most devastating periods in our collective history and memory, we work alongside community to reconnect to one another and fortify our relationships with the land and each other. This work is about self-determination, healing and making a promise to our future generations that we are still here.
Why Seeds from Palestine?
Palestinian seeds carry generations of knowledge, resiliency, and connection to the land. In the face of occupation, genocide, and ecological destruction, these seeds — like our people — have endured and will continue to endure. They are a symbol of our presence in and connection to our land.
We are growing these seeds in diaspora, not as a replacement for our homeland, but as a way to continue being in connection to and relationship with her.
Thurayya is an idea, a dream to be grounded in the land and guided by knowledge built over generations, and a return to what we know in order to create a new way of being for ourselves and the next generations.
Save our precious seeds
Preserve and practice traditional farming methods and grow heritage varieties of crops and medicinal plants from the SWANA region, particularly those that are not widely available in California.
Cultural remembrance
Create archives of knowledge connected to the land, including: seed saving practices, drought-resistant farming methods and different methods of irrigation, wild edible plants, perennial plant care, land-based traditions that preserve our collective culture, history and connection to our lands.
Build resiliency
Build resiliency and depth in our relational networks between each other and the land by: providing skill-sharing and livelihood opportunities; developing educational programming; creating pathways for intergenerational healing, and; building partnerships and resources with heritage seed farmers locally and globally.
