About

The Story of Project Tree Collard

Sequoiah grew up on a two acre homestead in the San Francisco Bay Area with chickens, horses, goats, and her own vegetable garden. She began gardening at age 5 and hasn’t stopped since. At age 24 she began to study Permaculture and Landscape Design and Construction at Merritt College in Oakland, CA. This is where she became enamored with plant propagation and soil science. For the next 20 years, Sequoiah ran a successful garden design business. During that time, she purchased a Purple Tree Collard for her urban quarter acre farm. She noticed that anytime the garden was scant on greens, the Purple Tree Collards were always abundant. In winter storms, frosty nights, and hot fall days, the tree collards were always beautiful, delicious, and plentiful. She also noticed that tree collards were difficult to find for sale and wanted to make these amazing plants consistently available to people. In 2015, Sequoiah founded Project Tree Collard with a former partner and purchased the entirety of the business three years later. Nursery work uncovered her passion for cross-pollinating perennial collards and kales, growing out the seed, and coming up with the best new varieties. She loves discovering tree collards with shorter bloom times, higher production, larger leaf size, good flavor and texture, and aesthetics. With renewed interest in the connection between food and health, Sequoiah studied holistic health and herbal medicine at Vital Ways in Portland, OR. She now propagates medicinal herbs and other perennial plants that complement tree collards in the garden.

In 2021 Project Tree Collard relocated from the original 1/4 acre site in Berkeley to Grass Valley, CA in the Sierra mountain foothills, USDA zone 9A. The new farm is situated in rocky, heavy clay soils with winter lows frequently 28 degrees with light snow and summer highs of 115 degrees. Tree Collards from the farm are acclimated to these temperature swings as well as drought.