Community Garden Developer

At the training farm, we always have more demand for growing space than supply. We've put all our energy into developing farm businesses, and along the way we've been constantly reminded that there are a lot of people that want to grow on a smaller scale. For folks who have grown up around agriculture their whole life, moving to the United States, living in apartments and working indoors feels strange and unfamiliar. Gardens help people feel at home.

The Chin, Somali Bantu and Bhutanese community leaders have been asking for assistance developing their own community gardens for the past few years, and we haven't been equipped to help.

In the fall, we wrote a proposal together with KCCUA and the three ethnic leadership groups to develop these gardens, and I'm happy to report that we got funding! We're hoping to host someone through the Mennonite Voluntary Service Program to coordinate these activities.

Here's a bit about the job:

The Community Garden Developer will work alongside ethnic community leadership from three refugee communities in Kansas City to start their own community gardens. The goal is that the Garden Developer will be empowering the community leadership to make their own decisions about the way that the gardens are run, so that they will be self-sufficient in a short time. We will also be hiring part time staff from each of the communities to translate and lead the development of the gardens.

We anticipate the major activities over the year to include:

1.) Helping to locate and acquire permission to garden on land
2.) Approaching local churches and groups to solicit donations of tools and equipment (hoes, spades, seeds, tillers, etc.)
3.) Helping ethnic leadership decide how the land will be split, and how individuals and families can access plots.
4.) Helping ethnic communities decide on rules for the gardens
5.) Locating free and cheap seeds
6.) Oversee the orientation and education process for new community gardeners.

We have met with the leadership and identified areas of town that they are interested in having gardens, and they are excited! A good fit for this position will have some experience working cross culturally, an interest or experience in gardening or farming and a desire to help develop effective refugee leadership.

Here's a bit about MVS from a current volunteer that is placed at the farm:

• Volunteers live communally in a large house located in the Rosedale neighborhood of KCK -A full house would have 5 volunteers livinig in it, don't worry you will have your own bedroom but we share bathrooms, the kitchen, and living other living spaces.


• We buy food together and eat together on a regualr basis -The unit covers all housing costs, food costs, local transportation costs, and provides the volunteer with $50 a month in spending money, part of the program is a commitment to living simply.


• MVS provides health insurance for all volunteers -The house is owned by Rainbow Mennonite Church, and there are certain lifestyle expectations that come with the program. They are not seriously burdensome but they do exist.


• I think there might be a requirement that applicants be members in good standing of a Chirstian Church, being a mennonite is not required.


• Student loans can be defered and many placements are eligable for Americorps money -basically the biggest thing is that the potential volunteer is on board with living communally and is not hostile to expressions of christian faith.


• Also they need to be on board with having NO MONEY, because they won't have extra for that thing that they want.

If you think that you might be interested in this position and want to see the full job description, please email rachel: rbonar AT catholiccharitiesks DOT org

New Roots Farmers Travel to National Farming Conference

The first week of February, I had the privilege of taking four farmers from the New Roots for Refugees program to the Minnesota Food Association’s annual Immigrant and Minority Farmers Conference in St. Paul. There were 180 Karen, Hmong, Bhutanese, and Latino farmers, 30 interpreters, 30 presenters and 30 exhibitors in attendance. The workshops offered at the conference were practical, and ranged from pest controls to selling at farmers’ markets. Our farmers were particularly interested in the high tunnel workshop because of our newly constructed high tunnel at the Juniper Farm. The workshop, in which the conference presenter detailed how she constructed and grew in her high tunnel in Northern Minnesota, caused a flurry of ideas and conversations. We all sat there, dreaming and salivating over her photos of fresh spinach and tomatoes. The farmers decided that planting tomatoes in our high tunnel would be the best plan for this next season; it’s a high dollar crop that can greatly extend in the tunnel. They are also interested in planting Chin Baung- a sour Burmese sorrel- in the high tunnel. In Burma and Thailand, it flowers at the end of the season. The flower makes a traditional tea. In the United States, our growing season is not long enough to flower or turn to seed. I’m hopeful for my first cup of Chin Baung tea in 2011.

I was so pleased to offer them a training opportunity in their own language. Farming is often a solitary occupation, and large group meetings give us the sense that we are not alone in our profession. For refugee farmers, the opportunity for training of this kind is rare- lack of translation and cultural relevancy often prevents them from joining in other things that are happening in our city. It was an inspiring experience; we all came home excited and dreaming about the new growig season.

Lay Htoo, a second year farmer in the program made the trip to Minnesota and agreed to share with you about her experience. Her writing was translated from Karen by Htoo May.

My name is Lay Htoo, and I’d like to tell you about my family. I am married, and I have three sons and one daughter. I am from Klay Thoo, a village in the jungle of Burma. I am one of the Karen people, we have our own language and culture. Because the Burmese military came to our village to kill us, my family had to flee to Thailand. We crossed the border and lived in the Tham Him refugee camp. I lived in this refugee camp for 10 years. During that time I worked as a cook. I worked with my friend Beh Paw cooking and teaching other women to cook for 5 years, and then Beh Paw came to the United States. I missed Beh Paw too much. When Beh Paw moved to the United States, I decided to apply for resettlement too. It was scary, but I decided that I wanted a new life for my family.

I was resettled to Rockford, IL. I lived in Rockford for 5 months and we could not find work. Beh Paw told me that in Kansas City, we have jobs available and also gardens. I wanted to move to Kansas City, where Beh Paw was living. I wanted to have a garden. I had to pay someone to drive me to Kansas. My husband and my son got a job very soon after we moved here, so we rented a house. I wanted to work in the garden, so I talked with Rachel about starting my own farm in Kansas City. My first season working with the New Roots for Refugees program was in 2010. I worked in the garden, and everything went well. This past October, when things at the garden slowed down, I started going to school to learn English. I kept going to meetings for the garden during the winter, learning about many topics. During one of the meetings we started talking about a big farmers meeting in St. Paul, Minnesota. I heard that there were going to be many refugee farmers talking about farming in the United States. I said, “Yes! I want to go on this trip.” I was so excited.

Beh Paw, Pay Lay, Dena, and myself left for Minnesota on a Thursday. Somewhere in Iowa, we stopped at a gas station and went to the restroom. On accident, we went to the boys restroom, because I didn’t read the sign correctly. We laughed so hard.

It was a long drive, but we finally made it to St. Paul, Minnesota. There is a big Karen population in Minnesota. I was able to meet with family and friends that I hadn’t seen since the refugee camp. In the days, I went to the farmers meeting, and at night I would stay up with my friends talking about the past and our future until late in the night. In the mornings, Rachel picked us up and we went to the meeting. At the meeting they had headsets so that we could all hear the presentations in our own language. I had to give them my ID to get the headset for the day. I had to turn the dial to the correct number so that I could hear the Karen translator. I went to my seat and listened and then I learned about a lot of things. I learned how to do things to start my own farm. I went to different meetings about high tunnels, growing organically, using row cover to keep bugs away, and about selling at farmers markets. I am thankful to God that we had safe travels to Minnesota, and I’m excited to plant new things in this upcoming year, and I pray that the bugs will stay away from my vegetables this year. God Bless and Thank You.

This arcitle was originally featured in the April edition of KCCUA's newsletter, Urban Grown.

Greenhouse Work

New Roots farmers have been working in the greenhouse for many weeks now, and everyday we are moving more and more cold-hardy crops over to the Juniper Gardens Farm. The pace is picking up around here as Springtime is undeniably upon us in full swing ~ Winter business development workshops have come to an end, the Juniper Gardens seed store opens this week, compost is being spread, beds are being tilled and our CSA is rapidly filling up!

New Roots farmers tending to their seedlings in the Gibbs Road Community Greenhouse

Zawadi seeding tomatoes

Pelagie watering her Seedlings

Work hard, play hard!

It was wonderful to see so many of our New Roots friends at the Eat Local Expos, and to those of you who were unable to make it we look forward to seeing you in a few short weeks at market!