Our late October CSA garden on SE Sherrett St.
Our Fall CSA finished up on December 2nd, and what a year it has been! This year ten families grew vegetables for our CSA. I say family rather than individuals, as the familial unit is more appropriate when describing how our growers work together in the garden with spouses, children, cousins, brothers, and sisters.
Bal and Mani sorting their freshly picked bell peppers
I grew vegetables in SE Portland with three of these families, recent refugees who came to Portland from Bhutan via Nepal. I thought that I might just meet a few men and women, but I soon met their siblings who came to help harvest. I met their children who ran free through the garden and insisted on helping me water kale seedlings. As word spread about the garden, I even met extended relatives and friends who came to our garden to walk around and admire the space.
Two of the women who came most regularly told me that the garden was like a piece of home to them. Living in a foreign place where the language and culture are still a bit alien, the garden provided a space to be outside, grow food for their families, and laugh with friends.
In addition to bringing their own families to the garden, the generous, caring nature of these women drew neighbors to the site as well. One day, a stranger stopped by the garden when I was the only grower there. She had brought a birthday present, a stuffed animal, for Pabi’s youngest daughter. The woman told me that she often walked by our garden and would pass Pabi and Jamuna working with their children.
Pabi and Jamuna at Sherrett St. garden in 2010
Pabi and Jamuna had generously shared their vegetables with this woman and she, having heard about the approaching birthday, had wanted to give something back.
The caring nature of these women was evidenced each time we met. Every afternoon of working at the garden they would pull bags and tupperwares from their backpacks and invite me to eat lunch under the walnut trees. “Lo, [their shortened version of my name] come, eat!” They would say while bringing their fingers to their mouths to mime their intention. They shared their food with me every lunch: spicy peppers and pickled radish; aloo (potatoes), saag (greens), and chana (chick peas); and mountains of freshly cooked rice. One week, several families traveled to a farm to purchase a whole goat together. We ate meat from that goat all summer long.
Getting to know these families has been a rewarding experience, and connecting them with our CSA members this summer has been rewarding in another way. This has been the most successful year of selling vegetables that our growers have had thus far. To put this in perspective, many of our growers have a difficult time finding other employment in Portland. A struggling economy, paired with their broken English, makes finding a permanent position a difficult prospect. Two weeks ago, when Mani was asked if he currently had a job, he replied, “Garden is job.” For gardening to be a viable economic prospect is an exciting opportunity that these growers have not known before this year.
Bipana and Lauren at the garden in early Spring garden
All of our CSA members have helped to make this success possible. We’ve been lucky to supply your vegetables this past spring, summer, and fall, and I hope you’ll join us again next year. If you have any questions or comments about next year’s membership, I’m happy to answer them! Email them to Lauren at lmorse@growportland.org.
