Greetings and happy summer, everyone!
Today I'm pleased to be writing a post about
my work this season with
Mercy Corps Northwest (MCNW).
You may recall that in previous summers I was
uploading new blog posts about once a week, but it's going to be less frequent
this summer (as you can already tell).
I
hope you still enjoy the photos and posts I am able to upload!
You may have heard of
Mercy Corps, the international
development agency that works in countries around the world.
MCNW is the domestic partner of Mercy Corps,
and both are headquartered in Portland.
The mission of MCNW is to work together to build more just,
productive, and resilient communities in the Pacific
Northwest.
MCNW has its
hands in a wide variety of projects, including small business development
programs and re-entry transition programs for formerly incarcerated adults.
I specifically work with the agriculture
program, also known as
Refuge Gardens.
 |
| Go Refuge Gardens staff! |
In the Refuge
Gardens project, we work
with refugee families who are transitioning to life in the States. We connect families to land, technical assistance, and local direct markets. The project gives the families a chance to
earn supplemental income through produce sales, grow food for their own families, and create
community with other families. This
year, we are working specifically with Karen families from Burma and Nepali families from Bhutan.
Refuge Gardens grows food on three different sites: two in
inner SE Portland and a larger site in Damascus. I work at the two SE Portland sites with
our three Nepali families in the program (pictured below).
As the Garden Field Assistant, I do a variety of tasks. On Tuesdays and Fridays, I coordinate the harvest at our SE Portland sites, which is combined with the harvest from our Damascus site to be sold at two farmers markets in Portland and through our small 13 member
CSA. On Wednesdays, I help sell produce at market in downtown Portland.
 |
| CSA box from June |
 |
| Portland Farmers Market @ Shemanski Park |
 |
| Portland Farmers Market @ PSU |
In addition to
harvest and farmers market duties, I help coordinate plantings at the SE sites according to our crop plan and perform
general field maintenance (weeding, bed building, etc). I also enjoy taking photos of our beautiful crops and produce!
I have immensely enjoyed my work with MCNW so far. I am constantly inspired by the resilience
and generosity of the families that I work with and have really liked getting
to know them so far. Seth, the program
director, has been a great mentor with a wealth of agricultural knowledge and ability
to work compassionately with program participants. What I really like about this job is
that not only do I have skills and passion to contribute to the project, but I also I learn new things every day - about intercultural communication, about
growing food, and about agriculture projects with social missions.
As I've mentioned, in addition to a small CSA we sell Refuge Gardens
produce at two farmers markets, both of which are managed by the Portland
Farmers Market (PFM).
On days when I'm not
working for MCNW, I just so happen to work for the PFM as a crew member.
Stay tuned for a
post about my work with PFM later this summer.
