Mercy Corps Northwest Refuge Gardens

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.

Recent garden photos

I started my warm weather crop plantings last week.  I am busy figuring out irrigation, pest management, and more generally how to care for a garden on my own!  (Thanks to the parents for helping out and also to the chickens for not eating everything up.) 

I hope you enjoy the photos.

I successfully grew my own tomato starts for the first time ever, which felt pretty good:

 

The crops I planted earlier this spring have grown up quite nicely:

Lastly, I would like to mention that I harvested my first lettuce head while thinning the other day and was very happy about it:

I have a few more things to transplant or direct seed, which will hopefully happen in the next week!  

In the coming weeks and growing season, I will be featuring posts about my work (both volunteer & staff positions) with the following organizations:

• Oregon Food Bank, as a Seed to Supper Volunteer Educator
• Mercy Corps Northwest Refuge Gardens, as Garden Field Assistant
• Portland Farmers Market, as a Crew Member
• Montavilla Farmers Market, as a Board Member

Thanks for stopping by,
ET

Hillsdale Farmers Market 5/10/14

Even though the summer fruits are still far away, I am still amazed by the colors I see at market next week.

Keep your eyes out for a longer blog post soon about some of my current work with local food and agriculture organizations.

Spring Time Photos

Hello everyone,

I've been out and about this spring.  Here are a few photos from home and around town.

In the garden - My dad and I expanded our backyard garden, adding 4 raised beds to our existing 2 and putting up a fence (see the progression below).  I've been planning out what plants will go where, and making attempts at growing my own plant starts.

Backyard plants and animals - blooming beautifully and clucking away.

Around town - Council Crest, Hillsdale Farmers Market, & Hood River orchard blossoms.

Hooray for Small Farms!

Last weekend I attended Oregon's Small Farms Conference at Oregon State University in Corvallis.  This is an annual gathering of individuals and organizations that are a part of the small farms world in Oregon, including Extension staff, non-profit representatives, agricultural educators and students, farmers market managers, and of course farmers!  I had a great time learning new agricultural and marketing techniques, meeting new people, and seeing old friends.

Here’s a short sampling of what I saw at the conference:

Michael Ableman sharing photos from Foxglove Farm

Michael Ableman was the keynote speaker.  He is a farmer and author with a range of interesting experiences in the world of food and agriculture.  He shared a number of those stories with us.  His current project is called Sole Food, a program in Vancouver, BC that employs local adults to work on urban farms that were formerly vacant lots.  Michael also shared with us many beautiful photos from his Foxglove Farm on Salt Springs Island in BC, which also houses The Center for Arts, Ecology, and Agriculture.

The Small Farms Conference also doubles as the Oregon Farmers’ Market Association’s annual meeting.  I learned about some various farmers’ market projects in Oregon including the small Brownsville (population 1700) Farmers Market operated by the Calapooia Food Alliance and the Springfield Farmers’ Market which is housed with a commercial kitchen and business incubator program in the Sprout! Food Hub.  I also went to a talk that was focused on marketing to low-income and SNAP customers.

Lise Hubbe of SweetWell Farm

Walt Bernard of Ruby & Amber's Organic Oasis

Of course, the majority of the sessions were focused on agricultural techniques that can be used in small farms settings.  I learned about using work horses in a session taught by two farmers (Lise Hubbe of SweetWell Farm in Scio and Walt Bernard of Ruby & Amber’s Organic Oasis in Cottage Grove) who use draft animals in their farm operations.  This was fascinating!  Draft animals can be an excellent addition to a small farm, as long as the farmer is looking to create a strong relationship with another living being.  

Rogue Farm Corps 2013

Rogue Farm Corps was one of the many vendors at the conference.  I got to interact with RFC twice last week – both at the conference and in Portland at their Open House for farmers.  I was happy to see the turnout of Portland-area farmers who are interested in participating in RFC.  Staff members Stu and Megan are doing great work to grow the beginning farm and rancher movement.

Oregon State Extension's Small Farms Program has launched a new Center for Small Farms and Community Food Systems.  Its goal will be to not only support small farmers but healthy food systems as a whole.

The crocuses are blooming here in Portland :)

After this conference, I’m eager to get the garden going at home and volunteer with non-profits doing great community food systems work.