A Refugee Garden

There is a small movement in the refugee resettlement community to encourage community gardening.  Because many refugees spent much of their lives subsistence farming, the thought is that their expertise in agriculture and gardening may assist in the transition to life in the US. There have been a good number of anecdotal stories about successful gardens in refugee communies, and a fair number of published accounts of these experiences. 

So this year we decided to tap into some of the resources that we have living out in the country to put some of these ideas to the test with a sample size of one--our friend Pu Lue.  Pu Lue is a Karen refugee and a carpenter by trade; he stays with us several days each week building custom furniture to sell and this spring, planting and managing a rather large garden.  Our neighbor, a farmer who actively farms several hundered acres, generously donated a few acres for our project and has been an invaluable resource in helping Pu Lue to understand the ins and outs of growing vegetables in the U.S.

With Pu Lue's direction, we ordered hundreds of seeds from Thailand this past winter and had them shipped here in early February.  The seeds that we ordered were vegetables and fruits grown and enjoyed by the refugees that they have been unable to locate since their arrival in the U.S.  Pu Lue is thrilled with the garden, and painstakingly waters, weeds, and cares for the plants almost daily.  He is anxiously looking forward to the harvest that he will be able to share with the refugee community in Dallas.