World Relief Minnesota

opportunities for refugees and their American neighbors to build friendships through gardening

I’m very interested in local foods, community supported agriculture and refugees. It’s my hope to build a network of churches having community gardens – and build a movement – of church people and refugees gardening together and buliding friendships through a common interest in local foods. If you know of churches having community gardens or are interested in this type of ministry, please contact me. — Darrell Cox, Executive Director minnesota@wr.org


Project Goals

We were awarded a 3-year grant to provide beginning farmer training and gardening opportunties for the Karen refugees living in the Twin Cities. The proposal objectives are:

Objective 1: The project will provide the Karen an entry into the sustainable agriculture movement in Minnesota through experiential training. It is planned that as they gain experience they will introduce other Karen to agricultural opportunities and that they can have a significant presence in local vegetable production in the Twin Cities.

Objective 2: Elders in the Karen community will be given the opportunity to garden at Big River Farms and other areas in the metro area. The intent is to develop a program that allows Karen elders to break isolation, be engaged in a physical activity, and allow elders to provide fresh, nutritious food for their families – all through the culturally appropriate endeavor of gardening.

To achieve these objectives, World Relief and the Karen Organization of Minnesota will partner with the Minnesota Food Association to provide interested Karen the opportunity to participate in a three-year experiential training program. In addition, Karen elders, whose only marketable skills often are agricultural skills, will be provided with land, tools, and support as they endeavor to produce foodstuffs for their table and for sale. The project is devised to ensure that the gained knowledge is shared throughout the Karen community and that the Karen are building relationships with local foods businesses and local community gardeners.

Project Updates

We’ve held meetings to recruit and assist churches as they plan for community gardens in 2011. First Evangelical Free Church-Maplewood and Five Oaks Community Church-Woodbury are both commited to providing garden plots for Karen refugees and people from their congregations for the 2011 growing season. First EFC has about one thousand plots (15′ x 15′) that are being claimed by Karen, Hmong, congregation members, and other gardeners from Maplewood.  Five Oaks also has a large garden, but transportation to their garden a constraining factor for the Karen. We hope that during this first year of the project, many gardeners – both Karen and American – common together over gardening and food as new friends.

June-August 2011 – On-site training is being provided by Ramsey Co. master gardeners and the City of Maplewood
May 2011 – 43 Karen families begin working garden plots at Harvest Gardens
April 14, 2011 – Cross-cultural orientation at First EFC-Maplewood for members of the congregation that will be gardening with Karen refugees at Harvest Gardens
April 9, 2011 – Community garden orientation for Harvest Gardens in Maplewood; Karen translation provided
March 3, 2011 – 1st planning meeting with churches considering community gardens in 2011 (6:30 pm at Arlington Hills United Methodist Church, Maplewood)
February 8, 2011 – “How to Start a Community Garden” workshop facilitated by Gardening Matters (at Church of Corpus Christi, Roseville)
December 16, 2010 – “How to Start a Community Garden” workshop facilitated by Gardening Matters (at World Relief Minnesota, Richfield)