Tukwila Reporter, Sep 18, 2011

By Dean Radford

Refugees more used to growing their food near the Himalayas are harvesting their first crops in Tukwila.

They celebrated the harvest last week at the Namaste Community Garden on the grounds of the St. Thomas Parish near Foster High School, with food demonstrations and thank yous, all the while still tending their gardens.

Planning for the garden began more than a year ago as a joint project of the International Rescue Committee, the Cascade Land Conservancy and the St. Thomas Parish.

It’s the first year for the garden, so some of the growing pains included putting up a fence, laying a pipe to bring water to the garden from the parish buildings and figuring out what would grow (green leafy vegetables) and wouldn’t grow (corn).

The soil hadn’t been turned for decades, so a backhoe was brought in. But once turned and with the addition of compost, the soil proved a good place to grow the vegetables that were often in the gardens back home.

Don Scanlon of Tukwila, who had a plot and helped out, too,  was a bit skeptical of the soil earlier this summer.

“With compost you can turn anything into good gardening soil,” he said.

The farmers from Bhutan agreed. The answer was translated by Dal Diyali, a caseworker with the International Rescue Committee, which has helped hundreds of Bhutanese settle in Tukwila.

Next year, the gardeners will look at what seeds work best for the season, he said.

The garden provided not only a chance for the refugees to grow some of their food, but it helped them build their sense of community in America, Diyali said.

The garden will return next year, maybe with more plots.

St. Thomas Parish  is committed to providing the space as long as the refugees are willing to garden, said Donna Ferraro, the St. Thomas pastoral associate.