Green Everything, Moving Forward

With the economic downturn projected to last for a very long time, “green” has taken root everywhere.

MDA has been meeting with various churches, college-based green groups, urban and neighborhood garden organizers, and finding ways of using the skills and expert farming backgrounds of refugees.

Some clients have grown food in backyard gardens for years since coming to the region, but others live in cramped apartments with no access to land. Neither group has access to a large enough parcel of land to raise produce for commercial purposes, despite the growing local interest in ethnic and Asian vegetables.

The newly sprouted green movement has a tremendous resource in the Montagnard refugee community, if enough connections are made.

Will neighborhood and urban garden projects fizzle when the downturn ends? Will weeds overgrow squash and tomato plants when we're deep in the summer and the heat becomes oppressive? Committed, professional farmers like the Montagnards grow food because it's their tradition. Let's allow them to use their talents to good use!