Eating, learning, and harvesting together

VCGN staff, Jessie Mazar, with Bhutanese farmers

Community Teaching Garden students recently shared their final garden potluck of the season with farmers from the New Farms for New Americans (NFNA) market garden.  Eighteen Bhutanese farmers, garden students, and VCGN staff, interns, and volunteers gathered for a brunch with Nepali chutneys, Vermont breads, Mexican drinking chocolate, and various garden treats at the Ethan Allen Homestead picnic pavilion in Burlington.  Following the potluck the group walked together over the hill to the NFNA gardens.  NFNA staff, Rita Neopaney, not only provided translation between farmers, students and staff for the day, but also acted as tour-guide in an educational walk-through of the site’s rice paddy, the market gardens, and the community gardens.  Our group learned about rice paddies, the process from planting to harvest, noting that a community rice harvesting event will be taking place in just a few weeks, around mid-September (stay tuned to NFNA’s Facebook page for more info).  Rita also took us around the gardens to show us important cultural vegetables that might not be familiar to students, as well as edible plants that many gardeners would otherwise consider weeds, such as lambs quarters and red root pigweed.  The day ended with a group harvest of kale and basil that we then washed and brought to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf–a 215 pound donation!  Thank you to everyone involved–Rita and Alisha from NFNA, NFNA farmers, Community Teaching Garden students, VCGN volunteers and interns, and the Food Shelf–for a rich day!

Rita explains health benefits of daikon radish.

Rita Neopaney teaching about NFNA’s rice paddy.