A Harvest of Goodwill

Kathy Owens (left), organizer of the Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Farmer’s Market and Greg Hines, Coordinator for Glacierland RC&D with their recognition awards from the Manitowoc Hmong communities.

Hmong residents of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, can better grow and sell their traditional vegetables, herbs, and other produce thanks in part to the NRCS Glacierland Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D), a grant from the Wisconsin NRCS Outreach Division, and Kathy Owens a local grower and organizer of the Manitowoc Farmer’s Market. Realizing that Hmong vendors at the market were driving a long distance from their garden plots in outlying areas to the farmers market in Manitowoc, Kathy looked into helping the Hmong re-locate their gardens to an area closer to the city. With help from RC&D coordinator Greg Hines, the NRCS outreach grant to study feasibility of what was later to become the Manitowoc Community Garden Project, gave Owens access to Federal, State, and local government agencies willing to support community gardens. Community volunteers supported by the Glacierland RC&D and NRCS staff divided a city-owned eight-acre parcel of land into 170 gardens plots which are rented out to over 50 area families -- the majority of them Hmong who grow and sell the surplus of their native produce to local markets. In return for the city garden plots and NRCS technical assistance in weed and pest control, cropping techniques, and irrigation; the Hmong provide produce for local food banks; specialty crops for local restaurants; and an enriched sense of community and goodwill.
Your contact is Barb Jansen, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 608-662-4422, ext. 273, or barbara.jansen@wi.usda.gov.