Every Saturday morning, a happy group of immigrants from Ethiopia and Eritrea come to work in the community gardens next to the barn on Siskiyou property. This is a partnership with the Oregon Food Bank’s Seed to Supper program and the Ethiopian and Eritrean Cultural Resource Center. The garden has also received some financial support from the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District (EMSWCD) and the East Portland Neighborhood Office.

Yonas was trained and hired to serve as a Seed to Supper Ambassador so that he could bring gardening to his community. The program is designed to empower immigrant and refugee community leaders with the tools, resources and skills needed to teach their respective communities how to garden on a budget and to create thriving community gardens.

On Saturday, July 21, they were celebrating three of the women being pregnant, and also beginning to harvest food from their garden beds. Four boys decided they were going to dig a tunnel in the compost pile.

Here are some additional photos from the garden.

Wednesday Work Parties

We have regular Wednesday work parties from around 9am to 3:30pm. There is plenty of work for people to do, inside and outside, light and heavy. Come for as much or little of the time as you wish. We have tools and gloves, but if you have your own, feel free to bring them. If you are around at 12:30pm, we feed you lunch.