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by Margo Callaghan

No one could have foreseen the impact that a conversation between a father and his daughter's soccer coach would later have on the localvore movement.

Late last year, Shelburne resident and Selectboard member Al Gobeille was talking to CVU soccer coach Brad Parker. In the course of that conversation, Gobeille mentioned in an offhanded manner that he was contemplating growing his own vegetables for use at his Burlington restaurants. Space wasn't an issue because Gobeille's Shelburne property has fertile acreage. What was missing was a staff to oversee the crops. Gobeille was wondering if there might be a group of teens or a nonprofit organization in need of a project that could take on the task. Gobeille could make it worth their while: he would buy the vegetables from the farmers, and pay the same amount he currently pays to his wholesale distributor. Thus, a market for the fresh, local produce would be guaranteed.

Connections
Gobeille learned that when Brad Parker isn't on the soccer field, his "real job" is as a farm loan officer with the Farm Service Agency (FSA), a division of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In that capacity, Parker, along with his supervisor Bob Pacquin of Shelburne, had worked with Josie Weldon, a program specialist with The Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV). Pacquin, the state director of the USDA/FSA, recognized the benefits of the AALV in assisting the underserved refugee community. "We have precious little discretionary funds, but wanted to get involved and offer assistance," Pacquin explained. One of AALV's support programs for recent immigrants to Vermont is the New Farms for New Americans (NFNA) initiative. Local NFNA farmers are predominantly from Somalia, Burundi, and Bhutan. Most come from resettlement camps, where they have lived for decades following expatriation from their native countries. Many of these new Americans come to this country with a wealth of agricultural knowledge, but are hindered by language and cultural barriers.

Paquin offered initial FSA assistance by co-sponsoring workshops for new American farmers to offer training, technical assistance, and a farm incubator experience. Brad Parker, along with his brother, Larry Parker - who happens to be the county executive director of FSA - helped conduct workshops with immigrants and introduced them to the nuances of local crops (and pests), rudimentary bookkeeping and finance.

Pairing of talents and temperaments
Working with Josie Weldon, Brad and Larry conducted interviews among the various immigrant communities. Gobeille's project would require farmers to work together as a cohesive unit. Some groups came from cultures that spawned an independent work ethic; a communal workforce was an alien concept.

It was a five-family group of Bhutanese immigrants that seemed well suited, willing and able to commit to the project's parameters. A little over two years ago, these Bhutanese families had immigrated to the United States from refugee camps in Nepal, where some had been living for as long as 17 years. They had been farmers for most of their lives before being driven from their country of Bhutan in 1992.

They would now need to purchase their own seeds, become familiar with Vermont's growing conditions, specific requirements for Gobeille's crops, schedule workers, develop a bookkeeping system, all in order to assure that the restaurants (Shanty on the Shore, Burlington Bay Market and Café, and the food service on the Northern Lights ferry) would have a consistent source of fresh vegetables.

Here and now
Beets, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, cilantro, and potatoes are a few of the crops harvested from Gobeille's one-acre garden and placed on his front porch each morning. "The quality [of the vegetables] is far superior to the produce available from traditional distributors," Gobeille offered. "The mesclun greens I take into work with me in the morning were picked the evening before. The chefs know it is coming and have planned a menu item around it. The localvore movement doesn't get more local than that."

According to Larry Parker, there has been an interesting learning curve in working with the Bhutanese farmers. "They were devastated early in May when there appeared to be no appreciative growth from the seeds they had planted," he shared. The Parkers and Gobeille kept assuring them that patience would pay off, and it did.

Throughout the initial growing season some unexpected cultural differences presented themselves - one was pest control. Brad Parker recalled the farmers were opposed to killing any insects or other pests found on their fledging crops: they gently gathered beetles in the palms of their hands, and walked away from the field to release the leaf eaters. Another example occurred when it was necessary to stake the tomato plants and one of the farmers requested permission to remove fallen tree limbs from Gobeille's "jungle" to serve that purpose.

In preparing the budget and schedule for the project, the NFNA farmers' goal for the first growing season was to cover the cost of seeds and materials, and hopefully, to make a small profit to be split between them. That goal was realized with the first week's harvest last month. The non-monetary goals of the project were to enhance the refugee's business acumen, communication skills, understanding of the nature of Vermont's growing seasons, and to meet the scheduling needs of local restaurants for fresh local produce.

Down the road
Paquin is optimistic regarding the USDA's future involvement with Weldon's projects through the NFNA and other AALV programs. "We have requested support from Washington for more grants," Paquin said. "These initiatives mesh closely with the work of the FSA. Brad and Larry [Parker] and the rest of our staff have really been invigorated by this program." The same can be said of Weldon, Gobeille, and the "New American Farmers" from Bhutan.