World Relief Seattle

Chandra and Gadul Katwal were elated with their bountiful potato harvest this year.

“We have almost 60 kilos. This will feed us for an entire year!” declared Chandra.

Gadul grinned, cradling an armful of broad mustard greens leaves. The two brothers are from Bhutan, and their garden plots are across from one another.

“We are very happy that we are able to plant and harvest a lot of vegetables here,” said Gadul.

For three to four months out of the year, they eat mostly from the garden and buy just a little from local grocery stores. 

Gardeners rent a 11 x 17 foot plot for $40 (or a smaller, raised ADA plot for $20), and use it from April to October. The Hillside Paradise Parking Plots is of one out of the many offerings provided by World Relief Seattle, including language classes, refugee resettlement, employment services, legal aid and more.

Chandra and Gadul are gardeners at Hillside Paradise Parking Plots Community Garden, a one-acre parking lot donated to World Relief Seattle by Hillside Church in Kent, WA.

Two years ago, World Relief Seattle replaced the pavement with raised garden beds, rain gardens, and cisterns. It provides a space for immigrant and refugee communities in Kent to grow culturally appropriate food, build community, and connect with the land.

Chandra and Gadul grew up in a farming family, and their great-grandfathers were farmers. Twenty years ago, they were forced to flee their home country as refugees.

While living in camps in Nepal, they used their skills to assist native Nepalese farmers with planting and harvesting, hoping to receive food or money in exchange. They eventually resettled in south King County, where they have resided for twelve years. 

“When we think about Bhutan, we remember our cattle and our land, where we grew vegetables and rice. We feel sad when we remember our old life there. We can’t do anything with those memories, so we try not to think about it,” Chandra recounted. 

Through growing their own food, Chandra and Gadul are preserving critical ties to their Bhutanese identity and way of life.

While some gardeners at Paradise Parking Plots diversify their crops, Chandra and Gadul stick to planting beans, potatoes and mustard greens— staples of Nepali cuisine. 

Gadul loves growing mature mustard greens. He uses them to prepare gundruk (fermented green vegetable leaves), a popular Nepalese food.

He shared the multi-day process of making gundruk and its versatile usage:

“After I harvest the greens, I ferment them and dry them outside in the sun. This way, they can be stored for a long time. Later, I like to add it soups as a thickener, and also cook it with potatoes.” 

Over the past year, the brothers watched other gardeners from other countries planting edible flowers in their garden beds, such as nasturtiums.

“I didn’t know that you could plant flowers in a vegetable garden,” said Gadul, amused.   

It is a hot, arid summer day in Kent. The sun is out in full blast with nary a cloud in sight, a rarity for the Pacific Northwest. Nidhal Alnaimi grabs the shared garden hose and sprays off her plants, the splatter of water creating pleasing rhythms against the layers of leaves. 

Nidhal and her family immigrated to the US five years ago from Iraq. She first learned to garden after enrolling in classes provided by World Relief Seattle. Examples of classes offered include Food Saving and Preservation, Pest and Disease Management, Garden Planning and Noxious Weed Identification.

“We didn’t grow food in gardens [in Iraq]. I only planted things indoors. After coming here, I learned about the soil and how to organize vegetables,” she said. 

She decided to learn how to garden because she wanted to provide organic, low-cost, healthy food for her family. Today, Nidhal has maintained for two years a robust plot of organic vegetables, including red cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, parsley and beans, and even flowers. 

“When you go to the market, organic produce is much too expensive,” she stated. 

Nidhal and her family have been able to experiment with growing a multitude of vegetable varieties, including ones they did not eat in Iraq.

“Here in the US, we have different kinds of one vegetable, but in my country, we have one kind: one kind of tomato, one kind of zucchini, one kind of beans," she shared.

Her family especially enjoys the sweetness and size of cherry tomatoes. Their favorite summer dish to prepare from her garden is salad with cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. But some things are fine the way they are.

“Last year I planted a new kind of green beans, and we didn’t like them. This year, I went back to growing green pole beans— much better,” Nidhal reported. 

Nidhal comes to the garden multiple times a week. Her children are grown, so the garden has settled into being her sole responsibility. Even though it takes a great deal of labor, she still feels that keeping the garden is gratifying and worth all the effort. 

“All day, I’m thinking about my plants, if they are too hot or too dry. It’s like the garden is my kid,” Nidhal chuckled. 

Through the World Relief Seattle program she is able to connect with several other gardeners. They made an agreement to water the other person’s garden when they come to water their own, so they all keep their gardens happy and healthy during the warmer months.

Ivan Shvets stands next to his raised garden bed in a sloped parking lot, twisting off pickling cucumbers from the trellises.

“Our family likes to slice them, put them in salt water overnight, and then dip them in raw honey to eat— try it!” he urged.

The plants in Ivan’s immaculately maintained garden tower above his neighbors’ plants in the other surrounding garden plots. It is clear he feels a sense of pride in taking excellent care of his garden, which in turn, cares for him and his family.

For Ivan, tending to a garden helped him feel grounded for the first time after arriving last year in the US as a refugee escaping war in Ukraine.

“The first month in America was very stressful for me. It was hard to communicate. I tried to take ESL classes, but it was so frustrating and hard,“ he remembered. 

Back then, Ivan never imagined he would be uprooted from his life in his home country. He was born into a farmer’s family, and was managing a large bee farm in Ukraine before migrating to the US. After he arrived, he was connected with World Relief Seattle for support. When they informed him that there was an open garden plot available to rent, he seized the opportunity.

Since then, Ivan has populated the garden with a variety of fruits and vegetables from his beloved home country. He shares the organic bounty with his daughters, sons-in-law, and five grandchildren.

In the hollows of the cinder blocks making up the perimeter of the garden, Ivan planted bushes of wild strawberries using seeds his sister brought over from Ukraine.

“It tastes better than any strawberries you can get here,” he boasted. 

Ivan points to a tidy patch of beets, which he encased with rows of tomato plants.

“We use lots of beets and tomatoes to make Ukrainian beet soup. It is delicious when the ingredients are freshly picked and organic,” he said. 

At the front of his garden bed sprouted a tall, reedy sunflower stalk: the national flower of Ukraine. 

While Ivan adjusts to life in the US with his children and grandchildren, coming to the garden and stewarding the land centers him.

“There is nothing better than coming here. I relax, I calm down. I get to see the results from my efforts. I plant the seeds so they won’t bother each other. I try to use the plot in the best way,” he said.

The Hillside Paradise Parking Plots Community Garden provides refugees, immigrants, and the local community to improve food access, build community, and foster economic independence. Do you have specific skills or material donations to offer? Share your ideas! Email Lucas McClish ( lmcclish@wr.org ) about your interest in contributing your materials, equipment, or talent.