Can you imagine 27,000 pounds of produce? Now picture that being grown by the patient hands of just four families on less than a single acre of land. This is the work of Growing Together, an urban farm in southeast Nashville jointly stewarded by immigrant and refugee farmers and The Nashville Food Project.
In the warmest, busiest months, the Growing Together farm is overflowing with handmade trellises of tomatoes, towering okra plants, and bright red Dalle Khursani, Nepali hot peppers. The farmers, who all came to the U.S. from Bhutan and Myanmar, tend crops from their home countries alongside Middle Tennessee favorites. Cabbages thrive next to creeping vines of bitter gourd. Many languages echo across the field as farmers trade jokes and bits of advice.
“Our exchange of knowledge makes me a more successful grower,” says La Sai Roi, a Burmese farmer who has been with the Growing Together program since 2021. “I am so thankful for this program and all the farmers.”
The farm is as multigenerational as it is multicultural. People of all ages cultivate thriving rows, wash bundles of spinach under tents, and pack veggie boxes for pickup. Growing traditions with origins in the farmers’ home countries, like seed saving or companion planting, are passed down to younger generations through practical experience. It’s a close-knit community where farmers continually deepen connections to their countries of origin and to each other.
The farm’s Community Supported Agriculture program extends a pathway for farmers to get more plugged into the local community, forming meaningful relationships with customers while generating income that supports family webs in Nashville and beyond. If you’re looking to cook with a wider variety of veggies, support immigrant and refugee farmers, and build community food security along the way, consider supporting Growing Together this spring by purchasing a CSA share.
