With the Bhutanese Community of Central Ohio, BCCO driving the initiative, the New American Community Garden and Farm Stand has opened to the public at the YMCA North, 1640 Sandalwood Place, Columbus, Ohio.

“All the gardeners are allocated their plots of land, and they can grow what they want to grow. They can grow their own culture food,” said Sudarshan Sharma, Executive Director of Bhutanese Community of Central Ohio.

“There are gardeners from eleven communities including Bhutan/Nepal, Afghanistan, Cameroun, Congo and others. We leased this land for 10 years and we have provided water and fencing.”

Sudarshan Sharma said the garden is also used in teaching the gardeners how to grow crops during wintertime.

Senator William DeMora described the garden as amazing and exciting. “This is where we get homegrown food. It is a great thing to have this garden here.”

Also, Representative Munira Abdullahi said “it is really good to have this farm with many communities working on it in a cross-community collaboration. I am honored and excited to see this development. It is an opportunity to teach the young people how to farm.”

“I am quite proud to see the growth and significant impact the BCCO has made in this community and leading this farm project,” said Abdi Soofe, Department of Neighborhood, City of Columbus, Ohio.

Alfred Akainyah of the Office of the Mayor of Columbus described it as “as a beautiful thing and it is a good recognition of what we do. These things are very natural and reminds us of where we come from.”

“The New American gardeners have transformed the corner of Sandalwood and Karl into a new green space of beauty and abundance for our community,” said Mike Cote, Columbus community leader.  

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