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New Roots for Refugees

Farm Address:

(near) 1979 N. 2nd, Kansas City, Kansas 66101

Contact Information:

Emily Lecuyer
 Phone: 913-620-2080
Website | Blog | Email

CSA Distribution Info:

Click on a location for details.

Share Structure:

No. of shares offered for 2012 season: 82

Length of season: 18 weeks (June – September)

  • FULL SHARE……….$300 ($150 deposit is due at sign-up, with the remaining $150 due at the first distribution.)
New Roots also accepts SNAP payments at most distribution locations.  CSA members paying via EBT and others who qualify may pay monthly.  New Roots doesn’t want payment to be a barrier to accessing their farmers’ products, so if you have questions please feel welcome to contact Emily for details.  

Farmer Dena with a CSA member

What can shareholders expect in their share?

New Roots farmers are both expert seed-savers and grow heirlooms common in tropical regions in Africa and Asia.  As part of the program, however, they lean to grow crops more familiar to American eaters and find a balance between traditional Midwestern veggies and crops important to their culture.  The weekly food share will include 5 – 7 different organically-grown vegetables. You will receive two New Roots for Refugees tote bags, which will be rotated each week when you pick up your share. Every week the share of produce will be different depending on the season.

Here are examples of what a share might contain:

  • Spring: green peas (sugarsnap or snow), baby beets w/ greens, green onions, carrots w/ tops, lettuce, radishes, chives
  • Summer: heirloom tomatoes, peppers, eggplant or okra, melons, cucumbers, onions, green beans, squash/zucchini, basil, corn
  • Fall: lettuce, broccoli or cauliflower, cabbage, winter squash, swiss chard, carrots, potatoes, garlic, dill

New Roots farmers are also encouraged to write “packing lists” for each CSA bag so that members can at least do an online recipe search for items they’re less familiar with.  Shares vary depending upon year, season, and farmer.  Please visit the Veggie ID page on the New Roots website for a complete list of potential crops.  Please understand that not all New Roots farmers grow ALL of the veggies listed, and that New Roots cannot guarantee that you will receive specific items.  If you have questions about what to do with any veggies in your CSA bag, recipes are provided, and you can ask your farmer!


credit: Danielle Larson

What makes New Roots for Refugees Unique:

This is the fifth year for the New Roots for Refugees CSA, and these farmers have been growing in Kansas for up to six years now (most have come from agrarian communities, however, so may have been farming much longer). There are currently 16 farmers growing at the Juniper Gardens Training Farm, each on his or his or her own ¼-acre plot of land.  All of the New Roots farmers are refugees; some are from Somalia, Burma, Burundi, Bhutan — one farmer is from Sudan.  All of the farmers have arrived in the United States in the last five years or so. The New Roots for Refugees project provides an opportunity for farmers to build on their strengths and experience while learning English, growing vegetables, and making money.

So far the literacy level of our participants has prevented us from keeping the records necessary for organic certification. However, everything grown at the Juniper Gardens Training Farm abides by strict organic principles. We are committed to creating a sustainable, healthy food system and never use genetically-modified or treated seeds, synthetic fertilizers, chemical pesticides, or anything else that is forbidden on certified-organic farms.  Apart from annual tillage, and the use of small walk-behind tillers, New Roots farmers generally cultivate the earth relying primarily on their own physical strength rather than petroleum-powered machinery.

We may never be certified organic by a third party agency, so we consider our CSA members, regular market shoppers, and wholesale partners our own form of certification. We encourage you to come out to our farm — as we do for all the farms from which you purchase food — ask questions, and see for yourself how your food is grown.

As a CSA member, you will be building a partnership with one farmer. You will pick up vegetables from the same farmer each week. This gives you an opportunity to know who is cultivating your food, and gives the refugee farmer a chance to interact more long-term with English-speaking Americans.

CSA members are also welcome and encouraged to visit the farm and spend time working alongside their farmers!