Veronica Karanja grew up farming in Kenya, but it took her years in the U.S. to find land again.
Veronica Karanja says this as she wipes her damp forehead with the back of her hand, settling it on her hip as she looks over her garden of squash, herbs and budding corn. “Many good things are coming,” she repeats, before taking up her pick again and hacking away at the weeds encroaching on her crop.
Living Well Kent started in 2014 as Kent’s second farmers market, and the only one to accept SNAP and food vouchers. They saw the desire for farmland among residents, and shortly after, the collaborative received land in Kent as a donation from Washington State University. It’d once been used for the college’s agricultural department, until the teacher running the program retired, leaving it unused for a decade. Now it invites immigrant farmers like Karanja to farm for free and sell their products at their farmers market.
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