AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS, July 11, 2001: The Khmer Growers of Western Massachusetts — four Cambodian sisters and their friends — are raising money to rebuild the Buddhist temples in their homeland by growing the vegetables they know best. They began selling to Massachusetts’ ethnic farm markets seven years ago and are adding some chic restaurants in Manhattan and Washington, D.C, to their growing customer list. Prak Ky’s return to farming after escaping the killing fields of the Pol Pot regime started when her doctor gave her a stern warning. “He said I must exercise or I would die,” she said. He told her sister Prak Kom the same thing. Instead of that uniquely unproductive form of exercise — jogging — they began a small garden at the apartment complex where they live. They now have more than four acres planted in more than 30 different kinds of Asian vegetables. The farm is set up as a nonprofit to finance reconstruction of the temples. There could be a similar market for uniquely Indian vegetables.
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