As his eyes swept over the 2-acre garden plot in Franklin Township, Hai Vung Lian tried to shield himself from a chilly wind. He envisioned lush fields of vegetables and recalled the humid heat of his native Myanmar.

"This garden gives us a sense of joy, happiness and a sense of community. It gives us a sense of home," Lian said.

That home now is Franklin County for Lian and 1,100 other Burmese Chin, many of whom left the southeast Asian country because of an oppressive government. Lian, 51, has a physics degree. He learned English and came to Franklin County eight years ago to become the pastor of Galloway's Emmanuel Chin Baptist Church. He's a leader of the 1,100 Burmese Chin who immigrated to Franklin County, where the community has developed firm roots and blossomed.

A unifying project for the local Chin — as well as Somalis, Nepalese and others — has been the Franklin Township community garden they share. Officially known as the International Harvest Garden, it's one of several gardens that Franklin County, using federal money, helps fund in the county outside Columbus. The city has its own program.

"Our aim is world peace through gardening," Bill Dawson joked.

Dawson is coordinator of Growing to Green, a program the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens started in 2000. With Franklin County's help, it has grown to 300 community gardens, growing flowers and vegetables on plots that range from a small city lot to the 2 acres in Franklin Township.

Franklin County provided a $25,000 grant this year to help dozens of gardens across the county. It provides land and water and can provide seed, compost and other garden products. Marysville-based Scotts Miracle-Gro also provides about $30,000 worth of garden products each year, Dawson said. Low- to moderate-income county residents can apply for garden spots.

The garden program is part of the county's Food Security Initiative, which won a national Audrey Nelson Community Development Award this year for its efforts to bring fresh, healthy foods and nutrition education to areas of the county that don't have easy access to grocery stores.

For Lian and his flock, the garden represents their past, their transplantation and growing into their new home.

"We only meet once a week in church," Lian said. "They see each other here every day."

Most of Franklin County's Chin refugees were farmers in Myanmar, Lian said, but they now work in factories. Getting their hands in the dirt is a blessing that unites them.

"They have a feeling of home," Lian said.

The immigrants like to grow food from their native lands, Dawson said.

"They will grow anything, anywhere they can, sometimes vertically," Dawson said. "People grow what they want to eat."

The Chin buy seeds sent from Myanmar, Lian said, and plant them in the three-quarters of an acre they use at the garden. They grow eggplant, small pumpkins, okra, green beans, bok choy, turnip greens, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, radish, turnips and hot peppers.

"We like spicy food," Lian said.

Their most popular plant, though, is roselle, a leafy green they eat in many foods, especially soup. In mid-March, Lian was still eating roselle harvested from last year's crop.

The Chin garden is divided among 90 families. They love the deep U.S. soil more than the mountainous terrain and shallow soil of Myanmar. That offsets the shorter growing season in the United States compared with Myanmar's subtropical climate.

Last year, the Chin raised almost 10,000 pounds of produce in their garden. Had they bought that food at a grocery, it would have cost about $15,000, Dawson said.

The entire 2-acre plot raises about 20,000 pounds of food.

The Chin also share stories, seeds, planting techniques and friendship with the Somalis, Nepalese and others who grow food in the garden.

"These gardens became gateways to the communities," Dawson said, noting that gardening makes them healthier, all ages take part, and some of the food is given to schools for kids' meals. Part of the garden space is used to grow crops to give to local food banks or sell to local restaurants.

Planting starts in mid-May.

"We belong to this land," Lian said.

kperry@dispatch.com

@kimballperry