Farm Happenings for July 11, 2020

Good Evening,

We are at the peak of our season. Where majority of vegetables are available. This weeks feature is sugar snap peas and pickling cucumbers and Malibar spinach. Malibar is a great source of vitamins and we are working hard. We have shifted our picking to Thurdsay and Friday since our CSA members have increased. We are getting ready for Organic Certification this week.

This weeks feature is May Lee she mother of Mhonpaj Lee and have been certified organic for the last 14 years. She also mentors a 12 farm member team at Big River Farms helping emerging farmers with low resources and during the day she works as a mentor and evenings she spends farming for the CSA. She is a hard worker and a teacher and is a strong believer in Organic Farming

https://www.voanews.com/usa/hmong-farmer-minnesota-organic

Also a friendly reminder that we keep to our family farm operating and we are looking for more members as we continue to grow.

Mhonpaj’s Garden is a 9-acre certified organic vegetable farm owned by May Lee and her daughter Mhonpaj. With 5 acres in Stillwater and 4 acres in Marine on St. Crox, May and her family grow a variety of vegetables, bedding plants and herbs.
In 1980, May, her husband Chue, their children and May’s mother immigrated to the United States from Loas as refugees. They found work farming conventionally, but when May’s mother was diagnosed with cancer after working with pesticides in the United States, May knew she needed to start farming organically.
May’s daughter Mhonpaj was connected with the Minnesota Food Association (MFA) and learned about their New Immigrant Agriculture Program (now called the Farmer Education Program). The Lee’s were accepted into the three-year program, which gave them access to the MFA’s 60-acre certified organic incubator farm, Big River Farm, and connected them with a Hmong-speaking coordinator who helped them find resources and answer questions about organic farming. Together they resolved issues ranging from drip irrigation setup to product liability insurance to insect control.
In 2010, the Lee’s “graduated” from the MFA program and went on to become the first Hmong-owned certified-organic farm in Minnesota. May and her family now farm leased land along the St. Croix River.

In addition to farming, May spends lots of time educating other growers about organic practices through the MFA and as a Master Gardener volunteer for Ramsey County. She and her family also share their culinary heritage through cooking demonstrations and classes.

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