Farm Happenings for July 20, 2022

This time of the year is my favorite time of the season. If you are anything like me, I have had enough leafy vegetables for the next few weeks. Time to bake zucchini bread, enjoy a refreshing cucumber salad and grill up an incredible platter of tomato-onion-zucchini-mushroom-brussels sprouts kabobs. Let me know what you are doing with your veggies!

I want to take a moment to reiterate the change to our CSA this year. The full year will consist of 14 weeks with one week off in between. It will be 7 weeks of delivery, a break for the farm team the week of August 10th and 7 weeks of delivery to finish out the season. We appreciate your patience with the changes this year and hope you are getting creative with your vegetables.

If you have any questions, please contact Phanat at 651-795-8678.

Mhonpaj's Garden Farm Team

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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