Oakdale Resident Plants Hmong Farming Traditions

When May and Chu Lee first moved to the United States from Southeast Asia, farming was all they knew. Today, they have passed their rich farming traditions on to their children, including their daughter and Oakdale resident Mhonpaj Lee.

During the summer and early fall months, and when she’s not busy working as a medical interpreter for Hennepin County Medical Center, Mhonpaj is farming. While nine of her family members—brothers, sisters and sister-in-laws included—tend to the crops, Mhonpaj plans the harvest and runs the farm as a business.

And while the Lees sell some of their produce at farmers markets, they also work hard to produce shares for their community supported agriculture (CSA) members.

“We’ve always done hobby farming,” Mhonpaj said. “We wanted to share that with the rest of the community.”

Five years ago, the Lees attended a training session held by the Minnesota Food Association geared toward immigrant and minority farmers. There, the family learned how maintain a farm that could support portions of the community.

Today, the Lees farm on six acres of Stillwater land. Though they want to find a permanent plot of land, their current location allows them to maintain a Certified Organic farm and provide CSA shares to between 10 and 12 local families, though they hope to grow that number.  For $525, members get 16 weeks of fresh, local produce. The variety can feed between four to five people a week.

When it’s time for delivery, the Lees pick vegetables and herbs and transport them to one of four drop-off locations. While there is currently no Oakdale drop-off site, Mhonpaj isn’t opposed to the idea.

“Anyone can become a drop-off site,” Mhonpaj said. “Restaurants work best, because they have coolers to store the vegetables.” But cooler or not, Mhonpaj said her vegetables are extremely fresh. The family picks produce the day before delivery, stores them in a cooler provided by the Minnesota Food Association, and delivers the vegetables early the next morning.

And if a CSA member forgets to pick up the food? “We compost it,” Mhonpaj said. “Nothing goes to waste.”

But more than the load of fresh vegetable each week, Mhonpaj’s CSA members get a little taste of Hmong traditions.

 “A lot of people don’t like to go out of their comfort zone,” Mhonpaj said. “So we try to teach people how to prepare some commonly unknown vegetables.”

Bok choy, mustard greens and Thai basil often make their way into the weekly CSA boxes.

Mhonpaj’s weekly newsletters tell CSA members how to cook with the underutilized produce, providing recipes and cooking tips. “Mainly, people just want to eat healthy food,” Mhonpaj said. “And this is one way to support local, small farmers.”

Want to learn more about Community Supported Agriculture? Click here. Want to check out the Lee’s produce? Visit them at the St. Paul, Mill City, White Bear Lake or Mahtomedi Farmers Markets.