Words and images by Iglika Petrova (a devoted Mill City Farmers Market supporter). Mhonpaj’s Garden is a certified organic vegetable farm owned by May Lee and her daughter Mhonpaj, the farm’s namesake. This is their 15th year at MCFM!
May of Mhonpaj’s Garden is probably the most humble, hard-working, and dedicated person you will ever have the fortune to meet in your life. Beaming with happiness, she has a genuine smile on her sunny face anytime you talk to her. She is hard to miss at the market—always happy, always smiling, standing behind huge tables full of fresh, seasonal produce inside the covered Train Shed.
May’s journey in the United States started more than 40 years ago, when she came as a refugee from Laos as a young mother. Back in Laos, her family were farmers, and naturally her family continued to work in farming after their arrival in their new homeland. What made it different for them here was the unexpected and harmful amount of pesticides they were exposed to while working at other farms; exposure that led to May’s mother developing and eventually passing away from cancer. Her mother’s illness and battle inspired May to rethink her family’s farming experience in their new homeland, and pushed her onto the challenging and yet healing journey of becoming Minnesota’s first Hmong-owned certified organic farm in 2010.
What most of us don’t know is how difficult it actually is to become, and to stay, a certified organic farmer. There’s the three-year transition period, strict regulations, and annual inspections. The process means not only adopting organic practices but also navigating the paperwork and record-keeping, fees, and sometimes reduced yields during the land’s transition.
For May, the process meant carrying additional hidden challenges that many people never see or have to experience, being an immigrant in a new country where everything was different and starting from the ground up. It was a new climate, new crops and new growing techniques (from farming rice, papaya, and sugarcane— to farming carrots, potatoes, cabbage, and asparagus), a new language, a new culture—all of that while navigating life, family, and her steady dedication to feeding her community. And May has done so beautifully, with perseverance and a clear path toward growing and sharing food that is good not only for our bodies but also for our minds.
Becoming certified organic also requires consistent land access, which is a huge barrier for small family farms. Finding affordable land in a marketable area that is also suitable for growing is incredibly difficult, so many small farmers utilize multiple plots of rented land in hopes that they will eventually be able to purchase a piece of land that works for their needs. Mhonpaj’s Garden produce is currently grown on two pieces of land—at Big River Farms in Marine on St. Croix, as well as on rented land in Hugo. For May, it means the work is nearly doubled, stretched between two locations. After our visit ended at around 6pm, May got back into her truck for a 25-minute drive over to Marine on St. Croix to continue farm chores long into the evening.
In addition to her own farming, she passes on her knowledge through her work as a Farm Mentor Specialist at Big River Farms, which is an incredible nonprofit dedicated to providing land and resources for emerging farmers to learn sustainable practices, grow organic food, and build strong businesses. Knowing how challenging her path to farming has been (and continues to be), May has made it her mission to share her knowledge and skills with other emerging farmers as they get started.
Talking casually with May at the farmers market, one might not even realize that behind her calm, joyful, humble soul is a mighty force that moves steady and firm toward her path. For her, the journey in her new homeland has been a journey back to her roots—revisiting her native farming practices and learning new ones that are wholesome and nourishing both for the body and for the soul. But what she does is more than just farming. It is the way her children are raised, the way she flows with life, and the way she contributes and shares her gifts with the community. As she says: “This is a way of life. It is how we grew up.”
In the words of her daughter Mhonpaj, “So many of my friends were told by their parents not to go into farming. They wanted more for their children, and urged them to become lawyers and doctors, to live the American Dream. But if we don’t pay attention to our stories, and our foodways, if we don’t pass these on to our children, so much will be lost.”
Alongside vegetables, May and Mhonpaj also grow a variety of Hmong herbs used for cooking and medicine, and, as with everything she does, the sharing of May’s gifts and knowledge goes beyond her family. Part of the Hmong postpartum diet includes an herbal chicken broth, so May and her daughters have been working with nearby hospitals that have adopted their knowledge, using their recipes and the Hmong herbs they grow to create special meals for patients during the postpartum period. As May explains: “Our medicines relieve pain, treat cramps, and heal wounds, and are just as effective as those you’d find in a pharmacy.”
When asked what May is most proud of, she said: “I am most proud of myself.” And that statement is as beautiful as May is. Talking and spending time with her, you see the incredible journey she has walked. One thing that stands out is her constant striving to learn and grow, which has been her guiding force. May and her family have made Minnesota their new home, and in return, they share healthy food and wisdom in a way that enriches people’s lives far beyond their family. May lives a life that aligns with her heart and her values, and it connects her even more closely to her community.
May and her family’s dream is to find affordable land where they can both farm and live, a place that can sustain their lifestyle and their legacy.
You can visit May, experience her joyful nature, and buy her organic produce (and kimchi!) every Saturday during the summer market inside the covered Train Shed on the right side. She will also be selling root crops, dried beans and kimchi at select winter market dates. Click here to read more about her daughter Mhonpaj’s journey back to farming in a 2021 blog article by Mecca Bos.
We are excited to share one of May’s favorite farm fresh recipes, Sweet & Sour Cucumber Salad.
