Mhonpaj’s Garden is a 9-acre certified organic vegetable farm owned by May Lee and her daughter Mhonpaj. With farmland in Stillwater and Hugo, May and her family grow a variety of certified organic vegetables and herbs.
In 1980, May, her husband Chue, their children, and May’s mother immigrated to the United States from Laos as refugees. They found work farming conventionally, but when May’s mother was diagnosed with cancer after working with pesticides in the U.S., May knew she needed to start farming organically.
May’s daughter Mhonpaj was connected with Minnesota Food Association (MFA, now Big River Farms) and learned about their New Immigrant Agriculture Program (now our Farmer Education Program). In 2010, the Lee’s “graduated” from the education program and went on to become the first Hmong-owned certified organic farm in Minnesota!
