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April 17, 2002
Wisconsin farmer offers seven acres for Hmong gardening
Farmer says providing the Hmong with gardens is an expression of his faith
GREEN BAY, Wis. (CNS) — Edward Strenn of rural Greenleaf can't wait for May 1. That's when Hmong families will begin arriving to work the garden plots he has plowed for them on his and his mother's farmland.
Their arrival "really (does) bring this place alive," he said.
Strenn is carrying on the project his late father, Howard, began in 1988 when he decided to make two acres available for garden plots after Marcia Kellner, then the community developer for the Hmong resettlement program through the Green Bay Diocese's Refugee and Immigration Services, brought the first family to meet the Strenns.
Kellner felt that the Hmong families would benefit from the arrangement because many had farmed in their native Laos.
"They felt so much at home back on the land (in Greenleaf)," she said.
Howard Strenn plowed and tilled the garden plots before those first families arrived. At first, he charged them nothing for use of the land, but later leased it for a small fee to cover the cost of equipment and fuel used to prepare the ground. He also provided space and help for the families to raise chickens.
Although Ed Strenn had not been very involved in his father's garden project at first, he decided to carry it on after Howard's death four years ago because of the joy he had seen it give his father.
Today, seven acres of plots are worked by 30 to 35 families. Each acre is leased for $150 for the entire growing season, from May 1 to mid-November, then subdivided among relatives.
At first, Strenn only plowed and "spring-toothed" the ground, which breaks it up. The Hmong finished the cultivation by hand with hoes. But when he saw 75- and 80-year-olds "hoeing away just as fast as they can," he decided to till the soil for them as well.
He now picks out any rocks that are uncovered and gets sticks from the local millwork company for families to use as bean poles. A variety of vegetables are planted, as well as flowers and plants used for traditional folk medicines.
One couple, Mor and Yang Vang, have been with the Strenns since the beginning. They grow produce to sell at local farmer's markets in the summer: beans, tomatoes, squash, corn, carrots, potatoes, onions, lettuces, flowers and a small amount of sugar cane — a crop that surprised Strenn.
"Sugar cane in Wisconsin? I would never have guessed it," he said, adding that the children use it like candy. All the gardeners chew it as they work.
Strenn has learned a lot about Hmong cuisine. For example, the families eat more foliage, growing squash for its leaves rather than its fruit.
"When fall comes," he said, "I've got all these beautiful acorn squash just sitting there."
In November, when the families clean out their plots, they invite relatives to come and take whatever produce is left. Strenn has seen them fill vans with bags of lettuce.
He commends the Vangs for their hard work. He sees Mor arrive every day at about 7 a.m. and work until noon, then go home to their six children. She also works on the second-shift cleaning crew at Fort James Paper in Green Bay. Her husband works at Dean's Pickle and Specialty Products in Green Bay.
Each Friday during the summer, Mor loads her van for the weekend markets. She also sells fruit Strenn raises in his orchards, including apricots. He gives Mor eight gallons, six of which she sells for him, keeping the rest for her family. She and Yang also raise about 50 chickens.
For Strenn, providing the Hmong with gardens is an expression of his faith.
"It's the giving part," he said. "There was always something in my head that we're all put on this earth for a reason. Mine, I believe, was to give back more than we take in."
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