Hmong family supplies markets

Cua Grogan has been waiting for spring all winter long.
The Hmong woman, whose family sells organically-raised produce at Missoula’s farmer’s markets, has been planning her garden since fall.
When the markets close with the coming of winter, “we’re already planning the next year,” she said. Winter, Grogan said, is consumed by planning plots and rows and greens and flowers. Now that spring is here, the rejuvenation begins.
Any gardener knows and loves this time of year, when all the unspoken hopes of new seed varieties and tiny color catalogue pictures give way to the reality of hands in earth, fingernails crusted with mud and backs that begin to ache in that satisfying way from pulling weeds. It’s an annual rebirth, after the hibernation of winter’s doldrums that sapped the colors from the land.
The bright lime sprouts of leafy greens, the ruffled reds of baby lettuce, the impetuous resurgence of perennial herbs all seem celebratory after months of cold and grey.
Already, one of the family’s greenhouses is filled with tiny salad greens. Carrots are almost ready to pull in another. In a third, bok choi have reached maturity, though the snappy green is tender as a seedling due to never experiencing wind.
All told, the family has five greenhouses. The one behind Grogan’s home is new, and at 34 feet wide by 135 feet long, it’s larger than some Missoula housing lots.
The other four are located on the Moua’s farm in Frenchtown, where the majority of the family’s produce is grown. Seeding of the houses began in late February, and is spaced to ensure a steady supply of food throughout the market season.
The history of the family’s involvement in Missoula’s farmer’s markets stretches back over 20 years. At the time, Cua was just a little girl. Her mother and relatives raised vegetables in community garden plots on Spurgin road. The downtown farmer’s market was young and spare.
Grogan’s mom, Ia Lee, was approached by members of the farmer’s market board back in 1985 or 1986, she said.
“My mom and aunt were approached … to be a part of the farmer’s market,” Grogan said. The early market provided tables, tablecloths and market space, “because they wanted the farmer’s market to grow,” Lee said. The effort was appreciated.
At the time, Grogan’s father was in school and her mother was holding down two jobs, doing whatever she could. “When they were approached, they saw that as the first door to do what they loved, and that was farming,” Grogan said.
“My mom always tried to persuade all the Hmong families (to grow vegetables for the farmer’s market), but they were reluctant.”
“They didn’t have the land, and there was the language issue,” Grogan said of the reasons the other families didn’t jump on board as readily as hers. Grogan’s father, Vang Moua, did know English, but her parents didn’t have land either, she said.
Neighbors, however, noted the industriousness of the family and knew the benefit of producing crops rather than potential weed fields, and let them borrow their large lots along Spurgin Road. The neighbors shared in the crops the family grew, and the remainder was sold at the budding farmer’s market. It was a beneficial arrangement for all. “A lot of people have been so generous in sharing their land,” Grogan said.
That sharing of land helped her mother convince additional Hmong families to become market gardeners as well.
“She said, ‘You grow your own food, you feed other people, you make some money,’” Grogan quipped of her mother’s sales pitch.
To continue to feed others, her parents purchased a 20 acre plot in Frenchtown about 13 years ago, and most of their market produce is now grown there. Come summer, the farm takes up most of the family’s time.
“We pretty much only have Saturday after the market, that’s our day of rest,” Grogan said regarding the 12-hour days she and her family put in during the height of summer.
The family starts harvesting on Thursday, she said, to prepare their booths for Missoula’s two downtown markets. Almost everyone helps.
Grogan’s husband married into the lifestyle. A commercial estimator by day, Kyle Grogan joins his extended family in the fields in evenings and on weekends.
“He knew he was marrying into a Hmong family that likes to farm,” Grogan said. “He’s kind of a closet farmer,” she smiled. “He really enjoys it.”
The couple’s son likes to plant seeds, Grogan said, but as for Saturdays, “He’s at the age when he’s running around, so we’re chasing him more than he’s helping.” So, while the family works downtown, two-year-old Shane goes to visit his grandparents.
If tradition holds, he won’t always have it so easy.
Cua began helping her family in the fields in third grade, she said. “When we were kids, there was no going to friends’ houses on weekends,” she said. At the time, she wasn’t thrilled. “As a kid, you’re around your peers and they’re always doing stuff and you wonder why you can’t. But now, I appreciate it.”
Grogan said the communal work keeps the family close. Her sister and her husband also help on the farm. Her uncle, aunt and cousins do, too. Grogan’s parents are still the driving force, but happily let the younger generation do what they can.
“Family life is pretty much out on the farm,” she said.
This year, the Moua clan will grow corn and kohlrabi, eggplant and tomatoes, peppers and basil and cucumbers. Of course there’ll be salad greens.
And every day, there will be members of the Moua family, hoeing and weeding, watering, feeding chickens, thinning and picking produce as it readies, keeping Missoulians eating fresh throughout the growing season.