MILWAUKEE — A relatively new community garden in Milwaukee is growing fresh, culturally familiar food for local families. It's helping stock a food pantry and provide the basics for a Hmong meal.
This is the Mulberry Hill Hmong Friendship Garden, run by the Hmong American Friendship Association (HAFA). It's in the city's Near West Side.
I've done stories on dozens of community gardens. While they might appear the same, each one has its own unique twist, and this one is no different.
The goal is to plant produce that's typically found in Hmong meals, like green mustard, various hot peppers, cucumber, eggplant, or lemongrass.
“Because the Hmong like to eat the Hmong meals, so we have to grow Hmong food," Naotou Loo, a volunteer at the garden, said.
The food is brought to the HAFA food pantry. It's open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Fridays from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
The volunteers at the garden grew about 6,000 pounds of produce in its first year. It wouldn't be surprising if they were able to grow even more this year since they're expanding the garden.
“This is also just expanded this year, too. And they realize the ground is really good. It's good soil," Lang Xiong, with HAFA, said as he pointed towards a new area of the garden.
Xiong was one of the first people to work in the garden when it started last year.
“Pretty much me and my wife alone start this," he said.
Now there's a team of volunteers, and they are supported by community grants, like $6,400 that Hunger Task Force gave them for supplies and to build new garden beds. It's getting the gardeners to think even bigger.
“Maybe next year we'll try to expand as much as possible, just to make sure we'll put some bed or whatever it is, and just make sure it looks nice too," Xiong said.
It's important to note that while a lot of the produce they're growing is intended for typical Hmong meals, anyone can come to the food pantry. Learn more about the food pantry here.
Watch the story on the community garden to see more of what it looks like...
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
