If you've been hoping to get to a WiWiC field day this year, this is the event for you! We'll be heading to Eau Claire, at Maiv Flower Farm - a VERY Insta-worthy location, of course - and we'll have the opportunity to hear from mother-daughter market-grower dynamic duo Mai Xee Xiong and Pa Thao, our Eau Claire County Conservation Coach. These two have decades of experience growing vegetables and flowers for farmers markets and institutions, and this new farm is a dream come true for them! If you have farm dreams, we know their story will resonate with you.
They love spending time with each other through their love of gardening and being outdoors. It was always been a dream of Mai (pronounced "my") to own land and a farm since she started farming in 1997. Pa, inspired by her mother, developed a deep love for gardening growing up. In 2022, their shared dream finally came true with the purchase of a 20 acre plot of land in the town of Wheaton. Their goal is to share with you the fruits of their labor and the abundance that the land offers.
They invite you to immerse yourself in the beauty of Maiv Flower Farm, to pause, take a deep breath, and experience the tranquility of nature. Their hope is that their flowers and locally grown vegetables will not only nourish your body but also rejuvenate your soul and spirit.
Pa graduated from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI with a Bachelor of Social Work and completed her Master of Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2016. She is a proud mother of 5 children and when off the farm, also runs a cultural consulting business, as well as being the co-founder and Executive Director of the Brown Womyn Power Coalition, Inc., a statewide coalition whose mission is to build the capacities of Black and Brown advocates and their communities to end violence against women, queer and trans folx and young people. Pa is a community organizer and an advocate for Hmong womyn and girls.
Pa will give a tour and talk about the Local Foods Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program, and how they grow culturally specific foods and how they process goods for food pantries. Local United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) office staff will beon hand to talk about the kind of programs and incentives that are available to market farms, such as high tunnels/hoop houses. Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) deadlines will be explained by Jamie Bischel USDA- NRCS resource conservationist. The event organizer is Mercedes Talvitie, NW WiWiC Coordinator and Climate and Conservation Specialist with Marbleseed.
This field day will be led in both HMoob and English languages. There will also be delicious Amerasian finger foods by local provider My Deli!
We've had just so much fun at our field days so far - exploring operations with pastured livestock, forest mushroom cultivation, pollinator habitat, no-till gardens, and free-range Kune Kune hogs, among other creative pursuits by women land stewards!
Even though our field days are coming to a close, we still have one more bus tour, four regional Learning Circles, and many potlucks still coming up this summer and fall. Stay tuned to our Facebook page and watch for events as we put them on the website. And stay cool and safe out there!
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