Lee’s One Fortune Farm is a small family-owned farm located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in McDowell County. The Lee family is part of a community of Hmong farmers. The Hmong people are native to Laos and Vietnam, and many came to the United States as refugees after the Vietnam War. Western North Carolina is home to one of the largest Hmong communities in the United States. Lee’s One Fortune Farm specializes in growing Asian produce. They sell their produce at farmers markets where they encourage customers to try foods that they may have never had before!

Taylor Holenbeck is Grower Services Coordinator at Happy Dirt in Durham, NC, and Agribusiness representative on the administrative council of Southern SARE. When Happy Dirt began in 2004, local and organic produce was not easy to find in this corner of the country. Together with a small group of farmers they set out to solve this problem. Today, they proudly partner with hundreds of farmers and customers throughout North America.