The Hard-Working Ly Vu Family

Ly Vu’s family farm is located in Medon, Tennessee, about 80 miles east of Memphis.

Ly is a gracious and hard-working man. He grew up farming with his family in Laos, a small country sandwiched between Vietnam and Thailand, where they grew similar crops to ours such as corn and rice as well as tropical crops including pineapple and bananas. With an American sponsor providing opportunity and assistance, Ly moved to the United States when he was 15 years old.

Ly worked for several years in Memphis in other types of jobs, prior to farming full time with So, his wife. From a meager beginning living in a tent on the property they farmed, the Vus now have a house on 21 acres and a second 30-acre farm nearby. Four of their six college-age children return home to work the farm during the summer.

The Vu home overlooks what Ly calls the “small patch”. It is about the size of four football fields, where a variety of vegetables are grown. The rows are narrowly spaced and all of the planting, weeding, watering and harvesting is done by hand. In fact, Ly even propagates many of the seeds he sows. The detailed gardening plan guarantees that the crops continue to rotate on a weekly basis. As one crop fades, another is ready to harvest. The process is impressive, to say the least.

At the “small patch”, Ly grows tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, onions, peppers (red, green and yellow), bok choy, greens, eggplant, foot long beans, and bitter melon. Next year he plans to plant several blueberry bushes to begin harvesting in a few years.

The second farm is 20 minutes down the highway. The sight is remarkable. Acres upon acres are in production and the “small patch” definitely seems small in comparison. Even with the size of these fields, everything other than the initial tilling is done by hand. Mother Nature is responsible for watering, but the Vu family is responsible for everything else. Rows of peas blanket the hillside. Purple hull peas, crowder peas, and lady peas are a few of the varieties grown here. Cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, green beans, wax beans, shelley beans, okra, corn, and melons are everywhere. There is even a huge blackberry patch, with berries ripe on the vine, ready to pluck and eat.

“Farming is hard work”, Ly says, “but we love our customers and are very happy at the market”. And we, at the MFM, are just as happy to have Ly, his family and all of the fresh, local vegetables he provides for us.