By Maridee Lawson, Daily Journal
A Madison County family wanted to have vegetables, fruits and spices from their native county available locally for their family and friends who can’t farm the produce themselves.
Lucy Pham looks at the long gourds in the family’s Vietnamese garden. (Alan Kopitsky, Daily Journal)
Lena Thach, Hai and Lucy Pham, who own Lucy Nails in Fredericktown, began their Vietnamese garden last year because they wanted to be able to have the fresh vegetables, fruits and spices they were used to in Vietnam. The family is also sharing some of their crop with other local Vietnamese families who aren’t able to farm the produce themselves or travel to a market in St. Louis to purchase the produce.
“We share some of the items with some of our friends, put some in our freezer and use it in the winter and then will have some of the cantaloupe in the nail salon for sale,” said Lucy.
Hai said the family started the garden last year because sometimes the market in St. Louis doesn’t always have what the family wanted.
Lucy said most things from the market are shipped from Florida and California and her dad wanted more fresh items for his family.
“We got some of the seeds from Vietnam when we traveled there to visit our family and other seeds we get at the market in St. Louis,” said Lucy.
Lena said they were able to save a lot of the seeds from the vegetables and fruits they had last year by drying the seeds out.
“We replanted the seeds from plants last year and will do that again this year,” said Lena.
Read the full article by Maridee Lawson, Daily Journal.
