FLORA CULTURE PHOTOGRAPHY BY MISSY PALACOL
the art of paj ntaub. monroe, washington Hmong embroidery as floral inspiration. Flower farmer Tracy Yang
area farm and started apprenticing
Tracy’s boyfriend, Nick, provided
grows seasonal specialty-cut
there, learning how to grow
his own endorsement of flower
blooms with her partner, Nick
flowers from her mother, Mama
farming, Tracy said. As an
Songsangcharntara, on land in
Yang.
extrovert, Nick loved interacting
Monroe, Washington. The name of their third-year farming enterprise, JARN Co., is inspired by the English Romanization of the Thai word
that
translates as “moon,” and is also a root of Nick’s surname.
“Farming with my mom was an important connection with my Hmong heritage, and I absorbed much about my culture, and about my mother and father’s Hmong immigrant experience,” she said. “She taught me much about being
with customers when he helped to sell flowers at the farmers’ market for Mother’s Day. “He thought it was fun,” she laughed. “I never intended to grow flowers and I knew it wasn’t easy, but his enthusiasm made me reassess.”
People who fled Laos during
Hmong-American and that our
Joining Mama Yang at her sister’s
the Vietnam War are part of the
culture, the beliefs, the values,
farm in Carnation introduced
Hmong Diaspora, including Tracy’s
and the rituals are all rooted in
Tracy to methods and techniques
parents. They lived in Thailand as
agriculture.”
of market farming. “I wanted to
refugees before migrating to the U.S. in 1979, settling in Minnesota, where there is a sizeable Hmong community.
Until she was in her thirties, Tracy thought of gardening in terms of her father, who landscaped their yard and maintained the family’s
work alongside my mother that first season, before I made any final decisions about jumping into flower farming,” she said.
As a teen and young adult, Tracy
quarter-acre vegetable patch
Through Hmong embroidery art,
competed and performed hip-
in Minnesota. He passed away
Paj Ntaub, which translates as
hop dance, and later supported
when she was 13, but Tracy said
“flower cloth,” Mama Yang helped
herself as a fitness coach, as well
she often wonders, “What would
Tracy make beautiful connections
as massage therapist. In 2020, the
he think about flower farming? I
between her Hmong heritage
COVID-19 pandemic forced Tracy
think he would absolutely love it.
and her floral creativity. “I asked
to stop her one-on-one client
It’s something my mom and I talk
her one day when we were at the
work. Instead, she helped deliver
about a lot when we’re in the field
farm stand, ‘How did you learn to
flowers for her sister’s Seattle-
together. Every once in a while, she'll mention it and say, ‘flowers always make me think of your dad.’”
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SPRING 2023
