September 2021
the active age
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Extra! Extra! By Annie Calovich While many Wichitans have recently been battling armyworms that have eaten their front lawns brown, Mui Peng has been oblivious to their upheaval amid a brimming diversity of herbs, vegetables, fruits and flowers burying her Midtown front yard in green. In fact, when asked about insects bugging her plants, her daughter Minh goes on the hunt to find some evidence, finally spying some grasshopper holes in a few leaves, but that’s about it. Minh Peng burns anti-mosquito coils to keep the skeeters off her mother, who is 90, but her mother doesn’t like the burning citronella smell. “I don’t worry about mosquitoes,” Mui says through her daughter's translation. “I bite 'em back.” The alchemy of mint basil, Thai peppers, lemongrass and scads of other aromatic plants must be the recipe for keeping bugs at bay in this organic garden. That and the constant nurturing of the plants by a woman originally from Laos who has created a healthy, old-fashioned neighborhood gathering spot in what used to be a typical American monoculture of a front lawn. Four-time refugee Mother and daughter have lived next door to each other in a duplex on North Fairview for 30 years, and Minh owns several rental properties in the vicinity where the garden expands to exotic fruit trees ranging from jujube to Asian pear to donut peach. Mui was born in 1930 and is a four-time refugee who finally made it to the United States in 1975, when Minh was 10 years old. Mui witnessed famine, lived through bombings and endured the loss of freedoms and homes. She speaks Vietnamese but makes frequent use of the words “thank you” in English. “I grew up with seeing my friends and family going through hardships with the war and how to survive,” Mui says. She didn’t start gardening until about 12 years ago, when easing family demands gave her time. She has three children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. “It comes naturally. It’s a pretty simple thing to do,” she says of gardening. “I grew up seeing other people planting.” Her garden is an adventure and an experiment, a constant source of wonderment and discovery. First came the addition of a white picket, then the removal of a declining tree, which opened the yard to full sun. ‘Which one is that?’ “She started out with flowers …
what’s going on. Friends also take bunches of herbs from the yard to use for medicinal purposes. The herbs seem to work as a preventative for Mui. “I don’t have any pain. I eat a lot of vegetables. I exercise every day.” The gardening gives her the chance to get up and down from a small plastic child’s chair that she moves around the yard, and she rides an exercise bicycle set up on the front screened-in porch that gives her a good view of the garden. Turning her front yard into a garden isn’t the only unconventional thing Mui has done. She draws birds to it by scattering not seed but cooked rice in water on the ground around her plants. She says the rice also helps feed the plants. So do egg shells, which spill out Photos by Annie Calovich of a plastic grocery bag and get put Mui Peng feeds friends and family out of her garden in Midtown. on vegetables and fruits maybe once a month when they start to flower. When Mui plants, she works in Miracle-Gro potting soil and tucks peat moss around plants as a fertilizer. All while wearing gloves, of course. She keeps her fingernails beautifully and now she’s like, ‘We might as well mint,” Mui says. manicured. get herbs going and cucumbers going The Pengs get some seed from The basil reseeds, and the mint and tomatoes, okra,’” Minh says. “It’s friends, and Mui tends to plant stalks spreads, and early spring sees Mui out hard to keep up with what she’s decid- and seeds from foods she gets at Thai moving the new plants to the right ing to plant next. She would eat the Binh Supermarket on West 21st Street. places for the growing season. fruit from the store and plant the seeds, Friends and neighbors “I’m happy. It’s like tending to it and it grows. We’ve got chives growing Mui herself doesn’t cook but eats and seeing how it grows. I didn’t realize like crazy, garlic, Asian spices. the leaves of herbs on salads. But she how one little pepper could create over “Cantaloupe, cherry — she puts grows as much or maybe even more for 100 plants.” them down and then she’s trying to others than she does for herself. Her ‘It’s rewarding’ figure out which one is that?” when the basil tops one friend’s pho, and her That means she not only gives out plants finally appear. mint is tucked into another’s spring produce, she gives out plants. When The garden is economical and elrolls. She gives her bounty to neighbors cold weather threatens, and the pepper emental. At one time there was a path and friends, who often stop by. plants are still popping with peppers, through the yard, but it has become “We’ve got great neighbors here,” she digs up the plants, pots them up rough-and-tumble, with invasive mint Mui says. “Everyone’s like a big famand gives them away. The mail carrier growing alongside refined clematis. An ily. … I enjoy the neighbors coming will be one recipient. Mui also puts arbor of grapes creates a shady tunnel around. People walk by in the morning peppers through a food processor and leading up the front walk. and admire. That makes me happy.” freezes them. In the winter, when some “Everything is the same things I They will find Mui out early, waof those peppers can provide a warmused in my country: basil, lemon balm, tering. Minh has set up a few different ing reminder of summer, she knits hoses so her mother doesn’t have to instead of gardens. drag them far. A big black-and-white “She shares the other seeds when cat named Tommy keeps tabs on it’s ripe,” her daughter says. “So everyone she knows has more plants.” The garden creates a healthy circle of life both physically and emotionally. Mui's social front yard allows her to reminisce with others of her generation, “and the younger generations like her stories,” her daughter says. Mui Peng and her daughter, “It’s rewarding that you can share,” Mui says. “It makes me feel good that Minh Peng, harvest grapes from people enjoy it.” the arbor over her front walk. Contact Annie Calovich at For Minh's chicken salad recipe acalovich@att.net. featuring fresh herbs, visit theactiveage.com.
Front-yard garden opens door to happy life
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