Bean Market

Husband and wife Tongsee Xiong and Xai Lor are the owners of Bean Market Farm in the Rosemont area in Minnesota. Raised in a farming community in Laos, they immigrated to the United States in 1971. In 1996, they began their own family farm. The family grows a variety of seasonal produce including crops like asparagus, squash blossoms, peanuts and strawberries using time-tested traditional methods on their farm south of the Twin Cities. Tongsee and Xai are committed to the health of the land and the community and never use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. In addition to fruits and vegetables, Bean Market is widely known for selling beautiful heirloom dried beans at the Mill City Farmers Market all year long. Even in the heart of winter when their fields are covered in snow, Tongsee and Xai bring a gorgeous variety of colorful speckled dry beans and other winter storage crops to the Mill City Farmers Market’s indoor winter markets.

Mai Trang and Family

Mai got his start in agriculture early as a boy, growing up on his family’s farm. Despite studying accounting in college, when he moved to the United States in 2004, he knew he wanted to go back to farming. Apple Valley Farm started as a plot of rented land near Watertown, WI and now, over 10 years later, Mai has 5-acres in certififed organic cultivation, livestock, two greenhouses and live on their farm with their two children.