Members of the Lee family at their rice field in Western North Carolina

Our family · Our fortune

A farm built from memory, work, and hope.

Lee’s One Fortune Farm is a Hmong family cooperative—many hands, many fields, and one shared purpose.

Where we come from

The farm began long before it had a name.

Chue and Tue Lee came to the United States as Hmong refugees from Laos. They met at a Hmong New Year celebration in California, married in 1986, and returned to Western North Carolina, where they raised six children and built a life close to the land.

The family first planted the vegetables, herbs, fruit, and rice they missed from home. What grew for family tables soon drew other Hmong families, curious neighbors, chefs, and market shoppers looking for flavors they could not find elsewhere.

In 2008, the family organized Lee’s One Fortune Farm. The name expresses how the farm works: relatives share labor, seed, knowledge, equipment, and harvest so the whole family can move forward together.

The food carries more than flavor. It carries the knowledge of elders, the memory of home, and something meaningful to pass on.

Heritage in every harvest

Four chapters

A story still growing.

1980s

Putting down roots

Chue and Tue build their family in Western North Carolina and continue the farming traditions they knew from Laos.

2008

One Fortune begins

The extended family forms the farm business to bring Hmong-grown produce into the local food community.

2019

A new rice harvest

A WNC AgOptions grant helps the farm acquire a small combine, making the labor-intensive rice harvest more sustainable.

Today

Growing forward

Twelve family growers cultivate food across the foothills, build relationships with markets and chefs, and teach new eaters how to enjoy the harvest.

Chue and Tou Lee standing beside their tractor

How One Fortune works

Many fields. One family.

Lee’s One Fortune Farm is not one single plot. Relatives grow across several Western North Carolina counties and come together when a crop needs planting, tending, or harvesting. That traditional system of shared labor keeps knowledge moving between generations and gives elders a meaningful way to keep farming.

Follow the rice story →

Go deeper

The story, in their voices.

Long-form feature