RedGreen Rivers

08/01/2026

We are pleased to support@kaoskarly Ka Oskar Ly in their HMong Batik project. If you are near the Madison, Wisconsin area, sign up for a session to learn about batik. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/healing-from-the-roots-hmoob-batik-tickets-1995334568407

07/18/2026

Are you following RedGreen Rivers? Our h**p continues to grow healthy and vigorous as we document how it performs in the Midwest’s weather conditions. This season, we’re also comparing two planting methods: traditional Hmong broadcast planting and row planting. So far, both plots are thriving, with the broadcast-planted h**p currently growing taller than the row-planted h**p. We’ll continue monitoring both methods throughout the growing season.

07/03/2026

Every tradition begins with an act of intention.

Before planting h**p, HMong families have long made offerings to the spirits of the land, honoring the relationship between people and the earth before asking it to provide. We continued that tradition before planting this garden. Only weeks later, our plants are growing quickly. A reminder that traditions continue to live when they're practiced, shared, and passed on.

What traditions do you carry?

06/27/2026

Just 11 days after planting, our h**p is growing fast. Most plants are now 5–7 cm tall, with some reaching nearly 10 cm. We're also starting to see second nodes appear on the strongest seedlings.
Thanks to frequent rainfall, the plants have had consistent moisture and are showing healthy early growth.

Every measurement tells part of the story. Follow us to see what their height will be next week!

06/19/2026

Every seed carries a story. Every harvest helps preserve a legacy.

For generations, h**p was woven into the daily lives, traditions, and knowledge of many HMong families. As communities migrated and adapted to new places, much of that knowledge became fragmented or lost.

Follow us this season, as RedGreen Rivers is honored to learn alongside the Moving Mountains, Freedom, Inc. and the University of Wisconsin–Madison as we plant h**p and explore the connection between traditional HMong knowledge and contemporary research. We are also grateful to learn from an experienced h**p grower from Thailand, Paaj Ci Xeem Yaaj and from HMong American elders who remember planting h**p with their parents as young teenagers in Laos.

Together, this partnership reconnects cultural wisdom, preserving valuable knowledge, and creating opportunities for future generations to learn from both the past and the present. By bringing together research, lived experience, and cultural memory, we hope to help carry this knowledge forward.

04/28/2026