{"id":11127,"date":"2022-03-22t00:47:48","date_gmt":"2022-03-22t00:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/i-built-my-dream-southeast-asian-woman-grows-local-food-cultural-acceptance-in-missouri-ozarks\/"},"modified":"2022-03-22t00:47:48","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22t00:47:48","slug":"i-built-my-dream-southeast-asian-woman-grows-local-food-cultural-acceptance-in-missouri-ozarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/i-built-my-dream-southeast-asian-woman-grows-local-food-cultural-acceptance-in-missouri-ozarks\/","title":{"rendered":"‘i built my dream’: southeast asian woman grows local food, cultural acceptance in missouri ozarks"},"content":{"rendered":"
pathoumma meusch\u2019s eyes squinted in concentration as she placed the sage green leaf on her tongue.<\/p>\n
\u201cmmm… so good,\u201d she said, rolling the leaf around her mouth. \u201ctry it,\u201d she insists. <\/p>\n
soft, peach-like fuzz gives way to a tart taste. meusch doesn\u2019t remember what the plant’s called, but it\u2019s high in vitamin c, she said. <\/p>\n clad in rubber boots and hay-covered yoga pants, meusch was walking across her property to check on goats over the next hill. a kitchen towel framed her face to block the midday sun, while a bright blue sweater and warm smile stood out against a dull brown winter scenery.<\/p>\n meusch doesn\u2019t consider herself revolutionary. \u201ci\u2019m just a farmer,\u201d as she says. but in her days wandering the land, she\u2019s cultivated more than squash and potatoes. the unassuming woman has inadvertently championed locally-grown food in a region dominated by industrial agriculture and redefined what it means to be a midwestern farmer \u2014 all while leading with lessons from her grandparents.<\/p>\n her trek was more of a meander. every turn or two she\u2019d halt to point out a new mushroom, or this time, pluck a leaf from a nearby plant.<\/p>\n \u201cmy grandma would always say which plant is good for this or that,\u201d she said, reminiscing on her childhood roaming the mountains of laos with her grandparents. <\/p>\n the petite woman dropped the leaf and continued walking, \u201cbahing\u201d hello as goats popped up over the horizon. <\/p>\n meusch\u2019s life story is as winding as her walk, taking her from laos rainforests to the missouri ozarks. after falling in love with eric meusch, a peace corps volunteer serving in laos, the pair returned to his hometown in rural missouri to pursue a simple farming life with their two sons.<\/p>\n \u201ci can\u2019t find more happiness than when i was little and would wake up at sunrise to walk to the mountains with my grandparents,\u201d pathoumma meusch said. \u201ci want my kids to have that too.\u201d<\/p>\n meusch farms llc\u2019s humble smattering of grass-fed beef and free-range chickens, chemical-free tomatoes and kale, is an increasingly rare example of small-scale, sustainable agriculture in a state ranked 3rd<\/a> in the nation for beef cattle production with an agricultural sector worth $88 billion dollars<\/a>. <\/p>\n even as her produce grew into a successful family farm, pathoumma meusch said it took longer to establish roots of her own in the u.s.<\/p>\n \u201cwhen i moved here and everything was new, i felt really small and like what i know is not valuable,\u201d she said. \u201cwe are like tree. when you move trees from one state to another, they need time to get used to the temperature.\u201d<\/p>\n down the gravel road from muesch farms, a billboard reads \u201cbeef. it\u2019s what\u2019s for dinner\u201d in bold red lettering. the slogan for america\u2019s cattle industry brings to mind images of the country\u2019s industrial agriculture system \u2014 one marked by large-scale operations, environmental degradation and predominantly white farm owners.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n