In the mid 1970s, Cheu and Chia Vang of Laos moved to the United States from a refugee camp in Thailand—part of the first wave of Hmong refugees to resettle in the U.S. They made their way to Wisconsin, where for years they worked in and around food production. The Vangs bought a farm in Jefferson County in 2005 and started Vang C&C Farms. They transformed it from a Grade A dairy to an organic vegetable farm. Recently, brothers Ron and Roger Hake, who grew up on that dairy farm in the 1950s and 1960s, returned to meet the Vangs. Together, the two families reflected on land, loss, and family for The Lands We Share farming history project.
