Meet Li Schmidt

At Cultural Roots Nursery, in Winters, California, Li Schmidt grows more than 100 Asian-heritage vegetables, herbs, fruit and trees on 1⁄4 acre.

- LISA MUNNIKSMA

She has figured out how to grow these mostly subtropical plants in the hot, dry climate of California’s Central Valley, and how to creatively source seeds for her crops. Schmidt is also a farmer member of the California Farmer Justice Collaborative and works with the Cal Ag Roots storytelling project with the California Institute for Rural Studies.

HOBBY FARMS: Tell us about Cultural Roots Nursery.