She flits from bloom to bloom like a busy butterfly amid a wild profusion of flowers. Weena Cha’s stand, Lee’s Fresh Produce, is one of the busiest at the Federal Way Farmers Market, frequented by Saturday shoppers for its wide variety of flowers and high-quality vegetables.

Weena is best known for her fanciful arrangement of floral bouquets, with no two alike, which she constantly creates from a bountiful supply of flowers grown on her family’s farm.

With an artist’s eye, Weena selects just the right color combination from her floral palette. She can rattle off their names like a true professional: Delphiniums, Canterbury bells, tiger lilies, sweet William, lupines, peonies, daisies. She artfully combines her posies with “greens” — fresh cilantro and fragrant mint — and quickly bundles the bouquet into a plastic bag with a small amount of water, secured with rubber bands and white wrapping paper. Nothing is wasted. At the end of the day, cuttings are carefully retrieved and taken back to the family farm for composting.

Weena is just as proud of her colorful array of pesticide-free vegetables: Juicy red rhubarb stalks, plump orange carrots, five different kinds of leafy green lettuce, neat bundles of red garlic and radishes, bags of salad greens, bok choy, kohlrabi, kale, beets, and bunches of cilantro, green onion and parsley.

A busy mother of two, Weena likes being her own boss, working on her own schedule, which allows her time to spend with her family. At 26, she has been involved in the family business her entire life. She has worked at the Federal Way Farmers Market since it started, as well working at the Farmers Market at Browns Point.

Family life revolves around farming for Weena, her husband Xeng, her parents and six siblings, with in-laws also pitching in. Weena’s family farm in Monroe is one of about 100 Hmong farms in Washington state. Originally from southern China, the Hmong settled in Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. After the Vietnam War, they fled the political turmoil of their homeland to settle in the U.S.

The Hmong have continued their long agricultural tradition here with flowers as their main cash crop.

Weena and her family enjoy the fruits of their labor, especially the following tasty recipe:

Pork and Mustard Greens Soup

Ingredients:

• 7 cups water

• 1 pound pork meat with some fat and bones (neck or ribs are good) cut into pieces

• 2 inches fresh ginger root, washed and sliced

• 1 tablespoon salt

• 1 large bunch mustard greens (gai choy), washed

Preparation:

In a large pot, bring water to boil, add the pork with bones, ginger root, salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until the pork is well done, about 15-20 minutes. Skim off any residue and foam from the soup as it cooks. Add the mustard greens and continue to simmer until the greens are bright green and tender, season to taste. Serve with steamed rice, if desired. Makes 6 servings.