HANOI In 2021, Ms. Bui Thi Thanh Hang decided to give up her stable job to do farming full-time, planting 20,000 old rose bushes on an area of 4 hectares.
A corner of Ms. Hang's rose garden in Chuong My district, Hanoi . Photo: NVCC.
Ms. Bui Thi Thanh Hang, born in 1980, from Chuong My district, Hanoi, is the head of the law department of a Swedish telecommunications corporation, in charge of the corporation's legal issues in four countries: Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
In 2021, Ms. Hang decided to quit her job with a stable salary to return to farming full-time, developing the Karose Garden farm with 20,000 old rose bushes and producing organic cosmetics from native roses.
Ms. Hang confided that her childhood memories still linger with the scent of the rose tree her mother planted in front of her house. Not only her, but many “early 8x” living in the suburbs all have some beautiful memories of the rose tree.
“Over time, the old velvet rose and other old roses of Vietnam gradually disappeared due to the introduction of many strange foreign rose varieties. But I still have a strong love for this old rose. With the passion and desire to preserve the precious native flower species, I have traveled everywhere to search and bring the seeds back to plant in my garden,” Ms. Hang confided.
Karose Garden antique rose farm was planted since 2015 with an area of 10,000m2 and 20,000 rose bushes of various types.
Inspired by the book “The One Straw Revolution” by Masanobu Fukuoka about chemical-free farming, Ms. Hang pursues organic rose farming, without using chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or growth stimulants.
The rose garden is cared for with organic fertilizers certified by the Organic Materials Institute (OMRI Listed), controlling pests with natural enemies and biodiversity. Each rose bush and each new shoot is meticulously cared for by the workers here.
Roses are very delicate and difficult to care for flowers, and when grown according to organic standards, their yield depends entirely on the weather and season. When she decided to quit her job and no longer receive a stable salary, Ms. Hang encountered many difficulties in the beginning of her career.
“There were times when I was on the verge of failure because the raw materials depended on the season. Without raw materials to produce, it meant no products and no revenue, and I had to shoulder a lot of expenses. But with determination and effort, I found a way to overcome the difficulties,” Ms. Hang shared.
On January 9, 2021, at the Karose Garden ancient rose farm in Thuy Xuan Tien commune (Chuong My district, Hanoi), the CEO of Control Union certification organization - Mr. Richard De Boer awarded the US and European Union organic certification to Rosa Valley Vietnam Co., Ltd. This is considered the most prestigious and stringent organic certification in the world with the control of hundreds of different indicators on crops and products.
9 years is a journey of building and growing up. People often call Ms. Hang by the name "Hang Karose" or "Hang Hoa Hong". Ms. Hang confided that what she received was both tangible and intangible, especially her family, friends, and customers being able to use completely natural products.
Through farming, she has become more aware of increasingly pressing social issues such as food safety and genetically modified products. “In the future, I want to turn the garden into a destination for those who love natural agriculture, a place to exchange, store and breed purebred plants and animals,” Ms. Hang added.
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