By admin 
The beloved roadside stand at Nai’s Berry Farm will soon shutter after nearly three decades at the corner of Oak Avenue and Santa Juanita Avenue, on the border between Folsom and Orangevale.
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The family-run farm grows strawberries, blueberries and blackberries on the small plot of land the family has leased for years, according to Leena Chao, who runs the business with her husband, Nai.
But the land changed hands in July. The real estate investment company that purchased the plot for $1.6 million said it would not renew the family’s lease, Leena Chao said in an interview Tuesday.
The news was heartbreaking for the farmers and for customers like Jennifer Wagley-Eathorne, who said she’s enjoyed produce from the stand for years.
“They’re kind of what the world needs right now,” she said. “They just keep things honest, and I’ve always loved that about them.”
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The Chaos came to the United States as Laotian refugees in the 1980s.
Leena’s mother, who was a farmer in Laos, started growing berries on the plot in 1997. When she retired, Nai and Leena took over, according to their son, Ricky Chao.
The news was a shock for the Chao family. The new owners, real estate company Ponce Realty LLC, agreed to let the couple continue farming for a few years, according to Leena Chao.
But later, she said, the company reversed course and gave them only a few months to shut down their operations. By that time, they had already purchased new plants for next year’s crop.
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“You have to start over everything, when you’re going to build a stand like this,” she said.
Ponce Realty LLC declined to comment for this story.
Local customers are trying to help the family. Wagley-Eathorne created a Facebook post to share the news and ask whether anyone had land available.
“I know a lot of people that are responding on there, and they’re from all over Folsom saying that they come there, that they’ve come there for decades,” Wagley-Eathorne said. “They’re all heartbroken.”
The stand will cease operations on Saturday, according to Ricky Chao.
The family is currently planning to establish a farm near Antelope to grow its produce. The family would also like to open a farm stand in the Orangevale area but is still looking for a site, he said.
His parents had previously looked into buying the land themselves, he said. They were not aware of how strongly their departure would be felt in the community.
“What is unfortunate is not knowing that they have resources and a community that rallies and supports them like they do at, Orangevale,” he said, “I think if they had really understood the value that they had there, they may have leaned into purchasing the property earlier.”
“As immigrants, refugees who’ve come to this, foreign land, being able to have the opportunity to farm and bring that that skill that they have … and to kind of thrive in doing what they do here in Sacramento has been amazing,” Ricky said.
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