On 12nd Oct, Suhee and our intern Heeyoung visited the natural farm of Seonghyun Choi (최성현) for his annual rice harvesting day.
It was a short two day visit, but also very fruitful experience. With cheerful volunteers from around Korea and America, we worked together among the bright golden stalks of rice, drank Mageoli (Korean rice wine) complimented with fried grasshoppers, and come nightfall we had an honest talk around the traditional Korean “Ondol” fireplace.
After the harvest, farmer Seonghyun Choi is looking forward to the natural farmer’s traditional ‘winter break’ time, where he can concentrate on writing and translation of several Japanese nature essays for publication in Korea. Then it’s back to preparing for next year’s planting season.
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‘Look at these glossy golden rice plants
at how they can bear crops like these
and why, for what?
The more I think, I cannot but appreciate it all…
…The rice plant bears grains peacefully
Do not harm, and kill these lives
Do not hurt our Earth
Earth is a place where Mother Nature’s mind forms a whole
a garden of our Creator, a heaven in this universe
This heaven isn’t made by human beings
We are originally born in this heaven
and we human beings, are simply living here’
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Yoshikazu Kawaguchi
excerpt from “Standing in an Exquisite Field”
We greatly enjoyed another very special natural farming experience here in Korea, creating strong bonds between each other, and between ourselves and nature, and as always, we are all very grateful for the Choi family’s warm hospitality.