We are happy to reveal a new project we are working on with Kitazawa Seed Company and the International Rescue Committee. Together we hope to strengthen and expand upon our networks to increase access to seeds and build upon our skills to grow vigorous and viable lines. We want to honor our commitment to the plants whose lineages intertwine with and inform our own. We will be growing seeds that hold particular parts of our varied cultural legacies and hopefully making them more widely available. Follow @seed_stewards for ongoing information. We also want this Instagram account to provide a conduit for people to share their own stories, offer and request seeds. Email seed.stewards@gmail.com to post your seed story.
Mrs. Jung made a point to talk about this stream, Gangjeong stream. The previous day was spent at its mouth which runs alongside the base. It’s headwaters are on Mt. Halla and it’s water is used by villagers for personal and agricultural purposes. Right now villagers are working to halt the progression of development which includes barracks which bypass environmental assessment restrictions and a four lane bridge going over this stream for military transport. Despite the hopelessness around the base, villagers maintain a conviction to mitigate the continued destruction of their land.
Mrs. Jeong Young Hee, citrus farmer and head of the women farmers association in Gangjeong. Her farm grows four different varieties of citrus including the hallabong, a type of orange that prior to the naval base, was the most famous thing about Gangjeong. She is located directly across from the base. These last days here punctuate the types of bewildering juxtapositions I have gotten to experience in my travels. It made all the heartbreak I had felt about the situation here that much more resonant to see her trees, to see her walk through them and talk about the simultaneous love of what she does and the irrevocable frustration she feels.
This is the view looking in towards the shore of Gangjeong from the sea. Beautiful jetties of metamorphic volcanic rock replaced by concrete. This used to be the site of Gureombi Rock, a sacred site of the village. It used to be a coral reef inhabited by a staggeringly diverse array of marine life.
Looking out from the lava rock tidepools of Gangjeong Village’s shoreline.
The 2,723rd day of protesting the construction of a U.S. Naval base on the shore of Gangjeong. Each day protestors congregate to block traffic in and out of the base. Every twenty minutes or so police come, pick up the protestors in their chairs and move them to the side to allow the seemingly endless parade of cement trucks and other vehicles to continue. Afterwards, the protestors resume their positions for another twenty minutes or so.
Meet Mr. Taek-sang Kim, master samhaeju brewer and Intangible Cultural Asset number 8. Mr. Kim makes samhae makkgeoli, yakju and soju. His wine is fortified three times and then distilled. It was a real honor to try these different alcohols and learn about how his slow fermentation process creates a clean, deep flavored product. He also gave me some good ideas for using the makkgeoli and its byproducts on the farm. Apparently plants like it just as much as farmers.
Critical mass Jeolla-nam do style. Many of the roads around this area are blocked by farmers processing their rice harvest. When I say blocked I mean whole lanes of traffic for hundreds of feet completely covered by rice being raked on tarps.