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June 27, 2007 by: Renee Wilkinson

Inspiration from South Korea

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As you may know, I was lucky enough to travel through South Korea for a couple weeks in June. I took some lovely pictures that are either garden-related or livestock-related and I thought I would share. I am trying to keep the descriptions breif since there are lots of pictures! Click on the actual photo for a larger picture.

This is a lovely ceramics idea I want to steal. These were hanging outside a little flower shop, and this is a side view. The front is actually wider and has a small hole at the bottom for water drainage. It must sound lovely when the water splashes on the bell hanging from the bottom.

I was told this is a green plum and they were in season during our trip. They sold the fruit on street corners with other produce, made them into juice, smoothies, etc.

Eggplants growing in a tidy little row. The retaining wall in the background was interesting, as it was made with several different materials: clay, rocks, tile, etc.
Peppers maybe? I seem to be more of a random, wild gardener. I don’t think I could even be organized enough to get all those stakes and twine setup…
This was a potted garden area, with lovely ginko trees shading the area from above. What an awesome idea to add interest to a shaded area! I might try this on a smaller scale on the north side of our house, where the chicken coop and shaded area is. A great use for my abandoned pottery!
I had never seen tobacco plants before, so I was quite surprised to discover how lovely they are. Lovely, but deadly.
I may be the only person who has traveled to an Asian country and still has no idea how exactly rice grows. This is a little rice paddy, which they tucked into every nook and cranny across the country. Does the rice form underwater? Does it sprout from the top?
I would love to recreate this little water element in our yard some day. After a patio gets built, so we don’t have to worry about moving it into place later.
Seoul is the largest city in South Korea and the residents still find every little space to utilize growing produce. This was way, way ,way above the city, up steep and rickety stairs. A little old woman was up there tending to her crop – can you imagine an elderly woman in the US climbing so many stairs alone to tend her garden? My 98 year old grandmother got in enough trouble with family members just trying to water her geramiums… It was inspiring to see this lady up here above the city noise, working and enjoying her garden. I believe that is some squash climbing over the fence as a trellis.
Also in the same area as the squash growing along that fence, except this time you get an idea of how high above the city we were. They make such use of the land.
This was at a local palace in Seoul which has a “Secret Garden”. It was probably around 95 degrees when we visited, but the second you walked through the gate into the garden you could feel the cold air just settle on you. Lovely trees formed a canopy with walking trails underneath. I could get used to those palace grounds… This was actually an opening in the garden that featured a water pond with lotus flowers and koi fish within the secret garden. The buildings in the background were the libraries.
Autumn is probably the best time to visit South Korea, as the weather is less humid and much cooler. The best part though would be the color show awaiting you with all the trees turning gold and scarlet. This was one beautiful Japanese Maple that just happened to be a red variety, but still reminded me a little of what I was missing being there in June.
We toured a Korean Folk Village, just south of Seoul, which showed traditional Korean houses and gardens. I loved seeing the harvest being dried outside, along with rolled up rugs and hollowed out gourds.
Also at the Korean folk Village, this is a chicken coop! It was so simple and practical. My only complaint is that they didn’t put down bedding in the coop, so the chickens just relieve themselves on hard, compacted clay which really did smell pretty badly. It has wire around the open areas, which is hard to see from this distance in the photo.
A very practical nesting box, or basket rather, inside a chicken coop at the Korean Folk Village.
This is not a great picture, but hopefully you can make out the momma chicken with her babies on the left side. They had a rooster in there too, which surprised me. I thought maybe they would be aggressive towards the chicks, especially in such a small place, but I guess not?
A store house at the Korean Folk Village, which was filled with ears of corn. Would this work in the Pacific NW?
Pigs! Also at the Korean Folk Village. Just wanted to share because I think pigs are cute. Again, the smell was not so fresh since they aren’t lining the pen with anything – just dry, hard clay.
Different types of bark are used for medicinal purposes in South Korea, although I am not sure what purposed exactly. These were drying outside a traditional home in the Korean Folk Village.
I cannot read Korean, but I believe these were bags of tea drying from the ceiling.
Seoul has a wonderful medicinal market that sells ingredients for Eastern medicine and teas. This is picture of different bark and mushroom being sold.
Also at the medicinal market, these bags contain bark as well as many ingredients for tea like dried roses, chrysanthemum flowers, berries, etc.
I have never seen anything like this: a tomato tree? I am not exactly sure how they did this, but it was real and on display in an amusement park near Seoul. It appears they had the root systems in a sack of some sorts hanging in the middle, which were wet.
Another amazing plant at the amusement park near Seoul, this tree is formed from a pepper plant. Are there pepper varieties that are perennial, or do they have to grow this plant every year? It gets quite cold in the winter, so I don’t think it’s an annual they have just kept alive…
I am not sure if this was a squash or just a flowering bush, but it was also at the Korean amusement park and was so cool to stand under! You can see to the right, but not as eaily seen, an eggplant tree formed in the same manner!
That is it! I have a million other pictures of my trip on my Flickr page, and I will actually be adding even more early next week. I know this was a long post, but there were just so many cool ideas I saw that I hope to incorporate back home. Maybe you can find some inspiration from some of these too?

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Comments

  1. 1

    Jake Hamilton says

    July 2, 2007 at 9:39 am

    Hey Renee!

    This is quite the sampling of photos. What an experience. I always take pictures of gardens on my trips too. Glad I know someone else like that. I enjoyed the Flickr page as well.

  2. 2

    Justin Hahn says

    December 6, 2007 at 11:17 pm

    i’m wondering where that herb market was in seoul.
    i’m in korea right now, and bushels of dried things to make tea out of sounds nice.

    and what was that themepark called?

  3. 3

    Renee says

    December 7, 2007 at 9:13 am

    Hi Justin-

    I believe the market with the teas, spices and medicinals was Gyeong-dong. Hope memory is serving me right on that one… Have a great trip!

    -Renee

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Refilling the chicken feeder. Collecting eggs still warm from the nest. Pulling up a few carrots. Tossing weeds to the flock. Trimming back the roses before they take over.

It’s not about doing it all—it’s about doing what you can, when you can.
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Swarm catching 🐝 This cluster was about the siz Swarm catching 🐝 This cluster was about the size of a basketball hanging in a Doug Fir next to a playground. They were super easy to catch with my extension pole! 

Note: don't put a swarm in anything plastic. I hated putting them in this bucket, but it's all I could grab in time. But they can easily overheat in something like this, which lacks good ventilation. I relocated them into a wooden hive super quick, but I was so nervous every minute they were in here.

As always, I chatted with several onlookers. Folks are always so curious about swarms and honeybees. It's a lovely way to educate and build bee ambassadors 🐝 
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Weekend vibes: gardening in pajamas, coffee in han Weekend vibes: gardening in pajamas, coffee in hand, and dirt under my nails before 9am.
This is how I fit homesteading into modern family life—little pockets of peace squeezed between breakfast and soccer games.

It’s not picture-perfect, but it’s real—and it feeds my soul (and my soil). Here’s to slow starts, messy mornings, and growing what we can, when we can.

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Hey there, new friends! I’m Renee, a modern home Hey there, new friends! I’m Renee, a modern homesteader living in Portland, Oregon—raising chickens, veggies, and three awesome kids on our little slice of urban heaven.

I'm carrying on generations of knowledge to grow my own food, live more sustainably, and teach my family the value of getting our hands dirty (in the best way). Here, I share the real ups and downs of homesteading—think garden wins, chicken shenanigans, DIY projects, and everyday lessons from the land.

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Homegrown asparagus tastes 1,000% better than anyt Homegrown asparagus tastes 1,000% better than anything from the store. So juicy, crisp, naturally sweet. Some of these were 18" long and still tender. 

Asparagus is a perennial vegetable, meaning you plant once and it comes back every year. You have to wait until year three to start harvesting, but it's worth that wait. 

I do nothing to care for it, but every year I have arms full throughout spring and early summer. I planted an 8' row along an otherwise boring fence. The foliage turns brilliant gold in the fall. Tell me if you grow this crop! 
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More garden arches! This one also started with 20' More garden arches! This one also started with 20' lengths of thin rebar, shoved into the ground with my weight and hooped over loosely. Our old Christmas tree trunks are tied to the rebar, to thicken up the base. 

Pruned branches from our fig tree make good vertical supports. Multi-stemmed branches help build up the sides, bc they can also be woven in horizontally.

The most time is spent weaving in thin, flexible branches horizontally from our plum trees. The structure gets more secure pretty quickly, as tension is built up.

I use twine only selectively. Most is just held in place with just tension alone. It won't last forever, but it's not meant to. I'll rebuild in about 3-4 years as branches need replacing.
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Making woven garden arches 💪🏼 I start with a Making woven garden arches 💪🏼 I start with a few 20' lengths of thin rebar. My soil is soft at this time of year, so I can use my body weight to push them deep into the ground. 

Then I start layering in pruned fruit tree branches. Fig and pear work well as vertical sides. Plum and apple are flexible enough for me to weave in between. Multi-stemmed pieces are helpful to create tangles of branches. I use twine selectively, if at all. 

I dream of hopping across the pond to take a workshop at @damsonfarm.house to improve my technique making natural supports. Some day, I hope! 
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I couldn't bring myself to send these cushions to I couldn't bring myself to send these cushions to a landfill, even though the fabric covers were totally deteriorating. But I've never seen cushion covers for sale, until I stumbled upon these at Ikea.

They fit perfectly! I don't need fancy patio furniture - just a place to put my feet up. So hurray for the small wins and keeping these babies out of the landfill 🎉
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