Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo says, “Farming is the essence of human life,” refers to himself as an urban farmer at an urban agricultural concert.
(Published February 20, 2013)

◇ Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo answers questions while showing how to prepare a dish using vegetables grown at a house garden at an urban agricultural concert on February 19. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang
 
“All of us are farmers at heart. We love nature. Even those accustomed to living in apartments feel friendly towards soil and the ‘green lives’ growing in it. Growing vegetables in your garden is the most natural thing to do,” said Mr. Kim Moon-soo to the assembled ‘urban farmers’.

He also said that the Gyeonggi Provincial Office is strongly committed to providing support for urban farming at the urban agricultural concert (theme: Urban Farming) held at Pyoungchon Arts Hall, Anyang on February 19.

Mr. Kim Moon-soo said, “We at the Gyeonggi Provincial Office are currently implementing programs designed to promote people’s interest in farming. In Gyeonggi Province, there are ten schools growing vegetables every year with our support. We also run programs aimed at encouraging people to relocate to rural areas. Even residents in Seoul express interest in our programs. The number of people attending today’s event attests to people’s heightened interest in farming. We will do our best to spread the relevant programs.”
 
The concert was co-sponsored by the Gyeonggi Provincial Office and the Gyeonggi Green & Agriculture Foundation as part of a wider effort to foster a nature-friendly urban environment and help urban dwellers acquire a better understanding of farming. More than six hundred people attended the event, displaying their growing interest in living amid nature.
 
At the event emceed by Mr. Lee Sang-byeok, a well-known broadcaster, Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo and Anyang Mayor Choi Dae-ho demonstrated their skill at making salads using vegetables grown in house gardens, much to the delight of the participants.◇ Is Kim Moon-soo a good cook? The Gyeonggi Governor offers a dish he made himself to a group of children. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang
 
In his earlier days, Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo prepared his own meals for fifteen years. Children grabbed a bite of the salad Mr. Kim Moon-soo made at the event, which they proclaimed “Delicious!”
 
In another feature of the event, teachers and children from Maegok Elementary School in Gwangju talked about their experience of operating a 1,500㎡ (0.4 acres) school farm. They claimed that, as a result of cultivating crops on the school farm, they had gained greater respect for living things and had become more caring towards others, as well as learning the value of toiling in the fields. A total of 45 elementary and middle schools in the province are running their own farms to provide students with hands-on experience of growing vegetables.◇ Children at Maegok Elementary School in Gwangju display such skills as transplanting cabbage seedlings from pot to field. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang
 
Ms. Yu Da-gyeong, a power blogger on NAVER who has lived as an urban farmer for ten years, told others about her experience of growing vegetables in her house garden. Mr. & Mrs. Lee Se-yeong talked about how they had succeeded in overcoming esophageal cancer and colorectal cancer, respectively, by following a strict vegetarian diet.

Eleven years ago, Mrs. Lee came down with colorectal cancer. Four years later, her husband was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. They felt desperate and tried various cures, including changing their dietary patterns. They started growing vegetables on the rooftop of their house in Dongjak-gu, Seoul and stuck to a vegetarian diet. They said that both of them experienced an amazing result: their cancers simply disappeared one day.◇ Mr. and Mrs. Lee Se-yeong talk about their amazing experience of overcoming cancer by sticking to a vegetarian diet and eating vegetables grown by themselves. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang
 
Residents in Bono 2(i)-dong in Ansan boasted that they had “harvested happiness” by growing vegetables on the rooftop of their community center. They said the rooftop space was being used to provide children with a hands-on experience of nature, and that they sometimes provided the harvested crops to needy neighbors, and felt happy that they could communicate with neighbors through such opportunities.

Guest singers brought ever more joy to the event. Urban farmers’ band “Golden Wave” and solo singers Shin Hyeong-won and Kim Jong-hwan sang their hit songs to the delight of the gathering.
 
President Kim Jung-han of the Gyeonggi Green & Agriculture Foundation, the event host, said, “Urban farming brings people a variety of benefits in addition to the production of healthy food. We prepared this event to encourage people in urban areas to have more opportunities to get closer to nature by attending weekend farms and creating vegetable gardens on the rooftops of their homes.”
 ◇ At the concert, urban farmers’ band “Golden Wave” and solo singers Shin Hyeong-won and Kim Jong-hwan sang their hit songs, bringing special joy to the event. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang

ⓒ G-News Plus News | Chun Gyeon-nam | chun0403@kg21.net
 
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