[Senior Trend] Growing Your Own Garden Naturally Restores Body and Mind Health

The countryside is not romantic. According to agricultural and rural statistics, the net income from farming in 2020 was 12 million KRW per year. With aging and population outflow accelerating rural extinction, transportation and facility infrastructure are also lacking. Changes such as the shifting of fruit production areas?apples moving to Gangwon and persimmons to Daegu?due to climate change are also being encountered. For novice farmers without know-how, the situation is even more challenging. In the book The Taste of Returning to the Countryside, authors who moved to farming from their 30s to 60s shared nine stories, saying, "Oh my, if I had known how hard it would be, I would never have dreamed of moving to the countryside," describing endless work like weeding and hoeing. The cry in the book, "I thought farming would be leisurely and happy!" is buried under rapidly growing weeds.

Nevertheless, in the frontline rural areas facing aging, the 50s and 60s generation are the youth. To live in the countryside as a lifestyle, there is plenty of work. There is an abundance of tasks. What can be done in rural areas is not limited to farming activities. One can grow plants, raise animals, make well-being foods, and create rural culture. If you have experience in marketing or promotion in the city, you might upload village agricultural products online; if you have done administrative work, you could formally file complaints with the central government as a village representative to improve damaged roads. You could open a bookstore with the books you have collected over a long time, drive elders to markets, or organize a community to create a workshop. These are systematic tasks based on 50 years of accumulated experience and decades of career. Or how about serving as a bridge connecting young newcomers trying rural life for the first time with the original residents? If you live together respecting the people in the area as if in an organized community, you could unfold a quite fulfilling third act of life.

There is also healing agriculture. According to the Healing Agriculture Act, healing agriculture is an industry that "creates social or economic added value through agriculture, rural resources, and related activities for the recovery, maintenance, and promotion of the health of the people." The biggest difference from general farming is that farming itself is not the goal but agriculture is used as a means for health recovery. The scope of healing agriculture includes not only plants such as vegetables and flowers but also raising livestock or utilizing forest and rural cultural resources.

I once toured a senior town in Gangnam, famous for its various high-end facilities. On the rooftop, there is a community garden and vegetable patch where residents in their 70s and 80s plant peppers, lettuce, and flowers in personal and communal areas. It is said to be the most popular place in the building. This place also helps alleviate chronic diseases and dementia among the elderly. The Rural Development Administration surveyed seniors who tended vegetable gardens for six months and found improvements in stress and depression indices, as well as cholesterol and body fat percentages. Accordingly, silver vegetable gardens are being created in leftover spaces within apartment complexes in cities.

Healing agriculture pursues physical health through physical activity and emotional stability by growing plants. It helps restore self-esteem with the feeling of "I can do it," and further fosters a mindset of valuing oneself. Through direct experience, people learn the importance of nature, develop love for small things, and become grateful for life. Research has also shown that enjoying and utilizing rural resources, rather than directly participating in farming, has mental and physical healing effects. For example, a two-day meditation, medicinal food, and forest walking program for firefighters in Hongcheon improved important physiological functions such as sleep, emotional regulation, and digestion.

Europe leads healing agriculture, with the Netherlands at the forefront. Since the 1970s, instead of traditional production-focused farming, they have developed care farms focusing on natural landscapes, environmental conservation, and relaxation. Care farms combine various agricultural activities with care services. Users include people needing help such as elderly with dementia, long-term unemployed, and those with mental illnesses. Care farms can be accessed through local government welfare departments, and care costs are supported by welfare voucher budgets. Over 1,200 care farms operate in the Netherlands, striving to create stable revenue structures through unique programs such as farm experiences, agricultural product sales and processing, and restaurants. Some care farms also engage in farm management, livestock, and manufacturing businesses.

Another characteristic is that they are located in urban-adjacent areas with good accessibility. The urban farm ‘Food for Good’ is established on park grounds for easy visits. Farm users grow food, perform appropriate labor, gain energy and peace, and then return to society. Dutch care farms have also spread to other European regions.

In Korea, efforts to create Korean-style care farms are active. With the passage of the Healing Agriculture Research, Development, and Promotion Act in March 2020 and its enforcement from March 2021, various healing agriculture facilities, programs, and technology developments are underway. Among them, healing agriculture programs tailored for the silver generation are planned to be used at dementia-related safety centers in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Also, a national certification system for healing agriculture practitioners has been established to train professionals. Last weekend, I participated in a social agriculture advanced topic workshop in Jecheon, Chungnam, where I observed how care farms and permaculture are being implemented on the ground. Although still in the early stages with mixed concepts and terms, it is a positive start.

More than 10% of elderly people in Korea have reportedly considered suicide due to poverty and illness. The purpose of healing agriculture is to heal those seeking healthier and happier lives and those in need of care. What if seniors actively engage and cultivate our still nascent healing agriculture?

Lee Boram, CEO of Third Age

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.