[Book Sip] Tired of City Life?... Try a Six-Pyeong Nongmak

by Seo Miteum

Published 07 Mar.2023 12:27(KST)

Editor's NoteSome sentences encapsulate the entire content of a book, while others instantly resonate with readers, creating a connection with the book. We excerpt and introduce such meaningful sentences from books.

Modern city dwellers, exhausted from urban life, have begun turning their attention back to nature. One example is the cozy space called a ‘nongmak (農幕),’ a small structure with a total floor area of less than 20㎡, installed for rest during farming activities. Many seek healing for both body and mind by returning to nature. The author of this book is no exception. Living in Sejong City and working full-time, the author, after years of preparation, set up a nongmak on a 190-pyeong plot of land in Uidang-myeon, Gongju-si, Chungnam Province. Together with his wife, they are steadily accumulating time as ‘part-time hobby farmers,’ and this journey is captured in the book. Referring to the revised Farmland Act, the author shares how to purchase rural land, compares numerous products to select the right nongmak, carefully decorates the interior with personal taste, installs farm gardening facilities by hand, and offers useful advice at every stage of cultivating a vegetable garden.

[Book Sip] Tired of City Life?... Try a Six-Pyeong Nongmak

Don’t you feel stifled living only inside city apartments, cut off from the outside world? You don’t need to spend a fortune building a ‘second house’ just to have your own comfortable space in nature beyond hiking, camping, or car camping. Buying a field under 1,000㎡ and placing a six-pyeong cabin on it creates an adult playground where you can freely enjoy farming play. - From the “Preface”

Many city dwellers may have never heard the word ‘nongmak.’ In the past, rural houses had a ‘hut’?a space usually with a dirt floor used to store farming tools and harvested crops. When farmers worked in fields far from home, carrying farming materials back and forth was inconvenient, so the nongmak serves as a place to store materials and harvests and as a resting spot during farming, similar to a gazebo. Legally, it is defined as “a facility installed for storing farming materials and machinery directly needed for farming work, temporarily processing harvested agricultural products, or taking breaks during farming work (limited to a total floor area of 20㎡ or less and not for residential purposes).” - From Part 1: Why I Chose Nongmak, Chapter 7: Six-Pyeong Nongmak 2

I don’t know any sharp tricks to get your spouse to agree when you buy a field and set up a nongmak to start weekend hobby farming. However, I created opportunities for my wife, who knew nothing about rural culture, to become familiar with farming by placing pots on the sunny apartment balcony to grow lettuce, tomatoes, and peppers, and by working in a community garden plot provided by my company. Whenever possible, we visited scenic temples and traditional hanok houses in the provinces, and I paid attention to accommodations and travel plans to ensure a good first impression of staying in unfamiliar rural areas. By sharing my childhood memories and the joys of rural life, my wife gradually developed an interest in country living. - From Part 1: Why I Chose Nongmak, Chapter 8: Decisions Made Together with My Spouse

The problem is that the tax reduction benefits for rural houses are not very attractive compared to their strict conditions. Even if all requirements for a rural house are met, if you sell the rural house before selling your existing house, you are considered a two-home owner when selling, so capital gains tax rates for multiple homeowners apply. Also, if you have received capital gains tax benefits once for a rural house and then acquire another house, you cannot apply the rural house capital gains tax benefits again when selling the newly acquired main residence. - From “Bridge 1: Choosing Nongmak Instead of a Second House with Tax Burdens”