North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Title: Re: [NAFEX] fruit and stuff in korea

The late Prof. Elwyn Meader (a founder of NAFEX) was attached to the U.S. Military in Korea in the 1950's and he found items in the wild as well as in culitvated areas.  From a small lot of seed he collected of a native lilac species, he grew the seedling that was named "Miss Kim", which is a staple variety of the nursery industry today.
    Plants you might look for, depending on where you are, include:
    Kaki persimmons, especially in the most northern areas.  Persimmons have been in Korea a long time and it's highly possible they have selected types that are more cold hardy and earlier ripening than Japanese and Chinese types.
    Hardy kiwi.  There should be more than one species.  Best bet now, if they are still available, would be to collect fruit in local farmer's markets and save seed.
    Any other fruits that seem to have been grown farther north than would be expected.
-Lon Rombough
>

hello,

i have been in korea for a year and a half now and am trying to find any books, websites or other resources of any kind on korean trees of any kind, particularly fruit and nut trees or edible or medicinal plants. or just pretty plants. or vegetables.  

i have wondered around just looking at farms but due to a language barrier and the generally abhorent methods of agriculture i have come across it is hard to find out what i may be looking at or be too interested. but i am quite sure there is something interesting or maybe even amazing to be found here.

basically i am searching for a place that can give me a starting point to find out what korea has to offer.  then i want to track down interesting varieties, good producers, rare plants/cultivars, etc.  i am aware of such korean anomalies as kimchi and stuff and am looking for a place to get info on some of the rarer and lesser known korean plants although i think kimchi tastes good and am very interested in fermentation.

of equal interest to me are traditional methods of planting, cultivating, preparing, preserving, etc. although that may be easier found through observation here.

my idea is to get some information from outside korea first as a starting point bc so far everyone here laughs at me when i say i want to be a farmer or farming is interesting ("don't you want to make money? aren't you from america? do you work for novartis?") and then as i travel on weekends find and document what i can in a plant press and identify as much as possible.  then maybe i can collect seeds or propogate (if the school allows a little nursery on the roof) and send them to someone on here that has some unplanted ground.  

just a fun project.  any information would be greatly appreciated.

sincerely,

andrew

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