Kim Woo-young's Gwanggyo Column Forgetting the Heat with the Fragrance of White Lotus and Herbal Chicken Soup at Tapdong Citizens' Farm

The temperature that day at noon was 35 degrees Celsius.

I thought it might have been the hottest day of the year so far.

But for some reason, I suddenly wanted to go to Tapdong Citizens' Farm. In truth, I had been thinking about it for a few months, but it was difficult to make it happen. With all sorts of tasks that don't make money—or rather, most of them things that require spending—hanging from my calendar...

I was planning to walk slowly through Suwon Station and past Gyeonggi Imagination Campus when I received a call from a younger brother living in Bongdam.

He said he was making herbal chicken soup with lots of medicinal ingredients and told me to come down.

A nephew whom I had raised like my own son when we were young had recently passed away. My older brother ㅇ had been lost in despair at home, having lost his appetite for food and drink. There is a saying that people become a source of comfort especially in difficult times, isn't there?

I also asked an old friend ㅊ who had given up going to his garden in the scorching sun and was lazing about at home to come along.

Fortunately, ㅊ came with his car, so the drive was easy.

Before heading to Bongdam, I stopped by Tapdong Citizens' Farm first.

I arrived around 10 a.m. and expected no one to be there given the oppressive heat.

But throughout the citizen farm, I noticed people reading books in the shade of trees, people holding cameras like cannons photographing the landscape, and citizen farmers tending to and harvesting crops while sweating profusely.

An elderly couple trimming a bountiful batch of leeks in the shade said they had arrived at 5 a.m. When I asked how they managed to grow things so well, they replied somewhat indifferently, "I just planted them and they grew, what can I say," yet could not hide their proud expression.

They said they would plant scallions again in the spot where the leeks were harvested to use for kimchi preparation.

Though I am not in a position to farm here, I always feel envious seeing this. I find myself wanting to grow fresh lettuce and other wrap vegetables just harvested, as well as tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, potatoes, and peppers.

But no, never mind. They say crops grow while listening to the farmer's footsteps, and I have no confidence I would visit frequently enough.

Watching the crops grown by citizen farmers has a significant effect in healing the stress of city life, but sitting in the wide, open grassland of this nature-friendly space in the city and in the shade of trees around it is also a beautiful form of healing.

Tapdong Citizens' Farm, spanning a total area of 37,635 square meters, consists of garden plots in three sections, a landscape garden area for growing flowers, and grassland.

Among these, the section where seasonal flowers are cultivated is the most beloved spot by visitors.

An official at Suwon Agricultural Technology Center says that the citizens' farm attracts 450,000 visitors annually.

It is also beloved as a place where people can capture life photos, showcasing different landscapes with each season.

Tapdong Citizens' Farm has become an established destination loved by citizens, with lotus flowers, buckwheat, poppies, cornflowers, sunflowers, and cosmos blooming seasonally.

I heard not long ago that yellow cosmos had come into full bloom, but they have all fallen. Now young cosmos shoots are growing.

Instead, white lotus has begun to bloom profusely.

While not as famous as Korea's most renowned lotus flower destinations, the white lotus garden spanning 1,320 square meters next to the central grass plaza displays pristine white lotus flowers blooming with an elegant appearance and emitting subtle fragrance, making it worth a visit on a day when the heat subsides somewhat.

Tapdong Citizens' Farm was created in 2019 on the site of the former Seoul National University of Agriculture experimental livestock farm in Tapdong, Gwonseon-gu. It was made to replace the Dangsoo-dong Citizens' Farm, which closed in 2018 due to urban development (Dangsoo Public Housing District Project).

Tapdong Citizens' Farm is smaller in scale than the former Dangsoo-dong Citizens' Farm.

Still, it is closer than Dangsoo-dong. Being adjacent to Gyeonggi Imagination Campus on the site of the former Seoul National University of Agriculture, transportation is convenient. It is an accessible walking course that takes only 20 minutes on foot from Suwon Station (at my pace, of course).

It is not easy to find such an open and beautiful landscape in Suwon.

Don't just tour Tapdong Citizens' Farm; I also recommend visiting Seodun Night School, located at the southwestern end of the farm. Three classrooms of Seodun Night School still remain today.

From 1965 to 1983, this was where students from Seoul National University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and College of Veterinary Medicine taught young people from the western region of Suwon. Poet Lee Jong-goo, who hailed from Gosaeq-dong and passed away last month, studied here from 1978.

The land was purchased with donations from university students who were night school teachers, and the buildings were constructed by the teachers and students themselves. Even the desks and chairs were made in-house, it is said.

It was a day so hot that white salt crystals were visible on my forearms.

Yet my mind felt refreshed. My body seemed to do well too. The eye infection that had plagued me all last week began to heal, and my cough subsided. After visiting Tapdong Citizens' Farm.

The herbal chicken soup that ㅇ, my brother in Bongdam, and Chef ㅂ made together with care must have also played a part.