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As seen in: Issue 22

The Fundamentalists Of Korean Natural Farming

The Korean Natural Farming movement is one that has been steadily snowballing along for a good while now. Starting geographically from its roots in Korea, of course, it has slowly and surely gained momentum and spread throughout the entire world. With laws relating to cannabis production in the Americas over the past few years, there has been a great deal of interest in methods of organic crop production with people desiring only the cleanest of medicines for the top shelf of their cabinets.

At the heart of every movement are the people involved in said activities. Without them, I wouldn’t be writing this article and trying to encourage all you hydro-purists to pick up some brown sugar on your way back from the hydro store. A few issues ago we had a brief look into Master Cho’s background considering he is the father of the whole thing. But, there are, of course, a lot more characters involved in the whole story, and their diversity is pretty much a microcosm of a fully functioning, organic, living soil.

Most people getting into KNF will no doubt venture straight onto YouTube to see what tutorials there are on all the different things you can make. This route of engagement will no doubt land you directly onto the lap of a Mr. Chris Trump of Hawaii. This man is nothing short of a legend in his own right, maintaining a 500-acre Macadamia nut farm entirely using organic KNF methods – the largest example of which you will find in the world. His video tutorials are nothing short of inspirational, breaking down each part of KNF in a nice and concise way.

Chris Trump
Don’t worry Chris, my love for you is merely platonic’

Contributions from Chris are also found on the awesome website naturalfarminghawaii.net, created by Drake and co, who are all about enhancing people’s understanding of KNF and the natural world in general. It’s not all isolated to the tropical lands of Hawaii though; even in the grim and grey land of Blighty, there are those that have been trying to spread the good word for quite some time. Nigel Davenport of TNC (The Nutrient Company) has been harping on about how to make your own FPJ’s and LAB’s for a good while now, with plenty of info on his site about it all.

The community of growers who are actually using KNF techniques and integrating it into their grows/daily lives is nothing short of the true heroes, though. If any of you have heard of something called ‘Instagram’, there are definitely a good few peeps on there worth checking out, if only for the hilarious banter and memes.

@microbe.alchemist is a great example of a grower applying and extolling the virtues of KNF, whilst keeping it all sewn together with some hilarious memes.

 
 
 
 
 
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Factual

A post shared by The Super Villain (@microbe.alchemist) on

@Masonic_Smoker from Compton also comes out with some KNF gems now and again that will surely have you growing some of the infamous rippers I keep hearing about. Don’t ask him for actual advice, though – you’ll probably just get trolled.

The point of all this is that it seems to be a mainly people-driven movement, which is hardly surprising as it basically goes directly against the principles big agricultural companies run by. Working alongside the natural world and creating your own inputs, rather than buying something in a plastic bottle made from dwindling mineral supplies. So, get involved, get your smug face out and start making your own inputs. We’ll have Bayer/Monsanto shut down in no time.

Read more articles in the Korean Natural Farming series:

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Author

After many years as a hobby, I began my career in Hydroponics working for Aquaculture in Sheffield, the UK's largest and most forward-thinking grow shops of the time. From there I began to work for Hydromag, responsible for the hydroponic content. Most notably, the product tests and comparisons, breaking ground in the industry and cutting through marketing hyperbole by showing consumers exactly how products stacked up against each other. From there I worked with CANNA, as editor of CANNAtalk, author of the research articles and delivering seminars throughout the UK to grow shops on the finer details of cultivating in a hydroponic environment. I'm currently writing for a number of companies in the hydroponic industry, of course, the most important of all being the powerhouse publication that is, Garden Culture.