◆ Choam Garden, where nature and people are in harmony, the splendid spring of the old house continues for 270 years. The ancestral home, which has been covered with time, has become old and deep as the weight of time has passed, but the spring of the ancestral home becomes more dazzling and splendid as time passes. This is thanks to the flowers and trees that Mr. Kim Jae-gi (83), the 31st generation of the Gwangsan Kim clan, has tended for 60 years. The love of the mother who passed away at the age of 28, leaving behind three children, and the longing of the son for her, no matter how much it is emptied, always rises again in the form of flowers, fruits, and lush forests throughout the four seasons. Choam Village, Boseong-gun, Jeollanam-do, the beautiful Choam Garden, where flowers bloom all year round, the bountiful fields of Yedang, the blue sea of ​​Deukryang Bay, and the sacred scenery of Palyeongsan Mountain come together, has become a treasure of the ancestral home and the pride of the region, created by the filial piety (孝心) toward the two mothers who gave birth to him and raised him with love. A work of art created on the ground by the longing for his mother, combined with rain, wind, and sunlight. The 30,000-pyeong cypress and bamboo forest makes one bow one’s head in awe of nature. Can people and nature be in such harmony? ◆ Longing for his mother, drawn in the forest Every morning, the place that Mr. Kim Jae-gi heads to after leaving the old house. It is right by his mother’s side. A walking path leading to the family cemetery where his mother and ancestors are buried. The son’s filial piety, who planted flower grass so that he could walk the path from the cemetery to the main house barefoot, remains unchanged even in his eighties. A short hill reached after passing a garden with over 200 species of trees. The family cemetery, which was created by removing the burial mound and making it a flat-earth tomb, is a place where Mr. Kim Jae-gi’s philosophy of ‘not going against nature’ is embedded. The ancestral graveyard of the main family where children, grandchildren, guests visiting Choam Garden, and even birds passing through the forest can approach and sing without hesitation. Standing on that hill that breaks down the boundaries between the dead and the living, people and nature, the Yedang Plain and Deukryang Bay sea come into view at a glance, and you become grateful for the abundance of nature that does not discriminate between yours and mine. My mother, who left behind two sons at the young age of 28, and my youngest sister, who sucked my mother’s empty breast while she was sick, went to heaven before my mother the year after she was born. The forests and the scenery created by the forests on this hill are love and gratitude. ◆ Telepathy, Becoming One with Nature by the Head of the Gwangsan Kim Clan Like a tree that is constant, Lee Young-ja, the wife who has been by Kim Jae-gi’s side, is a flower that has been in full bloom for 40 years. She loves the ‘Choam Garden’ more than anyone else, saying that the space her husband has nurtured is a work of art. When flowers bloomed on the trees her husband planted, the wife enjoyed the scent of the flowers. When her husband climbed the mountain behind the house with a shovel and seedlings, the wife followed with a watering can. They enjoyed pushing and pulling each other like flowers, bees, and butterflies, and the old couple’s love blossomed like flowers in the garden. At night in Choam Garden, where the old couple’s day has come to an end, flowers are in full bloom on the tea table brought by the wife. Ms. Lee Young-ja, the owner of the garden and the head of the clan, makes dishes by imitating leaves and flowers using various food ingredients. The flowers and trees of the garden that her husband has tended are perfectly placed on the wife’s plate, as if they are telepathic. ◆ A forest tended for 60 years, embracing nature The trees planted while missing her mother have become a forest, and the forest is as generous as a mother’s embrace. It has become a space for birds, has comforted her son who has become an old man with white hair, and has become a playground for the family. Since the garden of the old house has been opened, she has also given space to visitors without any hesitation. The flowers and fruits of Choam Garden are a blessing for everyone to see and taste. In May, people take a short walk down memory lane while picking and eating cherries, plums, and apricots that they used to eat as children. Just as nature gives us endlessly, Mother’s Forest is also a space that shares eternal abundance with people. Natural Human Documentary Philosophers of Nature - Drawing Mother Forest #Philosophers of Nature #Choam Garden #Cypress