Roasting peanuts

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Roasting peanuts

Published: 15 Oct. 2025, 00:05

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Oh Kyung-ah

The author is a garden designer and the CEO of OhGardens.

It rained throughout the holiday in Sokcho. Remembering the peanuts a friend had recently harvested and given me, I peeled off the outer shells and roasted them in a frying pan until the room filled with their nutty aroma.

I belong to a small circle of five families in Gangwon Province who share a love of gardening. We meet about once a month to exchange flowers and crops we have grown. Last month we traded pumpkins, chili peppers, grapes, hyssop and burnet — this month we brought persimmons, peanuts and apples.

I roasted in a pan some peanuts a friend had harvested and given me. [OH KYUNG-AH]

Each family takes turns hosting the gathering in their garden. Our conversations are as earthy as our surroundings. “Someone gave me sesame meal, and when I spread it as mulch, the whole field smelled like sesame oil. I was so happy,” one says. Another adds, “Our Pungsan dog started catching one chicken a day, so I had to choose between the dog and the chickens — I let the chickens go.” A third laughs, “I hung a birdhouse on a tree, but now a squirrel lives there. Maybe it should pay rent.” We spend several hours talking about soil, seeds, and seasons — never politics or business — then share a meal before parting ways.

The British writer John Seymour is often called the father of self-sufficiency. A journalist by trade, he left city life in 1976 with his wife and daughters to live in the countryside. They farmed, baked bread, made wine and cheese, and supported themselves entirely through their own labor. Seymour never returned to city life until his death at 90. His intent was clear: To free himself from the constraints of industrial society and live independently.

When asked in an interview what made self-sufficient living happiest for him, he replied, “When the sun sets, my family cooks dinner together. We talk, my daughter sings or dances and hours pass like minutes. The greatest joy is getting our evenings back.”

Seymour said self-sufficiency was not about returning to the past, but about finding ways to live more happily in the present. His question remains relevant today: What truly makes us happy?

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.