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Baby Food by Age: Mugwort FPJ First, Fruit FFJ Later

Master Cho Han-kyu, interpreted by Kim Chang, Founder of Korean Natural Farming (Janong)

Spoken in Korean. Translated to English and checked line by line.

Cho uses a person's ages as the picture for a crop: from 1 to 15 the body is being built, so the young crop gets Food (FPJ) of mugwort and water dropwort for iron and manganese; from about 15 to 25 it gets Food (FFJ) of ripe fruit and opened flowers, once a week each. Dr. Park sorts out which plant carries which mineral. Then Cho tells farmers to run comparison plots, remembers the 78-year-old grandmother who taught him, and says the old farmers farmed with wisdom.

What they found

The question

Which Food does a crop need while it builds its body, and when does it switch to fruit and flower juice?

How they tested it

Still at the flip chart, with the projector showing only a blank screen. Under the weekly spray formula from the last page, Cho writes '1~15 DROPWART MUGWART' with 'Fe Mn' over them (first written the wrong way round, then crossed), then '15~25 과실 꽃 FFJ', and marks 1—15 and 15—25 under the three weeks of 1–7. The flip chart comes down at about 42:30 so the projector can be used.

What was compared
  • Food for the body-building stage — Food (FPJ) of mugwort (쑥) and water dropwort (미나리), once a week (Cho). No dilution spoken. The handout (XFLH5606) gives 발효액 (쑥·미나리) 1:500 in the seed and seedling column, and 1:500 (mugwort, dropwort, 동자액 young green fruit) in Type 2.
  • Food for the flowering and fruiting stage — Food (FFJ) of ripe fruit or fully opened flowers, once a week (Cho and interpreter). On a mango carrying big and small fruit, use the juice made at that flowering time. No dilution spoken. The handout gives 1:500 (acacia flower, 동자액, fruit ferment) at the changeover and 1:2000–3000 (acacia flower, fruit ferment) in Type 3, so the printed Type 3 rate is much weaker than the earlier stages.
Results
  1. Like a child of 1 to 15, a young crop gets Food (FPJ) of mugwort and water dropwort

    Board: '1~15 DROPWART MUGWART' with 'Fe Mn' over them. The body is being built, so it needs iron and manganese.

    ▶ 22:04

  2. Mugwort carries more iron; water dropwort carries more manganese

    First said the other way round, with 'magnesium' for manganese. Dr. Park corrected it from the room, and Cho's own Korean at 26:15 confirms: mugwort iron, dropwort manganese.

    ▶ 24:02 As spoken

  3. Ages 1 to 15 are the body-building years, so iron and manganese are needed in quantity

    Cho's picture: a child's body is being built fast; so is a young crop's.

    ▶ 29:03 As spoken

  4. Past that, there's no need to build the body: switch to fermented flowers and setting fruit (FFJ)

    Cho says 'past twenty' here; the board and his later Korean say 15–25. The interpreter said '20 to 45'.

    ▶ 29:18 As spoken

  5. When the crop flowers and sets fruit, give the juice made at that stage

    Cho at the board: a mango tree carries big and small mangoes at once; give the fermented juice of the flowering time. Same family of Food, different kind.

    ▶ 30:48 As spoken

  6. Ages 15–25: Food (FFJ) of ripe fruit or fully opened flowers

    Board: '15~25 과실 꽃 FFJ'. At this age the body stops getting bigger and the job becomes raising a baby, so not mugwort or dropwort but fruit or flower juice works best.

    ▶ 31:23

  7. The switch comes at about one third of the plant's growth

    Interpreter: 'when their height is one third of that crop… a three meter crop… one foot high'. Cho's Korean, partly audible, seems to count the leaves the crop grows over a whole year. Not settled.

    ▶ 33:48 As spoken

  8. Weekly: first half, mugwort and dropwort once every week; second half, fruit or flower once every week

    Cho: 'then the nutrition is balanced.' The interpreter turned this into 'two weeks'.

    ▶ 35:07 As spoken

  9. Don't wait to treat a disease; match the nutrition so it doesn't come

    Cho's prevention-first rule; the interpreter gave only 'they will grow very healthy'.

    ▶ 36:12 As spoken

  10. Run comparison plots until you can read the crop at a glance

    Treat one plot this way and another that way, watch them grow, and the process gets into your body: one look and you see what you did wrong.

    ▶ 36:40 As spoken

  11. One of Cho's teachers was a grandmother of 78; he was about 30

    She taught by history and old stories: her parents farmed by watching the seasons and nature. His teacher in Japan stopped lecturing if a student sat crooked.

    ▶ 38:52 As spoken

  12. The old farmers farmed with wisdom, watching nature; modern farmers farm with the head

    Modern people calculate and can't work out the answer. Old people cared about each other; now everything is calculated, 'so there's no warmth (정)'.

    ▶ 40:24 As spoken

Hold it loosely
  • No dilution is spoken on this page; the rates in the treatments come from the printed handout.
  • The ages (1–15, 15–25) are a human picture, not a crop calendar. How they map onto a crop is not settled: the interpreter's 'one third of the height… a three meter crop… one foot' doesn't add up, and Cho's Korean there is partly inaudible.
  • On the board, 1—15 and 15—25 are marked under three weeks of 1–7; whether they mean days or the ages laid over the weeks is not clear.
  • The interpreter called 미나리 'watercress'. It is water dropwort (Oenanthe javanica), a different plant.
  • Cho explains the mugwort and dropwort choice with Korean care of mothers after childbirth and the Dongui Bogam (iron for lost blood, manganese for healing). Those are claims about people, not tested here, and we don't repeat them as advice.
For your farm
  • While the crop is building its body, Food (FPJ) of mugwort and water dropwort assists it with iron and manganese.
  • Once it flowers and sets fruit, switch to Food (FFJ) of ripe fruit or opened flowers, made at that stage.
  • Give Food once a week, in rhythm, rather than waiting for a problem.
  • Keep a comparison plot so you learn to read your own crop.

Next to Master Cho's teaching

  • Agrees

    Mugwort iron, dropwort manganese His 2006 text gives the same split: mugwort rich in iron, dropwort in manganese, found after puzzling over why women used them.

    CGNF Advanced (2006.02) (English translation), p. 9

  • Agrees

    Mugwort and dropwort FPJ for the young stage The October 2017 prescription table puts FPJ of mugwort and dropwort at 1:500 in the seed and seedling column.

    Cho nutrient cycle prescription table (Oct 2017, transcribed) — Seed/Seedling Treatment (종자·종묘처리)

  • Agrees

    Body-building first, then the reproductive switch His 2003 book says the change from vegetative to reproductive growth doesn't happen at once; the plant prepares for it. The human ages here are this session's picture for the same idea.

    Cho, Janong Natural Farming (2003), p. 81

“So don't wait to treat a disease once it comes. Match the nutrition so it doesn't come, and it won't.”

▶ 36:12

“When your body goes crooked, your thinking goes crooked too, so you can't listen properly.”

▶ 38:09

“Olden days, they farm with the wisdom, and the modern farming is with their head.”

▶ 40:55

In this talk

  1. 21:53Ages 1–15: mugwort and dropwort Food (FPJ)
  2. 23:24Iron or manganese? Dr. Park sorts it out
  3. 24:51Why mugwort and dropwort: iron and manganese
  4. 28:21Fast growth, then flower and fruit Food (FFJ)
  5. 30:35The board: 15–25, fruit and flower FFJ
  6. 33:31When to switch, and the weekly rhythm
  7. 36:12Prevent, don't treat; run comparison plots
  8. 37:44Sit up straight: the grandmother who taught Cho
  9. 40:24Farming with wisdom, not the head

Transcript

English translation, checked against the Korean as spoken.