Hyunhee

Alumni

Hyunhee (they/she) advises future students to have patience and progress through the courses at their own pace. They want students to know it's important to allow the coursework enough time to sink in, and to keep in mind that this is just the start of a lifelong journey in land stewardship.

Have you ever walked into a space and felt at peace? What truly distinguishes a space is when the stewards approach their relationships with the land and with people from a place of integrity, care, and joy. Hyunhee spoke about feeling this alignment and full-bodied joy during a Farm School lesson at Good Life Garden.

Hyunhee started researching foraging and wild plants in 2021. The same year they began studying community herbalism out of a deep desire to tap into their ancestral lineage of farming and herbal medicine. Hyunhee comes from a family of peasant farmers in Korea. Their maternal great-grandfather was an acupuncturist and herbalist in the village. Their family's farming and herbal medicine practice skipped their parents' generation, so Hyunhee is slowly learning their way back to a relationship with plants and the land. 

Hyunhee joined FSNYC after they started reclaiming their ancestral connection with the land. The decision to join FSNYC came at the ideal time as they dream of starting a queer Korean homestead. Hyunhee hopes to build a homestead in a relationship with the land, people, and stories that have existed and will exist there. They plan to grow Korean vegetables and herbs, connect with Korean land-based spirituality, and offer healing practices, such as meditation, horseback archery, and rage practice workshops. Hyunhee is committed to creating a space with integrity and deepening their relationship with the land in the community. To them, it is a dream to be able to set aside time to learn about urban farming and food justice with FSNYC.

Hyunhee recognizes how important food sovereignty praxis is and how it truly distinguishes FSNYC from other urban farming initiatives. For example, they loved the anti-oppressive framework offered during our irrigation course, which grounded students  in water politics. Students learned about the construction of irrigation systems as well as the underlying political issues regarding access to clean water. Farm School holds space for this complexity and cultivates shared learning about resistance to our oppressive food systems through the communities we are working to serve.