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Ray Yoon, Muju Apple Farm, Natural Farming Principles

December 21, 2025 · by Drake Weinert

No live questions came in for this last office hour of 2025, so Drake pulled up old footage instead: a KNF workshop he ran in Muju, Korea in October 2018.

He introduces Ray Yoon, the translator who worked with Master Cho on an early edition of his book and now farms and teaches Tai Chi from Maple Ridge, Canada. The workshop day opened with group Tai Chi and a Korean breakfast of seaweed soup, rice, fish, and kimchi, followed by slides on natural farming principles: harmony with nature, making your own solutions, mixed plant-animal farming, and working the nutrient cycle for lower cost and better yield.

The footage then tours a neighbor's farm near the Muju ski resort: high tunnel apple orchards, a cold-pack facility, manure from a nearby dairy, and fields of ginseng, sweet potatoes, and cabbage.

Drake closes with a solstice and Christmas blessing and thanks for tuning in through the year.

Questions answered

  • 7:21 Why start a KNF workshop day with Tai Chi? — Natural farming is spiritual and physical, so the day begins by working the body, not just the mind.
  • 8:54 Is a daily Tai Chi habit worth keeping? — Drake says doing it every day likely keeps you alive longer, more flexible, and with fewer problems.
  • 9:39 Any plans to return to Korea? — Drake is thinking about a trip back to the sister city Gokson to see if they're still doing natural farming there.
  • 10:26 Who is Ray Yoon? — A Korean army PR officer turned diplomat who studied with Master Cho, helped translate his book, and now lives in Maple Ridge, Canada.
  • 14:14 What are the core natural farming principles from the slides? — Harmony with nature, making your own solutions, mixed plant-animal farming, and working the nutrient cycle for lower cost and better yield.
  • 17:05 What does the farm's apple operation look like? — High tunnel greenhouses grow the apples, with a cold-pack facility and manure sourced from a neighboring dairy.
  • 18:37 What crops did the farm tour pass? — Ginseng, sweet potatoes, and long stretches of cabbage fields.
  • 1:02:11 How did Drake close out the year's last office hour? — With a solstice and Christmas blessing, wishing peace to everyone watching.

Topics: tai chi, ray yoon, master cho, muju korea, imo, apple farming, dairy manure, ginseng, cabbage, natural farming principles

KNF Office Hours is a free live Q&A every Sunday at 9 AM HST. Bring your question to pureknf.org/learn/questions or join live.

In this episode

  1. 0:00 I Ching: Holding Together
  2. 4:19 No live questions, farm work catch-up
  3. 5:49 Pulling up 2018 Muju workshop footage
  4. 7:21 Morning Tai Chi in Muju
  5. 9:39 Thinking about a Korea return trip
  6. 10:26 Introducing Ray Yoon
  7. 13:32 Korean breakfast
  8. 14:14 Natural farming principles slides
  9. 15:00 Meeting the workshop group
  10. 15:45 Day one: hotel to farm
  11. 17:05 Apple orchards and high tunnels
  12. 17:52 Pastor Lee's farm infrastructure
  13. 18:37 Ginseng, sweet potatoes, cabbage fields
  14. 27:40 Note on IMO placement
  15. 32:10 Super chat thanks
  16. 1:02:11 Solstice and Christmas blessing
  17. 1:02:56 Sign-off

Transcript

Auto-transcribed with Whisper. Click any timestamp to play from there.

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