[Interview] “A Farm Where It’s Okay to Do Nothing”… Young Farmer Lee Sang-yeop, CEO of Haman Healing Farm Pick a Green

According to the farm’s reservation records, over the three years from 2023 to 2025, about 150 of the 1,736 guests who booked online and visited returned three or more times. This is the story of “Pick a Green,” a healing farm in Gaya-eup, Haman County, South Gyeongsang Province. Most guests come from nearby cities such as Daegu, Busan, Changwon, and Jinju, but some families come from Suncheon in South Jeolla Province and Daejeon as well.

Pick a Green is a healing agriculture brand launched in 2021 by “Dongdong Bagu Farm,” which opened in 1977. Starting with sweet persimmon farming, the farm went through free-range pig raising, oyster mushrooms, and deer breeding before switching its main crop to blueberries. It expanded into a hands-on farm in 2012 and an educational farm in 2015, and in 2016 it was certified as a rural convergence industry business. The farm covers about 49,500 square meters (15,000 pyeong), including forestland.

The farm is run by a family of four. His mother, Jeong Gyeong-suk, a social worker, is in charge of healing food and rice koji fermentation; his father, Lee Gwang-su, handles crop cultivation and facility construction; and his wife, Choi Min-gyeong, a florist, oversees the flower programs. CEO Lee Sang-yeop, a first-generation young start-up farmer who returned to farming after working in Seoul, is responsible for farm operations, program planning, and photography. On October 14, we met Lee at Pick a Green.
 

Was there a reason you came to run a healing farm in Haman?

I lived in Seoul for about 13 years while going to school and working. My first job was in Yeouido, and my next job was near Seoul Station. City life was too hard. It felt bleak, and because I was just starting out in society, my salary was low, so after paying rent and living expenses, there was nothing left. As stress built up, my body kept getting sick. There was even a time when I had a fever of unknown cause for a month. So I came down to the farm my parents had built up.

In particular, before we got married, my wife, who was working as a florist in Seoul, came down to the farm and held classes where guests picked flowers themselves and made bouquets, and the response was very good. Around 2019, when we first started, there were hardly any classes where people picked flowers themselves to make arrangements. Our Instagram following also grew a lot then.
 

About 150 guests have returned three or more times. What is the secret behind so many repeat visits?

I think the biggest factor is that the programs change with the seasons. When you go to a supermarket, blueberries and apples are always there, so people often don’t really know when they are actually in season. With the idea of showing that, we change the classes each time using what is on the farm and in nature at that moment. In spring, guests make bouquets with seasonal flowers, and in summer, they harvest blueberries. In autumn, they gather vegetables from the garden and enjoy them as a barbecue, and in winter, they make Christmas wreaths with dried flowers. Almost all of our guests come from cities, and there are very few from Haman. One person from Busan has come with their children seven or eight times.
 

Please introduce the programs currently in operation.

The three main pillars are flowers, food, and harvesting. At our cut-flower growing area, we cultivate various flowers, including about 30 types of dahlias, and because there are many varieties that are hard to find in the market, even active florists come to visit. We do not use any chemicals on the flowers, so children can touch them freely. My mother handles the cooking classes. Instead of commercial seasonings, participants dress lettuce geotjeori with homemade rice koji fermented seasoning and prepare bibimbap with shiitake mushrooms and vegetables grown on the farm. We grow blueberries on about 6,600 square meters (2,000 pyeong) across open fields and greenhouses, and they are the most popular crop at Pick a Green. The harvest experience is set up so that each person picks 500 grams themselves and then has a drink at the farm café. On weekdays, we mainly run institutional programs, and on weekends, we mainly serve individual guests who booked through Naver.
 

I heard there is something distinctive about the blueberry harvesting experience.

Originally, we sold them directly to consumers. But to ship 1 kilogram of blueberries by parcel, it takes as many as five plastic boxes. There was nothing left in profit, and it felt like we were using far too many resources, so we switched all sales to experiences. Now we ask guests to bring reusable containers from home. We also don’t throw away used biodegradable cups; we reuse them as pots for planting flower or vegetable seedlings. Paper packaging is sold separately only to those who want it, and the proceeds are donated at the end of the year to an organization that builds sanctuaries for captive bears. Since people come to educate their children, isn’t that better than using disposables just because they’re convenient? Parents like it more than we expected. Children come with stickers on their own containers or bring pretty baskets.
 

What sets you apart from other hands-on farms?

Most existing farms are in the middle of rice paddies or fields. We focus on creating a tranquil space where people can stay comfortably. You could call it a wellness approach. On the farm, there is a willow wetland walking trail where volcanic sedge grows naturally, and there is also a succulent garden where baobab trees grow. My father made each prop and table himself in his woodworking workshop. In an era when smart farms are the trend, we are instead filling the farm with classic, hands-on methods.
 

It seems you are also actively running programs linked with local institutions.

In 2023, we ran a 10-session program for people with developmental disabilities together with the Haman branch of the Korea Parents Association for the Disabled. Since autumn 2025, we have been operating an eight-session program for caregivers of dementia patients with the Haman County Public Health Center and the Haman County Agricultural Technology Center, and in 2026 it will be in its second year.

In addition, we run a program for pregnant women with the public health center and a multi-session program for students with the Haman County Youth Training Center. Caregivers of dementia patients experience tremendous stress because they care for patients every day. My mother served them a meal with great care, and after they made bouquets, we took “best-life” photos for them; one participant even came dressed in a gown. Many said, “I waited only for this time,” and “I hope it continues.” Since there are not many places practicing healing agriculture in Haman, officials in charge see our Instagram and contact us first via Instagram direct messages (DMs).
 

What are you focusing on most these days?

We are creating a healing agriculture center. We are remodeling a 30-year-old log house (about 99 square meters, or 30 pyeong, on the first floor, and about 50 square meters, or 15 pyeong, on the second floor) to put cooking and flower program spaces and a counseling room on the first floor, and lodging space on the second floor.

The cost was similar to building something new, but the house with its history felt too precious to lose, so we decided to preserve it. My father is doing most of the construction himself. With three rooms and two bathrooms, it can accommodate up to eight people. In the morning, guests can also harvest vegetables from the garden themselves and make salad.
 

How will operations change once the center opens?

Once we have an indoor space with heating and cooling, we can operate year-round regardless of the weather. Also, for multi-session classes, it is difficult for people to come every week from faraway places like Busan. A stay-type program where participants spend two nights and three days here can solve that problem. Going forward, we plan to run multi-session and stay-type specialized programs on weekdays in connection with public health centers, offices of education, and welfare facilities, and preventive healing programs for general guests on weekends. In November, we will launch our first two-night, three-day program for cancer patients and their families, called “Farm to Table and Rest.”
 

What is the ultimate vision for Pick a Green?

A stay-type preventive healing farm. In healing agriculture, there are also special-purpose programs for people who need specialized programs, such as people with developmental disabilities, but we actually hope that, at least on the farm, people do nothing at all. Modern people have no time to think. In the office, they are confined by partitions; on buses and subways, there is always someone around; and in concrete buildings, they ride elevators. When they come to the farm, I hope they can have time to think alone, feel the wind and nature, rest, and then leave. I think this moment, as we begin operating lodging, will become another turning point for Pick a Green.