Autumn — Chestnuts, Persimmons, and the Rice Harvest
The most abundant season If spring in the Korean countryside is about gathering what the hillside offers, and summer is about water and waiting, autumn is about receiving what the year has been building toward. The fields and forest edges deliver simultaneously — and the work of receiving them is constant from September through November. Korean autumn is also, arguably, the most beautiful season in the countryside. The rice paddies turn gold in September and October. The ginkgo trees along village roads go full yellow in November. The persimmon trees — left unpruned and sprawling over farmhouse walls throughout the year — suddenly become the most visually striking objects in any Korean village: heavy with bright orange fruit, glowing against clear blue autumn skies. ...