This is a photograph I took of my Dad’s backyard vegetable garden on March 3, 2007. This hoe looks like most of the tools that my parents use—rusted metal with wooden handles. They’re still all very functional though.

My dad’s garden is a little overrun now. You can see assorted plants growing in the background including lettuce. I don't think he actually really plants them. They just grow. At the end of the season, he lets some grow out and flower. Then hangs them from the fence and dries them out. The seeds naturally fall below and lettuce grows again.

I wrote about this and other things for an article on Discover Nikkei: A Yonsei’s Reflections…on Unearthing My Family’s Values