Mum’s The Word - Gamaksan Windfarm

 At 900m above sea level, 감악산 Gamaksan Windfarm harnesses the wind to produce energy. Yep, these look just like the huge wind turbines you see in Texas and Kansas, except instead of being in the middle of a pasture full of cows, they are situated on top of mountains in the middle of colorful flowers

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Wind power in South Korea is relatively new. The locals see them as an attraction. These wind mills were placed atop Gamaksan Mountain in 2015. They contribute electricity to roughly 29% of the local households in Geochang-gun.

Land is a hot commodity in this country (~55 million people live in an area roughly the size of Indiana). The government is looking to increase the amount of renewable energy, specifically wind power. The land area required for wind farms is small compared to other renewable energy sources. They are also investing in offshore wind farms (wind turbines in the ocean); one of my friend's husband is here working with that project.

The local government knew people are attracted to the over-sized wind mills, so they capitalized on that and planted fields of flowers on top of Gamaksan Mountain to bring even more admirers. Brightly colored asters, shasta daisies, and silver grass line the hills, but the most prominent flower is the 감국 gamguk (chrysanthemum). People flock here for the beautiful views and the photo ops. 

I couldn't stop thinking about the children's book of the same name. A little girl named Chrysanthemum adored everything about her name, until she went to school and the kids made fun of it. Under the influence of the students’ favorite teacher, the children realized her name was special and she once again treasured it.  In my mind I kept repeating, "Chrysanthemum. Chrysanthemum. Chrysanthemum," with the same whimsical voice that I always used as I read it aloud to my students.

back row: Kate, Trish, Lotte; front row: Lulu, Theresa

Chrysanthemums were first cultivated in Japan in the 8th century and moved to the US by the end of the 1800s.

Shasta daisies are some of my favorites.

All chrysanthemums are asters, but not all asters are chrysanthemums. Some of these plants are asters.

Silver grass is pretty as it gently waves in the breeze and reflects the sun.

합천호 Hapcheonho Lake lies in the background.

You can see from the brown petals that we almost missed the blooming window.

This bald eagle whispered, "God bless the USA" in my ear.

[October 7]