- [Dennis] If you plucked people from all across the country

and said we have a farm, the image that they have

of who's that farmer would not be Kristyn Leach.

- My name is Kristyn Leach,

and I'm a farmer in Winters, California;

and I grow predominantly Korean and East Asian herbs

and vegetables.

(gentle music)

I was born in Daegu, Korea; I was adopted as an infant;

I grew up on Long Island in New York.

The regional cuisine of Long Island is pizza and bagels,

so that's what I was just sort of raised on.

I just had never really explored Korean heritage,

but I did get curious about the food.

Oh wait, this is a really good little one.

I worked on organic farms when I was a teenager,

and so I just thought like, oh, well, I know how to grow

plants, maybe I should grow some of these plants

from Korea just to better understand this place

where I'm from.

I went back to Korea for the first time since I left.

I spent just like three weeks traveling around

and was learning from all of these farmers

and visiting different farms.

It felt like a pretty profound way

to actually engage with identity

because it answered for me a sense of

what place I could find within, like,

a bigger story of Korean history.

(upbeat music)

I practice a style of farming that's referred to

as natural farming in Korea and Japan.

Everything on the farm is grown organically,

and, essentially, it's the way just like peasant

subsistence farmers farm.

Some of the heritage crops that we focus on here are

the Korean sesame leaf,

the flavor is kind of licore-y and minty.

Chamoe, Korean melon, is somewhere between like a cucumber

and melon in flavor; it's really, really crunchy.

Chili peppers, a really beloved staple,

and Japanese eggplant, just a small, baseball-sized

eggplant; it's super dense and really creamy.

Three times a week, I'll usually head to the Bay

to make a delivery.

(upbeat music)

Namu Gaji is a restaurant in the Mission District

in San Francisco, all of the produce goes directly

to their restaurant.

- Hey, Kristyn!

- Hey, how's it going?

And their chefs and cooks figure out

how to kind of design a menu around it.

- My name's Dennis Lee. I'm the chef and owner

of Namu Gaji in San Francisco.

(upbeat classical music)

Right now we're doing a really nice, simple

grilled eggplant dish with a really heavy dusting

of minced perilla.

We're doing a nice melon salad right now

with watermelon and Korean melon.

We have a chili oil that we serve with our ramen

that has Korean chilis from the farm.

It's a restaurant that's operated by Korean Americans,

so you see that in what we do.

The way that our relationship works with Kristyn

is totally unique because it's tied to who she is.

To be able to support an Asian woman

and co-create a platform to express ourselves

and share our story with people, that's pretty special.

- The food that Dennis is making

allows itself to just be really original,

and it doesn't feel like it's trying to just reproduce

a mold of what is Korean or what is Asian-American.

I'm learning about, like, my lineage;

I'm trying to figure out a sense of belonging.

The experience of adoption is so complicated.

I feel really grateful to have farming

be the way that I interact with my culture.