This is what it takes to grow big-ass pears without the bugs and birds picking it to pieces. A few months ago, I took pictures of the infrastructure required to hold up the branches for these large fruit. Yesterday, on our way to the Munsu to do some rock climbing, we passed by this pear orchard. Each one of the small fruit has been bagged with a breathable cloth/paper covering big enough to hold the expanding pear as it matures.

They still use chemical pesticides here, but just early on, before there’s anything to bag. After that, they forgo the chemicals. I suspect its simply economics and not any adherence to “organically grown” or other marketing buzzwords. Chemicals cost money to buy, but there’s an abundance of cheap labor, mostly old folks, who tend the fields.

Soon, those bags will be filled with larger-than-softball sized Ulsan Pears (called Asian Pears back home.)