One of the lasting impacts life in Korea will have on me is farming & the dream of one day having my own little farm – one where we don’t move every time we turn around would be preferable.

I’ve been in Korea over 800 days now – watching my 3rd & final growing season in Anjung-ri.

And I’ve learned a lot from watching the local farmers.

So this year, I ordered seeds from Burpee online & tried my hand at planting my own little backyard crop.

I ordered dwarf velour green beans…that are actually purple.

And now I’ve got my first “mess of beans” as my Granny would say.

I’m going to cook these babies up & serve them with a grilled balsamic pork loin and  potato pierogies…num, num...and serve it all with some sparking white grape juice (sorry, we’re not drinkers).

But soon I’ll also have tomatoes ready for salsa. I’m afraid I got them in the ground later than I should. But look at those big ol’ babies!

And so far one little lone jalapeno, but more are starting & hopefully the serrano peppers will catch up, too.

If I cross my fingers, I might just get lucky enough to have my own little sugar baby seedless watermelon….way late in the season.

But I’m super pumped about my little ear of corn – so far it looks like I’ll have a whoppin’ two of them, but fresh corn I don’t have to pay $6.39 US for?….

Definitely worth it – and I’m counting the days until I can roast those suckers on the grill.

Hmm…smoky, chewy corn – with lots of butter.

1. Saying goodbye to friends never gets any easier.

2. Watermelon is a delicacy in Korea. The going rate is $9.99 on post on sale, 7,000 won off-post.

3. Moo-Moo isn’t so afraid to walk past scary monsters anymore.

4. Spending 30 minutes to fill out an online Army survey about your outrageously high utility expenses while living in Korea gets your rent raised 100,000 won a month.

5. The prayer lanterns go on forever on Buddha’s birthday.

6. I have no idea why Koreans always pose for pictures like this. You’ll see them do it all the time.

7. If you ever visit Korea or get stationed here, you must go to the Lotus Lantern Parade in Seoul in early May.

8. Ordering books on Amazon & having them shipped to your APO box is still cheaper than buying them at the PX.

9. Now that they’ve started charging for movies at the cafe-gym-atorium theater on base, don’t waste your money. Give the Osan theater the same $5 bucks to sit in rocking, cushioned seats in what at least looks like a real theater.

10. White cranes are incredibly skiddish. The closest I can ever get is 100 yards before they take off.

11. Tom cats have soft spots for people who treat their wounds.

12. The Korean subway system is super easy, clean & safe to use. The kiosks have an “English” button to walk you through everything – all you need is a subway map & the name of the station you want to get off at.

13. Korea may be the “most wired country in the world” but the internet connection in Anjung-Ri still sucks.

14. Military life in Korea is like life in a small town – you can never get away from anyone…even Elvis.

15. If you go to the Lotus Lantern Festival (typically the day after the parade) be sure to visit Jogyesa Temple to see all the prayer lanterns.

16. At the festival, the Seoul Senior Citizens Group paints phrases in Hangul & Chinese on rice paper for free, but a small donation to the center is always appreciated.

17. Blogging burnout is extremely easy to catch & hard to treat.

18. When you get stationed in Korea, you don’t find out where you’re going next a year out or even 6 months out. Looks like you get told 3 months out.

19. Soldiers hate dealing with, working with or having to interact with spouses & will ignore you and any suggestion you make, if at all possible.

20. Unfortunately, many spouses tend to treat soldiers like the hired help – ready to take care of everything you don’t want to – instead of actually having to pitch-in to help.

21. When a General’s wife comments that there’s no Splenda on the table, the nearest officer will “jump-to” & go hunt it down – even if it takes hauling butt to the commissary.

22. Try not to breathe when standing over the Tibetan monks when they’re making a sand mandala.

23. Always remember to take off your shoes when you enter temple.

24. Try with all your might not to get attached to a Korean dog.

25. You can never have too much firewood in Korea.

26. When you’re taking the back roads to Osan & you see the bull tied-up on the right side of the road – you’re half-way there.

27. The most fantastic, eclectic Asian collectible store is in Insadong & I probably can’t afford anything in it. But if I could I’d take half the store home.

28. Koreans are serious about their tea – as evidenced in this pressed tea wall-hanging.

29. Seeing these birds outside a tea shop in Insadong makes me wish I was a bird person.

30. There are still a lot of places to visit before we leave.

31. Mr. Pak comes by like clockwork every 1st of the month to renew our English-version Korea Herald.

32. Two weeks of rain day & night, also known as monsoon season, will kill your sun tent and immediately qualify you for white-trash neighbor status.

33. A water-logged tent tearing in two with one side collapsing sounds like someone trying to break in at 2am in the morning. But never fear…your husband will sleep right through it allowing you to do all the investigating.

34. Goldfish can survive being thrown out of a free-standing outdoor pond (twice – once by me & once by a previous owner) & live to tell the tale. Finding them in the yard, in the dark at 2am during a monsoon?…not quite so easy.

35. Apparently you can’t hide forever. People will hunt you down…just as I’ve been hunting the perfect shot of the pheasants around here.

36. When you wake-up at 2am & have to drive someone to catch a Patriot Express flight at Osan two hours later, you might as well stay up & blog.

37. One day I will have a house of my own & it will have a snowball bush in the yard.

38. I discovered (a while back) the secret of how to watch American TV & stream Netflix in Korea…and I will share it with you. By the way…The Red Violin?…Best story-telling movie. Ever.

39. It’s hard not to judge someone’s juicy status when you see them dress like this to a family-themed 4th of July celebration. It’s harder not to feel sorry for the mother-in-law who’s obviously come to visit from the States & looks completely mortified.

40. Renaming Memorial Day weekend “Spring Fest” - proclaiming we’ll celebrate 60 years of cooperation with Korea, opening the base up to the local Koreans, showcasing Korean activities & Korean performers…while completely ignoring it’s actually Memorial Day weekend is one of the most disrespectful things you can do to an American military family. My two cents.

41. Never take a Seoul City Bus tour after lunch.

42. Korea’s version of the White House is called the Blue House…but it’s really more of a slate gray.

43. Gyeonggukbong Palace is probably very beautiful from the front.

44. Korean garlic is mighty potent stuff.

45. A mallard without her mate is a sad sight.

46. While Psycho-Killer doesn’t go ballistic every time Maggie & I walk by anymore, she does let out a contained – yet slightly unrestrained – yelp of “oh, it’s you”.

47. I’ll miss the dragonflies when we leave.

48. What looks like strawberries growing on the side of the trails in the woods every year are not strawberries – they’re sour berries. And not even the Koreans will pick them – and they harvest all kinds of wild things from the woods.

49. My sneaky crane picture-taking skills are improving – either that or my camera has a wicked zoom.

50. A week after I took this picture of the beautiful twisted rose bush that climbs all the way to the top of the street pole at our local restaurant, the city cut the whole thing down & have torn out the road to lay new pipe.

51. I’m somewhat fascinated with this old farmer’s bike – I think I’ve taken 10 pictures of it.

52. Rather than marching bands or baton twirlers, the Lotus Lantern parade features monks, nuns & their parishioners carrying lanterns of all shapes & sizes.

53. It takes at least 4 Korean police officers to corral a drunken monk at a parade.

54. This is the last picture I have of Little One with fur – she’s been shaved near bald for the summer.

55. Buying a piece of Korean furniture with my own money – seeing this two-year temporary home vacant of all my own furniture finally look like my own home – was my happiest day here.

56. Peabody still comes by from time to time (when he can escape his backyard) to say hi & show me that he remembers his manners.

57. You will always look cool dancing by yourself…if you wear your matching 3-D fireworks glasses.

Not at lot going on today, tonight or this weekend in general.

It’s too hot & humid to get out and do anything.

But I’ve finally discovered the owner of this perfect little farm.

Everything is so neat & organized…and growing like gangbusters.

I always pictured it to be some cute old Korean couple.

But it’s not.

It’s him!

Yep…that’s been about the most exciting thing to happen around these parts – stalking the farmer for a photo op.

What’s your weekend been like?

All the fruit trees are blooming…

Asian Pears, Apples, Plums.

And they’re everywhere – en masse on rolling hillsides, clumped on the sides of the roads and planted in the front & backyards of every home.

And the smell is divine.

While he may cause some of you to squirm, Stanley is not in fact a rat.

He’s a field mouse…as in this field…

….or this field…

…or any one of the umpteen other fields that surround our neighborhood.

Anjung-Ri is a sprawling little agricultural community and the reality is it comes with all kinds of characters…including Stanley.

The field mice nestled up in all the hay that was left in the fields over the winter.

And now that the farmers are out getting their fields ready…

…they’ve all been forced out.

And since they’re not interested in the early onion crops, it means they’ll seek out seeds elsewhere.

Like my backyard.