Monday, tuesday and today, I've worked very hard to pull ivory and other vines away from the tangerine trees that grow on Y's tangerine farm. During breaks we ate a kind of citrus fruit whose name I don't know yet and I've had some good conversation that revealed more about these characters around me that are really quite positive.

Tuesday, we all did meditation together and shared breakfast and lunch. He had until this point not meditated with us or ate in the house that J and I sleep in. Y, led the morning meditation, starting with, "Relax your muscles until you feel your blood and flesh merge." Meditation is a bit of a struggle for and it was harder with aching muscles from Monday. Farming though while not harder than strenuous exercise is working different muscles than I'm used to and squating under tree under tree is going to be good for my legs.
Anyway, Y was stopped talking until an uncountable amount of time passed and he led us out of meditation.

He turned towards me when he finished and said, "So what were you thinking about during
meditation."

This shocked me but I looked into his eyes and they were so sincere and friendly that I poured myself out to him.

"I was thinking about my negative thoughts and how to deal with them."

"That will get better with more practice."

Y explained to me that the negative thoughts are a sign that there is something wrong with my brain. The blood vessels are too thin- which is caused by the negative thoughts. The stress shrinks the blood vessels. From the heart to the head the vessels shrink.


"What do you think of this," he asked.

"I will work to fix it, " I said.

"You will need see out positive people because negative people can effect us. Many people have flexible consciences and we can be effected by negative people and do what they want us to do.

 I think right now your positive and negative energy our fighting each other and it is causing your problem and you will need to heal yourself."

I told him that maybe a year ago I wasn't ready to listen to him, but now I was.

"Do you believe in reincarnation?"

"No," I said quickly laughing.

He laughed at this.

"Why."

"Because I believe that when I die that I will not be born again but that my body will be eaten and my atoms will become part of other animals, rather than an animal or man," I said. I realized that what I said could have sounded mocking though I didn't mean it to.

He didn't seem to mind though.

"It doesn't matter whether or not your believe in it as long as you can find that positive energy."

He exuded confidence. We soon after prepared for breakfast. Simple dishes of various food.

I slowly tasted the food. The cabbage kimchi was the best I tasted. The purslane kimchi was awesome. The sonchus was amazing. I started talking about the food with the goal of knowing the location and preparation.

"All this food is organic. Can you feel the positive energy?" J said.

"Yes."

I was eating well. Everything was delicious and I was hungry.

"Because of the meditation your blood flow is better and your appetite has increased. "

J, the chatty cheerleader of the group told me about the wild herbs. 

"How is this made," I said while eating a wild edible kimchi that turned out to be purslane (  쇠비름). 

I then named my ingredients by guesses: "It has salt, garlic, gochujang, dwenjang and oil."

"No, oil," said J.

"It has many omega 3s in it which is why you taste the oil."

"Aww that makes a lot of sense I said."

Many conversations with J and Y began like this but slowly we are talking about food and ingredients.

We then went to the tangerine farm and J and I worked hard weeding until we came back for lunch and we ate a raw fish soup for lunch that Y made.

"Why did you become an organic farmer?"

"Well, when I was in high school, I saw videos about the destruction of our environment. But at the time no one was interested in organic farming. There were a few but--- they struggled and were very poor. So my major was agricultural engineering. And then when I went into organic farming not many people were interested. In fact, my parents didn't want me to do it. Because the neighbors around me would say, 'Your son is crazy."

We both laughed.

"You are very brave for going organic when you did," I said.

"He was a horseman," said J. "Tell him."

"At the time, I didn't want to use any machines, and if it was just me I wouldn't, but my wife wants to live in the city so I have to use it."

I grow in admiration for the guy throughout the day after thinking about our conversation. He had J and I harvest sticky corn for our own food store and then afterwards he came and took us to the sea where we swam in the water.

He took Dodari, the dog who has a tumor in his eye to exercise. Y, hopes that with exercise and love, and only 1 nutritious meal a day he can lose weight and heal his problems. THe dogs eye appeared better than when I first met a very bloodshotted eyed dog. Now his eye was looking better. Doddari was a very reluctant swimmer so Y through him off the rocks into the water and followed him as we swam ourselves. It was a very fun experience to dive off rocks like they were a diving board. The first diving board, really.

We came home and as J and I were chaining up Doddari, we heard Y say goodbye and off he drove in his truck.

He is a busy man.