Happy Farm'n Friday and well wishes to you all for a great 2020! Last summer I rescued a lonely plant from the local nursery. The plant called Mona Lavender had a tag that stated it liked partial shade, which would be great for my front porch area. Planted it in a pot and it was super super happy all summer long. The top of the leaves were dark green, but flip the leaf around and it was a lovely purple color. It even started blooming purple trumpet-shaped flowers when fall arrived!

Unfortunately, one November evening brought deep freezing temperatures that killed off all of its pretty blooms and purple leaves. I didn't learn about the cold snap until the next morning, and by then the frost had shredded through the plant's leaves and the damage was done. I brought the lavender plant into the laundry room with the hope that it might perk back up, but weeks went by and nothing happened. So I left the dead-looking plant there on the counter to remind Mr.Fogu that he should of warn me it was going to freeze that night (he knew, but didn't pass on that information, bah).

As I was lamenting my poor dried-up laundry room stick plant the other week, my coworker suggested cutting back its damaged branches to see if that would encourage new growth. Sure enough, this week the plant has new shoots forming from its base. Huzzah, the plectranthus hybrida lives! Now I just need to let the plant do its thing.

Things are still slow in the farm'n world. No news to report regarding the English localization of Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town yet. Last week there was an update for the Ps4 version of Harvest Moon: Mad Dash, though I'd admit I haven't gone back to try to pass Stage 55 since Mr.Fogu gifted me Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield for Christmas. I've also been busy developing bits of the SoS:FoMT guide now that the past two months' worth of holidays are over and I've weekends back to myself. Feels nice to be productive again!

January Mobage Events

• The month starts with the the standard harvest-as-much-as-you-can event, this time based on 2020 Year of the Rat. Lots of mouse-themed crops and animals to care for and harvest. Awards are given at the end of the event for the amount of harvest points earned compared to all other players. During random special times, the number of points earned during harvest can be double or triple the normal amount, which can then award farmers with Friend Hearts to exchange with other social game users. These friendship hearts can then be exchanged for another group of prizes. There's also a third group of prizes based on the 10-person team that players join. This event is scheduled to end on the 9th.
• A hungry animal event begins on the 11t. During this type of social competition each farmer will be assigned one of three random animals for a few hours. Each animal has a specific number of treats it wants before it will be full; the easiest is only 100 treats and the most difficult is 500 treats. If you don't feed the animal during their appearance time they'll go away and a new animal will appear in their place. Feed the animal to have it count towards unlocking in-game rewards. Your in-game friends can also feed the animal that you're assigned, helping to complete the feeding task for everyone who participates. The animal food is obtained by growing event crops on an event-specific field, with normal crops being worth 1 treat and rare crops being worth 2 treats. When everyone successfully feeds enough treats to an animal, those who feed the most snacks will be rewarded with mystery nut seeds. These seeds can be planted to harvest nuts that can be used in a random gotcha pull to win more in-game prizes.
• Finally on the 21st is a bingo event. Farmers will grow special bingo crop seeds and hope they get three of the same crop in a row or a full board of the same crop for a max bingo, which is worth more points. In-game prizes will be awarded based on the total number of bingo points collected during the event. Players can use their Sunshine Ability to increase the number of harvestable items on their friends' bingo cards, but bonus bingo points will only be awarded if the ability is used on an active three-in-a-row bingo. Typically it is best to wait until the board is full of the same crop to trigger a max bingo and then wait until a multiplier triggers to earn bingo points. This event often has time-based prizes that no longer become available for players to win once the availability time expires, so it's good to earn points as fast as possible before the prizes expire!

NinDori Comic

And here's the newly-translated 4-col comic drawn by Igusa Matsuyama and originally published in the April 2013 edition of Nintendo DREAM magazine, featuring characters from Harvest Moon: A New Beginning!