So I Found a Town. How the fudge do I farm?

[pretzelguy1]

So I joined a village (How I feel can be found here: http://youtu.be/DLTZctTG6cE ) but I was givin the job of town farmer. I honestly know almost nothing about the game compared the most and I was hoping someone could give me a simplified farming guide.
Thanks!

[TeckXKnight]

Congratulations, you're officially the slave labor of the village and have the second worst, if not the worst job depending on if your village has a miner or a miner alt!

Now onto how to actually do this job. There are some basic concepts to keep in mind: End Goal Product, Raising Quality, and How much do you need.
First things first is to only farm crops you're actually going to use! Don't grow a massive onion patch if no one in your camp is going to actually use them for anything. If you plan on using the crops for cattle, I'd advise carrots due to their rapid growth speed. Some basics that all villages will constantly need are Wheat and Hemp, otherwise ask your villagers what they actually intend on making and how much of it. If they say "As much as possible" promptly engage them in combat and kill them.

Now that you have your crops, it's time to raise their quality. Keep cupboards stored in carts nearby and unload them whenever you're doing a harvest. They'll break if they decay at all, so keep them in the cart when they're not in use. Use shift+mousewheel to unload your harvested seeds and goods into the cupboards -- I'd advise separating them for convenience. When you're ready to replant, shift+ctrl+mousewheel the seeds back into your inventory to auto select the highest quality seeds. Replow and replant each tile. Repeat until your harvest is complete. I advise not keeping a large unwieldy field and instead sectioning the crops into monocultures for ease of organization. Promptly discard unnecessary seeds/crops into either a bread dough, a trough, or the floor.

Now, how much do you actually need? When you think you need pumpkins, remember that each pumpkin tile provides 8 seeds and 8 pumpkin slices so keep that in mind. If your planned output is 80 Pumpkin Pies a week, you're going to need to plant 23 tiles of pumpkins to not only have the materials for the pies but also enough for replanting. Most crops provide 3 seeds on harvest but most of them behavior differently. If you need Wheat, keep in mind that flour is made from 2 Wheat Seeds so every tile of Wheat you grow at full nature is worth 1 Flour and 1 Seed for replanting. Whereas Tea will always provide 2 seeds and 2 leaves. This is where it's key to know how much GDP your village expects or should expect from you. Setting unrealistic goals is not only bad for morale but also means you'll be worked to the bone for nothing! There was nothing I hated more than when I was asked to set aside enough wheat for 200l of Beer only to have 40l made because no one had planned out how the ovens and herbalist tables were going to be used that week. This meant that huge swathes of my crops were just thrown away. Check the wiki for full products on crops.

Everyone has their own method and we'll all disagree on what's best and what actually works so your best bet is to figure out something geared towards your play style and enjoyment. Some of us like to use metal scythes while others prefer to hand plow. Some people use seed bags while others prefer using the ground as storage. As long as it works for you then go for it.

[screwbag]

I agree with techx..think about what you will use...
My early mistakes were to farm big plots of everything...waay too much work... I find that small plots of 5x5 tiles works well for most things... I use pumpkins as livestock food mostly, and supplement with beets during pregnancies...

For hemp and straw I make slightly bigger fields, but I use lots of wheat and hemp

Good luck in your farming future... It really can turn into slave labor if you let it get outta hand...

[Eemerald]

farming isnt that bad, sure its a shitty job, but its one of the most vital, same as mining int he game.

teck pretty much summed it all up, i find if u have two people doing it, it works much quicker, if ure harvest flax for isntance someone is picking fibres and storing or making cloth with them. same with straw from wheat.

i keep a quern by the wheat for flour
i keep herbalist tables close to tea so i can put them on quickyly, same as hemp
i keep a loom in cart with cupboards, to make cloth easily where flax is
i have the wine press and barrels and buckets close to grape field
i have seperate farm areas for food produce and non food produce, each stored in different places, so wheat, carrots, beets, peppers, peas, onions, poppies in one section, and flax, hemp, tea, wine in another.
Have 2 mansions on either side for storing the items produced. excess items are fed to animals or dumped
seeds are sorted in cupboards that are in carts

and do not plant huge fields, it really is a waste, especially if u dont have many ppl to feed or animals to feed. keep it small and focus on quality.

[MagicManICT]

Ok, I'm one of the crazy ones around here, then. Love farming, love mining. Hate hauling the products everywhere. Love cooking, hate running after product all the time... (get where I'm going with this? ) To prevent hauling things everywhere, I kept a LOT of large chests laying around that are easily accessible and a cart or two with cart paths.

Teck, that's probably one of the best farming tutorials I've read. It could probably be expanded a bit for a full tutorial, but still one of the best.

A couple of notes about using the scroll wheel to quality sort or transfer items between two containers. Nobody ever mentions this, either. The mouse pointer MUST be pointing over the target container's window! It's also advised to only have the two inventory windows open, too, as having more can confuse the client as to which is the source. Nothing like scrolling all of your curiosities out of your mentory on accident. (No, I haven't done this, but have read of others doing it. I'm just smarter than the average bear. )

[ImAwesome]

Nothing like scrolling all of your curiosities out of your mentory on accident. (No, I haven't done this, but have read of others doing it. I'm just smarter than the average bear. )

I mouse wheeled the wrong way and did that trying to add more curiosities(thankfully it was only a dandelion and a cone cow)

[jordancoles]

Farm guide:

1. Log on
2. Put on a scythe and get some leather pouches for seeds
3. Start harvesting in a zigzag pattern down the rows
4. Replant the best quality seeds in the spot where you just harvested
5. Dispose of the seeds in the best way that works at the time for the village (planting grass, feeding animals, etc)
6. Hate your life and be forever the village bitch

[Eemerald]

why zigzag patterns?!

[bmjclark]

why zigzag patterns?!

[MagicManICT]

Ignore the troll. Check his post history to see what I mean.