Farming and Harvesting

[Kazemi]

So I just started harvesting and I was wondering how you can tell when the stuff is ripe. I noticed that my source of seeds appeared to be on natural ground instead of tilled earth, so am I right in assuming that the ground will change when they're ready to be harvested?

EDIT: Hmm. It appears that I might not even have to till the ground to plant stuff. I think I missed when I was doing it in the dark and one of my Pumpkins seems to be in normal ground...

[Potjeh]

Nah, that's just decay turning ploughed land back into forest. You can tell when stuff is ripe by it's graphics - they change as the crop grows.

[Cookie]

The easiest way to tell if stuff is ripe is to right click on it. If it is ripe a "Harvest" option pops up.
The only exception to this is carrots. At the middle stage of their development they get white dots all over them, meaning they have gone to seed. If you pick them then you get carrot seeds instead of carrots. Wait a bit longer until the white dots disappear and you will get the carrots instead.

Should you accidentally miss the carrot seed harvest, don't fret. You can plant whole carrots the same way you plant onions and seeds.

Don't forget that you need a 4 x 4 empty square in your inventory to harvest those pumpkins!

I find a seed bag a huge help for sorting seeds to upgrade my crop, and for storing seeds for travel and trade and such.

Once upon a time I covetted a metal plough, until I had one. They plough around the same amount of square footage that the wooden plough does, only much faster. Then they both break. At that point two blocks are easy to repair the wooden plough but the darn metal plough requires as much metal to fix as to build it in the first place. Metal ploughs are only for mine owners who need some way to use up the excess cast iron they are grinding. The speed option is nice... but not much more.

[Kazemi]

The easiest way to tell if stuff is ripe is to right click on it. If it is ripe a "Harvest" option pops up.
The only exception to this is carrots. At the middle stage of their development they get white dots all over them, meaning they have gone to seed. If you pick them then you get carrot seeds instead of carrots. Wait a bit longer until the white dots disappear and you will get the carrots instead.

Should you accidentally miss the carrot seed harvest, don't fret. You can plant whole carrots the same way you plant onions and seeds.

Don't forget that you need a 4 x 4 empty square in your inventory to harvest those pumpkins!

I find a seed bag a huge help for sorting seeds to upgrade my crop, and for storing seeds for travel and trade and such.

Once upon a time I covetted a metal plough, until I had one. They plough around the same amount of square footage that the wooden plough does, only much faster. Then they both break. At that point two blocks are easy to repair the wooden plough but the darn metal plough requires as much metal to fix as to build it in the first place. Metal ploughs are only for mine owners who need some way to use up the excess cast iron they are grinding. The speed option is nice... but not much more.

The carrot is actually the reason I asked this question. It seems you can't harvest crops before they're ripe, except for carrots of course. Also, thanks for the info on the metal plough, I'll keep that in mind before I waste whatever metal I find on it.

This seed bag you speak of seems quite useful. What would I need to obtain one of these mystical devices?

[Cookie]

You need one square of leather, and one fibre.

I assume you can use a stringy taproot for the fibre. If not use flax or hemp fibre.

The Leatherworking skill is expensive if you don't have it because it costs 1000 lp -first you invest 400 in Animal Husbandry, and then another 600 in Leatherworking itself. However, if you haven't done so make it a priority. Leatherworking is the skill needed to make a backpack and a backpack will enlarge you inventory. You will also need a tanning tub (I make four so as to make 4 rabbit skins into a backpack in one go) and a bucket to fill the tub, both made out of planks, which require carpentry and a saw.