Hunger is the primary survival mechanic you have to maintain while playing Forsaken Isle. For a wanderer simply trying to make it by on what they scavenge and hunt, this can be a very challenging aspect. If you are constantly looking to the horizon for one more berry, one more chicken, one more pineapple to just get you through to the next day alive, then it's time to hang up the nomad's cloak and settle down to good ol' fashioned agriculture.

Setting up a basic farm in the game is easier than you think, and you can have it up and running in a very short time. This guide will show you the basics for how to gather the necessary pieces you need to start and go through the farming process both for growing crops and raising animals. This is not an all-inclusive guide for the whole game however, so an understanding of the basics of gameplay is expected for making full use of this guide.

Before we get started farming, the first thing to do is pick a suitable location. For this you will want a fairly large area covered in either grass or dirt. Ideally it will also be the location of your house or base. You can even begin building your base before you start farming if you choose. The only real necessity for your farm however is space and grass or dirt tiles.

You should have already begun crafting basic tools by now. The easiest tools to craft are made using Flint, Branches, and Cord (which is made from Fiber, you can collect from ferns). This will allow you to make Axes, Pickaxes, Shovels, and Hoes.

To prepare your land you may need to clear out a lot of brush. Cut down any trees in your way, you will notice that they leave stumps behind, which if left alone will allow the tree to grow back. To get rid of them entirely use your shovel to remove the stump. This will also remove any grass as well, but you can fill it back in easily with grass seeds which are plentiful (HINT: If you need more grass seeds, use your shovel on areas you plan to till with your hoe before you till it). If you accidentally dug too far, and have a hole don't fret, you should have a dirt clump you can easily fill the hole in with!

In addition to trees you may find small plants and weeds, just break all these and in not time you should have a nice open field ready for farming!

In order to farm, you need seeds, luckily these are plentiful and you don't need a lot to get started. So let's go through the different seed types and what to look for!

Carrots are found in the wild and look as you would expect them too, look for 2 green leaves atop an orange stalk sticking out of the ground!




Oranges appear as a small green bush with three orange fruit on it



Tomato, Flax, and Grain can be obtained at random by harvesting Tall Grass which is found in abundance in the wild. Harvest every bit of tall grass you find to look for these seeds!








Berries grow on small round bushes, if you interact with them it will simply harvest the berries and leave the plant alone, however if you use a shovel it will dig up the berry bush and you can replant it where you like.

Pineapples appear as brownish round plants with a leafy crown atop a larger green plant. When you harvest them you will only get the pineapple but by putting the pineapple into your crafting menu you can create a pineapple crown which can be planted.

Before you begin planting your seeds, you first need to till the soil, to do that you will need a hoe. A basic hoe can be made with 1 stick, 2 flint, and 1 cord (2 fiber). Berry Bushes and Pineapples do not need tilled soil to be planted, but most seeds do. You may also consider a fence as well but it isn't necessary, it does look nice though.







So now we begin to till our soil. You should plan out about how big you want a field to be, it's better to make it larger than you need than smaller. You can make it any shape you want but rectangular shapes work best for effeciency purposes. Simply equip your hoe and start tilling the ground.











Now that our ground is tilled, equip the seeds you wish and start planting. Before a crop has fully grown, you will uproot the seeds by walking over them, so start at one far side of the field and plant each spot as you walk backwards towards the other side. If you don't have enough seeds to fill up your field that's okay! All plants grown from seeds have a good chance of dropping more than one seed, so after a few successful harvests you will have enough seeds to cover the entire field with extra to spare! Your tilled areas also won't degrade so go ahead and lay out how big you want even if you don't yet have the seeds to fill it. You can even end up with a giant field of crops starting from a single seed.



So our field is all planted. What now? Well now all you need to do is wait. It takes roughly 1 in-game day for crops to grow. In the meantime you can begin work on your next field, or do any of a number of other interesting things!

Each crop has 3 visual stages of growth. The first is the seed stage which is as it appears when you first plant the seeds. The second is the immature phase, you will often see the plant is just green with nothing else growing on it, and the final ripe phase when the plant is ready for harvest. Once you harvest a plant you will receive the primary item (Flax, Tomato, Carrot, Orange, or Wheat) as well as seeds. You should replant right away after harvesting.


The following is the type of crops you can grow from seeds:

Carrots

Carrots can be eaten raw for +6 Hunger, or cooked into roast carrots for +10 hunger. They are also used as an ingredient in making Stew, which recovers +25 hunger, the highest in the game, making carrots very valuable!










Oranges

Perhaps the least useful plant to grow, Oranges can be eaten for +5 hunger, and aren't really used in any crafting recipes












Tomatoes

Tomatoes only recover +4 hunger, less than oranges, but can be used to make Pizza, which you create in batches of 4, each one healing +10 hunger each.











Flax

Flax when harvested gives you Fiber which is otherwise a non-renewable resource. It is used to make Bandages which heals +5 health and removes bleeding, and Cord which is a primary ingredient in tons of recipes, particular tools and weapons, making Flax a very valuable crop to grow.








Wheat

Wheat is grown from grain. It can be processed with a mill to make flour, then crafted into dough which can be used in an oven to make Bread which satisfies +20 Hunger, or used in a kitchen to make Rolled Dough which is a prime ingredient in making Pizza. Additionally, Wheat can be crafted into Animal Feed which is necessary for breeding animals.

Farming isn't only about growing plants, it's also about raising animals. There are three primary animals suitable for farming, Chicken, Sheep, and Pigs.

To begin we will need to build an enclosure for our animals. The simplest method is to build a Fence which you only need a workbench for (5 logs and 1 cord) and 1 log per 3 fences.

You will also need to create a Woodendoor using 4 planks. You can turn logs into planks by using a lathe which is made with 2 logs and 1 chisel (1 stick + 1 flint). The woodendoor will allow you to enter in and out of your pen without your animals escaping!

When you build your pen you can make any shape or size you want, but keep in mind the further animals are from each other, the more tedious and time consuming breeding can be.

Next you will need Troughs. These are made using 3 planks. They allow you to breed animals. It is recommended to build multiple troughs to speed up the breeding process!

Now we build our enclosure. For simplicity, a square area is fine, with a 1 tile gap on one side for you to place your door. You can either leave the ground as grass or dig it up to turn into dirt, it's all aesthetic preference. Placing your feed trough in the center of the field is the easiest way to ensure breeding.

Once your enclosure is done, the last thing you will need is an Animal Lead. These are made simply by using 3 cords (6 fiber).

You now have a lead, it's time to find an animal. Start nearby, it can take a little time to lead the animal back to the enclosure, so the less ground you have to cover the better. It's also recommended to begin in the morning so you have all day to get the animal back before nightfall.


To lead an animal all you have to do is equip the lead and click the animal. Then you walk back towards your enclosure. Take note however that if you get too far from the animal, the lead is broken and it will fall to the ground and you will have to place it back on the animal. It's best to walk slowly and keep close to the animal giving it time to catch up.


You can even craft multiple leads and wrangle many animals at once. This can save you a lot of time and effort if you can find groups of animals together you can get them all to come with you.

Just lead your animals into their new enclosure, then run out and shut the door and voila! You have your first livestock.

To start breeding animals you will need at least two of the same kind of animal in a pen, at least one trough, and animal feed.



Animal Feed is made by combining 3 wheat together, so you need to have a wheat field going to provide the materials. 1 Animal feed will fill 1 trough.







Simply walk up to a trough with the Animal Feed selected and fill it up. Nearby animals will then start to eat from it.




When animals have eaten they will have floating hearts above their head. When 2 animals that have these hearts are in close enough proximity they will breed and a baby variant of that animal will show up. It will take a little time for this baby to reach maturity.



Each trough when filled with feed will supply feed for 2 animals before it is empty. It is for this reason if you want to maximize your breeding you will want multiple troughs. When the population of your enclosure has reached a satisfactory size (really this is up to you) then you can slaughter some of them for resources and food. Be sure to always keep a minimum of 2 however so you can always breed more. You may even keep a separate pen and lead 2 out to that pen and you can keep bouncing back and forth as you breed and slaughter your animals.

You can get a fully functioning farm with all the basic crops and animals set up in a matter of days. Then it just becomes a matter of routine planting and harvesting, breeding and slaughtering. Luckily there's no real maintenance involved in farm upkeep so you only need to bother with this routine when you need a certain resource. Already have 100s of carrots or fiber? Well you can just ignore those fields for awhile, they will be there when you need them. Just because your animal pens are bursting and your crops are all ripe doesn't mean you need to tend to them now, go and enjoy many of the other fun aspects of the game!

NOTE: There are a few other crops available in-game you can grow such as Blazeblooms and Glow Bulbs but these are more mid to late game items and thus beyond the scope of basic farming.

Final Words: Thank you for reading this guide, I hope it helps at least a few people get started on creating a working farm in their game. I am always open to constructive criticism and if you have any suggestions for changes or additions to the guide please let me know!