Running a farm in Stardew Valley can be quite an imposing task, especially when you’re first starting out and have no idea what possibilities that game has in store for you. There is a lot you can do with the space granted to you by your grandfather, and many farmers will want to try a bit of everything.
Using the space efficiently is definitely a challenge that most will have to face. If profit is the name of the game, then you’ll need to adapt your designs and pick up some handy tips to make the absolute best of your farm.
Updated December 6, 2021 by Ryan Bamsey: Stardew Valley is one of those timeless games that never gets old, and more and more players are picking it up every day. We’ve taken another look at farming layout strategies to make sure you know everything you could possibly need to.
12 Special Honey Is Better
It may seem like an obvious fact that the Honey produced by Bee Houses will change depending on the flowers near them, but knowing the ins and outs of Honey production is useful knowledge to have if you want to maximize profit, and budding apiarists may want to take the Artisan profession.
Flower Honey is produced when there are fully grown flowers within five spaces of the Bee House. The formula for the price of this Honey uses the flower’s base price, so the more expensive flowers make for the best-selling Honey. For maximum profit use the following flowers:
11 Build Towards Your Personal Goals
It may seem like an obvious tip but it’s still an important one: there is no wrong way to play Stardew Valley. Sure, there are ways to increase your efficiency and maximize your profit, but making your farm and the surrounding areas look aesthetically pleasing might end up being your principal goal above all others.
Don’t get too bogged down with making everything work as well as it possibly can if you don’t want to. Alternatively, build the uber-capitalist money maker of your dreams. The best layout tip is to make a farm that you’re happy with, whether you’re going for aesthetics or efficiency.
10 Self-Sustaining Grass Starters
Using fences, it is possible to create patches of grass that grow entirely on their own and cannot be eaten by your animals. Simply place some grass starters down and surround them with fences - the grass will spread even outside the fences.
Place these grass enclosures within your animal pens and you’ll have a pretty reliable source of food for three months of the year. You’ll have to start the process all over again on the first day of Spring but it’s time saved in the long run.
9 Scarecrow Range
Scarecrows are a crucial part of crop management in Stardew Valley. As the name implies, they protect your crops from winged devastation by warding crows away. However, they can only do this at a certain range. And like with Bee Houses, a good farmer will know this like the back of their hand.
Scarecrows scare crows at a range of eight spaces. This forms a large circle around the Scarecrow — the radius consists of every square that could be reached within eight spaces of walking. Note that this is the same for the special Rarecrows too, they just look different.
8 Space For Grazing
If you are a farmer dedicated to animal products, you’ll know that these animals need to be fed. While you could just stock up on hay from Marnie’s shop or store grass in a handy silo, letting your farmyard critters feast on wild grass just feels better — and it’s less effort.
Make sure that your barns and coops have plenty of space to let this grass grow. Grass can spread each morning. And with enough space, you’ll never need to spend time cutting grass or hoping that Marine’s shop is open ever again.
7 Keep Casks Indoors
Once you have paid for the cellar expansion to your farmhouse, you will learn the recipe for crafting casks. These are useful items that allow you to age your artisan goods for an overall increase in price.
Importantly, they do not work outdoors and will only be functional in your cellar. As far as layout tips go, you don’t get much blunter than “keep your casks in your cellar.”
6 Giant Crops
There are three crops that have a chance to grow into gigantic versions of themselves each morning when they are placed in a 3x3 square. For this to happen, the crop in the center must be fully grown and watered. You’ll have a one percent chance of a giant crop appearing on the next day if these conditions are met.
While it may seem like these crops are just a fun secret, they’re also quite beneficial — when harvested, these crops produce 15-21 items so they’re quite space-efficient. Keep this 3x3 rule in mind when planting your crops and you could end up being very lucky! Each season (apart from Winter) has a crop that may turn into a giant:
5 Efficient Barns And Coops
This tip saves both time and the possibility of mucking up your daily routine. Placing artisan machines inside your barns and coops will make sure that you remember to process all of your animal goods every day, as well as condition you into checking on their hay supply and petting them too.
Place Cheese Presses with cows, Looms with sheep, Mayonnaise Machines with chickens, and Oil Makers with pigs and you’ll be consistently making expensive goods in no time at all.
4 Less Effort, More Distance
As you progress through Stardew Valley, you’ll end up with a lot of things to do. Some of these must be done almost every day, such as watering your crops and feeding your animals. Other things don’t need this daily dedication, such as harvesting Fruit Trees or picking up items from Fish Ponds.
Keep this fact in mind when planning out your farm. Keep your daily tasks closer to your farmhouse and purposefully place the more infrequent tasks further away. This will save you a lot of time overall, which you can then spend socializing or battling monsters.
3 Quality Over Quantity
You’ll gain access to the normal Sprinkler recipe quite early on in your career as a farmer, but it’s something of a trap. The basic Sprinkler will only water four spaces every day, one for each cardinal direction. Trying to make any sort of efficient farm with this will be a hassle and likely won’t look aesthetically pleasing.
Instead, wait until you have at least unlocked Quality Sprinklers, which water the eight surrounding spaces and are much more efficient. Using Sprinklers well will save time and energy on hoeing, watering, and crop planting.
2 Every Little Helps
This is a very simple one but it pleases both the eye and the time-saver within. When it’s time to construct the Stable, place it right beside your house. Not only does this make the horse very easy to get to and quick to mount, but its design suits the farmhouse really well.
The horse is a great way to save time on travel, and placing the Stable any further away would just be a hindrance. This is especially true with farm maps such as the Riverland Farm and the Hill-top Farm, as they can be a chore to navigate.
1 Handy Outdoor Machinery
Sheds are a great way to save on space and keep unsightly production setups out of view, but keeping your machines indoors means you don’t readily know when they are done with their tasks. To avert this, place a single copy of the machine in question just outside the shed. For example, if you have a shed full of Kegs for making Wine, place one Keg outside and have it work alongside the Kegs indoors.
With this, you have a largely unobtrusive way of knowing when your Shed’s production is ready. When the machine outside is done, the ones inside will be too. This strategy is best used with artisan goods that require more than one day to produce, such as Wine, Juice, Oil, and Preserves. Note that this won’t work with Casks as they only work at all inside your cellar.
NEXT: Stardew Valley: Complete Guide And Walkthrough
