Chapter 1: The Light Grows

Once again, you’re awoken by Rowan, only this time it’s to alert you to a stranger’s presence. He wants you to head to town right away. Follow the path south from the farm to the center of Beacon Town, where a traveling merchant by the name of Sam is wandering around.

Sam wants to reopen his shop in Beacon Town and is only too happy to accept your offer to repair the damaged building. In order to repair the shop, however, you need wood. And that means finding an Axe.

Bamboo Shoots for Sally

Leave Sam and make your way to Jeanne’s house. You’ll likely find her looking across to the lighthouse, just south of her home. Jeanne’s thrilled to hear Sam is back and believes Naomi may have an Axe you can use. Naomi lives in town, inside a house with a blue roof.

Return to town and cross the bridge in the southeast corner to reach Naomi’s house. Naomi isn’t home, but her very skeptical daughter, Sally, is and she wants you gone. Take Rowan’s advice and return to Jeanne once again. Jeanne suggests befriending Sally with a Bamboo Shoot. If you haven’t already foraged any of the Bamboo Shoots growing near Jeanne’s house, do so now and return to Sally’s house in town. It’s also worth looking by the lighthouse for any flowers that can be foraged.

Sally sees right through your ploy but is willing to accept the gift. In fact, she even guides you in the process of gifting an item from the Bag. Opt to “Hold” the item, walk it over to Sally, and give it to her. She’s appreciative, but she still doesn’t trust you. She wants to see some crops from your farm.

Proof of Farming

Sally wants you to show her some crops you’ve farmed, but Cabbages take three days to grow. You must wait another day before the first batch of crops is ready to be harvested. In the meantime, return to your farm and spend the rest of the day—until you run out of Stamina, that is—pulling weeds. You can purchase more seeds as soon as you repair Sam’s shop, so you might as well clear some land. Don’t spend any time tilling soil since it returns to grass overnight. Continue clearing weeds until you have just half a Stamina Heart remaining, then go to sleep. It might only be noon, but your work for the day is done.

Smiling Hearts of Stamina The smiley face and hearts at the top of the screen represent your Health and Stamina. The color of the smiley face indicates how well-rested you are from the prior night. Getting a good night’s sleep is critical, as it keeps you in good health and lets you perform the maximum number of actions (hoeing, pulling weeds, chopping wood, etc.,) per Stamina Heart. Smiley faces come in four colors: Red: Go to bed before 12:00 a.m. for maximum Stamina. Wake up at 6:00 a.m. Orange: Go to sleep between 12:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. Wake up at 7:00 a.m. Green: Go to sleep between 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. Wake up at 10:00 a.m. Blue: Stay up until 5:00 a.m. or pass out from exhaustion (lack of Stamina). Wake up at 12:00 p.m. The more tired you are, the faster your Stamina Hearts drain as you go about your day completing tasks. Stamina only drains from doing chores, however, not by walking around or talking with villagers, so you can still get a fair bit done (and travel home) with just half a heart remaining. Though you begin with five Stamina Hearts, it’s possible to gain five additional hearts for a total of ten, but that isn’t possible until much later in the game. In the meantime, take comfort in knowing there are two ways to replenish Stamina throughout the day. First, you can restore Stamina by eating food. We recommend hoarding as many Bamboo Shoots and Mushrooms as you can find, as they each replenish a full Stamina Heart and are both free and abundant. Secondly, you can take a soak in the Hot Springs (once repaired) and replenish a full red Stamina Heart every twenty seconds for free.

You wake on Spring 4 to a field of Cabbages and, most likely, some Red Cabbage too if you planted two rows of them and got lucky. There are many factors that govern whether a crop mutates, and even when conditions are perfect for mutation, there’s still a probability factor that keeps it from being guaranteed (see the Farmer’s Handbook chapter for complete details).

Collect the Cabbage and head to Sally’s house. Most townsfolk don’t let you enter their houses first thing in the morning, but this is a special circumstance. Naomi, Sally’s mom, happily accepts the Cabbage from you and gives you the Axe in return.

General Repairs

You only need 5x Softwood Lumber and 100G to repair Sam’s General Store. You began Spring 2 with 1000G, so you needn’t worry about money, and the lumber isn’t hard to collect. Return to your farm and approach any of the evergreen trees you see (the ones with the pink leaves are Hardwood trees, which the Axe can’t cut without an upgrade). We recommend clearing away the trees nearest your house.

Press the Action Button near a tree to chop it. You get 1-3x Softwood Lumber per tree you cut. Cut the stump for an additional one or two pieces of Softwood Lumber. Chop more trees than necessary, as you need a lot of Softwood Lumber going forward. Be sure to mind your Stamina.

Return to town, approach Sam’s General Store in the northwest corner, and perform the repair. Sam is so overjoyed, he decides to give you the Second Stone Tablet as a sign of his gratitude. Now that the store is repaired, you can now buy and sell a host of goods, including seeds.

Jeanne and Rowan comment on Sam and the Stone Tablet. Afterward, hurry off to the lighthouse and place the Stone Tablet in the panel. This time, however, nothing happens. Rowan believes you need to repair more buildings to encourage additional people to return to Beacon Town.

Return to town and approach the building directly south of Sam’s General Store. Carol’s Flowers can be repaired next for 7x Softwood Lumber and 200G. Take a look around the area to get a feel for the repair costs of the other buildings in Beacon Town. The owners of Carol’s Flowers won’t return until tomorrow, so take the rest of the day to collect additional Softwood Lumber and pull weeds around your farm.

Being the traveling merchant that he is, Sam likes to switch up his location throughout the week. On Fridays, you can find him near your house, along the road leading south from the farm. Sell any Cabbage or Red Cabbage you find to Sam, but hold on to your flowers and Bamboo Shoots. Purchase several Celery Seeds, Onion Seeds, and Strawberry Seeds from him, but be mindful of how much money you have. Don’t fall below 600G for now. Plant and water the seeds you purchase, then head south to Beacon Town.

Carol and her son Dean have returned to Beacon Town thanks to you rebuilding Carol’s Flowers. As a thank-you, Dean rewards you with 5x Marguerite Seeds and 5x Fertilizer. Blossom, the Harvest Sprite of Flowers, appears after Dean and Carol leave. If Rowan’s theory is right, Blossom’s power can combine with his to power the Stone Tablet you placed earlier. Take care of any other tasks you want to accomplish this day, then return to the lighthouse and give it a try.