Everything You Need to Know About Farming in Enshrouded
Let's start a farm in Enshrouded
Setting up a farm in Enshrouded is one of the best investments you can make during your playthrough. While you can find most resources in the wild, it’s much more efficient to grow them yourself.
Farming provides materials used to craft a variety of important items. You can grow everything from berries and vegetables to herbs and resources used in more advanced crafting recipes. You can even raise animals and produce materials without constantly venturing out into Embervale.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the entire process, from unlocking the Farmer and setting up your first farming plot to crafting seedlings and growing crops.
How to Unlock Farming in Enshrouded
Before you can start farming, you’ll need to rescue Emily Fray, the Farmer, from an Ancient Vault in the Springlands. Without her, you won’t be able to access the game’s farming recipes.
She’s one of the survivors you can bring back to your base and is responsible for unlocking most of the game’s farming and cooking-related crafting recipes.
Fortunately, you get the quest to rescue her quite early in the game. It’s called Growing Stronger Together, and it involves travelling to the Farmer’s Ancient Vault in the Springlands, solving a puzzle, and rescuing her.
The puzzle can be a bit confusing, as it involves finding three switches to open a door. We already have a guide on How to Complete the Farmer’s Ancient Vault, so check it out if you get stuck.
Once you’ve summoned her to your base, the Growing Stronger Together quest will be complete, and you’ll have access to the Farmer’s crafting recipes.
What Does the Farmer Unlock?
Emily Fray is responsible for several important crafting stations and recipes. While the Seedbed is the most important one for farming, she also unlocks cooking stations, animal husbandry recipes, and various other useful items.
Some of the most important things you’ll gain access to include:
- Seedbed: Used to make seedlings for various crops. Each recipe requires some of the original crop.
- Farm Soil: Used to plant your seedlings and as an ingredient in some seedling recipes.
- Fertilised Farm Soil: An improved soil type used in certain farming recipes and for faster crop growth.
- Cooking Station: Used to prepare basic meals.
- Oven: Used to prepare more advanced food recipes.
- Animal Husbandry: Allows you to craft animal feed, shelters, and other equipment for raising animals.
You won’t unlock every recipe immediately, as some require additional materials or completing the Farmer’s quests. However, you’ll have everything you need to start working on your first farm.
How to Set Up Your First Farm in Enshrouded
To set up your first farm, you’ll need two things: Farm Soil and a Seedbed. Both recipes are available through the Farmer, although you’ll need to gather a few materials before you can craft them.
How to Craft Farm Soil
Farm Soil is the basic terrain used to grow most crops in Enshrouded. You can craft it at the Farmer using:
| Material | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Springlands Dirt | 7 |
| Bonemeal | 3 |
| Farm Soil produced | 10 |
You can collect Springlands Dirt by digging into suitable terrain in the Springlands. Bonemeal is made by processing Bones at the Grinding Stones, so gather some bones while exploring if you don’t already have any.
Once you’ve crafted your first batch, you don’t necessarily need to make more. There’s a way to expand your supply of Farm Soil without spending additional materials. Use the Construction Hammer to place a block of Farm Soil, then use the Rake to extend it across the area you want to cover. Since the Rake doesn’t consume building materials, you can expand your farming plot without crafting more Farm Soil.
How to Craft and Place a Seedbed
The Seedbed is the main workstation you’ll use to produce seedlings. You can craft it through Emily Fray using the following materials:
| Material | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Wood Logs | 10 |
| Metal Scraps | 2 |
| Farm Soil | 10 |
| Seedbeds produced | 1 |
Crafting seedlings takes time, with most recipes taking three minutes to complete. At the start, one Seedbed should be enough, but as your farm expands, consider setting up a couple more so you can craft different seedlings simultaneously.
How to Prepare a Farming Plot
With your Seedbed and Farm Soil ready, you have everything you need to start your first farm.
You can place Farm Soil as terrain using the Construction Hammer, letting you create a dedicated farming area instead of relying on whatever ground is already available.
As for the design, you can do whatever you want with it. It’s your base, after all. You can start with a few small plots or flatten out a huge area to make a massive farm. It’s entirely up to you.
Once your farming area is ready, the next step is to craft some seedlings.
How to Craft Seedlings in Enshrouded
You can’t plant harvested crops directly. Instead, you’ll need to turn them into seedlings using the Seedbed.
Most Seedbed recipes require a harvested plant and a suitable soil or other crafting material. You’ll also need to keep the Seedbed supplied with water. A nearby well makes this much easier, as you can use it to collect water for your crafting recipes.
Most recipes produce five seedlings and take three minutes to complete. Some crops, including Flax and Aloe, produce 10 seedlings instead.
You also don’t need to remember recipes, as most seedling recipes are automatically unlocked when you harvest the corresponding plant for the first time. For example, to unlock the Penny Bun Seedling recipe, you’ll need to find and collect a Penny Bun in the wild.
How to Plant and Grow Seedlings
Once the Seedbed finishes crafting, you’ll have seedlings ready to plant. Equip them in your hotbar and place them on suitable terrain within your Flame Altar’s building area.
Tip: If you want a cleaner-looking farm, use Snapping Mode while planting seedlings.
The type of ground you use matters. Different seedlings accept different soil types, and planting something in unsuitable terrain can prevent it from growing properly. However, you don’t need to worry about this too much. Apart from a few exceptions, most seedlings will grow fine on Farm Soil.
Some crops also have special water requirements. Most can grow on dry ground or with limited submersion, but certain plants need to be grown underwater. Rice, for example, needs to be at least partially submerged, while Algae must be fully underwater.
After planting, give your crops time to grow. You can harvest them once they reach maturity.
You’ll also need the Watering Can. When you look at a planted seedling with it equipped, you can see its growth stage, preferred soil, and water level. This makes it easier to check whether your crops have the conditions they need to grow.
That’s pretty much everything you need to know to start farming resources in Enshrouded. Next, let’s look at how to make the process faster.
All Farm Soil Types and How to Craft Them
Enshrouded has several soil types, each with different uses and crafting requirements. While regular Farm Soil is enough to get started, you’ll eventually need better varieties to grow more advanced crops efficiently.
Here are the main soil types you can craft through Emily Fray:
| Soil Type | Crafting Recipe | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
| Farm Soil | 7 Springlands Dirt + 3 Bonemeal | 10 |
| Flower Soil | 10 Farm Soil + 1 Honey | 10 |
| Fertilised Farm Soil | 10 Farm Soil + 10 Sand + 2 Fossilised Bone Dust + 3 Nitrate | 10 |
| Basalt Farm Soil | 5 Fertilised Farm Soil + 10 Basalt Dust | 10 |
Farm Soil is the basic option and works for many early-game crops. Flower Soil is primarily used for flowers and certain specialised plants.
Fertilised Farm Soil is particularly useful because it speeds up the growth of many crops. It’s a good choice once you have access to the materials needed to craft it.
Finally, Basalt Farm Soil is used for several high-tier crops, including Aurora Beans, Bloomheart Fruit, Grandleaf Cabbage, Prickle Pearl, and Thyme. These plants require Basalt Farm Soil, so regular Farm Soil won’t work as a substitute.
There are also specialised soils, such as Shroud Infused Farm Soil, used for particular plants. Always check the seedling’s requirements before preparing a large field.
How to Speed Up Crop Growth in Enshrouded
Waiting for crops to grow can take a while, especially if you’re trying to build up a large supply of crafting materials. Fortunately, there are a couple of ways to make the process more efficient.
The first is to use the correct soil. Fertilised Farm Soil is the fastest option for many seedlings, while certain plants have specific requirements that make other soil types more suitable.
The second is to adjust the Plant Growth Speed setting in your world settings. It controls how quickly planted crops grow and can be adjusted between 25% and 200%.
The default setting is 100%, while the Relaxed preset uses 200%. If you don’t mind changing your world settings, increasing this value is the simplest way to reduce waiting times.
That’s pretty much all you need to know about farming in Enshrouded. However, crops aren’t the only way to get materials in the game. Enshrouded also has several animals that can be tamed and bred to produce resources like Milk and Eggs. You’ll need these alongside the materials you get from farming, so check out our guide on All Tameable Animals in Enshrouded.
