is the farm just doomed to be a constant mess?

So, I've been playing this game for like a week now, and maybe I'm just too much of a perfectionist, but Grandpa sure leaves a gosh darn mess for you to clean up. With all of the rocks, trees, grass, etc. I could barely find my way through my own yard!

With all these quests on the side its become a little unrealistic to get the WHOLE thing cleaned up, especially since the mess grows with each season. BUT, my idealist mind wants to clear the entire thing so that I can have an orderly, organized, beautiful farm.

So my question is, what have you done with the crazy jungle of a farm? Have you cleaned it all off? or is that just ridiculous given the player's energy levels (example: it takes 1/3 of energy just to chop down 2 trees)? Is my farm doomed to be a constant mess if I'm ever going to get things done outside of the farm?

 

For the longest time yes. Winter is the best time to clear out tress though as they don't grow in winter. Also upgrading the axe and as you progress in foraging ranks helps.
But at first it sure feels like it's an impossible goal.

 

It takes a while, but eventually you'll get a handle of it! I still have a lot of organizing to do for mine, but it's fine enough that I just have grass on pretty much half the farm and I have trees concentrated in one corner. I think in the next patch, we'll be able to move buildings (or maybe the patch after that?) so that'll allow much easier customization.

I think it was maybe 2 or so years for me to completely clear the farm

 

I held back that part of me that wanted to clean my mess until I upgraded my tools. The upgraded Ax and Pickax really helped clean things up quickly and efficiently, cutting grass/bushes does not take energy (meaning using the scythe) and helped fill my Silo (Tip: Build a Silo first so you can stock up on Hay) and part of working to get my tools upgraded meant I got a Stardrop or two to add to my energy. Plus, it all returns the next season!

 

I had my farm so cleared. It was looking great. Then I got too busy to keep up with it and now it looks horrible.

 

I finally got it to where i wanted it, but it took a long time. Tip: have a layout planned, or else you'll spend a lot re-doing a lot of your farm like i did. use winter to your advantage it's the best time to clear imo

 

It can be really daunting at first, but I found usually by fall of first year I was starting to make enough headway to start pushing back the mess, and then usually by winter's end it's under control.

What I usually do is just start simple and small. Like clear a path to the upper and lower exits of the farm, give yourself space for your crops. Then bit by bit go through and try to clear out the bush-weeds/stones/sticks on the ground. If my day is ending where I have a bit of surplus energy I usually try to chop down a couple of the big trees (I always try to leave the mid-growing ones cause later on you are gonna want lots of wood) and push back the forest. Once you get a silo, you can harvest some of the grass into hay which is nice. But really I find that sticks/rocks/thosebushthings will also continue to spread so clearing them to just let grass grow in the stead makes things a bit easier. Especially since in winter both the bushes and grass just vanish.

 

Start small, and take it all a bit at a time. Clear out a bit for crops. Chop down trees, making sure you get the stumps, too. Scythe weeds--I even suggest scything grass, since it's doubtful you'll make a financial go of raising animals in the first year, and it grows like mad. Clear out stones, especially on days when your luck will be good. Some may even contain geodes, though that's usually more likely, in my experience, to happen in the mines.

You may want to keep pockets of your farm a mess. This will give you a constant source of wood and stone, useful as building materials (and trees, for tapping) especially as more appears with each new season.

The two tools to upgrade first are your axe, then your pickaxe. They will then require less hits to do the job. (Your skills will also improve through foraging and mining, making these these tasks easier.) But you'll need plenty of copper ore for that, which means buying it from Clint, or finding it down in the mines--especially around level 31-40. You may also receive metal bars as gifts, depending on well you get to know specific inhabitants.

Good luck! It only seems monumental at the beginning.

 

That's CA's secret plan for endgame by making you clean up forever Really just keep half the farm unchecked and you'll be fine, put buildings on the remaining space.

 

I will also point out that seasonal transitions cause random amounts of clutter and mess to appear, *especially* the winter to spring transition. So don't bother hoeing ground in preparation for spring, and expect to walk into Spring 1 having to clear your crop area again.

However, clutter does not appear on places that have flooring. So if you want to reduce maintenance on your farm as you go, put down flooring of some kind. This is *especially* useful if you're making an area where you're gathering sap from trees, as it will prevent the sprouting of new trees and therefore keep your paths easily traversed. You also walk faster on flooring or bare dirt than you do through grass, as you may have noticed, so those paths retain their usefulness the whole game through.

It's fall of year 2 for me and my farm is 80% not mess, 20% mess, this winter I'm planning on really going to town on it and getting it set up the way I want. As others have mentioned a plan is key, you can find a great planner here

https://stardew.info/planner

 

I LOVE the fact weeds grow after clearing things. I was actually worried weeds wouldn't grow and then it'd feel less immersive.

 

My only problem with that is that it can literally destroy things so you end up wasting a lot of farm space cause you can't really put things like kegs/preserves/rarecrows/furnaces/kilns without risking them being lost for good.

 

Once you take the time to clear everything, which like others have said is a lot easier with upgraded tools, it's pretty easy to upkeep I've found. I just clear up a little the first day of each season and cut the grass back every now and then and I'm sorted. I've gotten my farm to be pretty self reliant now with strategically placed trees and self watering crops. So I'm pretty happy. In the mornings I just tend to the animals and then can go about my day doing whatever I fancy. Did take six in game years to get to this point mind you, but it's worth it in the end.

 

Again it won't spawn on flooring, so just make sure you have floors under the items in question and that won't happen. Putting Rarecrows / Sprinklers on flooring is a good idea in general anyway, as it makes hoeing with upgraded tools WAY easier since you no longer have to work around the items in question. Of course I prefer having kegs and all that in my Tardi- ehrm Barns anyway for space conservation reasons but that's an expensive proposition when you're first starting out.

 

I was unaware of this property of flooring: thanks for pointing it out. I suppose you can't plant on top of flooring, though?

 

Gotta admit, never thought I'd ever hear someone praise weeds in a farming game Pretty useful IRL tho. I prefer them over regular plants because they grow like, well, weeds! zero maintenance and nutritious.

 

I had read they actually do destroy flooring rarely. Is that not true?

 

Weeds do destroy flooring, but they are very rare. Also lightning can destroy flooring. They're a quick and easy fix, though.

To prevent clutter from appearing on farm plots, what I do is plant a bunch of seeds on the last day of the season; they will wither and die on the 1st, but can quickly be scythed away. They'll even be pre-watered if you have sprinklers set up.

 

I got mine cleaned up pretty fast. You don't have a time limit for the quest so just take your time.

 

Well the board ones you do.