Harvest Moon 64/Summer (Year 1)

It's summer! While it means hot lazy vacation days for most people, this will be one of the busiest seasons for you. Summer is the season of money, with tomatoes selling for 90G and corn selling for a whopping 120G. Although money is a priority this season, remember that there are higher priorities. If you get too tired to water your crops, go to sleep. Missing a couple of crops is much better than getting sick and missing a whole day.

At this point, if you have been incubating chickens as often as possible, you should have two chickens and a couple of chicks. This will become a decent source of money soon. Maria should be at a green heart or higher and both Elli and Karen should be at a blue heart or higher. If Karen is behind, as long as you don't mind taking advantage of the Dog Glitch, you should be okay.

Summer 1st
The first things that are obviously different are the new song and the weather channel report. You'll soon find that the wild growing plants have also changed. This means that your daily route will also change a little.

Maria has the next few days off, so we're going to invert our daily route. We need to go through town first, give gifts there and get the music box fixed before going through collecting wild herbs. This should give you a little bit of time to water some crops in the morning since most shops don't open until 9:00 (Rick's opens at 10:00). Maria will usually be somewhere around Moon Mountain or near the goddess pond, but sometimes stands near the church.

The first day of Summer is cause for celebration! Today is the Fireworks festival and we're going to be spending it with Maria. We don't need to worry about that until night, however, for this festival is one of those where everyone still walks around during the day. Rick's will be closed, but Lillia's will be open. Feed your chickens and chop down any crops that you didn't get to during spring. Give an egg to Elli and a flower to Basil, then go to the Flower Shop. Buy either 3 bags of tomato seeds and 2 bags of corn seeds or 3 bags of corn seeds and two bags of tomato seeds. Corn sells for a bit more than tomatoes, but it doesn't really make that much of a difference. Either way, walk out of Lillia's with 5 bags of seeds. Go through Moon Mountain gathering wild plants, giving a gift to Maria who's sure to be here.

Go back to your farm and plant the 5 seeds as close to the shipping bin as possible. It will take two trips from the watering hole to get all the plots watered. By now, it's probably night. Fill the watering can back up and head to the town square. If you didn't have enough money to buy the bottle, Rick will be selling it here. Buy it if you didn't earlier. Maria is in the top left corner, so find her and talk to her to watch fireworks, then light little sparklers. After creating lasting memories, the game will automatically end the day.

Summer 2nd and 3rd
The next few days are normal. This should be your routine for now: The first thing you do in the morning is feed your chickens and collect eggs (keep one for Elli). Then water your plants until around 8:30. Run into town and give an egg to Elli and have Rick fix up your music box. Check for Maria next to the church, then leave town and go into Moon Mountain. Collect wild herbs and flowers and hand them out to whomever you please. Remember that walnuts and Medicinal Herbs sell for the most. Maria will most likely be here by the fisherman's tent, by the goddess pond, or near the cave. Hand her a music box and a flower (or cabbages if you stored any in your rucksack from spring). Maria should get to a yellow heart around this time. When you're done collecting herbs, run back to your farm and water your crops until you are too tired or it gets to around 10:00 or 11:00. Soon, you will get the silver watering can and watering will become much easier. For now, though, just water as much as you can without risking getting sick.