Stardew Valley/First Winter

Your first Winter
What you focus on doing during winter depends very much on how far you’ve come in the seasons leading up to it. Normally it is a period where you are free of the daily watering pressures, meaning you can do a lot more mining, fishing, and woodcutting. (And making friends with villagers, including courting a potential spouse.) It is a good time to bring tools to the Blacksmith for upgrading. Unfortunately - your income will drop, maybe a lot, maybe a little, depending on how well you have prepared.

If you’ve got stored produce, make sure you have enough Kegs, Preserving Jars, etc, to keep up with it. A single Pickled Pumpkin sells for 690gp, more than twice what a basic pumpkin would sell for. Kegs triple the value of fruits by fermenting them into Wine - although it takes 7 days.

You shouldn’t have to water crops outdoors in winter … except that once you complete the Winter Forage bundle, you’ll get Winter Seeds that will grow into these crops. These want to be planted outside and naturally *they* want watering. Winter seeds can also be obtained in lower numbers by crafting from a few foraged items, or by using a Seedmaker on Winter Roots.

If you have the Greenhouse, that will keep growing produce but of course it still wants watering. Make a high priority of organising sprinklers for the crops you plant in there. Plant Fruit Trees around the outer perimeter - they do not need to be planted in the centre soil, they can be planted right against the wall, or against greenhouse features, but you need two blank squares between any two trees. You can fit 18 trees around the Greenhouse. Once they have grown they will produce fruit every day for an excellent ongoing return - normally a fruit tree pays back its investment in one season and you make profits in the following year.

By the end of Winter, plant some Summer fruit trees outside. Make sure you have still have cash on hand - you’re going to be buying seeds again!