Harvest Moon 64/Spring (Year 1)

Spring 3rd
As you wake up on your first day and eat your morning rice balls, look around the room and make note of several things. First is the television. Turn it on by walking up to it and hitting. There are 4 different channels: one that tells you the next day's weather, one that gives help to beginners, one that gives that months festival dates, and one that is either entertainment (if you play the original Japanese version) or just staric (if you play the English version). Next is the book by the bed. This is not only used for saving and ending the day, but can also be used to check your current status and photographs or as a tutorial on how to use tools.

That out of the way, let's get started on your first (or third, as it seems to be) day. Outside, you'll see the mayor who wants to give you a tour of the town. If you are unfamiliar with the town, go ahead and take the tour, but it will take 2 hours out of the day. Either way, the first thing you want to do is to clear out the space in front of the shipping bin or barn and till a 3 by 3 square. If you're extraordinarily lucky, you'll find a power berry while tilling the soil, but don't count on it.

Leave your farm and take a right. This leads to a small clearing with a tent. Grab the edible herb and veryberry next to the tent, then head back to the farm. Throw the berry into the shipping bin and the edible herb into the dog's bowl. Run back to the crossroads and take the right fork heading up.

Welcome to East Flower Bud Village! The first building on the right is the florist. Head in and buy a bag of cabbage seeds. The next thing you need to do is to go around the town and meet everyone. Everyone but Rick, anyway. Rick's shop will be closed today- get used to it.

When you've met everyone, go back to the crossroads and take the lower left path to Green Ranch. Walk into the pasture to get your horse. Give it a name and it will be taken to your farm for you. When you're done with that, head back into the pasture and meet Gray, Ann, and their father Doug.

If it's near dark, go back to your farm and plant the seeds in the area you tilled out earlier. You'll need to fill up the watering can at the pool in the upper right portion of the farm before you can water it, though.

Spring 4th
The first thing you want to do when you get up is check the weather. If it's raining tomorrow, then you won't have to water your crops, but you'll have to do less work or risk getting sick. On the first day it rains you can catch a fish and throw it into the pond by the fisherman's tent. If you throw a large fish, you'll receive a red power berry that counts as a regular power berry, but also helps not to get sick in the rain (the only power berry in the game that does that). If you throw any other kind of fish, you'll receive a blue power berry that does nothing. It doesn't count as a regular power berry, and is useless, due to a bug in the game. Yesterday, we explored a little bit of Moon Mountain and today we will explore more of it. Water your crops (fill up the watering can at the pond near the top right corner of the ranch if you haven't already) and head out to the crossroads outside the farm. From here, go right and up the ramp to the vineyard. You'll see an animation where Karen storms out. If you leave the screen and come back, she may still be back on the ranch. Find Karen's dad and Kai and greet them. Then enter the house and find Karen's mom near the stairs and talk to her. When you've met these three, leave the vineyard and head to the very right at the crossroads into Moon Mountain.

Pick up the edible herb and veryberry near the tent, then talk to the fisherman. If you tell him you like to fish, you'll get the fishing rod. Your fishing percentage, or how successful you were at catching fish vs losing fish, is one of the things that you are graded on when your father shows up in Summer Year 2. For this reason, don't bother fishing just yet. Turn to the left and run across the bridge. If Karen's over here, give her a veryberry. Meet the carpenters over here (don't forget about the head carpenter, likely inside the shack) and run to the right. Go into the cave and find the harvest sprite (the little elf-like creature). Talk to him and give him the edible herb growing right next to him. You need to eventually become friends with the elf to save the vineyard, but don't worry about that now. Grab the medicinal herbs near the top of the cave, then leave. Run to the left, grabbing the veryberry near the carpenter's shack, then go up toward the Goddess Pond. There are more medicinal herbs and a veryberry here as well as some flowers. Put the berry, herbs, and one flower into your rucksack. Pick a flower and run back to your farm holding it in your hands.

When you get back to the farm, hit to bring up the menu. Trade the flower you're holding with a medicinal herb and toss it into the selling bin. Sell everything you have collected except the flowers and two veryberries (one if you found Karen already), then run into town. Back in Flowerbud Village, buy a second bag of cabbage seeds if you have the money. If not, come by tomorrow to buy it. Rick's shop is finally open, so greet him. Give the other flower to Elli in the bakery. Talk to everyone you didn't meet, then go into West Flower Bud Village. Go into the library near the top of the map and talk to Maria. Talk to her and give her the other flower.

Now that it is getting late, it is time to get some farm work done. Head back to the farm and water your crops. Clear out the farm until it gets dark at 6:00pm. When it is dark, go back to the bar and give the bartender and Karen a veryberry. Head back to the farm and if you still have energy, clear it out a bit until ten or eleven or until you're tired before heading back in to sleep. When you head in for the night use up what remaining stamina you can afford with the watering can. It will level up without you having to water with it. This will help you save daylight hours throughout the game.

Spring 5th
The following path through Moon Mountain is going to become your routine route for the first part of spring. Wake up and check the weather on the television, then head outside and leave the farm. Go right to the mountains and and follow the same route as yesterday, picking up the same things. This time, however, chop the stumps you see along the route with your axe. Grab the edible herb and veryberry by the tent, then go across the bridge. Chop the stump, then go right to the cave. Give the edible herb to the harvest sprite, then go up and grab the two medicinal herbs. Leave the cave and chop the stump there. Then visit the goddess pond, pick up the herb and berry, chop the stump, and grab two flowers. Stop by your farm and drop off the medicinal herbs in the shipping bin. Drop an edible herb into the dog's bowl, then head into town.

Give a flower to Elli and an edible herb to Rick (it doesn't really matter what you give to him and an edible herb is the cheapest). Visit Maria and hand her a flower before heading back to the farm. Water your crops, then go down to the watering hole and fill your watering can back up. Investigate the tree nearby to find a treasure map. Read what it says by putting the hand over it in the menu and pressing. Starting from the tree, clear a path one square wide from the tree to the other side of the farm in a straight line (it may help if you hit or ). When you've done that, run back up to the doghouse and clear a path straight down until it intersects the first line. Till the square where the two intersect 10 times to get the music box. When you become good friends with Rick (hopefully soon), he will fix this box and you will be able to give it to a girl for bonus affection points.

If it's before dark, clear out the farm a bit more. When it is dark, head to the bar and give a veryberry to the bartender and to Karen if she's there. When you're done there, go back to your house and go to sleep.

Spring 6th
Start your day with the routine item gathering trip through the mountains. When you gathered items and sold the medicinal herbs, head into town and buy a Turnip seed. The people who you need to flatter with gifts from high priority to low are Maria, Rick, The Bartender, Elli, Karen, and the Harvest Sprites. Whether or not you want to marry Maria, she should be the top priority. We have to get her to a pink heart by summer in order to get the firefly picture. Run through town giving everyone gifts (Rick's is closed today, so if he's not standing outside the shop, don't worry about him), then run back to your farm. Plant your turnip seeds and continue to water plants and clear out your farm until ten or eleven, taking a break only to visit the bar and give the bartender and Karen veryberries. The first batch of cabbages should be sprouting by now.

Spring 7th
Today, the mayor will be outside to greet you and tell you that tomorrow is the Planting Festival- not a really big deal. Consider today a normal work day. The bar is closed today, both Elli and the bartender will disappear. Rick will be in the town square in the morning if he feels like it. Make sure to give Maria and Karen, who will be at the beach, gifts and spend the rest of the day clearing out the farm if you haven't done it already (don't worry about the weeds, as they just grow back. Focus on the stumps and rocks. If there are weeds in the way, you can pull them by hitting 'A' without wasting any energy.)

Spring 8th
What's going on today? The Planting Festival, of course! Follow the morning routine gathering items and put them all in the shipping bin. Water your crops and clear out the farm if you have the time, but make sure you get to the town square before 5:00pm or you'll miss the festival. At the festival, make sure to talk to everyone except Lillia twice. When you're ready, talk to Lillia. The game makes you automatically sleep and go on to the next day.

Spring 9th
Today is a normal work day. When you're in town, buy a brush for your horse. If you want to win the fall horse race, brush him and whistle to him every day and ride him as much as possible when he becomes rideable. All you have to do is hop on then hop off, and his heart level will rise a little bit. Continue giving to the regulars.

Spring 10th
You should have a harvest of cabbages and turnips today. DO NOT sell your cabbages. Sell all of your turnips except one (If you planted next to the barn, you can put all the turnips in your rucksack and then run into the barn to ship there, which wastes less time than using the outdoor shipping bin). Give the turnip to Anna (the Mayor's wife and Maria’s mother) for a recipe. Instead of giving Maria flowers now, start giving her your cabbages. I know it's money down the drain, but it is necessary in order to get her to a pink heart by the end of summer.

Spring 11th and 12th
Continue gathering and selling items as well as giving gifts to the regulars. Buy another bag of turnip seeds and plant them. Soon, the bartender should be friendly enough with you to hand over the Doorway to Heaven wine. Once he does, you have no reason to continue giving him gifts and can take him off the list. Also around this time, if you have been giving gifts to him regularly, Rick will offer to fix the broken music box. When he does, you can give it to a girl by talking to her, but it must be the first time you talk to her that day or she won't notice it. When you have given the music box away, go back to your farm and till the same spot 10 times to get another music box! Be careful, though. If you are in possession of more than one music box at a time, Rick will stop fixing them. So make sure that you don't already have a music box before digging up a new one.

Spring 13th and 14th
Normal work days. Buy a bag of potato seeds during your normal route. Rick should have offered to fix the music box by now. When he does, add a few new things to your daily schedule. After you have given away a music box and are back on the farm, go down to the spot where you dug up the music box and dig up another one. The next day, as you run through Flower Bud Village, stop by Rick's and have him fix up the box before visiting Maria. When you do see Maria that day, talk to her without a gift first to give her the music box. Then whip out a cabbage and hand it to her, in a sweet one-two love punch.

Spring 15th
Today you'll meet Basil. When you walk out of your house in the morning, he will introduce himself. From now until he leaves in the Fall, add him to the regular list. You can usually find him walking around by the fisherman's tent or in the flower shop if it is raining. On Sundays, he will be standing with Lillia in the town square. You need to be really good friends with him before he leaves so that he will give you a Power Berry next Spring.

You should also have a Turnip harvest around now. Sell all of the turnips. Take a cabbage with you, because the library is closed today and you'll likely find Maria in the mountains while collecting stuff.

Spring 16th
Tomorrow is the horse racing festival. Save up as much money as possible so you can afford to wager lots of medals (Don't worry, you won't lose any money, you'll just need it to place the bets). Otherwise, today is another normal work day. Gather wild plants, give to the regulars, water your crops, feed the dog, etc. While edible herbs are still plentiful, remember to give one to Saibara for a recipe.

Spring 17th
The Horse Racing Festival takes place today. This festival is unusual because if you take too long to get there, you will actually miss out on parts of it. Also, the game won't automatically put you to sleep afterward, so you will have time to do things after the races. Go to the first section of Moon Mountain and grab the edible herb and veryberry from beside the fisherman's tent. Toss the berry into the collecting bin and run to the town square.

The first race starts at 10:00, but try to get there earlier in order to have time to place bets. Talk to Anna across the counter to open the betting window. Use whatever betting strategy you think is best, but when you're done, place your cursor over "OK", but don't select it. Instead, hit twice to back out of the screen. Your bets will be placed, but you will still have all your money. How convenient. After placing the bet, just wander around the square until the races start. There will be three races today, so if you don't do so well on the first one, don't sweat it.

At 4:00pm, the races will end and you can finish your chores for the day. If you don't have anything in your rucksack, grab something edible from the mountains. For the next couple of days, keep something in your rucksack when you go to sleep. Cliff will show up sometime in the next couple of days and you'll need something to revive him. Use the rest of your energy and time clearing out your farm. Again, don't worry about the weeds- when the winter snows come through, they will all be wiped out for you. If they get in your way, just pick them up and throw them with.

Spring 18th
If Cliff is outside your farm today, give the bum some food. If not, make sure that you have food in your rucksack when you go to sleep today. This is another normal day except that Rick's shop is closed and he can't fix the music box... again. If you're running low on cabbages for Maria, go ahead and buy another bag and plant them. Otherwise, buy another bag of potato seeds if you're running out of things to water.

Spring 19th
Basil will come by in the morning to tell you to vote for the Goddess of the Flower Festival. If you have time during your daily chores, run up into the square and vote for someone, preferably not Maria. You can't dance with the goddess, so vote for Karen or Popuri because they look the best all dressed up.

Now that the horse races are over, we're going to buy a chicken. When you're coming back from town after completing your daily gift giving run, instead of going to the farm, go left to the Green Ranch and enter the shop. Talk to Doug across the counter to buy a chicken. Don't forget to buy feed as well. I would recommend buying as much as you can afford, because you run through it faster than you think and all too often you run out of chicken feed at the worst possible moment.

You should also have a potato harvest today. Sell all of your potatoes except four before going on your normal item gathering run. Hand potatoes out as you pass the Mayor, Harris, and May for recipes. As you go through Green Ranch to get a chicken, run out into the field and hand out your last potato to Ann for the last potato recipe. Make sure that you're giving to the regulars as well. Keep giving fixed music boxes to Maria and flattering her with cabbages. Karen and Elli should also be getting close to a blue heart by now. If they aren't both at blue hearts before summer, you really need to focus on getting gifts to them. You'll save yourself a lot of worry later if you take the time now.

Spring 20th
Today, Kent will come by the farm commenting on your chicken. The first thing you'll want to do is run down to your chicken coop and feed the chicken. Instead of selling the chicken's egg, put it in the incubator. In a few days, you'll have another chicken at the cheap price of free. Remember that time stops indoors, so take as long as you want to bond with your new chicken. You can also save time by pocketing harvests and selling them in the chicken coop shipping bin rather than the main farm one.

The rest of the day is normal. Vote for the goddess if you didn't have time or forgot to yesterday.

Spring 21st and 22nd
By now, the Harvest Sprites should be speaking regular English. When they mention the Doorway to Heaven wine when you speak to them, you can stop giving them gifts. We'll hold off on that for a little while. Continue giving gifts to the regulars: Cabbages and Music Boxes to Maria, Flowers to Elli, Berries to Karen, Flowers to Basil, and an Edible Herb to the Harvest Sprite if he hasn't mentioned the Doorway to Heaven yet. Don't forget about your dog and horse, though! Feed, whistle to, and pick up your dog every day and brush, whistle to, and talk to your horse for the best results in their respective races.

Now that you have a chicken, expect Sammy the Shady Salesman to come by offering you "Super Feed". It turns out to be regular feed, so don't buy it unless you are out of feed and it happens to be a Thursday or something. On the brighter side, if you've been chopping the stumps in Moon Mountain across your daily route, if you haven't already, you should be close to getting the silver axe! Hold down and chop those stumps in two chops instead of one, saving precious energy.

Also, the Flower Festival is coming up on the 23rd. Make sure that you save up at least 1200G so you can buy some goodies.

Spring 23rd
The Flower Festival takes place today. As long as you're there by 5:00pm, you won't miss anything. Feed your chicken, water your crops, get a music box, and gather herbs before you go to the festival as long as you have time. Buy the bottle from rick for 200G and the Power Berry from Sammy the Shady Salesman for 1000G. Talk to everyone twice while waiting for the goddess and other girls to emerge. Eventually they will come out and you will find out who the goddess was. Talk to her and choose the first of several badly translated options. Talk to the other girls to receive flowers and interesting comments. Talk to the mayor and he will tell you to choose a girl to dance with. We'll be choosing Maria, of course (as long as she isn't the goddess of course). Even if Maria isn't the girl you want to eventually marry, it is important to get her to a pink heart sometime during the summer. The day will automatically end after the dance and replenish your energy.

Spring 24th through 26th
These days are normal work days. To recap, we are giving gifts to Maria, Karen, Elli, Basil, and the Harvest Sprites if they still haven't mentioned the Doorway to Heaven. Feed, whistle to, and pick up your dog and feed your chickens everyday and talk to, whistle to, and brush your horse. Whenever the incubator is open, toss another egg into it. Soon, you will be getting a good amount of revenue from these chickens. If the incubator is full, give the egg to Elli instead. It's her favorite item, and will help to boost her heart level. Don't forget to chop the stumps so we can build a greenhouse by winter.

Another chore you should add to your routine during these slower days is to plant one or two patches of grass outside the barn (the building with the saloon-esque doorway). Leave one space of dirt between the default grass and where you plant grass seeds so you will have room to make a fence if you want to bring livestock outside. Look at the picture to the right for an idea of what you want it to look like. You don't need to water grass- once it's planted, it will grow on its own.

Also on one of these slow days, take an egg to the goddess pond and throw it in before you do any work that day. If you wish for strength while at full strength, she will grant you a Power Berry, raising your stamina. You will need all the help you can get come summer.

Spring 27th through 30th
After the 27th, you no longer need to plant anything because it won't finish growing by summer and you'll just have to chop it down. As your first season comes to a close, take advantage of the extra time gained from not watering crops to explore Moon Mountain or other places you haven't had a chance to explore. Continue giving Karen, Basil, Maria, and Elli gifts. Before summer, Maria should be at a green heart and Elli and Karen should both be at blue hearts. If they're not, then it's not too much of a problem, but you will have to step it up during summer.

Make sure you have gotten the four potato recipes from the Mayor, Ann, May, and Harris as well as the turnip recipe from Anna. The vegetable festival is on the 9th of summer, so if you really feel up to it, you can keep a vegetable in your rucksack until then, but you probably won't win and it takes up valuable space.

If you still have several cabbages growing by the 30th, don't hesitate to sell the extras. They're worth a good amount and are more valuable to you in the shipping bin than shriveled up by the summer heat.