Stardew Valley Beginner's Guide: Day One, Energy and the Community Center

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1. Plant your seeds right away Mayor Lewis gives you 15 Parsnip Seeds at the start. Hoe a patch near the farmhouse, plant them and water them. Parsnips take 4 days to grow and are usually your first income.
2. Clear a little, stockpile wood and stone Branches, rocks and weeds you clear become wood, stone and fiber for chests, scarecrows and furnaces. Do not try to clear the whole farm on day one; your energy will not last.
3. Walk around town and meet people Your journal has a quest to introduce yourself to the villagers. Talking to everyone once completes it and shows you where the shops are. Pierre's General Store sells seeds and is normally closed on Wednesdays.
4. Pick up forage Roadsides and the forest are full of seasonal forage such as leeks, dandelions and wild horseradish in spring. Picking them costs no energy, they sell, and several are needed for Community Center bundles, so keep one of each.
5. Check the TV every morning The farmhouse TV shows the weather forecast and a fortune teller. If it will rain tomorrow, you will not need to water. Lucky days are better for mining and fishing, and The Queen of Sauce cooking show teaches new recipes on Sundays.
6. Learn to fish Willy, the fisherman on the beach, gives you a fishing rod early on. Fishing is a minigame: hold the left mouse button to keep the green bar over the moving fish icon. It feels hard at first but becomes easier with practice and pays well on rainy days.
7. Enter the Mines after day 5 The Mines open on Spring 5 when the rockslide is cleared. You find copper, iron and gold ore and gems there. There is an elevator every 5 floors so you can continue the next day. There are 120 floors in total.
8. Unlock the Community Center After Spring 5, walk into town from the Bus Stop before 1pm on a day without rain and Lewis will show you the old Community Center. To read the bundles you need to visit the Wizard in the forest. The bundles are the best roadmap for your first years.
9. Reinvest in seeds Put your first earnings into more seeds. Early planting matters because there is time for several harvests before the season ends. Items placed in the shipping bin next to your house are paid for the next morning.

• Head home around midnightIf you are still up at 2am you pass out; outside the house that costs 10% of your money, up to 1,000g. Going to bed late also means you will not wake with full energy.
• Do not run your energy to zeroBelow zero you are exhausted: you move slowly, tools are slower and you cannot cast a rod. At -15 you pass out. Carrying a few edible forage items keeps a mining trip from ending early.
• Watch the end of the seasonWhen the season changes, crops of the old season die (outside the greenhouse and special cases). Planting a crop that will not mature before day 28 wastes money, so check the growth time on the seed description.
• Plan tool upgradesClint the blacksmith upgrades tools to copper, iron, gold and iridium, but you lose the tool for a couple of days. Drop off the watering can when rain is forecast or between seasons.
• Use rainy days for the MinesRain waters your crops, saving your morning. Spend those days mining or fishing; some fish only bite in the rain.
• Learn gift preferencesYou can give each villager two gifts a week, and birthday gifts count for much more. The calendar board outside Pierre's shop shows birthdays. Everyone has loved and hated items; the wrong gift lowers friendship.
• Build chests and empty your backpackYour starting backpack is small. A few chests next to the house (50 wood each) free up space before a mining trip. Pierre also sells backpack upgrades.
• Think before selling bundle itemsBundles ask for specific fish, crops and forage, some available in one season only. Keeping one of each the first time you find it can save you a whole year of waiting.
• Quality affects priceCrops and fish can come in silver, gold or iridium quality and sell for more. Higher Farming skill and fertilizer improve your chances of better quality.
• You cannot change the farm map laterThe farm type you pick at the start stays for the whole save. For a first playthrough, the Standard Farm offers the most farmable space.

• Trying to clear the whole farm in the first days: energy runs out, planting is delayed and your main income arrives late.
• Staying out past 2am: you lose part of your money and start the next day with less energy.
• Planting slow crops in the last days of a season: they die when the season changes and the seed money is wasted.
• Selling seasonal items the Community Center needs: you may have to wait a full year to find them again.
• Giving up on the fishing minigame after a few tries: the green bar grows as your Fishing skill rises.

This guide was written for version: This guide reflects PC version 1.6 (latest patch 1.6.15) as of September 2026; keys are default keyboard bindings and can be changed in settings.

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