Is your favorite part of Stardew Valley foraging? Do you love running around Pelican town and the Cindersap Forest searching for flowers, berries and mushrooms? Well then do I have a farm for you! The forest farm allows you to forage without heading to town. You give up some of your farming space and gain more grass and bushes to create your food forest foraging dream!
How to select the forest farm?
You select your farm layout during character creation when you make a new save. This is the same menu where you pick your name, farmer look and pet! There are seven options, including the standard farm which is best for farming, the forest farm which is best for foraging, the wilderness farm which is best for combat, the hill-top farm which is best for mining, the Riverland farm which is best for fishing, the four corners farm for multiplayer, and the beach farm, which is newer, that is for advanced players and is best for ocean fishing and foraging. The icon for the forest farm is an orange farmhouse with thin rectangular farming sections to the left and below.
What is the layout of the forest farm?
The forest farm layout includes trees, bushes, ponds and a thick wooded barrier like the secret woods. Your farmhouse is still on the upper right-hand corner and the greenhouse is still on the upper left-hand corner. The lower right-hand quadrant is full of fish ponds (that’s right the forest farm is good for fishing as well!), one big pond and three smaller ones. You also get 8 large stumps you can use for hardwood that respawn when cut down. And while your cutting down trees and trimming the grass, be sure to look for special weeds that have a slightly different look and drop mixed seeds. The tillable tiles (squares you can farm on) goes from 3427 with the standard farm to 1413, so be sure to use them wisely!
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What can you forage on the forest farm?
You can forage plenty of things on the forest farm but not everything, so I’ll lay out what is possible in a table. Each forage item has a 25% chance of appearing. It’s important to note that none of the winter foragables can spawn on the forest farm, but they continue to spawn throughout the rest of Pelican Town, so you will still be able to find them. Unfortunately, just like the standard farm, your farming space is frozen over in the winter.
| Season | Foragables |
| Spring |  Dandelion Leek  Morel  Wild Horseradish |
| Summer |  Common Mushroom  Grape  Spice Berry  Sweet Pea |
| Fall |  Chanterelle Common Mushroom  Red Mushroom  Purple Mushroom |
Season Foragables
Spring Dandelion, Leek, Morel, Wild Horseradish
Summer Common Mushroom, Grape, Spice Berry, Sweet Pea
Fall Chanterelle, Common Mushroom, Red Mushroom, Purple Mushroom
What can you fish on the forest farm?
When you fish in the ponds on the forest farm you have a 5% chance of catching a woodskip (this is affected by daily luck), a 40% chance of catching pond or river fish and if not those, you’ll catch trash, just like the standard farm pond. It’s not the best odds, but it’s a nice addition to the farm. Just don’t forget to fish throughout the rest of the map to make sure you can complete the community building!
What does the farmhouse look like?
While the outside of your farmhouse may stay the same, with each Stardew Valley farm layout the inside of your little home gets a complete makeover! On the forest farm, your farmhouse has a green nature-y theme, with a leaf pattern wallpaper, a wreath over the tv and several little pine trees across the back wall. The layout of furniture is slightly different, the bed and the fireplace are the same as the standard farmhouse but the tv is next to the fireplace and the table is against the left wall. You also get an adorable stump rug in front of the tv! It’s a lovely little home that will match your front yard forest!
What is the best building layout for the forest farm?
The best layout truly depends on what your plans are, but if you’re trying to fit in a coop, barn, shed or monster hutch it can be a little tricker on the forest farm. The best strategy I’ve seen is placing buildings around the ponds, or in the little sections cut off by the wood outline on the left side. While the forest farm might have a smaller amount of buildable tiles than the other farms, most of those tiles are in one place, unlike the riverland farm which is full of small islands, which makes building easier. One thing to remember while putting buildings on your farm is that the more land you cover the less foraging you’ll be able to do.
What should you plant on the forest farm?
Even with the added foraging, most players still use the farming space to grow crops. Given you’ll have less farming space than the standard farm, it’s important to focus on profitable crops (if profit is your goal of course! If you’re romancing that special someone feel free to keep growing their favorites!). In general the most profitable crops are those that only need to be planted once and keep producing like melons, green beans, sunflowers, red peppers and corn. If you like selling artisan goods than blueberries, hops and coffee beans would be best for you as they make great goods. Obviously once you find ancient seeds that’s the most profitable crop but I wanted to layout more options for the beginning of your game, or if you like variability!
What can you do in the winter?
Just like on the standard farm, the forest farm stops producing in the winter. So just like normal you will have to find a way to spend your time. Most players focus on mining, fishing, or animal productions because winter is great for those, but don’t forget to place heaters for all your animals! You can also work on the winter foraging, like holly, winter root, crocus, crystal fruit and snow yam, which don’t appear on the forest farm but do spawn throughout Pelican Town. It’s also important to spend this time planning out your farm for the next year, things like clearing trees, planting new ones, reorganizing buildings and sorting through your leftover seeds. Or you can spend the winter chatting with the villagers and working together to take down Joja Mart, whichever fits your fancy!
