Village in the Shade is a farming and life simulation game where players can grow crops, raise animals, explore the village, complete quests, and build relationships with its residents. However, there are plenty of mechanics that aren’t immediately explained, and making the wrong decisions early on can cost you valuable time and money.
Some crops require careful planning, certain items are more valuable when processed, and even buying a horse might not work the way you expect. If you’re just starting your farm, here are 12 beginner mistakes to avoid in Village in the Shade, along with useful tips that can make your first year much easier.
1. Don’t Give Up When Progress Feels Slow
Village in the Shade takes some time to introduce all of its features. During your first five to ten hours, you might notice that certain activities are unavailable, including gifting items to villagers and accessing some shops. This can make the game feel limited at first, but more features will gradually unlock as you progress through the story.
One example is the early quest that requires you to complete errands for all villagers. After finishing everything, you might wonder why the story isn’t moving forward. In this situation, you need to wait until the third day of summer to receive the next quest. The nighttime exploration system also becomes easier to understand after unlocking the library, where you can learn more about the creatures haunting Kage Tsu Village.
2. Use Your Pickaxe to Recover Incorrectly Planted Seeds
Making mistakes while planting crops is normal, especially when you’re still learning how the farming system works. Fortunately, you can recover a wrongly planted seed by using your pickaxe on it, but there is an important condition: you must do this on the same day you planted it.
Once the crop starts growing, using your pickaxe will destroy it without returning the seed. This makes it important to double-check your planting locations before ending the day. If you accidentally place something in the wrong spot, fix it immediately instead of waiting until the next morning.
3. Be Careful When Planting Mulberry and Tea Seedlings
Mulberry and tea plants are different from regular seasonal crops. Although they aren’t permanent like fruit trees, they can survive for a long period and produce multiple harvests before eventually disappearing. They are also more expensive than ordinary seeds, so choosing the right planting location is important.
These plants can stay in the same spot for well over a year, meaning you shouldn’t place them somewhere you might need for other crops later. If you make a mistake, you can still recover them using your pickaxe on the same day they were planted. After that, you will have to accept the location or lose the plant.
4. Don’t Plant Fruit Trees Without Checking Their Position
Fruit trees require even more attention because their saplings cannot be recovered after planting. Unlike regular crops and the temporary tea or mulberry plants, you cannot simply use your pickaxe to move a fruit tree if you change your mind.
If you plant a tree in the wrong location, your only option is to cut it down and purchase another expensive sapling. A useful trick is to stand in a straight position before planting because the game doesn’t provide a placement preview. Trees are planted directly in front of your character when you use the sapling, so carefully check the surrounding space before confirming the location.
5. Don’t Miss Your Chance to Get Soybeans
Soybeans are a valuable crop that can be used for different purposes, but beginners might miss their first opportunity to obtain them because the general store doesn’t sell soybean seeds directly. Instead, you need to purchase edamame seeds during summer and use a seasonal harvesting trick to turn them into soybeans.
There are two main methods to get soybeans:
- Method 1: Plant During Summer. Purchase edamame seeds and plant them during summer. They can regrow multiple times, allowing you to harvest edamame throughout the season. On the 28th day of summer, leave the fully grown crops untouched. When autumn begins on the following day, the other seasonal crops will die, but your edamame will turn into soybeans that you can harvest.
- Method 2: Use a Summer Scarecrow. Purchase enough edamame seeds before summer ends and prepare a summer scarecrow. Plant the seeds within its protected area and wait until they are ready to harvest. Remove the scarecrow using your axe before the next day, allowing the seasonal change to turn the edamame into soybeans.
You can also obtain bean sprouts from edamame seeds by harvesting them just two days after planting. This gives you another use for the same seeds, making them worth purchasing whenever summer arrives.
6. Avoid Planting Rice in the Field Near Your House
Rice is one of the crops that requires careful planning because it takes approximately 50 days to grow. This is a considerable amount of time, especially when you consider how much of the growing season it consumes.
There is also a particular event later in the game that resets the small field directly in front of your house. Although the game returns your seeds, losing a nearly completed rice harvest can waste a lot of time. Instead, plant your rice somewhere else on the farm. A useful location is near your coop, where ducks can help remove weeds from the surrounding area.
7. Don’t Use All Your Farm Space for Trees
Village in the Shade features six different types of trees that provide wood and various kinds of sap. These include pine, oak, chestnut, cedar, cypress, and bamboo. Although bamboo isn’t technically a tree, it follows the same general system for this purpose.
Once you unlock tappers, you can place them on these trees to collect their sap. However, you don’t need to fill your entire farm with every tree variety just to maintain a good supply. You can also place tappers on wild trees around Kage Tsu Village, allowing you to collect sap without sacrificing valuable farming space.
A good approach is to keep one or two tappers for each tree variety. You can still leave some wild trees available for chopping when you need wood, while using the remaining space on your farm for crops and other important facilities.
8. Don’t Ignore Cursed Crops and Doro Tabo Seeds
While exploring the village at night, you will eventually collect Doro Tabo seeds. At first, these items might not seem particularly useful because planting them can randomly produce cursed crops that hurt you when harvested.
However, cursed crops have an important purpose beyond ordinary farming. Once you have at least one cursed crop in your inventory, find Konno and talk to him while he is alone. The interaction won’t work if other villagers are nearby having a conversation together.
After speaking with Konno, you will unlock the ability to throw cursed crops near the waterfall at night. In exchange, you receive permanent health increases. This is particularly useful because having additional health makes nighttime exploration and encounters with dangerous creatures easier.
You can also catch cursed fish while fishing at night, although they are quite rare. These fish can be used in the same way as cursed crops, giving you another opportunity to increase your maximum health.
9. Don’t Forget to Check Under the Bridge Every Season
There is a useful interaction underneath the bridge near the Crossroads fishing spot. A different creature appears there depending on the current season, and each one can request specific items in exchange for a reward.
During spring, you can give the creature any spring crop, regardless of its selling price or quality. In return, you will receive a Magatama, and the type you get depends on your answers during the conversation.
Here is how the spring Magatama selection works:
- Rain Magatama: Choose yes when asked if you like the swirly ones.
- Twin Magatama: Choose no to the first question, then yes when asked about the peas-in-a-pod design.
- Child Magatama: Choose no to the first two questions, then yes when asked about the one with legs.
- Basic Magatama: Answer no to all three questions.
The other seasonal creatures have their own requests and rewards, so make sure to visit this location regularly. You might miss some useful items if you only check it once during your first spring.
10. Don’t Rush to Buy a Horse
Buying a horse might sound like a great investment when you first receive the letter announcing that they are available. However, there is something important to understand before spending your money: you cannot ride horses in Village in the Shade.
A stable costs 10,000 yen, while purchasing a horse requires another 25,000 yen. The horse also needs time to grow into an adult, making this a fairly expensive investment for beginners.
Horses are still useful because they produce horse hair, which can be sold or used for crafting. Their main financial benefit, however, comes from raising them and eventually selling them back for a higher price. Depending on their affection level, you can earn tens of thousands of yen more than their original purchase cost.
You can keep up to three horses in one stable, making them a potential long-term investment. However, during your first year, it might be better to spend that money on farm upgrades, tools, or other projects that provide more immediate benefits.
11. Don’t Forget That You Can Sell Your Animals
Selling animals isn’t immediately obvious, and it’s easy to overlook this feature even after spending many hours playing. If you have animals that you no longer need, you can sell them through the sign located next to their barn, coop, or stable.
These signs normally display information about your animals and provide instructions for taking care of them. However, you can also select an individual animal to access the selling option.
Once you sell an animal, you will receive your payment the following day through your mailbox. You can also receive materials such as meat, hides, horns, and feathers, depending on the animal.
Selling at least one animal from each species can be useful because some of these materials are required for the Ranching Binder, Delivery Binder, and crafting recipes. However, don’t sell all your animals without considering their regular products. High-quality milk and eggs can be more valuable over time, so selling too many animals might not be worth the money.
12. Don’t Sell Everything or Ignore Item Processing
As your farm develops, you will collect plenty of crops, flowers, fish, forageables, gemstones, and crafting materials. Deciding what to keep and what to sell can be confusing, especially when you need money for upgrades.
A good general rule is to keep a small supply of different items instead of selling everything immediately. Try to save around five to ten of each crop, flower, and forageable, along with a few of every fish and other seasonal materials. Some items might be required for Fox Shrines, binders, or other rewards, and having to wait another year for a seasonal resource can be frustrating.
However, you don’t need to keep hundreds of common items. If you have accumulated too many stones, dandelions, or other easily obtainable resources, selling the extra amount is usually fine.
Here are some additional tips for managing your inventory and making money.
Keep Certain Materials for Crafting and Decorating
If you enjoy decorating your farm or completing the furniture encyclopedia, keep plenty of wool and silk. These materials are useful for crafting different furniture variations and colors.
You can also consider purchasing more than one sheep if you want a consistent supply of wool. For silk, look for silkworm boxes in the skill tree to improve your production.
Sell Most Gemstones
Gemstones obtained from the quarry can be a good source of extra money. However, you shouldn’t automatically keep every gemstone you collect because many of them have limited uses.
You should save at least five each of sapphire, amethyst, and rose quartz. Some other gemstones can also be used as villager gifts, so check the relationship menu before selling your entire collection. Most remaining gemstones, including topaz, jade, garnet, and quartz, can generally be sold once you’ve kept what you need.
Collect Beetles During Summer
During summer, look at the large background trees around the village because you can find beetles sitting on them. Each beetle can be sold for 600 yen, making them a useful source of additional income.
This is especially helpful during your first year when you might not have enough money from farming alone. Make a habit of checking the large trees while exploring instead of ignoring these collectible insects.
Process Fish Before Selling
Fishing is another way to earn money, but selling every fish immediately isn’t always the best choice. You can place fish into different processors to create products with fixed selling prices.
Here are some examples:
- Fish Sauce: Worth 140 yen when produced using a Preserve Barrel.
- Smoked Fish: Worth 140 yen.
- Dehydrated Fish: Worth 199 yen, although it takes longer to process.
Pay attention to the original selling price of each fish before processing it. For example, a fish worth around 30 yen can become much more valuable as fish sauce, while a fish worth close to 300 yen would lose value if you turn it into the same product.
Check the Encyclopedia Before Processing Crops
Most items in Village in the Shade can become more valuable after processing. The Encyclopedia is useful because it shows which machines can process specific items and what products they can create.
For example, corn can be placed in an Oil Press to produce oil, which is worth more than three times the original crop value. Other items may also have processing options that you haven’t discovered yet.
Before selling a large collection of crops, check the Encyclopedia to see whether you can turn them into something more valuable.
Don’t Cook or Craft Just to Make Money
Although processing is generally useful, cooking and furniture crafting are exceptions when it comes to making money. Dishes created through cooking and furniture made using the workbench are generally worth less than the combined value of their ingredients.
You should still cook meals and craft furniture for their intended purposes, but don’t rely on them as your main money-making methods.
Bonus Tip: Time Stops Inside Your House
One useful mechanic that can make daily farm management much easier is that time completely stops while you’re inside your house. This means you can organize your inventory, move items between chests, and prepare crafting materials without worrying about the clock.
Instead of keeping every storage chest and crafting station outside, consider moving some of your most frequently used equipment indoors. This is especially helpful when you return home late at night and don’t want to waste the remaining time sorting through everything.
There is one important detail about cooking: the built-in stove doesn’t automatically access items stored in nearby chests. You can bring other cooking stations, such as the Mess Kit Stove or Charcoal Grill, into your house and surround them with storage chests to make ingredient management easier.
This setup allows you to organize your materials and prepare food without rushing before the next day begins.
Village in the Shade has plenty of mechanics that can take time to understand, and some beginner mistakes can cost you an entire season of progress. From planting expensive trees in the wrong location to missing the opportunity to grow soybeans, a little planning can make a big difference during your first year.
Remember to keep useful seasonal items, process valuable crops before selling them, and avoid spending all your money on horses too early. You should also explore the village regularly, check seasonal interactions under the bridge, and use cursed crops to increase your maximum health.
Most importantly, take your time learning how everything works. Once you understand the farming system, animal management, processing machines, and nighttime activities, managing your village and building a successful farm becomes much easier.