Stardew Valley Almanac
| Stardew Valley Almanac | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Book |
| Location | Bookseller; Traveling Cart; Fishing Treasure Chests; Mayor's Manor; Mystery Boxes; Golden Mystery Boxes; Monsters; Crates and Barrels; Trees; Artifact Spots |
| Sell Price | 500g |
The Stardew Valley Almanac is the farming skill book, and it is the one that quietly matters most in a first year. Every reading tips a block of experience into farming, and farming levels are where a new farm gets its machines: a new recipe arrives with each level, with the choice of a specialism waiting at the halfway mark and again at the top. More levels also mean better odds of silver and gold stars on a harvest, and a gold star crop is worth half again as much as a plain one. The Prize Machine in the Mayor's Manor is the route most farmers stumble into first, and the Bookseller sells it at the cheaper end of his table. Trading one back to him brings two plates of Pepper Poppers, which is a tidy swap on a day that involves heavy work.
The in-game description reads: Read this to gain some farming experience.
Overview
Farming experience comes from harvesting, and in a first Spring there is very little of it to harvest. That is the gap the almanac fills. Each level the skill gains hands over something craftable, and the Preserves Jar that unlocks part way up is the single biggest jump in what a crop is worth, since a jar of jelly sells for far more than the fruit that went into it. The specialism chosen at level five and refined at level ten then decides whether the farm leans on crops, animals or the sheds full of kegs and jars, and arriving at those forks early leaves more of the save to enjoy the choice.
Quality is the other half of it. Crops come out plain, silver or gold, with silver worth a quarter more and gold worth half again, and higher farming levels make the better stars more likely before any fertiliser is involved. Across a field of Pumpkins that difference is a serious amount of gold, which is why a book read in the first Summer tends to pay for itself before Fall.
The ways to come by it are the same broad pool the other skill books sit in, but a farmer meets them in a different order. The Prize Machine beside the Town Ledger in the Mayor's Manor is the kindest: a run of Prize Tickets cashed in eventually offers the almanac outright. The Traveling Cart carries it occasionally at a mark-up, and the Bookseller's two days each season are the dependable route. Beyond the shops it turns up in treasure chests hooked while fishing, in Mystery Boxes taken to the Blacksmith, in artifact spots turned over with a hoe, in trees that are shaken or chopped, in crates and barrels underground and from monsters, with Iridium Golems the best bet among them.
Reading it uses the copy up, and the experience lands on farming alone. Unlike the power books, every copy can be read, so a hoard of almanacs saved through Winter can be spent in one evening when a new field is about to go in. After all five skills have been taken to the top and the Mastery Cave has opened, each reading pays Mastery points instead, which keeps the book worth buying long after farming has nothing left to learn.
Notes
Marnie likes being given one, which fits a woman who has run a ranch down the lane for years. Penny loves it, Elliott is glad of it, and Alex is unmoved.
The swap at the Bookseller's counter deserves a second look. Pepper Poppers restore a great deal of energy and carry a farming boost and a touch of extra speed while they last, so two plates can cover a day of clearing ground.
In the dye pots at Emily and Haley's house on 2 Willow Lane the almanac reads yellow, while the spool of the Sewing Machine turns it into a gold dye for a garment in the feed.
All Books
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
| Name | Image | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Animal Catalogue | 
|
2000g |
| Bait And Bobber | 
|
500g |
| Book Of Stars | 
|
2500g |
| Book of Mysteries | 
|
3000g |
| Combat Quarterly | 
|
500g |
| Dwarvish Safety Manual | 
|
1000g |
| Friendship 101 | 
|
3000g |
| Horse: The Book | 
|
1000g |
| Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Thick | 
|
500g |
| Jewels Of The Sea | 
|
800g |
| Mapping Cave Systems | 
|
4000g |
| Mining Monthly | 
|
500g |
| Monster Compendium | 
|
2000g |
| Ol' Slitherlegs | 
|
1000g |
| Price Catalogue | 
|
1000g |
| Queen Of Sauce Cookbook | 
|
10000g |
| Raccoon Journal | 
|
1000g |
| Stardew Valley Almanac | 
|
500g |
| The Alleyway Buffet | 
|
3000g |
| The Art O' Crabbing | 
|
1000g |
| The Diamond Hunter | 
|
1000g |
| Treasure Appraisal Guide | 
|
500g |
| Way Of The Wind pt. 1 | 
|
5000g |
| Way Of The Wind pt. 2 | 
|
10000g |
| Woodcutter's Weekly | 
|
500g |
| Woody's Secret | 
|
500g |