Summer
| Summer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Mechanic |
Summer is the second season of the year and the one where a farm stops scraping by. Blueberries and Hops turn a modest field into a reliable wage, Starfruit from the desert is the most valuable thing a shop will sell a seed for, and the Keg finally has something worth filling. The valley changes with it: butterflies cross the screen, the Ice Cream Stand opens in Cindersap Forest, and an earthquake early in the first Summer opens the Railroad and the Spa behind it. Three events break the month, the Luau on the eleventh, the Trout Derby in the back half and the Dance Of The Moonlight Jellies on the last night. Rain is scarcer than it was in Spring, so the watering can does more work, and two guaranteed storms are the best days of the year to own Lightning Rods.
Overview
Every Spring crop still in the ground withers overnight on the first day, so Summer starts with a cleared field and a decision. Blueberries are the answer most farms reach for. One planting bears three berries at a time and keeps bearing every few days for the rest of the month, which makes a large bed the steadiest income available from Pierre's shelves, and the arithmetic only works if the seeds go in on the first day. Hops are the other heavyweight and work differently: they take a week and a half to come in and then produce every single day, which is far too much fruit to sell raw. Hops exist for Pale Ale, and a row of Kegs beside a Hops trellis is the classic Summer money machine.
Starfruit is the luxury. The seed is only sold at the Oasis out in the desert, it costs more than any other seed on a shelf, and it sells for several times a Melon. Turned into Wine it becomes the single most valuable artisan good a farmer can mass-produce, which is why Starfruit eventually fills the greenhouse on most saves. Melon is the accessible version of the same idea, worth a good sum per fruit and able to grow into a giant one when nine are planted in a square. Red Cabbage joins the shelves from the second year and sells almost as well as a Melon while taking less time.
The cheap crops earn their place in other ways. Wheat costs almost nothing and comes in within days, and it is grown for the Mill and the Keg rather than the shipping bin, turning into Flour and Beer. Sunflowers lose money as a crop and still get planted, because the seeds press into Oil and the flowers themselves are the dye the Tailoring bench wants. Both Wheat and Sunflowers carry over into Fall, so a Summer planting of either keeps producing after the season changes. Corn does the same and is the clearest example: planted in Summer it bears every few days through two whole seasons, which turns a slow and expensive crop into a good one. Hot Pepper is the cheap regrowing filler, Tomato is the middle of the road and supplies the Preserves Jar, Radish turns over quickly, and Summer Squash grows from seeds that cost nothing at all and bears repeatedly. Poppy and Summer Spangle are the flowers, grown for Bee Houses, dye and the occasional gift.
Foraging shifts to the hedgerows and the woods. Grapes and Spice Berries grow thickly around the Backwoods, the Mountain and the forest edges, and both make Wine worth many times the fruit. Sweet Peas cover Pelican Town and the forest, and together with a Grape and a Spice Berry they hand in the Summer Foraging Bundle. The Secret Woods turns almost entirely to Fiddlehead Ferns, which are needed for the Chef's Bundle and cook into Fiddlehead Risotto, with Red Mushrooms scattered among them. Vincent loves a Grape and Sandy loves a Sweet Pea, so the walk pays twice. The Beach gets its own three days in the middle of the month, when the sand fills with extra items, and the Rainbow Shell appears there only in Summer.
Fishing is at its richest. Pufferfish surface in the ocean in the early afternoon on a sunny day, and they are difficult, valuable and one of Abigail's favourite gifts. Octopus comes out of the same water in the morning and is the hardest ordinary fish in the game to land. Super Cucumber bites in the sea after six in the evening and sells for a small fortune, Sturgeon sits in the mountain lake all day, and Tuna, Tilapia, Red Mullet and Halibut fill out the ocean list. The rivers give Rainbow Trout in sunshine, Dorado in the forest river and Pike anywhere freshwater. The Crimsonfish waits at the end of the east pier on the Beach and bites only in Summer, needing five levels of Fishing before it will take the hook.
The weather is unusually scheduled. A storm arrives on the thirteenth and again on the twenty-sixth without fail, and those two days are when a shed of Lightning Rods earns its Battery Packs. One day each Summer brings Green Rain instead, picked from a handful of possible dates, and the whole valley turns green for it. Green Rain Trees appear and drop Moss and Mossy Seeds to an axe, weeds spread and drop Fibre, Fiddlehead Ferns spring up on the farm and in the forest, saplings leap forward in growth, and most of the villagers shut themselves indoors with only Linus and Demetrius out in it. Every television channel shows green static that day, so the forecast and the fortune have to wait.
The social calendar is the busiest of the year. Jas, Gus, Maru, Alex, Sam, Demetrius, the Dwarf, Willy and Leo all have birthdays in Summer. The Luau on the eleventh asks for one item to go into the Governor's Potluck Soup, and the quality of what goes in decides whether every villager in town gains friendship or loses it, which makes a Starfruit or an iridium-quality anything the obvious choice. The Trout Derby takes over the forest river on the twentieth and twenty-first, where Rainbow Trout bite all day whatever the weather and a third of them carry a Golden Tag to trade at the booth. The Dance Of The Moonlight Jellies closes the month on the beach after dark.
Notes
An earthquake shakes the valley at the start of the third day of the first Summer. It does no harm and it opens the path north to the Railroad, which brings the Spa, a new stretch of foraging and the Hat Mouse's future customers within walking distance. The Spa matters more than it looks: standing in the water refills energy and health without costing a day.
Summer is the season to buy infrastructure rather than hoard gold. Kegs and Preserves Jars pay for themselves within a month on Hops and Tomatoes, Sprinklers remove the watering that dry weather makes painful, and Bee Houses placed near Poppies and Summer Spangles turn flowers into honey while the farmer is elsewhere.
The Ice Cream Stand in Cindersap Forest opens for the season and sells Ice Cream over the counter. It is one of the few places to buy a cooked dish outright, and the stand closes again when Fall arrives.
All Mechanics
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
