10 Activities In Stardew Valley That Feel Amazingly Therapeutic After A Stressful Day

You know that one. He came back from the office, the sun had set, he missed the train, and the next one was packed. Finally, you get home, an hour later than you expected, and you just want to rest, the little time left in the day.

Well, your little farm in Stardew Valley is waiting for you! Those plants won’t water themselves… unless you have a Sprinkler, of course!

While it may seem strange to some to come home from work, to start a real job, there is something very satisfying about progressing in Stardew Valley. You get to skip the real life struggles of owning a real farm and get rich. Let’s take a look at some of the most therapeutic things in Stardew Valley that will help you relax after a hard day.

10

Watering Your Plants and Removing Animals

The sun is out! Time to rush, Farmer!

It’s Spring, you’ve just planted a bunch of Strawberry Seeds, and you’re waiting for that small, but very important Year 1 profit to start rolling in.

Maybe you just invested in a coop and are saving up for an upgrade, all early. Why not let those chickens eat good old, nutritious grass?

I’m a stickler for routine, and to be honest, the more you water your plants or tend to your livestock, the better off you’ll be selling the product. While it’s great to automate the process using Sprinklers or Auto-Petters over time, that first new feeling when starting a new farm is iconic.

9

Mining Early-Game Ores

There’s No Such Thing as Too Much Copper

In the early game, mining metal and breaking rocks in mines can feel like a bit of a chore, especially when everything takes several swings of your pickaxe to break.

However, if you have your Iridium pickaxe, and you go back to the early levels of mining, it’s an amazing feeling to be able to break everything with 1 swing. In addition, if you are on a lucky day, sometimes you will find long veins of iron, giving you a large amount of copper or iron at once!

Or if you’re totally rich, you can just bring a bunch of bombs and blow everything to smithereens instead! That is very satisfying too!

8

Harvesting Your Hand Grown Trees

I’m a lumberjack, and I’m good

At some point in your Stardew journey, you will realize that you need a good amount of wood. Whether that’s to make a large number of Kegs, Tappers or just to improve general properties.

While at first you may collect wood in the Cindersap forest, that won’t cut it in the long run. Instead, you will need to start planting your seeds and cut row after row of trees.

All you need is a good Ax investment, and you’ll be chopping those stems like a pro. And, of course, listening to the satisfying Shloop as you collect hundreds of drops at once.

7

Clearing the Clutter

If Only Real Life Were This Easy

Have you ever been so focused on something far away from your farm that you completely forget about the actual farm itself? Maybe you went on a multi-day streak trying to get to 100 in the Skull Cavern, or maybe you just spent a lot of time on Ginger Island.

When you finally return to your big farm, you see that it has been ruined. Wood everywhere, seeds and undergrown seedlings, rocks, grass fields and weeds get in the way of your hard work.

Well, there’s nothing better than taking a scythe to the grass, a pick to the rocks, and your ax to those pesky seedlings and clean up that farm until it’s all nice and new. It’s easy to lose track of time when you’re planning your space, a kind of therapy when the world fades away and what matters is your virtual little farm. Simple pleasure, eh?

6

Giving Everyone’s Favorite Gifts

Rabbit’s feet for everyone

It’s easy to ignore your own people early in the game. However, when you notice you or looking for a partner or you need some of those recipes, you’ll quickly start building a small supply of all the townspeople’s favorite gifts.

Now, suddenly, instead of your previous morning routine of watering the plants and releasing the animals, you will have a new routine where you go around each citizen and give them things they like.

Occasionally, he won’t be able to find them, and then suddenly he’s inside the tavern, and you can cross off half of your list at once! And then, when a gift arrives on someone’s birthday, and you give them something of Iridium quality, their hearts skip a beat, and everything seems worth it!

5

Crack Open Some Geodes

1 Stone? You must be kidding!

Have you ever had an entire month where you go to the volcano or the Skull Cavern pretty much every day? You might be collecting Iridium, Prismatic Shards, or ticking off some of Mr. Qi’s crazy Walnut challenges.

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However, the thing you’ll notice is that the more you find, the more you blast your way through thousands of rocks, the Omni Geodes. And there’s almost nothing better than going to Clint and opening all those Geodes at once!

It’s easy to collect many minerals, but there are always one or two that have eluded you for years! Hunting, that’s what keeps me going. And you know, once I’m done mining, I’ll be opening Artifact troves to complete my museum collection!

4

Relaxing in the Saloon

Two Cans and Fellas

Stardew Valley can be weird at times. Sometimes you have days that pass completely by. And sometimes you have those days that seem to go on forever!

Whatever you do, sometimes it’s good to finish early and head over to the Saloon. Most of the time, Stardew Pub is full of life, local people chatting and chillingunloading and drinking a few beers.

You can take this time to give other people their daily gifts, or just to hang out and enjoy the vibes. Not every single hour of your day needs to be dedicated to completing a task. Or, if you’re a masochist, you can play Junimo Cart… but does anyone really enjoy that game?

3

Planning Your Farm (And Your House)

There’s No Place Like Home

So you just spent a few days cleaning up your farm. You don’t seriously think you’re done there, do you?

Now it’s time to make it look good! Tie your farm together by pairing each area with beautiful wooded paths, and detailing each path with trees. Match your buildings with colors, and place grass in certain areas to create a wild but appropriate look in certain areas. Fill in the blanks, add decorations, and now… now you can start your house!

Do you have a museum room? A fish tank room? A master bedroom and your children’s bedroom? I mean the world is yours here folks. And when it’s together, well, that’s an indescribable joy here.

2

Fishing at Your Favorite Place

Let the World Go Away

I used to dislike fishing. It can be slow, and seems to take forever to ramp up. However, the longer you spend practicing this skill, the more the pieces seem to fall into place.

At some point, you will fall into a kind of fishing zen, where you actually stop focusing on the fishing rod, and “Perfect” comes quickly and easily. Then you can find your favorite place and relax. The fish doesn’t care anymore!

Whether it’s listening to the rustle of falling leaves in the Secret Forest, a waterfall in Mountain Lake, or even the eerie calm beneath the Ocean, there’s a peacefulness to fishing in Stardew Valley that can’t be duplicated.

1

Harvesting Plants / Kegs / Minerals

Patience Pays Dividends

But, there’s nothing quite like a harvest day, right? You’ve spent all your money on upgrades and seeds, and now you’re ready for the money to come in again!

Do you have 100 kegs of Ancient Fruit Wine ready to sell? Perhaps your Crystallariums have finished producing a small mountain of diamonds. Or maybe you’ve planted a whole field’s worth of blueberries, and they’re all ready to be picked.

Waiting days and days for your hard work to pay off is what makes this good harvest incredibly satisfying. And when you finally go to bed, and all that delicious gold pours in… well, you know it’s time to repeat the whole process again!

You’ll have that Gold Watch before you know it!

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Released

February 26, 2016

The ESRB

E for everyone (Fictional Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Simulated Gambling, Alcohol and Tobacco Use)

Engineer(s).

ConcernedApe

Publisher

ConcernedApe

Engine

Ownership

Cross-Platform Play

Stardew Valley does not currently support cross-play between consoles and PC