Everybody Dosey Doe...

Spring has arrived and that means it's time for the traditional Spring Fling Dance!

Food, drink and good company as we welcome the Spring in with some foot tapping, swinging fun...

Of course, being the homestead nothing is ever simple... and they're going to need our help to make sure everyone is happy and everything is done right for the Fling or there could be trouble!

What we will see is slightly different from the normal however...

Instead of one thread we'll see three short three-mission threads which will release over the next 2-3 days along with a wrapper, there's no multi-stage building for this one. (All mission details HERE).

First up we'll be helping Granny out as she attempts to fly the flag for the older dancer by dragging Doc Auburn from his lab and onto the dancefloor!

Next up is a budding romance between our two culinary geniuses, Cousin Amos with his barbecue food and Nettie with her sweet treats!

And finally we're going to get the stead's strangest dance pairing together as Sheriff Mae gets a break from her chaperoning duties to cut a rug with the newly redeemed Runt!

Finally the wrapper mission which is nice and simple! All we have to do for that is complete the three other threads and pick up, among other things, another Animal Hospital Upgrade!

We will see one new Free Gift crop...

...along with a few other things in the market that are mission rewards....

So what are you waiting for? Get your dancing shoes on!

Twister and Shout...

Mother Nature is always one of the trickiest opponents on the Homestead and she's about to strike again. We've had floods, avalanches and fires... now it's time for a twister!

As we hit Tornado season it's time to batten down the hatches and make ourselves a Storm Shelter to be able to protect all our family, friends and the blowable stuff!

Oh, there's just one problem, and it's the usual one... step up Jack! Yes, the intrepid mountain man has got himself in trouble again by going missing as the Tornados start to hit... Search party time!

As usual things will kick off with a Popup (and a movie worth watching!)

That kicks off a five mission thread (all details HERE) and a four stage build/storyline (all details HERE) which is the tiny Storm Shelter.

We'll also see a new sideboard on the right hand side, Jack's fishing hole...

The Tornados themselves will be new Varmints that appear when you chop Oaks, harvest Dandelions or collect the Daily Bonus on the Shelter...

...and will be clobbered with 4 Sturdy Lassos, however things aren't as bad as you may think.

First up, as usual, if you're riding the White Grizzly (given on completion of THESE MISSIONS) it'll just take the one AND there's no requesting to be had, in a diversion from the norm these items will actually drop from Hide Prepping Stations or White Sage on the homestead.

We'll also see a couple of new items to heal. First up is Wet Animals that we rescue with 12 Absorbent Sponges which are made from 2 Springy Fibers (Rubber Root Dandelions/Flax) and 3 Mashing Pins (Wall Post).

They'll become one of three items...

Next up are Dizzy Cows that appear from clobbering Tornados, they take 10 Vertigo Solutions which are crafted from 2 Blossom Juice (Spring Flowers/Fools Bane) and 3 Well Kept Canisters (Wall Post).

The cows will give one of three different designs...

Please note however, the different animals dropping from Wet Animals and Dizzy Cows are ONLY for aesthetics, there's no random collection element in this set thankfully.

Now, you will have noticed a couple new crops in there, and there are three new free gift items, one tree and 2 crops.

The tree is a premium tree which needs growing with 2 Fancy Waters.

They'll also be in the market along with a few other new items which will be mission rewards...

 

 

Finally we will see a new collection, Over The Rainbow...

Which when completed gives the colourful Rainbow Horse! (Non-Rideable, should store in the Barn)

So, what are we waiting for? The Tornado Alarm is ringing!

Raise Your Beds

If there's two things we always want more of it's Time and Space... and Hank has a great tip to be able to get both...

His idea is not only going to give us more time and space but it'll also give us something we've asked for quite often, an easier way to plant and grow Free Gift crops than planting them one by one!

As usual, we'll see it all kick off with a popup...

That will start a five mission thread (all details HERE) and a four step build, the Spring Garden (all details HERE).

So, what does this wonderous thing do? Quite a lot, and most of it looks pretty darn brilliant...

It's main feature is that it's a time and space saver, because the Spring Garden could also be described as Crop storage, but in a more streamlined fashion to the Greenhouse.

It's actually a collection of smaller beds, which we receive through the missions (not built!). Each of those beds begins by storing 10 crops from the inventory and we can have 8 beds, giving us 80 crop space once the main missions are completed. However, once we complete the single small mission on Monday (more on that later) that will double to 20 per bed, giving us a final growing area of a nice big 160 crops, all squeezed into a single building!

So, how does it work?

Well, it works in five steps:

1) Decide if you want to place crops from the inventory or buy them from the market (you can only buy Premium crops)

2) Use the search bar and the left/right arrows to choose your crop.

3) Pick how many of each crop you want to plant, up to 10 per bed.

4) Wait...

5) Harvest!

There's a few extra bonuses to the Raised Beds as well, all crops inside are Wither Protected if you don't have the Rejuv Plant, there is NO chance of a groundhog appearing when you harvest AND... once your beds are upgraded to 20 apiece you'll be able to plant double the limit of planting for Steel and Brass forges!

We'll see one new free gift crop to pop in...

...and that will appear in the market alongside a new coin crop and a few mission request items and a couple items for Monday's release...

...the April Fool mission!

See more details HERE for this mission but have a little peek at a few new things we'll be seeing...

So let's get planting!

Chop On Wood

There's never enough wood on the homestead, especially when so many missions need us to chop trees, so now it time to save some room by storing a few of those trees away!

Yes, it's time for that lumber storage folks have been asking for with the new Lumber Yard!

As usual, we'll see a popup to start...

That will kick off a four mission/one wrapper thread (all details HERE) and a four step build with upgrades, the Lumber Yard (all details HERE).

So, the question is how will this building of woody wonder work? Well, rather differently from normal storage, so settle in, switch on the grey matter and let's explore the Lumber Yard!

First off, It doesn't actually store trees. Yeah, yeah, I know, work with me here. Instead of STORING trees we SACRIFICE them into the buzzing blades and and clattering conveyor belts of the Yard.

When we place the tree into storage the tree itself goes away and we are credited the tree's chops in the Lumber Yard, with a 25% bonus. So storing a Pine Tree will credit you 10 chops. Then, when you need to chop a Pine Tree you simply open the yard, select how many chops you want to use and BAM, tree chopped!

Different trees are opened up to be stored as we do the missions and originally we can store two of each type and can be upgraded to hold 4 of each. Birch Willow and Hickory are upgraded individually, Pines and Pole Pines have a shared upgrade and Oaks, White Oaks and Valley Oaks share an upgrade.

That gives us between 40 and 60 chops for each tree type, including the new Birch Tree that's a mission reward and a new crop tree, although we can buy fully sized ones for shoes.

That is in the market along with the new free gift crop, the Foxtail Fern...

And... the bit I think we were all dreading.

In the market are also Tadpole Puddles which are healed with 10 Frog Feed until they become one of three Tree Frogs.

...and yep, we need all three eventually.

Thankfully we do know that they're going to cut down on these, my guess is this was already coded in... so fingers crossed it's the last one for a while.

So, as we've been after it for so long, let's enjoy the good part and get building that Lumber Storage!