Audrey's Farm

Recently I began revisiting my sister's farm. She lost interest early in the game (your first Gone to Waste will do that) & although we had done a lot of decoration with flowers, it still seemed... well, half ass.

It's still a work in progress, but I think it looks like it's coming along now.

The brown picket fence actually took a few days. Fortunately in Farm Town you can gift your friends twice a day. With a name beginning with "A" & a ton of Farm Town (& Cafe World, & Restaurant City, & Mafia Wars, & Vampire Wars... just shoot me) friends, Audrey's Gift Box at one point contained close to 200 items, & she wasn't even playing Farm Town any more. I ended up selling each item at the Market, with each sale taking several seconds because the sheer volume of items was lagging the game.

So after the brown picket fence, we had to start sending Audrey Forget-Me-Nots, those flowers I can't stand on my farms but which actually look really nice against the brown picket fence. Also, Audrey likes purple. There are a few newly planted ones; I won't be doing growth freezing with these.

Farm Town has a number of new, cool-looking fruit trees that require higher levels to attain & I'm not sure Audrey's farm is ever going to have any. It would be nice to have some around for variety. Perhaps eventually they will be made giftable.

Halloween at my farm.

Things had gotten pretty quiet on my farm until someone that I hired said, "Thanks for the work. Now I can buy my Spooky Farmhouse." And so I decided to check out what the Farm Town store had. AND I NEEDED THAT SPOOKY FARMHOUSE.


After replacing my All-American white farmhouse with Big Black This Is What My Heart Looks Like farmhouse, the picket fence didn't match any more. I deleted a few fields in the SE corner of the farm to make a secondary residence, complete with yellow flowers & the BBQ set up.



The main residence was sectioned off with headstones & roses, since there were no fence items that I could buy that were suitable for a black house. I bought a couple of the skeleton trees, another Halloween special item. I'd like those trees a lot better without the skeletons, but it was all that was available.

I did try placing a cauldron in the area, but orange just doesn't match with the look. Even the pumpkin Shawn gave me had to be placed on the secondary residence. I guess kids can go over there for candy.

Advice: Some Don't Like It.

Here's my farm today:


I hate harvesting, so it's really nice to be able to hire people to do the harvesting for me. Initially I just hired whoever was in the marketplace asking for work, but it's amazing how many Farm Town players there are that are simply... crappy harvesters.

I've hired people who randomly harvested plots all over the entire farm, leaving the place looking like a mess which someone else would have to clean up. You would think someone who needed the money would harvest everything he or she could, but some just don't. I think these types are the Type Zs. You know, the opposite of Type A. I didn't think people like this exist, but they do.

Since then I try to only hire people who speak in complete or semi-complete sentences, not using words like "plz" or "u" & who capitalize the word "I" when used to reference themselves. Oh, & who can spell simple words like "work" & "hire." If they can at least meet those criteria I think chances are they might not be total failures when it comes to harvesting.

You'd be amazed how rare it is to find Farm Town players like this. It seems I'm playing a game populated primarily by Special Ed Americans or Chinese kids.

Today I hired 2 people to harvest my farm of Carrots & Chili Peppers, & when one of them asked about plowing, I explained about the pathing bug. In retrospect, I can see how it was taken as condescension, but frankly I was just sharing information. Normally I just tell people, "Sorry, I like to plow in a certain order" but frankly if it was me I'd like to know what that order was.

I don't consider myself a Type A. I think I'm a Type B with OCD. I mean, look at my farm. Obviously I have methods I like to stick to.

Anyway, some people won't take anything at its face value; they'll interpret interactions in their own special way. Theresa apparently took offense at all the info I was throwing at her I guess in her mind it was just rejection: "No, you can't plow my farm because you're not good enough." People will take things whatever way they want to take them. Not my problem. =)

A More OCD Look At Farm Town Flowers.

This is probably my Farm Town version of Female Blood Elf faces or Female Draenei Faces.

The more bored detail oriented Farm Town players may have noticed that if you click on your flowers, there is an option to "Freeze Growth." Flowers take 3 (or is it 4? I forget.) days to come to full growth & there are intermediate stages along the way. There are actually 4 stages, the first one showing stem/leaf growth without any buds or flowers.

When we first got flowers in the game, I planted them all over the place & they grew. The zinnias are pretty crazy. You can hide corpses in full grown zinnias. I ended up Selling most of the zinnias on my farms (don't ask) because they were simply too big.

I personally think the Blue Hyacinths actually look better proportioned when frozen in early stages. The zinnias have different growth stages but the 3rd stage is so minutely different from the final stage that it seems like it goes from a clump of grass directly to full bloom.

Below are pictures of Roses & Daffodils in the 3 flowering stages. Pretty, huh?

My Farm

By now, you guys are thinking, "Since Lauren makes so much of everyone's designs, I wonder what kind of design she has." Well, wonder no more. Actually, I'm futting around with 5 (yes... 5) farms so this is just one of them.

I've taken shots of my immediate neighbor's farms in miniature & placed them at the appropriate sections so you can get an idea of the spatial relationship between individual farms (I actually do plot out my farms trying to be considerate to my neighbors. I know, it's dumb. But so is Facebook.).

So yeah, my farm is kind of boring compared to the other ones. But frankly, my ideal house is --- you remember where Superman lived (Fortress of Solitude) in the Superman Returns movie? Well, that's one possible ideal. I like space. If there are trees & sunflowers & livestock then of course I can't have a big fortress made of ice, but I can still have space.

You don't see a lot of space on O'ahu. Out in Haleiwa I've seen some quaint little houses set in the middle of huge, grassy lots flanked by large, overgrown trees & I thought it was wonderful. In many more areas on the mainland this would be considered normal.

I also like simplicity. I don't want things to be too busy. So, no scarecrows for me.

My main farm --- this little one --- is low level & not anywhere near a symmetrical or organized as I would like, but once I've gotten all my land upgrades (level 25 is the last one, I believe) then I'll sit down & seriously plan my design out. I have a couple of farms that are 25+ (one of them is my neighbor there in the SE) & I'll post screenshots of them later. Editing these pics takes awhile. =)

Gran's Family Farm

Now that's a lot of pumpkins.


What I liked about this farm was that there was, as the name suggests, an entire family living here. As someone living with a grandparent, I can appreciate having pleasant accommodations for an extended family.

Here on the West side are the main house, where I would expect Grandma lives possibly with Mom & Dad. Or maybe Mom & Dad live in the cottage in the far West corner. Close enough to walk over for breakfast but far enough so that they can have sex once in awhile.


Then there's the East side of the property, where the barns, animals, & silo are. A bit of overkill with the scarecrows. This is probably the least desirable of the living quarters on the property; one imagines it's hot, noisy & smells like poop. Whoever lives here has to take care of the livestock & probably deal with all the storage workings. This is either the abode of the hired help or the bastard grandson.


And then, the Resort area. Here's where the favorite grandchildren (all of them, perhaps) all have their own little cabins, a playset, & general vacation-style surroundings. Grandma's estate has provided well for them. All this place needs is a tennis court & a gym. Even the private pumpkin field is landscaped with a flowered path.


A lot of farms make great & practical use of trees as hedges. This not only makes them quite convenient to harvest consecutively, but has a functional aspect in the design as well. Grandma has to Hide her trees when she harvests her pumpkins but this is not a big deal. Pumpkins take 4 days to mature, so that's 80 hours that those trees are in the right place.

The Aussie!

I've met a lot of folks who hail from Australia in WoW, & so far (knock on wood) just about all of them have been really nice. Maybe it's the fact that they keep calling me "Mate;" I'm not sure. lol

This guy's farm just made me smile. He was very innovative with the use of bales of hay, flowers, & wooden crates.


The living area is very pleasant too; on the NW side of the property with a clear view of all the livestock. This person must really like his cats too.

Green Thumb Acres

It was this farm that made me decide to start collecting screenshots of people's Farm Town farms. Some people get very creative. It's awesome.


Here's the West side of this player's property. I've never lived on a farm (although my grandmother thinks so sometimes) but it makes sense to have the animals around the barn. Shorter distance to transport hay! Even though this is a game, the projected functionality of your farm is still a fun aspect to factor in to your design.


This is the South end of Green Thumb Acres, & this is where the farmer herself lives. It's a cozy sized lot with a lot of flowers. I just wish it had a back yard, but I suppose the entire farm is her back yard. Her path to the gate is nice & feng shui; meandering through the front yard. I find it interesting that the house is situated facing AWAY from the property, but I think it's a matter of wanting a South corner house coupled with buildings that can't be rotated. Everyone else puts their houses in the North or Northwest because of this, so it's refreshing to see a house on the South end.


And then here's the East side, which is probably my favorite corner of the property because she's got a quaint little guest house there. Or maybe it's for the hired help. It looks like a very pleasant, cozy living area, far away from the main house for privacy. I do like the pine trees. I can imagine how they sound.