My First Wheat Harvest and its Results

On the same day that I was able to harvest my second plot of fully ripened Soybeans, I made my first Wheat harvest from a plot in the Greenhouse. Regrettably, the second attempt to grow Wheat in my Field failed with the start of Winter. Evidently, the Water quotient was exceeded, perhaps by the blizzard that was visited upon me on the 1st day of Winter... as every single blade of Wheat disappeared from the field. I had at least 15 plots (each of 9 squares) that finally had reached the first stage of growth. All of them vanished as if they never had existed.

I did have the foresight to sow NEW Wheat in the Field on 30 Autumn. Wheat is one of the only Crops that can grow in your Field in Winter and as it is a very slow-growing Crop, requiring about two Seasons to mature, it is not a bad idea to sow it in Winter, so that it can be harvested on the 1st day of Summer. At least that is my plan, provided it does not receive too much water in the next two seasons. I am not going to water it myself very often and will hope that the weather is obliging.

Remember that you cannot till the soil on your Field in Winter as the ground is frozen. You must plant any Fruit Trees or Wheat BEFORE Winter arrives, by the last day of Autumn.

In the Greenhouse, on the other hand, my first attempt to grow Wheat succeeded nicely. It ripened into the final golden stage and I cut it with the Sickle, moving afterwards to a plot of Soybeans that displayed the characteristic brown pods of fully ripened beans. I have included screenshots of both here.

As explained both in my General Guide and my Farming mini-guide, you will need a Thresher if you wish to be able to use any of your Grains. What you obtain when you harvest any grain with your Sickle is 'cut' grain. The first step after cutting a grain with your Sickle is to feed it into the Thresher. What is produced then is the basic grain: Rice, Wheat, Soybean or Buckwheat. This is the raw material from which other products can be made, including Cooked Dishes and Seeds. This is the item you need to obtain from Manfred, in fact, if you wish to obtain Seeds before they have been unlocked at Chen's Shop.

The raw grain can be fed into the Flour Mill to produce Flour of various types. Rice produces Rice Flour, Wheat creates Wheat Flour, Soybeans makes Soybean Flour and finally Buckwheat makes Buckwheat Flour. It is Buckwheat Flour, in fact, that you obtain as leftovers at the Year End Festival on 30 Winter. Flour cannot be converted into Seeds, incidentally. Only the product that is created originally in the Thresher from the cut grain can be transformed into Seeds.

I have included a screenshot of the various products of Wheat and Soybeans here. On the far left, you will see the Cut Grain. The top row displays Wheat and Wheat products. The bottom row displays Soybeans. I will add screenshots for Rice and Buckwheat later.

Rice and Bread both produce one more product when a derivative of each is fed into the Flour Mill. Throw Rice Cake into the Flour Mill to produce Sweet Rice Flour. Throw Bread into the Flour Mill to produce Bread Crumbs.

The Thresher and the Flour Mill are two of the 'advanced Makers' in Island of Happiness. You need to expand your Maker Shed if you wish to order these. A basic Maker Shed will accommodate basic Makers such as the Cheese, Butter, Yogurt, Mayonnaise, Yarn and Seed Makers. The final advanced Maker is the Quality Improver Maker, and it is by far the most expensive, both in monetary terms and in terms of materials. As in many other Harvest Moon games, you must give Gannon the required amount of Adamantite if you wish to order any Maker. The amount required differs from Maker to Maker.

You will not be able to use any of your Grains without a Thresher. The Flour Maker is almost as important, although there are a few Dishes that can be made with the Basic Grain produced by the Thresher.

I hope this post will illustrate the incredible potential of Island of Happiness where farming is concerned. It may require patience and hard labour, but the rewards are delightful. It is the most sophisticated Harvest Moon farming game to date.

One final note about Soybeans. In FoMT/MFoMT, the Seasoning Set included Miso and you could use it to make Miso Soup. In Island of Happiness, you must make your own Miso. Indeed, there are a multitude of soybean-based products that can be created and used in cooking in IoH, including Tofu. There are at least half a dozen Tofu Dishes in the game.

N.B. I have added another screenshot that shows the Wheat and Soybeans when they are not yet ripe but are at the last stage before harvest. As you can see, both Wheat and Soybeans look much the same as at the final ripe stage apart from their colour. While the plants remain green, they are not fully ripe. You can harvest the Soybeans while the pods remain green, but you will obtain Edamame instead of Soybeans. Edamame cannot be converted to Seeds, and it has limited usefulness in cooking. (You can make Rice and Beans with it, for example.) Soybeans, on the other hand, are used in more Recipes perhaps than any other ingredient in this game, with the possible exception of Wheat and Rice.

FRESHNESS TIP: As you know, all items begin with the maximum Freshness of 10. As time passes, they will lose their Freshness gradually. When stored in an ordinary Refrigerator or Cabinet, items continue to decrease gradually in Freshness unless the Fridge or Cabinet is made of Mythic Stone.

You can restore Freshness to an item by throwing it into the Quality Improver Maker if you have one. As it is the most expensive Maker of all, however, you will not be able to afford one early in the game.

I have noticed something where Grains are concerned that may be helpful. Cut Grains, unlike the Grains when transformed to Flour, are stored in the Cabinet and not the Fridge. Furthermore, they appear to retain their maximum Freshness where the same Grain when transformed to the Basic Grain or Flour would have decreased in Freshness. I therefore would advise players not to convert their cut grains to the basic Grain or Flour until they actually need the product. Cut Grain ultimately will decrease in Freshness, but not as quickly as the Basic Grain or Flour made from the Grain.

Stages of Soybeans and Buckwheat in Island of Happiness

For those who wish to become ultra-successful farmers, here are some screenshots of Grains at various stages in Island of Happiness.

In one screenshot, you will see two stages of Soybeans. At the bottom is Edamame, ready for harvest, distinguished by the small purple blossoms. In the centre is another crop of Soybeans almost ready to reach the final stage. There are only two rows instead of three as I harvested the first row when they first displayed the blossoms that characterise Edamame. This plot is NOT at the final stage yet. The pods must change colour before you can harvest true Soybeans. In the upper plot is another crop of Soybeans at the first stage.

Buckwheat and Wheat are displayed in the other screenshot. The Wheat crops are at the first and second stages. The Buckwheat, distinguished by its reddish stalk, is at the first stage. I will add a screenshot of the Buckwheat I formerly grew which was fully ripe but never harvested.

Harvesting Grains in Island of Happiness

There's an old British slang word, 'gormless', which translates to a more current one, which is 'clueless'. Perhaps I am particularly gormless or clueless where farming in Island of Happiness is concerned, but in case I am not the only one who is working in a mist here, I am going to share some information that may be helpful.

All grains in Island of Happiness are harvested only with a Sickle in which at least one Yellow Wonderful has been set. You cannot harvest them with your bare hands. It was precisely because I forgot this essential fact that I lost two plots filled with ripe Buckwheat! I kept trying to harvest them in the ordinary fashion until, one fine morning, they simply vanished.

I was almost foolishly elated therefore when I was able to harvest my first Soybean product, Edamame. As stated in my Guides, even when you have not unlocked a type of grain, you can obtain it randomly from Manfred, convert it into seed and plant it. That is how I obtained my first Soybeans in my first test game.

Incidentally, Edamame is of limited use compared to Soybeans. No new Recipes can be unlocked at the Cafe or the Diner with it. It is used in one Recipe for 'Rice and Beans' but you unlock that Recipe with Cooked Rice. You do need to ship one Edamame to complete your Shipping List and use one more in 'Rice and Beans'. There may be more Recipes in which Edamame can feature as an optional ingredient, but Soybeans is far more useful. Soybeans can be used in a myriad of Recipes as well as being an item that can be converted into Seeds. You cannot convert Edamame into seeds.

I planted them in the Greenhouse to eliminate seasonal problems. It took a long time for them to mature, and they were only 'B' Rank when they reached the first stage of harvest. The screenshot included here shows the appearance of Soybeans when you can harvest Edamame. It is the Crop on the right, that displays lovely little purple flowers. The Crop on the left is Wheat, as yet unripe.

Knowing what a Grain looks like when it is ripe is critical in Island of Happiness. As you use a Sickle on it, harvesting it prematurely will leave you with NOTHING. I strongly urge players, therefore, to save their game BEFORE they use the Sickle on any Grain.

I will continue to post screenshots of Grains when they are ready for harvest. I will add detailed descriptions of the signs of ripeness to my Guides.

An earlier post of mine includes screenshots of Rice in the Paddy Fields at different stages. It is only when it is golden that it will be ready for harvest.
I have included a screenshot of the rice when I was about to harvest it. Another screenshot shows the Buckwheat that was ready for harvest, but which I failed to harvest as I had forgotten it required a Sickle rather than bare hands.

I hate to admit my mistakes in Harvest Moon but if my errores will help other players, I need to swallow my pride and publish them!