Farming
Plant. Walk away. Return hours later. The skill that genuinely respects offline play.
Farming is the long-cycle gathering skill: plant seeds in your patches, then come back when they have grown. Growth runs on the real clock, so crops ripen whether the app is open or not. Every keeper starts with six patches, two each for allotment crops, herbs and trees.
How Farming works
Allotments grow food crops, from Potatoes at 1 (half an hour) through Onions, Cabbages, Tomatoes, Sweetcorn, Strawberries, Cherries, Watermelons and Reedgrass to Carrots at 69. Herb patches grow what Apothecary brews with: Comfrey (5), Yarrow (15), Mugwort (25), Vervain (35), Wormwood (50), Mandrake (60), Nightshade (70) and Moonwort (80). Tree patches take longest and grow logs and apples, from an Oak at 15 (four hours) to a Magic Tree at 75 (eight hours).
An untreated crop has a 50% chance of surviving to harvest. Each Compost adds 10%, so five applications make it certain, and Brine Slurry makes it certain and adds 10% to the yield.
Seeds come mostly from Bird Nests, which drop while you cut trees. Once 10% of the Farming mastery pool is filled you earn replant orders, which plant a patch again when it is harvested.
Inputs
- Seeds, mostly from Bird Nests
- An empty patch of the matching type
- Compost, to raise the chance a crop survives
Outputs
- Farming XP
- Crops for Cooking and herbs for Apothecary
- Logs and apples from tree patches
Tips for training Farming
- Plant trees before bed. A Magic Tree takes eight hours.
- Compost every patch. Five applications take survival from 50% to certain.
- Plant the herbs your Apothecary recipes call for: every potion starts with one.
- The Bountiful Harvest Potion opens at Apothecary 74.
Skills that pair with Farming
The 28 trades aren't isolated. Farming works best alongside these:
Frequently asked about Farming
Do crops grow while the app is closed?
Yes. Farming runs on the real clock, not on session time. Plant before bed and harvest at breakfast.
What's the best crop to plant for XP?
It depends on how long you will be away. Short allotment crops suit a session you are watching; tree patches, up to eight hours for a Magic Tree, suit a night away.
Can my crops die?
Yes. An untreated crop has a 50% chance to fail at harvest. Each Compost adds 10% to its survival, up to certain at five.
Train Farming wherever you play.
Tideward is free in beta, no account needed: on TestFlight for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro, and Apple Watch, and on Google Play for Android phones and tablets. Join before launch and you are a Founding Tester: first crack at every build and a vote on the roadmap, plus the Founder's Mark profile icon on TestFlight.