Harvest Moon Anton’s Diary: Year 2 Autumn Part I

Day 1
Another autumn is here, and as if to herald the beginning of this new season, it was raining today. Nonetheless, despite the prospect of getting drenched, there were many tasks to attend to today, and so I forced myself outside into the pouring rain.

After the animals had been attended to, I decided to head into town to make all the necessary preparations for the season. After foraging around outside his house (autumn is such a good season for foraging, and I intend to take full advantage of it no matter how late I have to stay up), I tried to call in on Gotz to ask about the hothouse, but he wasn’t in- will I ever get this damned hothouse ordered? With that ruled out, I walked into town and stopped by the clinic to say hello to Elli, only to catch her swooning over the doctor. After giving her a moment to get over him, I approached her and handed over two Blue Magic Red Flowers- enough to tip her affections into the purple heart zone.

With that mission accomplished, I headed over to the library to see if they had any useful books to take out, but whilst I could not find much of interest, I was able to use the opportunity to talk to Mary and win her affections with a mushroom. Then it was time to head over to the supermarket and pick up some seeds for planting, before waiting for Won to show up at the inn so that I could pick up some seeds from him as well- as a change from last year’s sweet potatoes I have bought 12 bags of carrot seeds (6 to be planted at a time), 2 bags of green peppers and four bags of eggplant. Naturally, I also used my time at the inn to chat to Ann before returning home to get planting.

With planting complete, I was able to continue foraging on Mother’s Hill until late into the night, and lest anyone think that I have forgotten Popuri, I did of course give her some flowers. Just because I am going after other girls doesn’t mean I shall forget my wife.

Day 2
The autumn routine is falling into place, and alongside the usual watering and taking caring of animals, it involves foraging for as many items as possible- after all, I need them for both cooking and love. I also dropped in on Gotz again, but he seems to be closed today, and as Carter came over to inform me, it is the Music Festival tomorrow, so he will be closed again then (once again, I have agreed to play the ocarina, although I can barely remember the tunes I played on it last year, or indeed even how to play). Why is the hothouse proving so elusive?

After everything else was completed, I worked a little more on Project G, before realising I needed to head back up Mother’s Hill to collect more flowers. The grassed area is doing well, but should I start using lumber to make fields? What would be the point of such fields anyway?

In other news, a random whim caused me to pick up a fox on Mother’s Hill and bring it home- I wonder if it will still be there in the morning. I should also mention that the Pink Cat flower in the vase has withered, so I have replaced it with a Blue Magic Red Flower.

Day 3
Although the fox was there when I got up (I even showed it to Popuri, and to my surprise, she actually liked it instead of shouting at me for bringing wild animals into the house), it soon left, forcing me to go back out and bring it back.

Keeping in mind that the music festival started at 6pm, I only did the basic tasks in the morning, before devoting the afternoon purely to foraging and chopping lumber. Once 5pm rolled around, I made my way over to the church, and as always, for some reason I wasn’t let in until 6pm on the dot even though everyone else was allowed to come in out of the cold earlier.

Unfortunately, the actual festival was quite traumatising- Karen’s singing was awful and our backing instruments fared little better. It’s not surprise that Popuri chose to stay home, although this did enable me to flirt with the other girls.

Day 4
Although I was exhausted after the music festival and not best pleased to see that it was raining again, I dragged myself out of bed first thing this morning (the fox has gone again), and headed out to the fields to check on everything. The crops are sprouting nicely, whilst the grass had become so lush that many hours were required to cut it all down.

Once the plant-related tasks were complete, I went out for a bit of foraging before heading over to Gotz’s place in a by-now desperate attempt to order this accursed hothouse. Fortunately, he was in for once, and he should start work on said hothouse tomorrow.

At lunchtime, I headed over to the supermarket to stock up on my dwindling supply of fish food, only discover that some of the girls were also there- if only I had known in advance, I could have brought them gifts! That isn’t to say that I have abandoned Popuri, of course- in fact, I have started giving her some honey every day as the pregnancy seems to have brought on a craving for it. I have to admit that I am impatient for the baby to come, but I am also scared at how it will change our lives.

Day 5
After attending to the usual tasks this morning (the watering has once again become a lengthy task), I nipped indoors to cook up some Mushroom Rice- a simple dish, but one that I will be glad of when I need a quick snack. Once back outdoors, I attended to yet more grass that needed cutting down; in retrospect, perhaps my grass planting has been a bit excessive, but nonetheless I must see Project G through to the end. I was also dismayed to note that the recent rain has begun to rot the lumber I used to make Seiran’s paddock- does this signify the start of a never-ending cycle of lumber rotting and my replacing it?

The afternoon and evening were spent foraging as per usual, although as the shop is closed on Tuesdays I was lucky enough to spot Karen visiting the hot spring area. I had a quick chat with her, but unfortunately I had no suitable gifts on hand to present to her.

Day 6
The rain was back today, but as always there was much to do outside so it had to be ignored. After finding my horse and putting it back indoors, I cut down some grass and tended to the animals before heading indoors to cook up some Truffle Rice (I felt a little guilty about using up a rare and precious truffle just to create a rice dish, but I was also curious as to how it would turn out). Afterwards, I took the pizza out of the fridge, bought a couple of bottles of wine and headed over to the supermarket to charm Karen, but since she wasn’t there, I just had to content myself with picking up some bread and rice for future cooking endeavours.

The afternoon was largely devoted to foraging, although I did stop at the lake for a spot of fishing. Naturally I was unsuccessful, but at least the fish in the pond now number 47.

Day 7
This morning, the number of fish in the pond had finally reached fifty, causing Greg to come over and admire my efforts (who said he could just wander onto my farm without permission?). He was so impressed that he even handed over a Fishing Pole, which will apparently make fishing that much easier- although if you ask me, it just looks like the Fishing Rod with a yellow lure in place of the red one. Nonetheless, I am not one to say no to a free gift, and so I gratefully accepted it before getting on with my work.

Upon going indoors for lunch, I was surprised to find that Popuri had prepared a delicious spread for me, and it was only at her prompting that I recalled it was my birthday! Since no one even remarked on it last year, I had put my birthday to the back of my mind, and so this was a pleasant surprise.

In the afternoon, I tried cooking up some Raisin Bread (disappointingly it just looks like a small brown deposit) before heading out to forage and try a spot of fishing with the new pole. Thus far, I have only caught a fish skeleton with it, but I am vaguely optimistic about my future fishing prospects.

Day 8
After several days of Gotz randomly sawing in mid-air, the hothouse is done, and I have to say it is a big disappointment. Not only is it blockish and ugly, but the area for planting is less than a quarter of what I had hoped for. I had so many plans for this hothouse, but I will now have to seriously scale them back.

Nonetheless, work still has to be done, and so I spent the morning harvesting the first crop of carrots and green peppers, before heading over to the supermarket. Since Karen was there, I gave her an apple, but she disliked it- I hope I have not damaged our relationship. Afterwards, I nipped over to the Inn to chat to Ann and buy some Cabbage and flower seeds from Won- my first task in the hothouse will be to ship 100 cabbages so that the supermarket will begin stocking strawberries.

By the time all crop related tasks were done, it was past 5pm, and so the evening was taken up with tending to the animals and basic foraging. I didn’t even have time to pick any flowers for Popuri- all I could give her today was honey.

Day 9
It was only after I had done all the morning chores that I remembered it was the Harvest Festival today, and so I had to hurriedly rush back into the house, pick up a tomato to put in the hotpot and run over to Rose Square (somehow Popuri, who was in the house before I left, managed to get there before me). After chatting with everyone, I tossed my tomato in the hotpot, which, despite being a strange mixture of fish, herbs, eggs, jam, tomato and miscellaneous other things, was actually quite tasty. Unfortunately, it took until 6pm to eat it and make polite small talk with everyone, leaving me only a limited amount of time for the evening’s foraging. There is also a large amount of grass to cut down, but that will have to wait.

Day 10
The eggplants were ripe today, and so I set about harvesting them before proceeding with the regular tasks, which now involve watering everything in the hothouse, watering everything in the field, feeding the chickens, feeding the fish, collecting the apples and honey, feeding the livestock, milking the cows and shearing the sheep. Only once all this is complete, I am free to go foraging, a task which seems to take up increasingly more hours of the day. In order to relieve the monotony a bit, I tried to take a squirrel and a cricket home, but although Popuri didn’t seem to mind them being in the house, they both ran away at the first opportunity. Perhaps I should stop trying to put wild animals in my house.

In the evening, I set about cutting down some of the tangle of grass that covers my field, but unfortunately I only had the time and energy to do a mere fraction of the work required. Was Project G really such a good idea after all?

Day 11
Another crop of Green Peppers was ripe today (well, except for a couple of plants that have started lagging behind due to inconsistent watering- I have the same situation with the eggplants now), and so I started the day by shipping them before attending to the usual tasks. The fish in the pond now number 54, so I have taken a couple out of the pond and put them in the refrigerator for cooking purposes.

Once everything on the farm was seen to, I went out foraging, only to run into Barley and May on their way to the hot springs. Although they hung around for a couple of hours, Barley seemed disinclined to actually bathe in the hot springs, but perhaps he was merely too shy to get naked in front of both me and his granddaughter; I just hope he isn’t doing anything indecent to May if they are taking a hot spring bath together.

After the foraging was completed, I decided to brighten up the fields by planting the Magic Red Flowers I bought, a task which took much time and stamina. I also resolved to cut some more grass, but as the clock passed midnight, I realised that I should really stop, and so after a refreshing late night dip in the hot springs, I went to bed- at the rather late hour of 2am. I will only get four hours of sleep tonight, but needs must when the god of farming drives.

Day 12
After the packed day I had yesterday, I decided that no one would mind if I took it easy today, although for me taking it easy still means doing all the usual tasks and going out to forage. Nonetheless, aside from that I decided not to tackle any major projects other than cutting down the unruly grass- unfortunately, the horse keeps running into range of my sickle, so I can only hope I have not accidentally hit it in my enthusiasm. Although Popuri may think me lazy, I turned in at just gone 7pm, for I have much sleep to catch up on.

Day 13
I feel like I am becoming clumsy of late; the other day I accidentally spilled some mayonnaise whilst tossing it into the shipping bin, whilst today I managed to toss some honey on the floor after Popuri walked away when I was about to give it to her. Oddly, although perhaps fortunately, these things vanish straight after they spill, so I need never worry about clearing them up.

After the usual tasks and the endless foraging (I almost long for the dull winter as an end to autumn foraging), I went out to cut more grass. I have now reached the maximum amount of fodder that can be stored in my silo (999) so I need only cut up to 20 squares of grass per day.

Day 14
Another crop of eggplants and green peppers was ready today, and so by the time I had picked them and completed the watering, it was already 2pm! Nonetheless, I forged ahead with my tasks, making sure not to shear the sheep as I will need at least one wool-clad one to enter into next week’s Sheep Festival. I also picked three more fish out of the pond for cooking- although I must start shipping them too as another source of income

The afternoon and evening were spent foraging, by which time I was too tired to do anything more than just fall into bed.