Harvest Moon Anton’s Diary: Year 3 Winter Part I

Day 1
Winter is here, and unlike the previous years, there is nothing I really want to accomplish in this season- therefore, I have decided to just get it over with as quickly as possible by completing only the basic farm tasks and spending most of the day in bed. People will call me a recluse for doing this, but they cannot know the accumulated pain of nearly three years of farming. I may go out for festivals, however, just for a change of pace.

Day 2
Another routine day; this time I only spent 50 minutes awake before going back to bed- I hope Popuri doesn’t think worse of me because of this.

Today I shall cover Anton’s guide to festivals, those inescapable celebrations that permeate every season. When you first arrive in Mineral Town, you will quickly become annoyed at the frequency and general pointlessness of these celebrations, and over the years these feelings never quite go away- especially when you realise that the villagers always say and do exactly the same thing at each festival. In time, however, you do come to accept them a little more, for instead of being irritating distractions from vital work, they serve as a welcome break from the increasing monotony of your repetitive life.

Day 3
It may be a mere two days after my self imposed isolation, but I was forced to go out today in order to stock up on cooking ingredients at the supermarket. After chatting to Karen, I bought four bottles of oil and four packets of flour- enough to sustain my culinary interests for the foreseeable future. Back home, I put some of the oil to good use in creating a stir fry; I must say that I am slightly disappointed to be running out of new recipes to try, but there will be a sense of accomplishment once I have created almost every dish possible (certain ones are beyond me due to a lack of base ingredients such as chocolate).

Day 4
Today I had my first go at baking a cake, and I must say that it turned out much better than I had anticipated- I may even keep a slice of it for the cooking festival (surprisingly, it will not go stale and mouldy as long as it is kept in the fridge). Unfortunately, I have also run out of milk, and so I must remember to keep some when I milk the cows tomorrow instead of turning it all into cheese for shipping as I usually do.

Day 5
As planned, today I only shipped Elrood and Colbrech’s gold milk before taking the rest into the house to be stored in the fridge. I also found some gold milk in the fridge, which was taken back into the barn to be turned into gold cheese and shipped- no sense wasting precious golden milk on cooking when the ordinary stuff will do just as well.

Anyway, once all tasks were complete I went back into the house and whipped up a serviceable cheesecake- I believe I may have found a previously undiscovered talent for making desserts.

Day 6
Since I am still in dessert mode, today I had a go at Pumpkin Pudding- I was slightly worried at how such a dish would taste, but thankfully it seems to be quite delicious.

Today I shall present Anton’s guide to mining- when you first come to farm, you do not expect to have to do mining work as well, but actually it is quite profitable and therapeutic. Although the winter mine has rare and more expensive ores, it is the default mine that I love, and many non-hours have been spent there, suspending the passage of time as I dig for metals and money.

In time, however, the mine loses its lustre, especially when you realise that being there does not help the day to pass any quicker.

Day 7
Continuing in the dessert theme, today I whipped up some ice cream- quite an achievement even for a man of my skills, I feel. Unfortunately, this means that I have run out of eggs for cooking, and so tomorrow I must collect some.

In today’s Anton’s guide, I will discuss cows- when you first get your cow, they seem cute, new and exciting, but by the time you have ten, you will come to dread going into the barn. Yes, the dairy is highly profitable, but when you have to feed, milk and talk to ten identical cows every day, it soon becomes tiresome- especially when the cows are prone to milling around and form multi-cow masses that are difficult to interact with. There are days when I have had to leave the milking half finished because all the cows have fused together and I can’t get to them all.

Day 8
Since I now feel that I have done all I can with desserts, I have decided to move onto creating drinks in the kitchen. Today I whipped up some fruit juice, before adding some milk to create a fruit latte- it looks slightly disgusting, but perhaps someone I know will like it.

In this Anton’s guide, I shall cover sheep- like cows, they make the barn a nightmare whilst being generally less cute and naked most of the time. The only consolation is that they only need shearing once a week, if you can handle the multi sheep masses that form, or their inevitable fusion with the cows.

Day 9
Today I decided to get adventurous with drinks in the kitchen, starting out with vegetable juice, a rather unappetising green concoction. By adding milk, I was able to bring out the flavour of the carrots and make an equally hideous vegetable latte, but when I tried to put fruit and vegetable lattes together to create a mixed latte, it was all too much, and I ended up with yet another food fiasco.

In other news, it is the dog race tomorrow, and despite my embarrassing performance last year, I agree to enter. If nothing else, it will be good for a laugh.

Day 10
It was the Dog Race today, and as I had predicted, Potato performed abysmally on the track, rolling around and cocking his leg when he was supposed to be running after me. Needless to say, we came last, but it is hardly unexpected when that damned Won won’t sell me another dog ball! I even bought that SUGDW apple from him in order to encourage him to offer me another dog ball, but he refused to take the bait.

Day 11
Today I tried mixing fruit and vegetable juice to make mixed juice- mindful of my errors with the mixed latte, I kept my recipe simple, and to my delight it actually worked! Tomorrow I must work up the courage to try mixed latte again, for a mere drink should not be enough to defeat me.

Today in Anton’s guide, I shall discuss foraging- in spring, summer and especially autumn, foraging is an essential yet time consuming way to pick up unique items. In the early days, the profit garnered from selling these items is vital, but later on you can collect them for use in recipes or winning girls’ hearts. Eventually, however, you will inevitably tire of it, and when it seems like too much effort to step just outside your farm to pick up a few mushrooms and bits of grass, it is inevitably time to abandon it altogether.

Day 12
I once again tried to make mixed latte today, but despite the most meticulous of preparation, it turned into a failure yet again. I feel I must give up on this, for clearly mixed latte and I were never meant to be.

In this Anton’s guide, I shall talk about crops- despite taking up hours in terms of watering and harvesting, there is no greater satisfaction than seeing a field full of fruits and vegetables. Always make sure to keep some for cooking, however, no matter how much you want to ship them all and reap in even higher profits.

Day 13
Another standard day today, and so I shall discuss other farms in Anton’s Guide; although these farms must exist as their owners attend the dog and horse races, as well as the other animal related festivals, you can never visit them, nor can you interact with the strange men that run them. I have longed to share tales of farming hell with these strange men, but it seems I am destined never to talk to them- even the villagers refuse to share stories about them. I feel that if I could unravel this mystery, I would understand a lot more about my world.

Day 14
It was Winter Thanksgiving today, and so Popuri snuck a slice of delicious chocolate cake into my rucksack- although as such a dish is so rare, I must store it with last year’s cake instead of eating it. I was hoping the other girls would remember their spring promises and give me some chocolate as well, but either they were afraid to approach a married man, or they came whilst I was in bed, which admittedly was for 23½ hours of the day.

Day 15
Another uneventful day today, which is why I must relate Anton’s guide to grass and weeds. Weeds are the primary evil of anyone with a pasture, and the only way to avoid having to exhaust oneself cutting them down every day is to plant far more grass than you could ever possibly need. Those who followed my Project G will know that this is no easy task, but if you devote yourself to it, you will be delighted at how much it reduces the weed problem. That being said, be sure you don’t accidentally sickle down your crops when cutting grass, and be warned that the weeds will not give up entirely- they will still affect the crop section of your pasture.