Anybody having trouble settling into a farming routine? I'm finding there's just not enough time to get everything done. Right now I've moved my sim mom out of the family home and she's working on the Country Caretaker aspiration. I always move the sim mom out when a new pack releases so I can experience it without any distractions. I try to get the gardening and animal care done in the morning. I have two bee boxes, two hens, a cow and a llama. Also four animal farms. I like to send my sim to the market each day because there's usually different items available. Then there's the regular daily activities like cooking, preparing animal treats, running errands. Before I know it the day is over. And I'm wondering how I'm going to manage when I reunite the entire family and have to juggle school projects, and scouting, and skills and all of my regular family gameplay.
I'm finding the daily routines hard to balance, too. I'm going better by a strategy of each household doing just a few of the farm activities available. It's so easy to add too much to each farm. So I have a cow farm with 4 cows, they will never have chicken or llama, and they grow a very limited plot of produce. Another is a Chicken farm, they will never have a larger animal. And also, most houses will specialize on a couple plant species and also limit the preserves production to a few of them.
The cow farm that I am playing currently is quite the challenge family wise as they have 5 kids. They can help with the cows, so I let the kids clean the sheds after school, perhaps feed them too, but the mom is doing all he milking. I started having 4 household members tending to one cow each, but that became a problem as I could not make sure that all 4 were happy enough to do it successfully.
I was playing with a single sim on the Cordelia cottage lot, and I could only just keep up. I had one llama and eventually two full chicken coops. Day started with feeding the chickens, getting the eggs, cleaning the coop. Repeat for the llama - also give the llama a brush and a shear. Then food and shower for the sim, then take care of the garden - whatever the rabbits didn't do - then a moment to breathe, and some time to catch up with personal stuff in the afternoon/evening. If it was fair day, I'd sort out the poor eggs from the rest and take everything to sell to either the grocer or the Crumplebottoms, which usually generated more than enough money for the week, especially once I added rare flowers (thank you rabbits) to the garden.
This is actually the whole reason I have always said that we didn't need only a bunch of 64x64 lots for a farming community. There's just not enough time in a sims day to take care of as many animals and crops as you could pack into the largest possible lot. Not that it couldn't be fun or a challenge to occasionally try to max out the chores to see whether you can keep up, but I just don't think most people would really want to play that way with every household every time.
Personally, I've been playing a few different farming households, but most have ended up with a single cow or llama, 1 chicken coop with 4-6 chickens, 1 bee box, and 2-12 crops. (Usually 2 or 3 oversized crops at a time, all the berries, and a few staple crops like peas, carrots, and potatoes.) That's just about all I can handle and still have time to eat, sleep, take care of hygiene, take care of chores, and occasionally travel to the market or pick up a new errand. Sometimes there's time for a quick cross-stitch or knit at the end of the evening, sometimes there's not. Bad weather days are an opportunity to call friends or invite them over; otherwise most social interaction comes from the animals. I don't see how my sims could handle any more than that without becoming extremely unhappy. (And for me personally, making my sims miserable is not something I enjoy, although I know some people do.)
I haven't had many problems with it but I do limit a few chickens one cow and one llama for homes that have several animals, take care of their needs after hovering over the relationship panel if anything shows red then I'll deal with them. if it isn't I'd have my sims do other things, though I'm used to farming games when I have too much going on so this hasn't been too much.
Reddestiny921 on the gallery...still not sure if I capitalized the second d..lol
All the sims err'day
I just love all the houses in Cottage Living. Well done to all the simmers who created them.
I agree, they are all really fantastic. The aesthetic of this pack really calls to me; this is the first time I ever liked all of the houses in a pack. I'm going to reuse some of them in other worlds. I'll most likely change out some colors and landscaping so I can remember where I am in each one.
I love the houses too. I just realized this is possibly the first time I've had a Sim regularly eat at the table in her house -- they usually eat anywhere but.
Finally finished all my preparing and now I'm ready to finally get started. After reading about how everyone is playing and earning money, I've decided to start off with one cow and gradually add on to my farm after building my relationships with each animal. Right now its just Daniel and Butter. Daniel's only job will be as a farmer. He has $20,000 that he inherited from his grandfather along with the farm. I plan to take on assignments and sell my produce in town, enter competitions at the fair and enjoy life as a farmer.
β
Daniel building his relationship with Butter and enjoying the summer weather. Finally, I get to explore the world.
Daniel's family and his brother's wives and their children.
Daniel's best friend, August. August's wife (Carlie) and their daughter, Emma.
Here are all the families the live in Henford-on-Bagley. Daniel will eventually be friends with everyone. This is the first world where I've added a lot of single Sims.
What takes the most time is building then playtesting those builds before moving on the the next family. This truly is a beautiful world.
This is actually the whole reason I have always said that we didn't need only a bunch of 64x64 lots for a farming community. There's just not enough time in a sims day to take care of as many animals and crops as you could pack into the largest possible lot. Not that it couldn't be fun or a challenge to occasionally try to max out the chores to see whether you can keep up, but I just don't think most people would really want to play that way with every household every time.
Personally, I've been playing a few different farming households, but most have ended up with a single cow or llama, 1 chicken coop with 4-6 chickens, 1 bee box, and 2-12 crops. (Usually 2 or 3 oversized crops at a time, all the berries, and a few staple crops like peas, carrots, and potatoes.) That's just about all I can handle and still have time to eat, sleep, take care of hygiene, take care of chores, and occasionally travel to the market or pick up a new errand. Sometimes there's time for a quick cross-stitch or knit at the end of the evening, sometimes there's not. Bad weather days are an opportunity to call friends or invite them over; otherwise most social interaction comes from the animals. I don't see how my sims could handle any more than that without becoming extremely unhappy. (And for me personally, making my sims miserable is not something I enjoy, although I know some people do.)
This where the small neighborhood sizes might come in handy for once. A neighborhood of 4-5 lots could actually be a single farm.
One lot has the farmhouse with the farmer, his family and a pet. Maybe one chicken coop for the breakfast eggs. Another has the llamas plus a farmhand with his family. Then lot three are the crops with maybe one or two servos. The final lot has the cows and maybe a dairy cowplant (was that mod updated already?) with another farmhand. Farmhands could even rotate in and out, soon as one marries they might want to move out and make room for new ones.
Moving produce back and forth could be a hassle, but I'll definitely try something like this when I get the pack. I think Foundry Cove (Willow Creek, with the magic tree) or Johnny Zest's neighborhood would work nicely for this concept.
@Hearts4u What mod are you using to get those family pictures? I have one that can give me a photo of the active household portrait but I'm wondering how you got the extended family pictures.
My username has been my internet handle for over 20 years since I was 16 and refers to when I had a crush on a very tall boy. I intend absolutely no violence toward beautiful giraffes.
@GirafHuntr I don't play with any mods. I have the Moschino Pack. I built a photography studio in Del Sol Valley; so, whenever, I want to take pictures, I travel there with my Sims. Having the camera on the tripod is best. Depending on the mood of the Sim being photographed can affect the first picture which is nice.
This is my photography studio.
Initially, I thought I'd be doing errands but so far I've only done one. It took me sometime and various changes to my farm layout before I settled on something that works. This is what I ended up doing:
1. Built up my relationship with my dog, Butter, seven bunnies and some birds. My goal was to unlock the bunny and bird homes to place on my lot as well as to get help with gardening. You have to build a relationship with each bunny then ask them individually to help you with gardening. I befriended seven rabbits gradually. There names are Peter, Coco, Swirl, Oreo and the triplets who I met right after Peter-- Cookie, Cream and M&M. Although I'm always kind to my bunnies, I tend to have a love/hate relationship with some of them. Sometimes they like me and sometimes they don't. π
Peter Rabbit is the only one who'll be wearing clothing.
Meet Swirl. Although very adorable, that looks says: Don't cross me if you know what's good for you.
Starting from the left--Coco, Oreo and Cookie (one of the triplets).
Here are the triplets--Cookie, Cream and M&M
2. Although I haven't obtained all the new garden items for Cottage Living, I've forged to get various mushrooms and chocoberries to plant on my farm. I've been haggling and selling my produce and any useful items that my bunnies give me. The items the bunnies give are great.
This new layout works best. 1st - Oversized Crops. 2nd row - Cottage Living Mushrooms. 3rd Row - fruits, vegetable and herbs. 4th Row - flowers.
3. The only animal I have is one Llama because that is all I can handle. When my rabbits give me treats, I give them to Duchess. Selling Llama wool is also a great way to make money. Running a farm and trying to earn money is a lot of work which I like. When it rains, I'll call Duchess out to clean her, feed her and chat before sending her back in.
Daniel's best friend, August, gifted him a guitar which is handy.
4. Oh, I also have Bee box and they are constantly stinging Daniel.
Thought it would be fun to get some background on some of the new recipes coming in Cottage Living.
Starting with Yorkshire Pudding.
Yorkshire pudding is a common English side dish, a baked pudding made from a batter of eggs, flour, and milk or water. It is a versatile food that can be served in numerous ways depending on the choice of ingredients, the size of the pudding, and the accompanying components of the dish. As a first course, it can be served with onion gravy. For a main course, it may be served with beef and gravy, and is part of the traditional Sunday roast, but can also be filled with foods such as bangers and mash to make a meal. Sausages can be added to make toad in the hole.
Originally, the Yorkshire pudding was served as a first course with thick gravy to dull the appetite with the low-cost ingredients so that the diners would not eat so much of the more expensive meat in the next course. Because the rich gravy from the roast meat drippings was used with the first course, the main meat and vegetable course was often served with a parsley or white sauce. In poorer households, the pudding was often served as the only course.
The Yorkshire pudding is meant to rise. The Royal Society of Chemistry suggested in 2008 that "A Yorkshire pudding isn't a Yorkshire pudding if it is less than four inches [10 cm] tall".
In a 2012 poll conducted by T-Mobile UK, the Yorkshire pudding was ranked tenth in a list of things people love about Britain.
Gosh, I made Yorkshire pudding only once in my life and it didn't turn out like that in the picture. I used a recipe from the International Cook Book Series, the Cooking of Great Britain. It called for drippings from the roast that was meant to be served with it. It was okay and I'm normally pretty descent at baking, so maybe it was the recipe? I haven't tried it again, although I still own the cook book cited. Maybe it's time?
Thought it would be fun to get some background on some of the new recipes coming in Cottage Living.
Starting with Yorkshire Pudding.
Yorkshire pudding is a common English side dish, a baked pudding made from a batter of eggs, flour, and milk or water. It is a versatile food that can be served in numerous ways depending on the choice of ingredients, the size of the pudding, and the accompanying components of the dish. As a first course, it can be served with onion gravy. For a main course, it may be served with beef and gravy, and is part of the traditional Sunday roast, but can also be filled with foods such as bangers and mash to make a meal. Sausages can be added to make toad in the hole.
Originally, the Yorkshire pudding was served as a first course with thick gravy to dull the appetite with the low-cost ingredients so that the diners would not eat so much of the more expensive meat in the next course. Because the rich gravy from the roast meat drippings was used with the first course, the main meat and vegetable course was often served with a parsley or white sauce. In poorer households, the pudding was often served as the only course.
The Yorkshire pudding is meant to rise. The Royal Society of Chemistry suggested in 2008 that "A Yorkshire pudding isn't a Yorkshire pudding if it is less than four inches [10 cm] tall".
In a 2012 poll conducted by T-Mobile UK, the Yorkshire pudding was ranked tenth in a list of things people love about Britain.
Gosh, I made Yorkshire pudding only once in my life and it didn't turn out like that in the picture. I used a recipe from the International Cook Book Series, the Cooking of Great Britain. It called for drippings from the roast that was meant to be served with it. It was okay and I'm normally pretty descent at baking, so maybe it was the recipe? I haven't tried it again, although I still own the cook book cited. Maybe it's time?
Makes me feel hungry again. I've just eaten "Toad in the hole," which for the uninitiated, is sausages cooked in the middle of a Yorkshire pudding. Delicious!
Daniel comes to the pub often for meals because finding the time to cook just doesn't happen with the farm chores, house chores, and Butter care. Plus, its taking me a lot longer to court his sweetheart because Daniel is so busy. The bunnies and birds are such a big help around the farm that I don't think I could manage without them.
I just noticed that the pub owner wears her winter clothes to work during the winter.
I have been so impressed by this pack! I love the build mode items, the debug items & the gameplay. It has been a while since I have been this impressed by a pack! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
I really don't remember ever seriously gardening in the TS4 until Cottage Living came along. Although Cottage Living it wonderful, it is complimented by all the other packs I have in the game. My dog, Butter, carried his ball all the way upstairs and set it in front of his tent. He usually played with his toys downstairs from Summer to Winter. With two days left of Winter, all of a sudden, Butter carried his toy ball upstairs. I'm all about the little things.
I've gone rabbit crazy. Decided to befriend this little guy when he showed up because Daniel didn't have a black rabbit. Come to think of it, I think there is still a white rabbit to befriend but I have not seen one yet.
Here is Smokey--adorable. Now Daniel will have 8 little bunny friends.
I added a dog to my HoB llama farm. They already had a cat, but I felt they needed a dog too. Instead of an English breed, though, a chose an Alaskan Malamute since I live in Alaska. A large breed with a thicker coat, so would probably do well in the cooler UK climate. His name is Mushie, and he's still a puppy.
Mushie is so adorable that I wouldn't want to age him up. You really captured a lot of cute moments with him on the farm. Mushie looks loved and happy. Although he looks content, I think his bed is a little big for him. π
I added a dog to my HoB llama farm. They already had a cat, but I felt they needed a dog too. Instead of an English breed, though, a chose an Alaskan Malamute since I live in Alaska. A large breed with a thicker coat, so would probably do well in the cooler UK climate. His name is Mushie, and he's still a puppy.
...Although he looks content, I think his bed is a little big for him. π
@Hearts4u Yah, I thought about buying him the little bed to use while a puppy, but decided to let him get familiar with the bed he'll use later, let him claim it as his own. Treating him like a real dog, I guess.
Comments
I'm finding the daily routines hard to balance, too. I'm going better by a strategy of each household doing just a few of the farm activities available. It's so easy to add too much to each farm. So I have a cow farm with 4 cows, they will never have chicken or llama, and they grow a very limited plot of produce. Another is a Chicken farm, they will never have a larger animal. And also, most houses will specialize on a couple plant species and also limit the preserves production to a few of them.
The cow farm that I am playing currently is quite the challenge family wise as they have 5 kids. They can help with the cows, so I let the kids clean the sheds after school, perhaps feed them too, but the mom is doing all he milking. I started having 4 household members tending to one cow each, but that became a problem as I could not make sure that all 4 were happy enough to do it successfully.
Still learning by failing
Personally, I've been playing a few different farming households, but most have ended up with a single cow or llama, 1 chicken coop with 4-6 chickens, 1 bee box, and 2-12 crops. (Usually 2 or 3 oversized crops at a time, all the berries, and a few staple crops like peas, carrots, and potatoes.) That's just about all I can handle and still have time to eat, sleep, take care of hygiene, take care of chores, and occasionally travel to the market or pick up a new errand. Sometimes there's time for a quick cross-stitch or knit at the end of the evening, sometimes there's not. Bad weather days are an opportunity to call friends or invite them over; otherwise most social interaction comes from the animals. I don't see how my sims could handle any more than that without becoming extremely unhappy. (And for me personally, making my sims miserable is not something I enjoy, although I know some people do.)
All the sims err'day
I agree, they are all really fantastic. The aesthetic of this pack really calls to me; this is the first time I ever liked all of the houses in a pack. I'm going to reuse some of them in other worlds. I'll most likely change out some colors and landscaping so I can remember where I am in each one.
Finally finished all my preparing and now I'm ready to finally get started. After reading about how everyone is playing and earning money, I've decided to start off with one cow and gradually add on to my farm after building my relationships with each animal. Right now its just Daniel and Butter. Daniel's only job will be as a farmer. He has $20,000 that he inherited from his grandfather along with the farm. I plan to take on assignments and sell my produce in town, enter competitions at the fair and enjoy life as a farmer.
β
Daniel building his relationship with Butter and enjoying the summer weather. Finally, I get to explore the world.
Daniel's family and his brother's wives and their children.
Daniel's best friend, August. August's wife (Carlie) and their daughter, Emma.
Here are all the families the live in Henford-on-Bagley. Daniel will eventually be friends with everyone. This is the first world where I've added a lot of single Sims.
What takes the most time is building then playtesting those builds before moving on the the next family. This truly is a beautiful world.
This where the small neighborhood sizes might come in handy for once. A neighborhood of 4-5 lots could actually be a single farm.
One lot has the farmhouse with the farmer, his family and a pet. Maybe one chicken coop for the breakfast eggs. Another has the llamas plus a farmhand with his family. Then lot three are the crops with maybe one or two servos. The final lot has the cows and maybe a dairy cowplant (was that mod updated already?) with another farmhand. Farmhands could even rotate in and out, soon as one marries they might want to move out and make room for new ones.
Moving produce back and forth could be a hassle, but I'll definitely try something like this when I get the pack. I think Foundry Cove (Willow Creek, with the magic tree) or Johnny Zest's neighborhood would work nicely for this concept.
I also like wandering the hills.
Initially, I thought I'd be doing errands but so far I've only done one. It took me sometime and various changes to my farm layout before I settled on something that works. This is what I ended up doing:
1. Built up my relationship with my dog, Butter, seven bunnies and some birds. My goal was to unlock the bunny and bird homes to place on my lot as well as to get help with gardening. You have to build a relationship with each bunny then ask them individually to help you with gardening. I befriended seven rabbits gradually. There names are Peter, Coco, Swirl, Oreo and the triplets who I met right after Peter-- Cookie, Cream and M&M. Although I'm always kind to my bunnies, I tend to have a love/hate relationship with some of them. Sometimes they like me and sometimes they don't. π
Peter Rabbit is the only one who'll be wearing clothing.
Meet Swirl. Although very adorable, that looks says: Don't cross me if you know what's good for you.
Starting from the left--Coco, Oreo and Cookie (one of the triplets).
Here are the triplets--Cookie, Cream and M&M
2. Although I haven't obtained all the new garden items for Cottage Living, I've forged to get various mushrooms and chocoberries to plant on my farm. I've been haggling and selling my produce and any useful items that my bunnies give me. The items the bunnies give are great.
This new layout works best. 1st - Oversized Crops. 2nd row - Cottage Living Mushrooms. 3rd Row - fruits, vegetable and herbs. 4th Row - flowers.
3. The only animal I have is one Llama because that is all I can handle. When my rabbits give me treats, I give them to Duchess. Selling Llama wool is also a great way to make money. Running a farm and trying to earn money is a lot of work which I like. When it rains, I'll call Duchess out to clean her, feed her and chat before sending her back in.
Daniel's best friend, August, gifted him a guitar which is handy.
4. Oh, I also have Bee box and they are constantly stinging Daniel.
Gosh, I made Yorkshire pudding only once in my life and it didn't turn out like that in the picture. I used a recipe from the International Cook Book Series, the Cooking of Great Britain. It called for drippings from the roast that was meant to be served with it. It was okay and I'm normally pretty descent at baking, so maybe it was the recipe? I haven't tried it again, although I still own the cook book cited. Maybe it's time?
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
Makes me feel hungry again. I've just eaten "Toad in the hole," which for the uninitiated, is sausages cooked in the middle of a Yorkshire pudding. Delicious!
Daniel comes to the pub often for meals because finding the time to cook just doesn't happen with the farm chores, house chores, and Butter care. Plus, its taking me a lot longer to court his sweetheart because Daniel is so busy. The bunnies and birds are such a big help around the farm that I don't think I could manage without them.
I just noticed that the pub owner wears her winter clothes to work during the winter.
I've gone rabbit crazy. Decided to befriend this little guy when he showed up because Daniel didn't have a black rabbit. Come to think of it, I think there is still a white rabbit to befriend but I have not seen one yet.
Here is Smokey--adorable. Now Daniel will have 8 little bunny friends.