Verified for game version 1.6.x

So you’ve inherited Grandpa’s farm and a mailbox full of letters. The first spring is where most new players quietly lose a season to busywork. This guide is the checklist we wish someone had handed us: do these things in order, and you’ll enter summer with cash, seeds, and a plan instead of a half-cleared field.

Day 1: meet the basics, not the weeds

Your first day is a tutorial, and the game knows it. Talk to everyone in Pelican Town (the town square cutscene triggers automatically) and then go home — skipping the “pass out” penalty on day 1 is free because you’re sent to bed anyway. Use this day to walk the map: learn where Pierre’s shop, the mine entrance, the Saloon, and the bus stop are, because you’ll be running between them all year.

On day 2 the real game starts:

• Clear just enough. Chop ~10 trees and break ~15 rocks. You need wood for chests and a scarecrow later, not a barren lot. Leave most of the field until you have crops to protect.
• Buy Parsnips from Pierre (20g each). They’re the tutorial crop: 4-day grow, 35g sell. Don’t overthink them — they exist to teach the cycle, not to make money.
• Use the Shipping Bin, not your inventory selling. Everything you ship counts toward the Community Center and your stats at 2am.
• Save the 2,000g for the first backpack upgrade at Pierre’s. The extra 12 inventory slots save more time than any single crop in week one.

The one thing that matters most in week 1: the Egg Festival on Spring 13 (see the festivals guide for the full yearly calendar). Save ~2,000–5,000g. Strawberry seeds there cost 100g each and are the single best spring money crop — they grow in 8 days and then regrow every 4 days for the rest of the season. Parsnips and cauliflower can’t touch that return. Miss the festival and you’ve lost the whole spring economy.

The first 14 days, concretely

A plan you can actually follow:

Foraging (wild horseradish, leeks, dandelions) is free energy and sells for a little gold. The mines tempt you early but drain energy fast — dip in only when you have food. If it rains, plant before the rain so you skip a watering day.

Week 1–2: energy, tools, and the community center

Energy management is the hidden tutorial. A single cooked meal (from Gus at the Saloon, or learned cooking) can double your daily work. The TV “Weather” channel tells you rain days in advance — plan big plantings around it.

Tool upgrade order we recommend:

Upgrades take 2 in-game days at the blacksmith and lock the tool while it’s being worked, so time them around days you won’t need that tool. Copper is in the mines (floors 1–39); bring food and a weapon.

The Community Center (vs Joja) is the long-game choice: completing bundles unlocks the Greenhouse, the Minecarts, and eventually the Seed Maker — which is what makes Ancient Fruit a money printer later. Start the “Spring Crops” and “Spring Foraging” bundles with what you already grow.

What NOT to do

• Don’t sell your crops for seed money blindly. Keep at least one of each crop; the Seed Maker (post-Greenhouse) replicates them free.
• Don’t clear the entire farm. You’ll spend days on weeds you don’t need yet and run out of energy daily.
• Don’t ignore the TV. The Weather channel tells you rain days (no watering needed — plant big before rain). The Channel that predicts the next day is worth the habit.
• Don’t buy the Joja route impulsively. It costs more gold overall and skips the satisfaction, but if you truly hate the bundle grind it’s an option.

Your first money milestones

A rough target list so you know you’re on track:

• 2,000g — first backpack upgrade (Pierre; the Deluxe Pack is 10,000g).
• 2,000g — first tool upgrade at the blacksmith.
• ~5,000g by Spring 13 — enough strawberries to seed a real plot.
• 10,000g+ by Summer 1 — you’re ahead of the curve and can buy Starfruit or a coop.

Applicable conditions and exceptions

• This plan assumes the standard Community Center route on a new save. The Forest Farm layout has less tillable space but more forage; the Riverland Farm forces you to plan around water. The order above still holds, but your crop counts shift.
• If you started with the Meadowlands Farm (1.6), you begin with two chickens and a Coop — your early income skews toward mayo, not parsn, and you can skip straight to animal income.
• The Egg Festival date (Spring 13) is fixed; if mods or multiplayer timing change festivals, the strawberry window moves with it.
• Values and costs are 1.6.x; prices are stable across recent patches.

Quick early-game tips

• Craft a chest first thing — you’ll fill your backpack on day one otherwise.
• The mine elevator (unlocked after floor 5) saves huge backtracking time; reach it early so deep runs stay cheap.
• Don’t ignore geodes — the Blacksmith cracks them for minerals you need for upgrades, bundles, and donating to the Museum.
• Cooking unlocks after you get the kitchen (from the Community Center); a single dish restores far more energy than a raw snack.
• Keep one of everything from your first harvest so the Seed Maker can later replicate it for free.

Where to go next

Once summer hits, read the crop profit strategy for why Ancient Fruit eventually beats strawberries, and the money-making guide for the full seasonal ramp. Fishing is also a solid spring side-income — see the fishing guide.

Sources & verification

Primary source: Stardew Valley Wiki — Getting Started, Tools, Traveling Cart. Backpack tiers (Large Pack 2,000g → 24 slots; Deluxe Pack 10,000g → 36 slots) and tool-upgrade costs are taken from the wiki’s canonical infoboxes, which are the authoritative reference for update 1.6.x. These are game-mechanic facts with no separate independent database; they were cross-checked against the in-game upgrade menus described on the wiki and treated as reliable for 1.6.x. Version-sensitive costs should be confirmed against your own game client.