Crop Farming
Crop farming is an excellent way to get an early game food source. There are many different Crops that you can farm within the game of Minecraft. Here we will run you through how to set-up an easy farm for each of the crops, which is resource friendly but yields great results.
Potatoes, Carrot's and Wheat Farming:
Potatoes, Carrot's and Wheat are probably the easiest farms to set-up when you first create a world. You can obtain Wheat Seeds by breaking tall grass that is naturally spawned around the world. You will have to do a bit more work to obtain Carrots and Potatoes though. You will either need to kill a bunch of Zombies which drop Carrots and Potatoes as rare drops, or the easy way is to find a village which grow Potatoes, Carrots and Wheat. If you have a Village near by then this would be the easier option, but not everyone has the luxury to be spawned right near a village so you might have to go Zombie Hunting. To set up an easy resource friendly farm, follow the following steps;
Potatoes, Carrot's and Wheat are probably the easiest farms to set-up when you first create a world. You can obtain Wheat Seeds by breaking tall grass that is naturally spawned around the world. You will have to do a bit more work to obtain Carrots and Potatoes though. You will either need to kill a bunch of Zombies which drop Carrots and Potatoes as rare drops, or the easy way is to find a village which grow Potatoes, Carrots and Wheat. If you have a Village near by then this would be the easier option, but not everyone has the luxury to be spawned right near a village so you might have to go Zombie Hunting. To set up an easy resource friendly farm, follow the following steps;
- Mark out a 9 x 9 patch of dirt and place a water source in the middle, like the picture above.
- Make a hoe and till the soil 4 blocks away from the water source. A water source can only hydrate farmland that is a maximum of 4 blocks away, so this farm gives you the maximum yield for one water source.
- Plant your seeds and wait for them to grow. Once fully grown, they are ready to harvest. You may also want to put a carpet or lily pad on top of the water source so you dont fall in the water.
Pumpkins and Melons:
Setting up a Pumpkin and Melon farm is completely different to setting up a Wheat Farm. Pumpkins and Melons both have different properties to Wheat, Potatoes and Carrots. They require a Melon or Pumpkin Stem, which is planted on a farmland block. A pumpkin or Melon will then be able to grow on any empty block adjacent to the stem, keeping in mind that a dirt block must be below for it to grow. Pumpkins and Melons can be found spawned naturally in certain biomes, or from loot chests found in Dungeons or Abandoned Mineshafts. Pumpkins and Melons naturally spawn in a pack of around 8, so your not going to just get the one from it. To find naturally spawned Melons, explore around a Jungle, looking at ground level. They are extremely difficult to spot with in the jungle, as the surroundings are close to the same color as the melon block itself. To find naturally spawned Pumpkins, venture into a Forest or a Plains Biome. A Resource Friendly farm can be set-up just like the one above by following these steps;
Setting up a Pumpkin and Melon farm is completely different to setting up a Wheat Farm. Pumpkins and Melons both have different properties to Wheat, Potatoes and Carrots. They require a Melon or Pumpkin Stem, which is planted on a farmland block. A pumpkin or Melon will then be able to grow on any empty block adjacent to the stem, keeping in mind that a dirt block must be below for it to grow. Pumpkins and Melons can be found spawned naturally in certain biomes, or from loot chests found in Dungeons or Abandoned Mineshafts. Pumpkins and Melons naturally spawn in a pack of around 8, so your not going to just get the one from it. To find naturally spawned Melons, explore around a Jungle, looking at ground level. They are extremely difficult to spot with in the jungle, as the surroundings are close to the same color as the melon block itself. To find naturally spawned Pumpkins, venture into a Forest or a Plains Biome. A Resource Friendly farm can be set-up just like the one above by following these steps;
- Decide how long you want your farm to be and create a channel of water that length.
- Grab your hoe and till the dirt blocks along side the water channel.
- Skip two blocks and on the third one make another row of farmland running the length of the water channel.
- Plant your Melon or Pumpkin seeds and wait for them to grow to a mature stem. The pumpkins or Melons will grow in between the two rows of stems, so you can just go down and harvest them easily.
Sugar Cane:
Sugar Cane is a very useful resource to have in abundance within your worlds in Minecraft. Uses such as trading with villagers for emeralds, making books to enchant with or to make sugar for potions. With many uses for it, why not make a farm? Sugar Cane can be found naturally spawned within a world. It has to spawn adjacent to a water source block, so this makes rivers and beaches ideal to find sugar cane. You may also find it next to water pools in biomes like the Plains and Forest, but the Rivers are your safest bet to find some. Sugar Cane can grow to 3 blocks tall, so when you harvest within your farm, you want to break the middle row of sugar cane, which in turn will pop the top one off. Leaving the bottom one attached to the ground will result in you not having to replant everytime that you harvest, so it saves you heaps of time over a long period. To build a simple farm, follow the instructions given below;
Sugar Cane is a very useful resource to have in abundance within your worlds in Minecraft. Uses such as trading with villagers for emeralds, making books to enchant with or to make sugar for potions. With many uses for it, why not make a farm? Sugar Cane can be found naturally spawned within a world. It has to spawn adjacent to a water source block, so this makes rivers and beaches ideal to find sugar cane. You may also find it next to water pools in biomes like the Plains and Forest, but the Rivers are your safest bet to find some. Sugar Cane can grow to 3 blocks tall, so when you harvest within your farm, you want to break the middle row of sugar cane, which in turn will pop the top one off. Leaving the bottom one attached to the ground will result in you not having to replant everytime that you harvest, so it saves you heaps of time over a long period. To build a simple farm, follow the instructions given below;
- Mark out an area for how long you want to make your farm.
- Once you have decided the length, dig a channel running down the length of the farm, and fill it with water.
- You will now be able to place sugar cane on any block that is touching water. You may want to build multiple rows for your farm, so you get more return from each harvest.
- Wait till all the Sugar Canes are grown to 3 tall and then harvest by punching the middle block and leave the bottom block so you dont have to replant.
Cactus:
Share very similar properties to Sugar Cane, by being able to grow 3 blocks tall, but in many ways they are different. Unlike Sugar Cane, water is not a requirement for them to grow. Secondly, you cant place Cactus adjacent to another block, it just wont allow you. This also works the other way, so you cant place blocks next to Cactus otherwise it will just destroy itself. This interesting property may lead to some interesting farm designs down the road, but this is not the section to be talking about Automated farms, we like simplicity here in this section, Easy to set up, Resource friendly farms. Last but not least, Cactus can deal damage to any mob or player that comes in direct contact with them, as well as destroying items that are tossed into the cactus. So dont go throwing your best Diamond Pickaxe into a Cactus, because it will be the last you will see of that. To find Cactus, you must venture into the Extreme heat of the Desert Biome, as this is the only place where Cactus spawns. Cactus is scattered everywhere within the Desert, so there is no shortage within a Desert of Cactus. Unless you live in a Desert, who wants to be travelling to one just to collect Cactus when you can create a farm from it? Definitely not me, so lets teach you guys how to create a simple Cactus farm;
Share very similar properties to Sugar Cane, by being able to grow 3 blocks tall, but in many ways they are different. Unlike Sugar Cane, water is not a requirement for them to grow. Secondly, you cant place Cactus adjacent to another block, it just wont allow you. This also works the other way, so you cant place blocks next to Cactus otherwise it will just destroy itself. This interesting property may lead to some interesting farm designs down the road, but this is not the section to be talking about Automated farms, we like simplicity here in this section, Easy to set up, Resource friendly farms. Last but not least, Cactus can deal damage to any mob or player that comes in direct contact with them, as well as destroying items that are tossed into the cactus. So dont go throwing your best Diamond Pickaxe into a Cactus, because it will be the last you will see of that. To find Cactus, you must venture into the Extreme heat of the Desert Biome, as this is the only place where Cactus spawns. Cactus is scattered everywhere within the Desert, so there is no shortage within a Desert of Cactus. Unless you live in a Desert, who wants to be travelling to one just to collect Cactus when you can create a farm from it? Definitely not me, so lets teach you guys how to create a simple Cactus farm;
- To create a cactus farm, you must keep in mind one of its unique properties, that you cant place any other block beside it, and this includes Cactus itself. Now you can either go for a design like the one up above, and leave gaps to walk through in, or you can go the checker board pattern for maximum yield from the space that you have. For the purpose of these instructions, I have chosen to do the same on as in the picture.
- Mark out where each Cactus will sit by placing a sand block underneath. Cactus can only grow on Sand, so also keep that in mind.
- Place the cactus on top of the sand blocks, and wait for them to grow to 3 tall before you harvest. Helpful Tip: Unlike Sugar Cane, always harvest Cactus by punching the bottom block, as this means none of the falling items will get destroyed by the Cactus.
Cocoa Beans:
Cocoa Beans have yet again different properties to all the other crops featured in this segment. They grow in 3 stages, with the last stage being orange in color. Cocoa Beans don't have many uses within Minecraft. Unless you want to leave Santa some Milk and Cookies on the Kitchen Bench, or want to sing Bah Bah Brown Sheep to your mates, there isn't any other uses for Cocoa Beans. In order to plant them, you must have Jungle logs. Place a Cocoa Bean on the Jungle log to start farming them. To find Cocoa Beans, you must go to a Jungle and look on the trees for a Coconut looking object. These are the Cocoa Beans. Grab yourself a couple of Beans as well as a couple of Jungle saplings and take them back to your place to start harvesting them. You may also find Cocoa Beans in loot chests with in Dungeons and Abandoned Mineshafts, but they are extremely uncommon. To setup a farm, you will need to;
Cocoa Beans have yet again different properties to all the other crops featured in this segment. They grow in 3 stages, with the last stage being orange in color. Cocoa Beans don't have many uses within Minecraft. Unless you want to leave Santa some Milk and Cookies on the Kitchen Bench, or want to sing Bah Bah Brown Sheep to your mates, there isn't any other uses for Cocoa Beans. In order to plant them, you must have Jungle logs. Place a Cocoa Bean on the Jungle log to start farming them. To find Cocoa Beans, you must go to a Jungle and look on the trees for a Coconut looking object. These are the Cocoa Beans. Grab yourself a couple of Beans as well as a couple of Jungle saplings and take them back to your place to start harvesting them. You may also find Cocoa Beans in loot chests with in Dungeons and Abandoned Mineshafts, but they are extremely uncommon. To setup a farm, you will need to;
- Place a bunch of Jungle Logs or just grow your own Jungle Tree.
- On each face of the log, just place a Cocoa Bean to start farming. Its as simple as that. Just 2 steps and you will be crowing you own Cocoa Beans within no time.
Nether Wart:
Nether Wart share similar properties to those of Wheat, Carrots and Potatoes. To obtain Nether Wart, you need to venture deep into the Nether, until you find a Nether Fortress. Nether Wart can be found at the bottom of some staircases within the Fortress, and there is often a couple of patches per Fortress. Having Soul Sand is a requirement to grow Nether Wart, as it is the only block that it can be grown on. Dont Worry though, because Soul Sand can be found in abundance around the Nether, so there will never be a shortage of Soul Sand within your worlds. Nether Wart used to only be able to grow in the nether, but in one of the updates somewhere along the line they changed it to where you could grow it in any of the three dimensions. Much like Wheat, Carrots and Potatoes, you can grow them the same way. Nether Wart does not require a Water Source either. Nether Wart can only be used within Potion Brewing. It is the main ingredient used, and is required to make Awkward Potions. From this, any potion in the game can be brewed. To make a simple Nether Wart farm, you can follow the instructions below;
Nether Wart share similar properties to those of Wheat, Carrots and Potatoes. To obtain Nether Wart, you need to venture deep into the Nether, until you find a Nether Fortress. Nether Wart can be found at the bottom of some staircases within the Fortress, and there is often a couple of patches per Fortress. Having Soul Sand is a requirement to grow Nether Wart, as it is the only block that it can be grown on. Dont Worry though, because Soul Sand can be found in abundance around the Nether, so there will never be a shortage of Soul Sand within your worlds. Nether Wart used to only be able to grow in the nether, but in one of the updates somewhere along the line they changed it to where you could grow it in any of the three dimensions. Much like Wheat, Carrots and Potatoes, you can grow them the same way. Nether Wart does not require a Water Source either. Nether Wart can only be used within Potion Brewing. It is the main ingredient used, and is required to make Awkward Potions. From this, any potion in the game can be brewed. To make a simple Nether Wart farm, you can follow the instructions below;
- Mark out an area for your farm. This can be any size that you want, so you can decide how big you want it.
- Place Soul Sand inside the area of the farm and place Nether Wart on each block. Two steps, thats all it takes to create a Nether Wart farm. Enjoy all the potions that you are now able to make due to unlimited Nether Wart.
Mushrooms: