Starting a New Farm on Family Farm Seaside

Starting a New Farm
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Whether you are a veteran farmer who wants a second farm or a new farmer, the business of creating a new Farm may offer some challenges, especially if you are the sort of player who wishes to participate in every option as quickly as possible.

Having created a new farm recently in order to improve my guide, I became reacquainted with many of the difficulties a new farmer faces.

First of all, you really need to link your farm to a Facebook account. Recently, the rules of Facebook appear to have relaxed with respect to multiple accounts with the advent of the ability to use Facebook and be anonymous.  Creating a new Farm linked to Facebook will give you a reward of 4 RC immediately.  It will allow you to switch farms on a single device if that device is a Kindle simply by logging in and out of Facebook when you are logged into Family Farm Seaside.  Finally, for all those farmers who named their farms, 'Please Like!', it is important to recognise the fact that without being linked to Facebook, YOU CANNOT LIKE ANY NEIGHBOUR FARMS.  This is an option that is available only to farmers who have linked their farms to Facebook.  The avatars on FFS that show only a blank blue silhouette are Farmers who have not connected their farms to Facebook. They can be good neighbours but they will not be able to 'like' your farm.

The initial challenges that a new Farm will face include lack of funds and lack of Neighbours.  You can obtain Neighbours more easily now by using the new Drift Bottle option.  it is available I believe when you reach Level 5... certainly not at a very high level if later... and will remain available until you have obtained a total of 100 Neighbours.  it then disappears from the centre top of your screen.  It is an improvement to the game, and a way to connect to other farmers throughout the world.  Unfortunately, many of the Neighbours gained through this method are new farmers and most of them do not continue to play the game.  You therefore need to make certain that the Neighbours you obtained with the Drift Bottle do not become inactive.  A little golden horn is found on the top right of the screen of your Neighbour's farm if he/she has become inactive.  There are two stages of inactivity that are indicated.  The first is a lighter horn for players who have not played for 3 days.  The second is a darker horn for players who have not played for a fortnight or more.

The other way to obtain Neighbours is by joining a group on Facebook.  My Family Farm Seaside Freyashawk Group was created precisely in order to provide a list of good, active Neighbours for other Farmers, whether new or veteran.  Any one is welcome to join.  Simply do a search for it on Facebook and then ask to Join.  I try to access the group on a daily basis so you should not have long to wait.

Family Farm Seaside Freyashawk Group
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Neighbours are an issue for many new farmers.  If you connect through Facebook, you can send requests to your Facebook friends, but I do not like to trouble my friends with requests for games if they do not play games.  You can share your Farm I.D. in a post on Facebook or you can join a Facebook group and share it there.  I have created a little Facebook Group for Family Farm Seaside simply for the purpose of publishing the Farm I.D.s of my readers on this site...  So look for a Family Farm Seaside Group called Family Farm Seaside Freyashawk and add your ID there if you wish.

Basically, success in Family Farm Seaside now is very much influenced by Neighbours and money, both Coins and RC.  You need Farm Aids to progress quickly and these can be purchased in the Market or obtained in the Cleaning Gift Boxes that you receive either from Neighbours who visit your Farm and clean your cleanable Decorations or by visiting Neighbours and cleaning their cleanable Decorations.  Other ways to obtain Farm Aids are by logging into the game more than once during the day to collect the Dedicated Farmer Bonus.  Sometimes this will contain even RC!.  Another way to obtain Farm Aids on a daily basis is by completing Tasks in your Daily Quests path to earn Treasure Chests.  The tasks that you can complete will depend on your Level, which is another reason to level up as quickly as possible.  Finally, the time-restricted Quests usually have two special Mission Gift Boxes as Rewards and these will contain specific Farm Aids.  Other Gift Boxes contain RANDOM items that include Farm Aids.

Once again, by joining a good group like my Family Farm Seaside Freyashawk Group, you have an instant opportunity to add over 100 Neighbours who all are active players.  Visiting Neighbours on a daily basis is the quickest way not only to increase your Level but to obtain Gift Boxes and earn extra Coins.

Why are Farm Aids so important now?  Well, when a Quest has a time limit, the ability to speed the growth of Crops and Tree Harvests as well as being able to use OP in Batch Production to collect products from Machines and Animals automatically can make a tremendous difference.  You still can do it all the old-fashioned way and wait for a Crop that takes 20 hours to mature to mature naturally but it can be daunting.  If you can plant a Crop and harvest it instantly, you then can replant...

Of course, it becomes tempting to use Farm Aids on a constant basis, but that can prove expensive in real money.  What I do ordinarily is collect Gift Boxes and then keep them in my Gift Box unopened until needed for a time-restricted Quest.  I do this with Power and OP that is in my Gift Box as well.

Unlocking new Options and Quests

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Many of the 'fun' options in Seaside, as with all online games are unlocked only when you reach higher levels.  For example, the fairly recent Farm Beauty Contests are unlocked only when you reach Level 16.    I do believe part of the reason for this is to prevent farmers from creating additional farms simply in order to vote for their primary farms.  Unless they are willing to work on the secondary farm and bring it to Level 16 at least, they will be unable to vote in the Contests.

The time-restricted Quests or Missions that are released every fortnight on Friday and consist now of 16 parts are unlocked at higher levels as well. Ordinarily now, the first half of the Quest sequence will be unlocked at Level 16, and the Collections Mission only at Level 18.  The second half requires a higher level, unlocking only at Level 26 or Level 28.   Many of the tasks in the second half require access to the Island.

I see new farmers as well as farmers who are unwilling to spend any real cash on the game complaining sometimes that they cannot perform the time-restricted Quests or raise their Charm Points by buying Theme Decorations.  You MUST remember that patience is part of the farming business.  You cannot expect to do everything at once.  Secondly, there have to be some rewards for those farmers who ARE willing to invest real money in the game.  This is a FREE Download.  You can play the game forever without spending any real cash but you will not be able to participate fully in some of the special Quests.  All the regular Quests can be performed without any real investment.

You can earn RC or premium Cash by playing the game.  There are machines that require a part that costs RC instead of Coins but you will earn 1 RC each time you advance one level.  By remaining in the game or logging into the game periodically throughout the day, you can earn the Dedicated Farmer Bonus which will give you 1 RC at a certain point.  (Not certain if it requires you to collect 10 times or more but it DOES give you 1 RC and you can earn this at least every other day if not daily.  The Achievements usually give from 1-3 RC when you reach the final 5 Stars.  You will find the Achievements Building in the top left corner of your Farm, above and to the right of the Gallery. It is ordinary farm actions such as harvesting Crops, Animals, Trees or Cooking and Fishing and processing items that earn you Achievements.  Having and visiting Neighbours regularly will earn you Achievements as well.

At low levels, you may find that it is difficult to earn sufficient coins to buy the Crops, Trees, Animals and Machines as well as completing Farm Expansions.  There is a solution to this early in the game, however.

Your best option is to visit your Neighbours on a daily basis.  Simply by doing this, you can earn Coins and XP, allowing you to advance to higher levels more quickly as well as being able to afford the items you need.  Furthermore, with the ability to clean one Decoration on each Nieighbour's farm, you can obtain valuable Farm Aids.  The Decoration that give the Blue and Gold Gift Boxes tend to contain the best rewards, but for a farmer at low levels, ANY Gift Box is valuable.  Once you are able to purchase or earn cleanable Decorations through Quests or advancing to higher levels to unlock them in the Market, you will have another source of Gift Boxes in that every Neighbour who visits to clean YOUR Decorations will give you the Gift Box that is associated with your Decoration.    I really cannot stress the value of visiting your Neibhbours enough.    Your neighbours are a potential gold mine.

A possible reward for harvesting mature Crops on a Neighbour's farm is the possibility that you will receive the Crop you harvested.  This is a way by which Farmers can obtain a Crop that has not been unlocked yet.  Another way to obtain items that have not been unlocked yet is by spinning the Wheel of Fortune.  You may think that the rewards received from the free spin are not that significant for the most part, but they can include both RC and Green Mystrons as well as items not yet unlocked.  Furthermore, 1 Spin of the Wheel of Fortune is one of the Daily Quests that will give you Treasure Chests containing valuable Farm Aids.

When you reach the Level when you can unlock the Kitchen, do so as quickly as possible.  No RC is required for the materials.  You can request all of them from your Neighbours.  Once you have completed the Kitchen, expand to the first Building Plot as quickly as possible to unlock the Cooking Stand.  This is another option that will give you Coins that are desperately needed in the early stages of the game.  By completing all the 'rounds' in any Cooking Stand Contest, you can earn a valuable cleanable Decoration that yields a Blue Gift Box.  Even if you cannot complete all rounds, however, the Cooking Stand is a wonderful source of income.  Farmers who visit your Farm will be able to collect a Cooking Bag containing Farm Aids as well.

Prepare for the Future
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Any real Farmer will tell you that Farming requires patience and time.  Any farming simulation game that allows you to do everything instantly, offering instant gratification, is entirely unrealistic and somewhat pointless in my view.

What you need to do is to prepare for the future.  One way of doing this is by stockpiling Crops, Fruits, Animal Products and Machine Products in your Barn whenever possible.  Many veteran farmers keep 500 of each Crop in their Barns for use in future time-restricted Quests or Cooking Stand Contests.  it is a good strategy!

Earn Farm Aids for use in future Quests.  I do not even open my Gift Boxes until I need them during one of the time-restricted Quests.  They contain the Farm Aids that allow you to speed the growth of Crops and Trees, OP that allows you to complete production of a Machine or Animal instantly and Power that allows you to make more Dishes in the Kitchen.  I would suggest that you do not use them for ordinary Quests but instead exercise patience and allow harvests to occur at their natural time.  Ordinary Quests have no time limit.  Why use a Farm Aid that you will need to complete tasks later when you have only 11 Days to complete a sequence of 16 parts and therefore 48 tasks?!

In terms of the Kitchen, when you are not involved in creating dishes demanded by the current Cooking Stand Contest, begin to cook and stockpile the 'basic' Dishes such as Condensed Milk, Cake Flour, Cottage Cheese, Sour Cream, Coconut Milk, Batter, Butter and Cornmeal.  The way the Kitchen operates is different from other farming actions.  Each Dish you make takes 1 Power and your Power is limited.  it will replenish in time and you can earn Power as one of the Farm Aids contained randomly in the Gift Boxes, Dedicated Farmer Bonus Bags and Daily Quest Treasure Chests but why not take advantage of your Power when it is not needed for a current task?  You will need all of the Dishes I have mentioned again and again.  Prepare for the future and find satisfaction in your growing stocks of items.

You can ask for one Free Gift Item each day from each of your Neighbours.  I persoonally recommend that you ask for Honey, Wheat Flour, Milk and Cheddar Cheese when you are at low levels as these are ingredients in many, many Recipes in the Kitchen.  Some farmers ask for White Rose Bouquets or Wine in order to sell them for coins but a low level farmer with access to the Kitchen would be better served by taking the basic ingredients above, making them into a Dish in the Kitchen and then selling them if coins are needed, but otherwise storing them for the future.

Gallery Registration is another fairly recent option that can benefit farmers at any level.  Once you have unlocked the Farm Beauty Contests at Level 16, your Gallery will give you Votes from the Characters in the game, but registration takes time and you should begin it as early as possible.  As soon as you purchase a new Item in the Market, you should register it in the Gallery.  There are Rewards in the form of Farm Aids and even RC for Gallery Registration.

I should mention the Mystery Shop here.  It has been expanded recently to include departments for four different colours of Mystrons, a currency that is earned through various aspects of the game.  The Coin department of the Mystery Shop is unlocked first, however and allows Farmers to purchase items with Coins.  You can refresh the list of items offered once you have purchased them or decided you do not wish to purchase them.  I personally purchase as many as I can  usually as they often offer items you have not yet unlocked including fishing items.  I do not like fishing much in this game, so the Coin Mystery Shop offers me valuable chances to replenish my stocks of fish.

When you have unlocked the various Mystron sections of the Mystery Shop, you will be able to purchase Decorations, Premium Trees, Machines and new Avatars as well as other items not ordinarily sold in the Market.  Note that the Coin Mystery Shop is the source of new Flowers for your Botanic Garden on the Island.  Unless you actually are on your Island Farm, those Flowers will not appear in the List.  Finally, the Coin Mystery Shop randomly offers 1 RC for 5000 Coins, yet another way to earn RC in the game.

Being a Good Neighbour
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Not only can you increase your own profits and Experience Level by interacting with Neighbours, but you can help your Neighbours as well.  Make certain that you never leave your field empty of Crops.  Even if you wait to harvest the Crops, it is better to do that than leave the plots empty.  A visiting Neighbour can harvest mature Crops but cannot interact with a fallow field.

If you can plant new Crops, however, on every plot, you will benefit both yourself and your Neighbours as their fertilisation of your Crops will speed their growth.  Make certain that you do harvest any Tree that is ready as a Neighbour cannot interact with a Tree that is ready for harvest but CAN fertilise any Tree that is not ready, speeding the process for you.

As previously discussed, your participation in any current Cooking Contest, once you have unlocked the first Building Plot with the Cooking Stand, will earn you Coins whenever a Neighbour visits it to 'eat' a dish.

If your Farm is connected to a Facebook account, do 'Like' each Neighbour's Farm on your first visit. This is accomplished very simply by tapping on the 'smiley face' icon in the top centre of your screen.  A total of 300 Likes gives your Neighbour a final Achievement with an RC Reward which is why Neighbours beg for the action.  Personally, I think there is no need to beg for it.  Farmers should be aware of the option and perform the action without requiring that you eschew a proper farm name for the sake of a message begging every one for 'Likes'.  Rosewood does not have 300 Likes yet, but it should occur naturally in time.

What happens inevitably, unfortunately, is that some of your Neighbours no longer will play the game actively.  When any Neighbour fails to play for a total of 14 consecutive days, you will see a red horn at the top right of the screen when you visit that farmer.  If you do not have the maximum number of neighbours yet, there is no reason to delete that neighbour from your list, but if you do, it is better probably to delete an inactive neighbour in the interest of being able to add a new active Neighbour to your list.  To find inactive Neighbours easily, you should change the display option on the Neighbour screen temporarily to 'Call Back'.  This will bring up the list of farmers with a bullhorn on their farm that indicates they have not been playing every day.  Some farmers will only have a 3 day hiatus.  I would not delete those farmers.  Delete only the number of inactive farmers that you need to clear out in order to be able to add new neighbours.  There are valid reasons why a farmer may not have played for a brief time.

Naming your Farm and Choosing Your Avatar
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The name you choose for your Farm is your own affair but I see this error so often that perhaps it should be addressed here.  When you first begin a new farm and have the option of naming it, clear out the default name first!  So many farms are named My Farm's Farm simply because the default name was not cleared from the box before typing the new name.

A new option is that of the Avatar associated with each farm.  You can use the default Avatar which is a Clover or your Facebook Icon as your Avatar.  All sorts of new Avatars are offered now, however, in the various Mystery Shops.  They include Crops, Tree Fruits, Animal Products as well as items that were requrested in past Quests.  The only problem with this is the fact that so many Farmers choose the same Icon and in certain situations, this can lead to confusion about identity.  In particular, whenever a Neighbour places a Friendship Flower in your Garden, only the Avatar is displayed...  Another consideration is simply that of being unique.  The Iris is my favourite Crop in Seaside and I wish that they would add it to the Market on a permanent basis.  Apart from the fact that the Iris Avatar has not appeared once in Harvest Moon's Mystery Shop, I doubt I would replace my Facebook Icon, which is that of a hawk on one of the trees in our old garden, with the Iris, because I have at least 4 Neighbours now who use that Avatar.  I do have friends who love to change their Avatars in the same way that they change their outfits in real life on a daily basis but I am not one of them.  I would prefer that Neighbours should be able to identify me quickly in Family Farm Seaside.

Failing to give your farm a name that is unique can confuse your Neighbours and prevent you from receiving special rewards from them, such as Friendship Flowers.  Name your farm and give it a special Avatar! You can do this by tapping on the square portrait frame in the top left corner of the screen.  This takes you to a very useful Menu that includes the options to rename your Farm, choose an Avatar and see useful data such as how many points you need to reach the next level and how many visitors you have had within the past day.

How to Rename your Farm
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To rename your farm, tap on the little pencil icon at the top centre of this Menu.  The default name for any Farm is 'My Farm' or the equivalent of this in whatever language you have chosen for the game.   When you open the name box, you will be able to choose the frame for the name as well as typing a new name.  Make certain that you erase the default name first though, because often I will see a Farm named  ... Farm Farm because the player failed to erase part of the original name.  Use backspace to erase.  When you have finished, tap the green chequemark and you will have a new name!

Changing your Avatar
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To change your Avatar, tap on the square portrait icon in the far top left corner of the Menu.  The default Avatar is a clover.  You now can choose your Facebook Avatar or any Avatars that you have purchased or won in the game.   You can change the Avatar frame as well if you choose.

If you have not connected your Farm to Facebook, you will be unable to use your Facebook Avatar.  It is really important to connect your farm to Facebook actually as it prevents loss of your Farm if something goes terribly awry.  If they farm is connected to Facebook, you can recover it easily on any device.

The game basically was designed for anonymity, but I have found that one of the best aspects of belonging to a good group on Facebook is the ability to communicate with and become truly acquainted with your Neighbours on FFS.  Our members are wonderful, caring, active individuals.  We welcome new members and help one another as much as possible.



Other Tips
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Please see myy old post on farming for more details, but I will mention a few farming tips here as well.  First of all, as a member of my group reminded me, having more than one Beehive is very useful.  As well as multiple Beehives, as soon as you unlock the option, build more than one Butterfly House.  Both the Beehive and Butterfly House are considered 'animals' and you will find them in that department of the Market, but they both operate more like the Collectables.   In many of the time-restricted Quests, you may be required to produce x amount of Honey or Nectar.  Having more than one Beehive and Butterfly House allows you to do this quickly.  Furthermore, Honey, although an item that can be requested daily as a free gift, is invaluable.  It is used in many Recipes and, when you have access to the Island, you will need it for more than one Machine.  You never can have enough Honey.  Nectar, while a little less vital, still is very useful and appears in Recipes.

Multiple Machines in general are a good idea until you have sufficient Farm Aids to speed production without spending RC.  Unfortunately, some of the Machines require materials that cost RC but if this is not the case, you have nothing to lose by a purchase or construction of a second Machine as well as purchase of a second Animal.  The game actually encourages you to purchase multiple Trees as having a specific number of Almond Trees or Lemon Trees as an example, are tasks in Quests you will encounter.  Ultimately, however, as your levels are increased, you will find that your Trees occupy far too much space on your Farm.  Always opt to sell those that can be purchased for Coins rather than those that cost RC.

Mystery Shop
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I discussed this a little in an earlier part of this post, but perhaps it would be useful to write about it in more detail.

The Mystery Shop is a fabulous resource.  Your experience level will determine which departments are unlocked for you, but ultimately you will have access to all the Mystery Shop departments.  Access it frequently as you will find very useful items in all the departments.  The Coin Shop will offer a number of random items, including Crops, Materials and Avatars.  You can purchase fruits from premium or other Trees as well.  Importantly, it offers Farm Aids such as fertilisers and watering cans, OP and Power.   It even may offer 1 RC for 5000 Coins randomly.   At higher levels, once you have access to the Island, you can purchase flowers for the Botanic Garden in the Coin Shop.   The Green Mystron Department will offer RC for a different price each day as well as Trees, Animals and Machines that ordinarily must be purchased with RC in the Market.  The Yellow Mystron Shop offers Decorations that were Rewards for time-restricted Quests in the past.    The Purple Mystery Shop offers avatars and more importantly, materials for the 'special' Machines that were completed in the past by performing specific activities.  Currently, it is offering the materials for the Salad Machine.  It is only the Coin Department that can be refreshed to offer different items in a 24 hour period.  For the other departments, the offerings will change every day.

The new Red Mystron Shop is linked to the Buddy System, discussed below.

When should you purchase RC?
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One question that new players often ask is when to spend real money and when to spend RC (premium cash in the game).

Real money is used to purchase RC, Coins or special items offered during Sales.  Sale items usually cannot be obtained in any other way and seldom are offered more than once.  There are a few exceptions, but for the most part, if you want a specific item offered in a sale, you need to purchase it during the sale.

What are the advantages of purchasing sale items?  Well, these items usually if not always are cleanable Decorations with a sum of RC included in the deal and sometimes offered with a premium Tree and some Farm Aids.  When cleaned, they sometimes will yield a special item such as RC or Yellow Mystrons for a specific number of days before they begin to give out the usual Gift Boxes.  As previously indicated, Gift Boxes are extremely important now in this game.  You need to have cleanable Decorations on your Farm if possible as well as cleaning Neighbours' decorations as often as you can.

Unlocking Cleanable Decorations
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By the way, on the new Kindle farm, it appeared that one only begins to unlock the cleanable Decorations that give good Gift Boxes upon reaching Level 17.  At Level 17, I saw one could purchase the Clothes Drying Rack, the Christmas Candle, the Chinese Pavilion, the Panda Lantern, Market Stall, Swimming Pool, Willow and Mini Beach.  Of these, however, only the Market Stall yields the best Gift Box in the form of the Blue Gift Box.

Do be warned that Cleanable Decorations that can be purchased for Coins usually yield no more than Coins when cleaned...   Nonetheless, it is important to purchase and place these as soon as possible for two reasons: one is to be able to enter them in your Gallery by registering them and the second is to be able to earn Buddy Points when your Buddies visit you.  A section on the Buddy System is located at the end of this post.

Sale Offers and the Millionaire Cow
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Note that the amount of RC that you obtain in a sale offer will be less than the amount you would receive for the same price if you simply purchased RC.  The advantages of a sale offer are in the special Decoration and whatever other items are included in the offer.  You do need RC to survive.  You will earn 1 RC for each level that you reach in the game.  Sometimes you can receive RC for logging into the game and the fifth and final Achievement of any kind usually gives you 1 or 2 RC.  Collection Registrations in the Gallery and sometimes the Registration of a special item can give an RC Reward as well.  Finally, there is the Millionaire Cow that, when purchased yields 1 RC per day.  All of these have their own advantages to a serious player.  Most players, including myself, find the Millionaire Cow a wonderful method of recouping RC.

Skipping Tasks and purchasing Ingredients
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Your RC should be used judiciously, however.  Purchasing a missing ingredient for a Dish in the Kitchen is a bad use of 1 RC unless you have not reached the level where you can obtain it yourself otherwise.  Skipping a Task in a Mission is a poor use of RC unless you could not complete the Task because of your Level or any other reason.

Use of RC to complete Farm Expansions can be good or bad depending on the Task that you are skipping.  When your Farm is too small and crowded, you may be tempted to move forward by skipping an Expansion task.  That is your call, obviously.  If there is any way to amass the item required in a Task, it is better not to skip it.  A Level requirement usually is best met rather than skipped.  It is the Coin total requirement that sometimes may be worth skipping by paying RC if you are a fairly low level player, mainly because it is hard to earn Coins and you will need them for so many other purposes.  Better to buy all the Trees, Animals and Machines that you can, because they will be used again and again...

Cooking Stand Contests
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A very good way to earn Coins is by participating in the Cooking Stand Contests.  You do need to unlock the Building Plot that contains the Cooking Stand now and you must have a Kitchen.

The Cooking Stand Contests not only allow you to earn Coins and Buddy Points but also give you a chance to obtain valuable farm aids and a Cleanable Decoration that gives the most valuable Gift Box in the form of a Blue Gift Box.

Fishing
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Fishing has become increasingly important in the game.  Often, a material required to build a Base is linked to Fishing.  Many Recipes require ingredients that can be obtained only by fishing and there are many Tasks in Quests that require Fishing.

Raising Your Level
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Raising your Level is the key to unlocking new options, whether it is the Kitchen and Cooking, the Fishing Pier, the time-restricted Missions or access to the Island.  Unfortunately, the Island is a very expensive options and it requires a great deal of Level-raising and Mastery in order to be used with any degree of success.

Do not be too quick to use RC to skip Tasks to unlock new options such as the Island if you cannot afford to unlock any options there.  My Island Guide give the Level and the Mastery requirements as well as Tasks for every optiona and Island Expansion.  The Garden there as well as the Mine are linked to specific Expansions.  I think where the Island is concerned, patience is the key unless you wish to spend a great deal of real money on this.

As far as the time-restricted Missions are concerned, they now are divided between Seaside Tasks and Island Tasks.  You can complete half of the Quest sequence without having access to the Island. The second half of any time-restricted Quest now has a Level requirement attached to it as well.  I believe it only is unlocked either at Level 26 or Level 28.

Mystery Shops
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One point should be mentioned here.  The Mystery Shop has given players the hope of obtaining Decorations that were the Rewards for Missions from the past.  There are five different Mystery Shops now: a Coin Shop, a Yellow Mystron Shop, a Purple Mystron Shop, a Blue Mystron Shop and a Red Mystron Shop.  Even in the Coin Shop, you often can purchase items you have not unlocked yet, so access it and use it!  The Yellow Mystron Shop allows you to purchase some Decorations that are not available in the regular Market.  It is the Blue Mystron Shop that allows you to purchase the very special Decorations that were given as Rewards in past Missions but you need to complete the entire Reward Path for the Daily Order Board, earning all the special Sheep, before you will begin to earn Blue Mystrons.  Even then, one earns only 1 Blue Mystron for each Order filled, so it is a slow process!  Again, patience is the key here...

Selling Items from your Barn
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Should you sell as much as possible from your Barn?  My answer is in the negative now, because so many items are needed to complete the Daily Order Board orders, Recipes and so on.  Wait until a Task or Order requests the item before you sell it!  The best way to earn Coins is by visiting Neighbours and completing Quests really.

Buddy System
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Recently, a number of new options were added to the game.  One of these is the Buddy System.  This allows you basically to have up to 15 Neighbours as special friends who visit daily to perform the ordinary actions of fertilising/harvesting, cleaning any Decoration and eating at your Cooking Stand if a dish is available.  Beyond that, though, advancing to Level 1 in the Buddy System with even one Buddy will allow you to purchase, plant and grow a Buddy Tree.  Special 'heart' actions are performed on these trees to upgrade them and each 'Heart' action is worth Buddy Points as well.  When the tree is upgraded, the Buddies who helped will obtain a special Reward.  At level 2, you will have access to your Buddy's Share Box, another new option.

The Share Box is linked to the new Lucky Wheel which is a second Wheel that you can spin.  Unlke the first Wheel that can be spun at no cost on a daily basis, the Lucky Wheel requires Lucky Tokens.  The Rewards, however, can include Decorations that are no longer available in the Market as well as premium Trees, farm aids and even RC.  Apart from the Decorations, all other items are sold at discounted prices.  When a player obtains one of the items that can be shared, he/she can buy it or share it into the 'Share Box'.  This is accessible only to Buddies at Level 2 or higher.

Primarily, the Buddy System is designed to give you at least 15 visits per day, if you have the maximum number of Buddies.  Here, it is most important to have cleanable Decorations on your farm as even one that gives Coins delivers the same number of Buddy Points as one that gives a Blue Box. You need to make certain that you have crops on your plots, even if they are ready for harvest, because, once again, a Crop that is mature gives the same number of Buddy Points as one that can be fertilised.  What gives NO rewards is an empty plot.

I do not know how helpful this post is, but I was disconcerted by the difficulty that new players now face in this game unless they are willing to spend a fair amount of money.  Neighbours really do help here and that is why I have formed the Family Farm Seaside Freyashawk Group.

Specific Guides
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The following are links to posts that address specific aspects of the game in detail:

Tips on Being a Good Neighbour

Comprehensive Guide to the Island

How to Speed Crop Growth and other Options