20 June 2014

Kupala Night Time-Restricted Quests





Kupala Night is a Polish Midsummer Night Festival that has echoes throughout Europe.  All the elements of the traditional Kupala Night, from floral wreaths to the search for the magical and very elusive fern 'flower' as well as the Bonfire are included in the traditional Kupala Night Quest sequence in Family Farm Seaside.  A little section devoted to the actual festival is given at the end of this post.

A new Crop has been released in the form of the Fern Flower for this Mission.
Tip:  If you cannot find the Fern Flower at first when you tap on a Plot to plant a Crop, go directly to the Market Screen and look under the Crops section.

As usual, there are two parts to this.  The first is a Collections Mission and this incorporates the new Fern Flower Crop as follows:

Collect Wreaths in order to earn two special Rewards:

70 Purple Wreaths from the Fern Flower
50 Red Wreaths from Cherry Juice (Make in the Juice Maker)
30 Yellow Wreaths from Corn Bread (Make in the Baker)
10 White Wreaths from White Chocolate Trees

The two Rewards for the Collections Mission are a Hazel Tree and a Stone Bridge.  Both will be needed for the traiditonal Kupala Night Quest sequence.  You will need to complete the Collections Mission before you can complete Part V of the Kupala Night sequence of Quests.  Note that you can purchase the Hezel Tree from the Market for 5 RC as well.







The second part is a traditional Quest sequence entitled Kupala Night.

Kupala Night I
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Felicia: I love June!  It's geting warmer and I can already feel summer is in the air!  Grandma told me that when she was young everybody celebrated Kupala Night.  Let's bring these traditions back and plant some flowers for beautiful wreaths!

Harvest 40 Red Roses
  Skip for 20 RC

Harvest 10 Cherries
  SKip for 10 RC

Harvest 6 White Chocolates
  Skip for 6 RC

Great!  Now we have enough flowers to decorate the place!

Reward: 85 Coins, 10 XP

Kupala Night II
xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Felicia:  According to the legend, Kupala Night is the only time of the year when ferns floom.  Prosperity, luck and power would befall on whoever finds the flower.  So why don't we all go and search for it?  Let's prepare for the trip!


Collect 20 Flashlights from your Neighbours
  Skip for 20 RC

Prepare 8 Cheese Beef Sandwiches
  Skip for 8 RC

Produce 40 Beef Salami
  Skip for 20 RC

Thanks!  We're almost good to go!

Reward: 50 Coins, 12 XP

Kupala Night III
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Felicia:  We surely won't be hungry now!  But the forest is quite far from our farm.  Shall we prepare some drinks in case we get thirsty?

Prepare 40 Cherry Juice
  Skip for 20 RC
  Note:  The Cherry Juice is one of the four Items that randomly yield the Wreaths required in the Collections Mission.  You therefore may wish to wait to complete the Collections Mission, at least as far as the Red Wreath requirement is concerned until you reach this step in the Quest.

Prepare 20 glasses of Kvass
  Skip for 20 RC

Prepare 20 Orange Smoothie
  Skip for 20 RC

Now we're ready to go!

Reward: 100 Coins, 12 XP

Kupala Night IV
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Felicia:  Actually, the forest is a bit scary!  We've been searching for hours and still no sign of the precious flower... Wait!  I can see something behind a tree... THERE IT IS!  I found it!

Harvest 50 Fern Flowers
  Skip for 25 RC

Note:  Fern Flowers are one of the items that randomly yield Purple Wreaths required to complete the Collections Mission.  By this time, you should have completed all the other Wreath Collections and if you are fortunate, you will complete the Purple Wreath Collection now, obtain the Rewards and be able to place the Hazel Tree as required in one of the tasks here.

Fertilise your Neighbours' Farms 40 Times
  Skip for 40 RC

Place a Hazel Tree on your Farm
  N.B.  This is one of the two Rewards from the Collections Mission
   You can purchase the Hazel Tree in the Market as well for 5 RC

Felicia:  I can't believe I found it!  Now we can go back to the farm and celebrate!

Reward: 100 Coins, 14 XP

Kupala Night V
xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Felicia:  Grandma once told me that girls would go out on Kupala Night and set flower wreaths afloat on the river believing that it would grant them good fortune in their relationships.  So let's go on our bridge and float some flower wreaths!

Good idea, hihi!

Place a Stone Bridge
  N.B.  This is the other Reward from the Collections Mission
  SKip for 10 RC

Harvest 50 Daisies
  Skip for 25 RC

Harvest 6 Jasmine
  Skip for 6 RC

Felicia:  Oh no!  My wreath sank!  Hopefully it's not a sign of bad luck!

Reward: 110 Coins, 14 XP

Kupala Night VI
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Felicia:  Kupala Night is traditionally the first time of the year when you can go for a swim!  Let's get some healthy snacks so we look good in our swimming suits!

Prepare 6 bowls of Nut Mix
  Skip for 6 RC

Prepare 6 Nut and Sorbus Crepes
  SKip for 6 RC

Produce 10 Banana Ice Cream
  Skip for 10 RC

There is nothing better than a good swim on a hot day!

Reward: 110 Coins, 15 XP

Kupala Night VII
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Felicia: We still have some time left before sunset and all these activities made me really tired.  Maybe we could go to the seaside and relax an bit while catching some tasty fish?  What do you say?

Fish 10 Times with Bone Fish Hook
  Skip for 10 RC

Produce 20 Smoked Yellow Croaker
  Skip for 20 RC

N.B.  It takes almost 10 minutes to smoke each Yellow Croaker.

Produce 50 Veggie Burgers
  Skip for 25 RC

Felicia:  it's getting darker!  Get ready for the big celebration!

Reward: 110 Coins, 15 XP

Kupala Night VIII
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Felicia:  The sun finally went down.  Let's release some paper lanterns into the sky to mark this amazing night on Summer Solstice!  What a breathtaking view!

Collect 20 Paper Lanterns from your Neighbours
  Skip for 20 RC

Produce 60 glasses of Apple Juice
  Skip for 30 RC

Produce 10 Maple Sugar
  Skip for 5 RC

The lanterns lit up the sky in an amazing display of glowing dots!

Reward: 120 Coins, 16 XP

Kupala Night IX
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Felicia:  At the end of the night we will have a huge bonfire!  We will dance, sing and tell stories around the bonfire!  Oh, and eat of course!  Let's go to the kitchen and prepare more food!

Prepare 6 Nut Cheesecakes
  Skip for 6 RC

Produce 40 Black Forest Cakes
  Skip for 20 RC

Produce 60 Champagne
  Skip for 30 RC

Felicia:  Thanks for spending this shortest night of the year with us!

Reward: 120 Coins, 16 XP

Congratulations!  Check out your special reward in your gift box!

FINAL REWARD:  Bonfire Decoration

The Bonfire Decoration is cleanable and produces a Purple Cleaning Gift Bag

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Three new Recipes have appeared in the Kitchen and will be used during the course of the Quest:

Nut Mix: 143 Coins, 1 XP
  Ingredients:  Hazel Nut, Candied Walnut

Nut and Sorbus Crepe: 725 Coins, 1 XP
  Ingredients:  Sorbus Crepe, Nut Mix

Nut Cheesecake: 370 Coins, 1 XP
  Ingredients:  Cottage Cheese x 2, Nut Mix

Strategies for Mission
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As always, there are ways to prepare in advance for the various tasks that are required in these Missions.  It always is a good idea to complete the Collections Mission first as the Rewards usually are required to be placed on your Farm in one of the tasks in the traditional Quest sequence.  In this Mission, you must place both the Stone Bridge and a Hazel Tree.  You can purchase a Hazel Tree in the Market for 5 RC but you cannot purchase a Stone Bridge.   Hazel Nuts are used in the new Kitchen Recipes and these are requirements in the traditional Quest sequence as well.

Possibly the most difficult part of the traditional Quest sequence is the consuming need for Power.  You only are allocated 30 Power maximum and each Recipe you make in the Kitchen uses 1 Power.  Where a Recipe calls for Ingredients that are the product or products from OTHER Recipes, you can use up to 3 Power to complete a single Dish!  If you clean Neighbours' Decorations regularly or keep your own cleanable Decorations on your Farm, you should have a regular supply of Gift Cleaning Bags that randomly may contain 1 Power.  I tend to save my Cleaning Gift Bags until a Quest like this appears and then open them in the hope that they will contain some Power.

Part III of the traditional Kupala Night Quest alone requires a minimum of 40 Power to complete as two separate Recipes are requested.  You must make 20 of each.  It is here that the wisdom of regular cooking is revealed.  The ingredients to make an Orange Smoothie are Condensed Milk and Orange Jam.  I consider both to be 'staples' in the Kitchen and whenever I remember to do so when there is no Quest on the screen, I try to make a few of each.  Other Items that are needed in the Kitchen regularly include Cake Flour, Batter, Cornmeal and Soft Dough.  Now Cottage Cheese can be added to that list as it is used in more than one Recipe, icnluding the new Nut Cheesecake.  In fact, you will need to make Nut Cheesecake in one of the later steps in the Mission.

Another task that you can perform regularly when there are no outstanding Quests is fishing.    More and more, you will find that Items caught when fishing are needed for time-restricted Quests and Kupala Night is no exception.  In this case, you will need 20 raw Yellow Croaker in order to complete Part VII if the Quest.  Refer to my recent post: 'To Smoke or not to Smoke' for the pros and cons of processing your fishing catches.  In many cases, it is better to leave them unprocessed in the Barn for use in a case like this.  On the other hand, some of the Daily Orders require the sale of Smoked Seafood and it is a slow process so if you have considerable amounts, you always can smoke half and keep the other half raw.

Other items that can be useful if made in advance include the various types of Bread.  Wheat Bread is a required Ingredient in any Burger made in the Burger Machine.  In fact, you will need it for this Quest.  Black Bread is required as an ingredient to make Kvass.  You will need to make 20 Kvass in the Kitchen in Part III of the Kupala Night Quest.  Finally Cornmeal is the one type of Flour that is not made in the Mill any longer but is made in your Kitchen.  The Collections Mission requires Yellow Wreaths randomly found in Cornbread.  Although Cornbread is made in the Baker, the Cornmeal must be produced in the Kitchen.  Having a stock of this in advance can prove very useful.

Incidentally, for those players who wonder WHY they should upgrade the little 'special' buildings to Level 5 in Quests such as the recent World Cup Mission, it is not really for the sake of the final 'Reward' in the form of a Decoration, whether cleanable or not but rather for the ancillary Rewards that could be redeemed such as Thunderstorms, Rain, Organic Fertilisers or even Rainbow Rain.  The Thunderstorms I redeemed really helped considerably with the Collections Mission in THIS Quest, where I was able to speed the growth of all the Fern Flowers on my Farm to complete the Collections far earlier than I otherwise would have been able to do so.  Fern Flowers ordinarily take 8 Hours to mature.  I do have sprinklers throughout my farm as well as one Greenhouse, both of which reduce growing time but it was the Thunderstorms that really aided me today.  If you wonder why you ought to consider upgrading a building like the Soccer Stadium to Level 5 (being forced to spend a little RC in order to do so), this is the primary reason.

I do not think you can store a special time-restricted Collections building unless it has been fully upgraded.  That certainly was the case in the past.  If you do not like the building, then you always can sell it instead of storing it but if it is a beautiful building like the Ice Lantern Castle, you may with to upgrade it fully for future use.

A final point:  Although there are free gifts worth more than Milk and Wheat Flour, I tend to request these most often when no quests or missions are outstanding as they are Ingredients that are required in so many Machine Productions and Kitchen Recipes.  Wheat Flour is used to make Cakes  In this Mission sequence alone, a vast quantity both of Milk and of Wheat Flour was needed.  You need Wheat Flour to make the Wheat Bread used in the Buger Machine for Veggie Burgers as well as the Cake Machine for the Black Forest Cakes not to mention the Batter used in the Kitchen.  Milk is used in the Ice Cream Machines as well as in the Kitchen to make Condensed Milk, Crepes and Cottage Cheese, inter alia.  The Holstein Cow, like the Limousin Cattle and Buffalo takes up considerable space on a farm that no longer can be expanded.  Although Clover matures quickly, the Holstein Cow is a nuisance to place now, so I prefer to request Milk from my Neighbours.  Wheat Flour is easier to produce in the sense that I keep a Mill always on my Farm but even so, I would rather make Oat Flour and Rye Flour for Cake Flour than spend my time making Wheat Flour I easily can obtain from my Neighbours.  There may be Free Gifts that are worth more but few have as many uses as Milk and Wheat Flour.

Finally, time is saved if you have more than one Machine of any given variety.  With three Juice Makers, three Jam Makers and three Wine Makers, the time needed to produce quantities of Juice, Wine or Jam is lessened considerably.  They are small Machines as well, which makes it fairly easy to place more than one when needed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Kupala Night, a Midsummer Night Festival
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kupala Night is a Polish version of the traditional pagan European Midsummer Night Festival.  When I was a little girl, one of my favourite books was 'A Wonderful Garden' by E. Nesbit.  In this book, the children had a Victorian book about the 'Language of Flowers' that included some of the old magical associations with various flowers and plants.  They read that, on Midsummer's Night, if one could find a fern seed, one could smear it upon the eyes to be able to see all that otherwise would be invisible.  This notion excited me and I searched (in vain) for the fern seed...  The Polish custom of searching for the 'fern flower' on Midsummer's Eve is very similar.  No such flower exists!  It is a magical construct but the search is part of the ancient journey into the forest to collect plants and flowers to make blossoms and crowns, often for a statue or figure of a Goddess.

Kupala may be derived from the old Polish word for 'bath' or 'bathing'.   It is, however, the name of an old pagan Slavic Goddess as well.  Kupalnocka or Kupala Night is celebrated with a number of rites, including dances round abonfire or leaping over the flames and a charming ritual wherein maidens weave garlands of fresh flowers and hay and, placing a candle in the dentre, float them on running water.  The way that the garland floats is a form of fortunetelling, and will tell the maiden whether she is to marry soon or remain single.

In ancient Northern Europe, a statue of the fertility Goddess often was transported through the land to a sacred river or lake where she was bathed ritually before being returned to her 'home'.   Midsummer does mark the first night of the year in ancient Poland where bathing was considered safe and the waters blessed by the old God of Thunder.

Midsummer is a Festival of Light in the sacred pagan Wheel of the Year.  It is a time when fires are lit and the old ritual of leaping through or over the flames not only purifies and blesses but is considered sympathetic magic to cause the crops to grow stronger and higher.

There are many lantern festivals throughout the world, both in the East and West.  Lanterns of course imitate the great Lantern in the Sky in the form of our Sun.  Worship of the Sun is an ancient part of the Midsummer rites.

It is interesting how the ancient custom of throwing plants into running water in order to 'kill' or defeat Winter changed into a fortunetelling rite involving floral wreaths with candles in the centre.  Originally, the wreath was made with hay interwoven with fresh flowers.  Now flowers often are used exclusively to make the wreaths.

13 June 2014

To Smoke or not to Smoke

I simply could not resist the title but any one who expects to find a little lecture on 'cancer sticks' here will be disappointed.  This post is devoted to the topic of Seafood in Family Farm and the decision of any Farmer to use the Smoke House to process it or to leave it raw and unprocessed.

When the Fishiing option first was introduced, there were few Kitchen Recipes that used the items caught from the pier.  Now there are many, almost too many from the point of view of an individual like myself who does not care for seafood apart from Lobster.

You can find ALL Recipes on my Recipes page, the link to which is on a tab above all posts.  You can find a list of all Items caught when fishing on my Fishing Page, likewise found as a link on a tab above all posts.

This little post simply lists the Items that are used in their raw, unprocessed state in a Recipe.

Butterfish is used raw in the Lemon Fish Recipe.
Tilapia is used raw in the Baked Tilapia Recipe.
Crayfish is used raw in Egg Crayfish Recipe.
Octopus is used raw in the Octopus Ball Recipe.
Both raw Octopus and raw Salmon are used in the Seafood Platter Recipe.
Mackerel is used raw in the Wasabi Fried Mackerel Recipe.
Octopus is used in the Hot Lemon Octopus Recipe.
Raw Seaweed is used in the Egg Soup Recipe.

As for the Smoked Seafood:

Smoked Mackerel is used in the Spicy Fish Recipe.
Mud Crab processed in the Smoke House to make Crab Stick is used in the Fried Crab Stick Recipe.
Natica Sea Shell processed to make Raw Sea Snail is used in the Soyed Snail Recipe.
Crayfish processed to make Shrimp Ball is used in the Steamed Egg with Shrimp Recipe.
Mud Crab processed to make Steamed Mud Crab is used in the Custard Crab REcipe.
Blue Swimmer Crab processed in the Smoke House to makeSteamed Blue Swimmer Crab is used in the Crab Meat Yi Mein Recipe.  You will need 2, by the way.
Dried Wakame processed from Wakame and Cooked Sea Lettuce processed from Sea Lettuce are used in the Wakame Salad Recipe.
Red Frog Crab processed to make Cooked Red Frog Crab is used in the White Wine Crab Recipe.
Crayfish processed to make Shrimp Meat is used in the Shrimp Chili Recipe.  You will need 2.
Octopus Meat processed from Octopus is used in the Seafood Chili Recipe.
Dried Scallop processed from Scallop is used in the Surf n Turf Recipe.
Steamed Mantis Shrimp processed from Mantis Shrimp is used in the Shrimp Fried Rice Recipe.
Seaweed processed to make Brined Seaweed is used in the Warship Sushi Recipe.
Crab Roe made either from Red Frog Crab or Blue Swimmer Crab is used in the Crab Roe Warship Sushi Recipe.
Starfish Spawn processed from Starfish is used in the Starfish Spawn Warship Sushi Recipe.
Squid Ink processed from Octopus is used in the Black Spaghetti Recipe.
Opossum Shrimp processed to make Steamed Opossum Shrimp is used in the Sweet and Sour Shrimp Recipe.

N.B.  You will notice that the same 'catch' can produce different items when processed.  Some are more likely results than others.  For example, Squid Ink is a rare item produced when Octopus is processed as opposed to the more common Octopus Meat.  All these items with their likelihood are listed on my Fishing Page.

05 June 2014

World Cup Time-Restricted Missions/Quests

This is one of the time-restricted Quests that allows farmers to collect randomly from ALL Crops, Animals, Machines and Trees.

The Mission requires the placement of a Stadium, found in the Market under the Special Category for the price of 500 Coins.  You then can begin to collect Footballs randomly from all Crops, Animals, Machines and Trees on your Farm.

Your Stadium can be upgraded to Level 5 to double the number of Footballs collected randomly.  The first upgrade requires 20 Stadium Seats (requests to neighbours) and 2 Soccar Outfits (redeemed with one Football each).

The prizes that can be redeemed with Footballs are as follows:

Soccer Outfits
  Each requires 1 Football and there are a total of 50 that can be redeemed

Snack Stand
  The first requires 100 Footballs and there are a total of 5 that can be redeemed

Thunderstorm
  The first requires 10 Footballs and there are a total of 5 that can be redeemed.

Organic Fertiliser
  The first requires 1 Football and there are a total of 25 that can be redeemed

You must redeem one of each of these four prizes in order to unlock the final prize which is a Guarana Bush that then can be redeemed with 200 Footballs.

Note that the Guarana Bush can be purchased in the Market for 6 RC.

In tandem with this is a series of traditional Quests or Missions under the title of the World Cup.

World Cup Quests

World Cup I

Place a Soccar Stadium on your farm

Harvest 40 Pitayas
  Skip for 20 RC

Complete the orders on the Order Board
  Skip for 10 RC

World Cup II
xxxxxxxxxxx

Prepare 8 Grilled Flank Steaks

Harvest 40 Coffee Beans

Request 20 Soccer Tickets from Neighbours

World Cup III
xxxxxxxxxxx

Produce 40 Peacock Feathers

Produce 50 Ostrich Feathers

Produce 60 Goose Feathers

World Cup IV
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Harvest 6 Ice from Ice Tree

Produce 50 Glasses of Orange Juice

Prepare 15 Lemon-Banana Daiquiri

World Cup V
xxxxxxxxxxx

Harvest 8 Guarana from Guarana Bush
  (Final Reward from Football Collections or purchase from Market)

Prepare 8 Guarana Drinks

Help your Neighbours 40 times

World Cup VI
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Produce 50 Steak Burgers

Produce 15 Glasses of Mango Juice

Prepare 15 Tropical Fruit Muffins

World Cup VII
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Fish 10 times with the Bone Fish Hook

Prepare 20 Coconut Milk

Prepare 6 Plates of Fish and Potatoes

World Cup VIII
xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Prepare 10 Tropical Delights

Produce 60 Bottles of Ketchup

Produce 60 Beef Salami

World Cup IX
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Prepare 20 Bowls of Bean Stew

Prepare30 Bowls of Crumbly

Request 20 Berimbaus from Neighbours

World Cup X
xxxxxxxxxxx

Produce 20 Bowls of Bean Stew with Crumbly

Produce 20 Banana Cakes

Produce 20 Mango Ice Cream

Final Reward:  Darryl Bobblehead Decoration (cannot be cleaned) and a bag with 1 RC

New Recipes in Kitchen
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sugar Loaf Doughnut: 527 Coins, 1 XP
  Ingredients:  Condensed Milk, Hot Cross Bun

Guarana Drink: 75 Coins, 1 XP
  Ingredients: Guarana, Lemon

Tropical Delight: 663 Coins, 1 XP
  Ingredients:  Sugar Loaf Doughnut, Guarana Drink

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Crumbly: 299 Coins, 1 XP
  Ingredients: Oat Flour x 2,  Egg x 2

Bean Stew: 295 Coins, 1 XP
  Ingredients:  Beef Salami, Green Bean x 3

Bean Stew with Crumbly: 624 Coins, 1 XP
  Ingredients:  Crumbly, Bean Stew

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As the World Cup time-restricted Mission reaches its last day, another option has appeared in Seaside in the form of a gambling game.  Players can choose to gamble on the real World Cup of 2014 by purchasing placards that represent one or more Teams.  If the Team or Teams chosen advance, the Player will receive Rewards in the form of RC.  Each Placard costs 9 RC.  There is no limit to the number of Teams one can support, as long as the placard for that team is being offered in the Market.  One is not likely to make any profit, however, if one chooses too many Teams.  The final Reward for the winning Team is 30 RC.    In order to quality, the Player must place the Placard on the farm and redeem any Rewards from the Gift Box by dates that are specified by the developers.  In other words, you must access your Gift Box to find and redeem any Rewards by specific dates.  The Placards will be offered until 16 June.  They include the following:

Spanish
Italian
British
Ecuardorian
Japanese
Ivory Coast
Costa Rican
Uruguay
Honduras
French
Brazilian
Korean
Russian
Argentinian
Ghana
American
German
Portuguese
Iranian
Nigerian
Swiss
Boznia and Herzogovian
Belgian
Algerian
Colombian
Greek
Dutch
Chilean
Australian
Croatian
Mexican
Cameroon

Not quite certain why some Banners are named by country and others are the proper adjective...  simply copied from the Marketplace, although by rights, it should be Ghanaian, Cameroonian and so on...