New to the Digital Farm System (DFS)? This guide covers the basics of farming in Second Life: growing crops in fields, caring for trees and plants, and keeping your energy up. If you haven’t set up yet, start with our Get Started page.
What you need
The DFS HUD (worn), a DFS field, fertilizer, a water source (a Water Barrel, Water Tower or Hydrant) and seeds. Your avatar must be at least 30 days old to use DFS.
Growing crops in a field
- Rez your field with a water source, a fertilizer and a seed next to it.
- Click the field and choose Water, then Fertilize.
- Choose Plant and pick your seed.
- Choose Tending, then hover over the field until you see the sit icon and click to sit.
- When the field turns green, click it and choose Harvest.
Rice, cranberries and other water crops grow in a Water Field instead, using the same steps.
What the field colours mean
- Blue: needs water
- Orange: needs fertilizer
- Yellow: needs a seed
- Purple: needs tending
- White: growing
- Green: ready to harvest
Growing trees, plants and flowers
Place trees, plants and flowers within 20 metres of water. Click to Water, then Prune and sit. Click Care on your DFS HUD three times until it shows Care: 3/3. This uses energy, or you can use a clicky item instead. When it’s ready, choose Harvest and sit, and DFS sends you your crop.
Energy
Working your farm uses energy. Cook food from your harvest on DFS kitchen appliances and eat it to refill your energy. Browse the DFS Recipes to see what you can make, or sort them by energy points.
Tips
- Click menu buttons slowly. Second Life sometimes misses fast clicks, and the menu then has to time out.
- If your seed or fertilizer doesn’t show up in the field menu, check that all items are set to the same group.
- A Compost Bin stores up to 100 fertilizer, and a Trowel speeds up tending by 500%.
- Something missing after a harvest? See Missing Items.
Need help?
Join the DFS group in-world, read the FAQ, or ask in our Discord. You can also visit the DFS Main Store and contact a CSR there.