A title card reading "GopherCraft TerraFirmaCraft Season 1, Episode 3, Farmer Basket" opens over Basket's caveman on the little island, next to a stack of logs and a fire pit. "Hey everybody, Basket here," the episode begins. "I died." While exploring, Basket fell into a ravine, and everything Basket was carrying is still down there. The first job is an item recovery mission, with a load of logs from the island to build a way down. In chat, Sayulily says "zugga zug zug."
Back to the ravine
The walk back is long. On the way there is a pig Basket calls female and wants to bring home someday, a Green Bell Pepper for "more of a balanced diet," and some sheep that look like the ones near the ravine. At the edge, the logs won't go where Basket wants them, and night is coming. Basket logs out to skip it, admits that is "cheaty," and comes back to rain. Basket jumps, lands, and is "still alive." Sayulily's next chat line: "Your timing is impeccible."
The lost gear is scattered across the ravine floor, and Basket cycles through it so none of it despawns. Meanwhile chat shows "optimus1971 starved to death," and then optimus1971 leaving the game.
A calendar that runs a week per season
Down in the ravine, Basket opens the calendar: Early Summer, a Sunday, the 133rd of June. The plan was for each real week to be one season, but the clock seemed to run much faster. The fix was setting the length of a year in two places, on the server and in each player's game. Now each season lasts a week.
After the rain, Basket stacks logs into a pillar and climbs out. "This is working good." At the top Basket spots "some minerals" and then heads home with a new plan: move the base. Too many nights went to fighting zombies "coming across the lake."
A new base on a flattened hill
The new base sits on what used to be a hill. Basket flattened it, moved the clay vessels over and stacked a pile of cut wood. Below, Basket has planted banana, pear, peach and what Basket thinks are lemon trees, and plums are in season. The house is next, but Basket wants plank walls, and planks need a saw. So the house waits, and farming comes first so the season isn't wasted.
Planting the farm
With a Stone Hoe, Basket tills rows beside the water and digs a channel to carry water along them, guessing the crops need fresh water nearby. The seed tooltips include rice, oats, onions, barley, tomatoes, red bell peppers, squash and rye. Basket also says a lot of thatch will be needed for pit kilns. A small icon in the lower right corner stays a mystery: "I'm sure I'll figure out eventually what that means."
Zombies at the base
At nightfall Basket sets torches around the base and waits on higher ground. A zombie carrying a sword walks up the path. "This guy has a big sword. I don't like that." Basket remembers a tip from another player that axes work better on zombies, then logs out to wait for day.
Logging back in as the sun comes up, Basket finds the zombies still there. Moments later the screen reads "You died!" Basket respawns far away and walks all the way back, mentioning on the way that the rest of the farm is planted now. Everything Basket dropped is lying on the gravel at the base, and Basket picks it all up. With no torches left, Basket lays out the next episode: make a saw, figure out melting metal and a mold, and start the house. A last shot shows the caveman by the log pile and the clay pots before the end card.
