Finishing The Crop Farm: Building a Natural Minecraft Farm With a River

Welcome back to part four of our Minecraft farm building series! In this episode we finally get to finish off our awesome crop farm. There were a few bumps along the way, including a controller that kept dying, but we pushed through and the end result looks fantastic. Let’s walk through everything we got done.

Fencing Off the Farm Area

The first job was crafting more fences to close off the whole farm zone. We managed to make 25 fences, then crafted extra sticks and wood to build even more. The main goal here was to keep mobs out so our crops stay safe. It did create one small problem, jumping in and out of the farm is a little tricky now, but that is something we can smooth out later.

We also decided to keep some of the trees inside the crop area. It gives the whole space a nice natural feel and makes the farm look much more interesting than just a plain field.

Getting Seeds With Bone Meal

Seeds were the next big challenge. Using bone meal on grass gave us a few wheat seeds along with plenty of flowers, which will be handy later on. It felt a little slow only getting one seed at a time, so if you know a faster way to gather seeds, let me know in the comments!

A quick tip we discovered: using bone meal on actual crops is a great way to speed up growth and get guaranteed seeds when you harvest them.

Crafting Tools and Going Mining

To build our river we needed a bucket, and that meant getting iron. We crafted a copper hoe to start tilling the ground, then packed up some torches and food and headed underground.

The cave was a bit spooky with creepers and skeletons around, but we managed to grab plenty of coal, copper, lapis, and most importantly iron. Copper is really useful now that we have proper tools for it, and it drops several pieces per block which is great.

One tricky bit was mining underwater. You have to keep crouching to stay down, and oxygen runs low fast. A handy trick is to place a block and mine near it to catch a quick breath of air. Following the river also helped us find our way back home without getting lost.

Building the River Through the Farm

With iron in hand, we crafted a bucket and started building our river. Placing water sources carefully created a lovely little waterfall that flows right through the crops. Not only does it look amazing, it also waters the farmland naturally.

We filled in some dirt to tidy up the edges and smooth out the water flow. The end result is a natural looking river running through the whole farm area, which adds so much character to the build.

Planting Crops and Adding Berry Bushes

Once the water was flowing, we tilled the soil and planted our wheat seeds. Remember that crops need to be within four blocks of a water source to stay hydrated, so keep that in mind when planning your own farm.

To make the farm feel even more natural, we added berry bushes around the edges. They double as a food source and blend in perfectly with the trees and river. We also added torches along the walls to keep things lit and stop mobs from spawning.

A Few Handy Tips We Learned

• Jumping on crops can damage them, so be careful when moving around your farm.
• Follow rivers to avoid getting lost when exploring for seeds.
• Place torches as breadcrumbs so you can always find your way home.
• Copper is much more useful now thanks to new tools, so grab plenty when mining.

The Finished Farm

After all that hard work, the farm is really coming together. We have crops planted, a beautiful waterfall and river running through, trees dotted around, and berry bushes lining the edges. There is still more to do as we slowly gather more seeds, but the foundation looks awesome.

One quick update on the videos: I bumped the recording up to 60 frames per second thanks to your feedback, so hopefully the quality is looking much smoother now. Keep the suggestions coming!

Thanks so much for following along with this build. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to leave a like and subscribe so you don’t miss the next one. Have an awesome day, everyone!