As I was leaving work at the end of the week, my friend rushed out, knocking a few things on his way out. I followed him because we go together but he said that he wanted to catch an early TTC train. I asked why impatiently. His response was

“Because I have to water my plums.”

For a moment, I thought I hadn’t heard right. I asked again. The same response followed as I almost ran after him towards Dundas Square.

“Plums? You don’t have plums in your garden. What are you talking about?”

“Which world do you live in? You can be a farmer at Facebook.”

Facebook?

“I hate Facebook. You know that and what is this plantation thing.”

What he told me went well over my head. I have hated Facebook; I always will. To my mind, it took over verbal communication with friends…and maybe loss of language from human species all together.

But apparently from what I gathered from my friend’s conversation, Facebook plantation has taken over minds of many smart people.

As if this dosage of watering my barren mind was not enough, my sister came to me seeking help in her Math paper the same night at home.

But as the clock struck 10, she got up and ran to her laptop while I was teaching her by the way.

I complained to my mom about this sheer rudeness and for what? Farming – on the Facebook.

Now this was too much.

I decided to research it. As I did so, I was taken aback by the vocabulary used in this Facebook application: hoe,  plow fields, scythe, harvest, shed, fertilizer, seeds, crops, farm animals and so on. This goes as far as to hire workers to plow your fields for you, to water the choice of your vegetable or fruits, for God sake!   And add to that newsletter called “Buckeye Farm News.” There are instructions available online on how you protect your farm from cheaters.

Either I am crazy or there really is much fun in it. I think there is fun with colourful presentation, engaging music, pop-up instructions on how to proceed with the next level of plantation.

Here’s how you do it:

Once you are a Facebook user, simply search the applications for “Farm Town”. When you are prompted, allow access to the application and it will set up a new virtual farm for you. All “farmers” start at Level 1 as a “Getting Started Farmer”. With the game “coins” you will begin by using the “hoe” icon to plow fields, the “store icon” to buy seeds to plant and the “scythe” icon to harvest them. Once you harvest them(and always use the harvest and store option – you get more coins than harvest and sell!), you will see the harvests accumulate in your “shed”. When you are ready, click the shed icon and it will take you to the market to sell the harvest for more coins. Then you go back to your farm to plow and plant more seeds!

As with all real farm communities, growth comes with community! The second option to earning coins is to visit the marketplace FIRST and hire workers to pick your crops for you. They receive a nice payment of coins and you receive your full crop price – PLUS 25% for hiring them to do it. You will ALWAYS receive more for your crops if someone else harvests them. A hint – add the workers you hire to your buddy list

As in real life, as you get more money, your options increase. With each new level, new seeds and farm items will become available for you to buy. The seeds will cost more but will yield more coins when harvested.

I tried following these instructions. I tried planting pineapples…Gosh…I don’t even know if pineapples grow in this season…but I did it.

My conclusion.

I still hate Facebook. Come on people I know you hate me for saying this, but isn’t our life already too busy without Facebook farming.

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 Author: Rahul Mehta