You have the chance to hire Joe after you deliver your first order with the Truck.
Here’s what you have to do in the quests after hiring Joe and how to unlock Foraging (mushrooms and nettles) and starred crops for Joe.
Plant and Harvest Like a Manager
In this quest, you have to plant and harvest a whole field using Seeding and Harvesting Templates.
If you need detailed info on how to plant with Joe, please read the “How do I plant with Joe?” section in THIS article.
Help Rebuild the Library Roof
You have to finish the previous quest before unlocking this one.
The community is still recovering and in this time of need, every contribution helps, so it would be terrific if you could donate some wood for the rebuilding efforts. 30 Oak Lumber and 20 Pine Lumber will do the trick.
You can buy the trees from your Shop > Trees menu. Oak Trees give you Oak Logs and Pine Trees give you Pine Logs.
Once you have Oak and Pine Logs, open up your Craft Shack (if you don’t have one, buy it from the Shop > Gear tab) to make lumber. When you have all the lumber, click the green “Donate” in the quest menu.
Cleaning Up
After you answer the Mayor’s phone call (that appears as an icon at the right side of the game), you will have to clear up the debris generated by the tornado. Open up the quest and click the green “Show Me” button to see pieces of trash Joe can pick up.
Get Joe close to a piece of trash by double clicking from spot to spot, then click once on that piece of debris to pick it up. He can’t carry lots of stuff — it depends on how heavy the debris is. Get him close to the trash container, then click on it to throw the debris.
Here’s a video where you can learn how to pick up debris, and how to get to the trash on the other side of the train tracks:
To pick up some pieces of trash at the bottom of the map, you might have to zoom in the map from your Settings (especially if you’re playing in fullscreen mode).
In some cases, hiding your Neighbors bar will make things easier.
Find the Missing Pages from the Botanical Atlas
In this quest you have to find the 9 pages that are missing from the Botanical Atlas.
A tornado passed really close to the nearby town the night before. Luckily, no one was hurt, but the University’s Library roof was ripped away. Stored in the attic was an invaluable Botanical Atlas. If you can find it or at least pieces of it, the University will forever be grateful. So keep an eye out for pieces of paper scattered around the tornado’s path.
Click on the “Show me” button, pick up the plate, then look at when you can start searching for another one. New plates can be found every 20 hours.
One of the Botanical Plates will be in the tunnel. Get Joe close to the tunnel, then double click on the tunnel to enter it. Pick up the plate, then head out 🙂 If you’re still struggling to find the 4th Botanical Plate, here’s a video of how to get it: https://streamable.com/yzze5
Just like in the quest where you had to pick up the trash, you might have to hide your Neighbors bar, but also hide your quests by clicking the icon with a small white arrow inside an orange circle. To see your quests again, click the button again.
After you find all 9 Botanical Plates, 5 more will appear in the lands west of your farm. Look for them at your own pace in the Factories area and the Sawmill area. Tip: there’s a page in the Factories area that can be accessed from Alpaca Hill in main farm. 🙂
Study Time!
Now is the time to send Joe to Woodburn University so he can study the plates he found. In this quest, you have to send Joe to study Penny Bun mushrooms.
Hover with your mouse cursor over Joe until you see the bubble menus above his head, then select “Skills”. Look under “Botanical Plates”, click on Penny Bun mushrooms and send Joe to study.
Then, click on his chair and skip the study time for free (this time).
Side note: Continue studying more plates to unlock more mushroom types for Joe to find around the farm, and more recipes.
For the next plates you will have to either wait for Joe to study or skip the wait using RC.
Also, as stated, you will unlock more recipes like Creamy Chanterelle Soup.
Foraging Around
Here you have to explore the area around your farm and find 10 Penny Bun mushrooms, 12 Chanterelle mushrooms, and 10 Stinging Nettles.
If you haven’t studied the plates for Chanterelle mushrooms or Stinging Nettle, do it like in the quest “Study Time!” from above.
If you need help with how finding and picking up mushrooms (foraging) works and how often mushrooms appear, please check the “Foraging” section towards the end of THIS (click) article.
Remember, you can also open up the quest and click the green “Show Me” button to see if and where you can find more mushrooms and nettles.
Crops Quality – Silver Star
Important: To unlock this quest, you have to send Joe to study the Silver Plates that he found after the tornado hit.
To finish the quest “Crops Quality – Silver Star” you have to use Joe and harvesting templates until you find some Silver Star produce: 4 tomatoes, 3 carrots, and 5 onions.
You can plant manually or use Joe, but you have to harvest with Joe as only he can recognize special crops that are up to standards — he did study them after all. 🙂
After you study the Silver Plate you may also notice a letter in your mailbox. It’s from a world-renowned restaurant called Le Cuizin — they’re looking for a reliable supplier of Silver and Gold Star vegetables and fruits.
Call Jerome Dufour
Just open up the quest and click “Call” to talk with Chef Jerome from Le Cuizin about becoming a supplier of starred crops.
Fine Dining Supplier
In this quest you just have to deliver the Silver Star crops you found for the previous quest, “Crops Quality – Silver Star”. You have 72 hours to deliver the order. Don’t worry if the time runs down, you will get another call from Chef Jerome until you complete the quest.
Perseverance
If you don’t deliver the order with the Silver Star crops, you will get this quest. It’s just a phone call from Chef Jerome in which you have to convince him to give you another shot to become his supplier.
Big Silver Crates for the Town Hall
To get this quest, you must have finished the quest “Fine Dining Supplier” and be at least level 40.
The quest starts with a phone call icon that appears at the right side of your game — click it to talk with the Mayor. She will ask you to supply silver produce for Town Hall for an upcoming visit from the State Agricultural Commissioner to evaluate the overall agricultural practices and productivity.
The Mayor will send you a big crate that you have to place on your farm and fill with 2 of every Silver Quality plants you have unlocked so far. New items will be added to the list when you unlock them.
After you send the crate, remember to click on the truck to get your coins and XP.
Crops Quality – Gold Star
Important: To unlock this quest, you have to send Joe to study the Gold Plates that he found after the tornado hit.
To complete the quest, you will have to use Joe to harvest until he finds some Gold Star produce: 2 tomatoes, 4 blueberries, and 5 olives. Blueberries are Shrubs in case you haven’t found them.It might take a while to find all Gold Star olives, but you’ll get there eventually.
Deliver Gold Crops
Now you only have to deliver the Gold Star crops you found for the previous quest. You have 72 hours to deliver the order. Don’t worry if the time runs down, you will get another call from Chef Jerome until you complete the quest.
After you deliver the Gold Star crops, Chef Jerome will call you again and announce that you’re a reliable supplier.
Bland No More
Chef Jerome from Le Cuizin (Fancy Restaurant) is happy with you as a supplier of Silver and Gold Star crops and fruits. However, Gustav from the Restaurant is a little worried because he’s losing clients to Jerome. Help Gustav replace some of his bland recipes by making delicious Silver Star recipes in your Farm Kitchen.
Since the quest asks for Silver Star recipes, make sure the Silver Star option is checked at the left like in the image below. Otherwise, you will make regular recipes and they will not count.
The recipes also ask for herbs. To plant herbs, you will need an Herbs Garden.
When you have all the recipes, deliver the order. Chef Gustav’s order for Silver Star Recipes is generated every other day even if you delete it, until you complete the quest.
Big Gold Crates for the Town Hall
For this quest to show, you have to finish the quest with the Silver Crates, and Joe has to have studied the Gold Plates (and finish the rest of the gold produce quests). Once more, the quest starts with a phone call that shows at the right side of the game.
Talk with the Mayor again — she will thank you for the silver produce for Town Hall, and inform you of an upcoming visit from the National Farmers’ Market Association to designate Woodburn as a flagship market. She will ask you for some produce that’s really worthy to showcase.
The Mayor will again send you a big crate that you have to place on your farm and fill with 2 of every Gold Quality plants you have unlocked so far. New items will be added to the list when you unlock them.
After you send the crate, remember to click on the truck to get your coins and XP.