The seeds needed to start farming can be found while [[botanizing]] on [[grass]] or [[steppe]] or from harvesting the crops. Harvested [[cotton]], [[strawberries]], [[pumpkin]], [[wemp plants|wemp]] and [[reed plants]] must be picked to recover seeds for replanting.
Crops can be harvested at any time after the first growth level, but harvesting too early or too late results in zero return. When the farm is ready to harvest (ripe) the top crop will look "ready". See the Images section from pictures of it will turn yelloweach crop to see how they look when ripe.
Seeds can be sown on a dirt tile, grass tiles needs to be packed then cultivated. The [[maximum slope]] on which you can sow seeds is 8, where 8 = (highest north-south tile border's slope) + (highest east-west tile border's slope). For example, the slope can be level EW and 8-steep NS. Or 4-steep EW and 4-steep NS, etc. Attempting to sow seeds on a greater slope results in a message "The ground is not flat enough for crops to grow. You need to flatten it first". Farm tiles function the same with a slope 8, flat or anything in between.