Editing v0.31:How do I manage my seeds and crops

{{quality|Fine|08:22, 11 April 2012 (UTC)}}{{av}}
==Managing Seeds==
{{L|Seed}}s are what are used to grow {{L|crop}}s. You may begin the game with a certain number of seeds, {{L|trade}} for them, or {{L|plant gathering|gather}} them. In addition to this, {{L|mill|milling}} and {{L|brewing}} often yield a seed from a given {{L|plant}}. {{L|Cooking}} plants does not yield seeds, so you may want to watch out and make sure you don't convert the last of your plants into +sweet pod roast+ without the ability to make more.

You can create a custom {{L|stockpile}} near your {{L|farm}} which will only accept {{L|seed}}s. This will consolidate your seeds into one place, instead of having them littered all through the {{L|dining room}}. Seeds are stored in {{L|bag}}s (up to 100 seeds per bag), and seed bags can be stored in barrels.

The maximum number of seeds for a given crop from  is 200. {{L|Brewing}}, {{L|mill}}ing, and {{L|food|eating}} raw plants does not generate additional seeds of this type beyond this, although your {{L|trader}} may still barter for additional seed bags and thus exceed this limit.

Most seeds may be toggled for {{L|cooking}} on the Kitchen tab of the {{L|stocks}} menu.  The exception, {{L|quarry bush|rock nuts}}, may be eaten raw.

==Managing Crops==
When ripe, your dwarves will {{L|harvest}} your {{L|crop}}s from the {{L|farm plot}}s. This will yield one or more {{L|stack}}s of {{L|plant}}s, which will be {{L|hauling|hauled}} to the appropriate {{L|stockpile}}. It is generally a good idea to have sufficient {{L|barrel}}s to hold the food, as {{L|food}} is subject to {{L|wear|withering}} and the predation of {{L|vermin}}. {{L|Metal}} barrels are especially effective against vermin.

You can create a custom stockpile that will only accept {{L|plant}}s, to avoid having it all mixed up with your {{L|meat}} and {{L|drink}}s. It would be a good idea to have this stockpile near your {{L|still}}, {{L|farmer's workshop}}, {{L|kitchen}}, etc. You may also choose to make more specialized stockpiles, for instance if your {{L|mill|windmill}} is located far away from your farms, you might have small nearby stockpiles dedicated solely to millable plants and {{L|flour}} so as to save on hauling.

The Kitchen tab on the {{L|stocks}} menu allows you to control which crops, if any, your dwarves will use as ingredients when cooking. Be careful when you are running low on certain crops, and make sure you don't cook the last of them instead of recovering the valuable seeds (unless you're overflowing with seeds anyway).