I already beat that boss, I'm totally gonna go get me some strawberries, thanks for the idea dude.

i'm using those fields for lumber personally(or any field in dungeons,) prolly will do the strawberry thing after i get all my buildings up or during winter, good idea lol. I can only use half of my field during farming seasons anyways or it'd take forever to farm everyday even with npc help during regular seasons.

I actually got a mage in my barn who gets all the lumber I'll ever need, I have 1000 of the stuff and it just keeps going up. I highly suggest it. Trying to use an elephant to water my plants, but I'm not sure how well that's working as of yet, my crops are growing strangely.

Whoa! Didn't realize the mages kept gathering lumber: I thought they just cleared your field and then they were done.

My lumber problem is solved! Thanks!

Actually I think they do just clear it and stop maybe, but I used to have so many damn stumps because of some weird storm. I'll have to see if it goes up when it's clear and let you know.

edit: anyone know how to get past the third level of the Whale Island dungeon?  There's a door that refuses to open

the mage doesn't gather fast enough so I have to do side lumbering, that's also why i leave at least half the field open for herbs and lumber for my monsters etc, need to get a monster that cuts grass too, wonder when i'll get something like that since i'm taking my sweet time with the game instead of going through seasons really fast.

Sorry for missing your edit earlier.

I'm not 100% positive this is what you need, but here's what happened to me.

I beat the first dungeon's boss, talked to the island when I next visited it, got two dreams, talked to Mist after the second one, had Iris at one heart+one friendship level, got a third dream after that, then had an event with Iris. The door was open after that.

Not sure if ANY of those are what you need, or if it was something else I did, but try this first.

I dislike chaos on my fields, so I went and cleared the lot, then filled them with crops/grass. Hope I didn't completely screw myself over for the long run, since it appears no one sells lumber in this game.

Actually, I've got a question for you guys: what weapon do you prefer? I went with one-handed sword, because it attacks quickly, but their relatively low attack power is really starting to show. Based on the stats it seems like rods are the way to go: is this true? For that matter, should I look more closely into spears/hammers/2-handers/axes?

you have to leave a pretty big portion of your field open, i did the same thing as you did in the first week to get my scythe then cleared half the field because i noticed that well, i can't get herbs or lumber unless i'm in a dungeon lol. so far i have a monster that clears rocks, one that gathers herbs(just make sure to get it out of the sales bin before 5 pm if you want to do alchemy with it.) one that doesn't harvest nearly fast enough but it helps a little, and one that gathers lumber, monsters will only work on your field so you really want to leave some space open to be lazier in the long run, right now i need one that cuts grass and im suspecting that elephant will be my water bitch.

use sword and make different magic staffs, sword is for quick hitters and veins blocking your way while magic hits for huge dmg on bosses.