WIP Check-In

Just checking in to let you all know where I'm at with projects. I've been quiet lately because I'm dealing with a pinched nerve in my neck that's affecting my right side and it's super painful. I started physical therapy a couple weeks ago and it's helping but progress is slow. I can only be at the computer for a couple hours a day so I've had to use my computer time wisely and when I do, I just dive in on working on upcoming content :)

General Timeline

At this point I have content planned for the next 2-3 months (depending on updates) so keep that in mind as you read on. The canning skill is finished and I debated releasing it this weekend but I'm going to wait until after the patch next week in case updates are needed.

Also keep in mind once the Preserving Skill is released (I'm hoping by next weekend) there will be a massive update to all my other crafting and food recipes (likely the week after) to catch them up with all the new ingredients and mods and fix any lingering issues.

Harvestables and Foraging will get an update once I've finished all the Indigenous American content and it will be the next major focus in the updates/fixes category.

Canning Skill (pics above)

This mod was such a pain lol. I mean, it was easy if I was making it from scratch but trying to integrate what they made for Cottage Living into an actual skill was like staring into a dumpster fire. The recipe steps didn't make sense, let alone some of the recipes themselves (Lettuce Conserves? What even is that???). Then I found that there were a bunch of resources they made that weren't even used, like they had plans to do something and it never materialized. Gaining skill experience was off on some recipes, giving very little or a lot depending on the crafting steps. Needless to say it took a lot of work to get their recipes to work with a new skill and make sense on a gameplay level.

The overrides for EA recipes are still optional if you prefer to download it that way. I tried to make this base game but was unable to because of the animations. I added some gameplay options to this skill like giving Canning tips to other sims and being able to sell your canned goods to a local Food Co-op for 2x the profit. I even added a new interaction that allows you to 'Sanitize' your countertops in an attempt to get a better quality product. I created some new jar shapes so you can have some variety to your cupboards and any canned veggies will count as or 'Any Vegetable' where it makes sense.

If I have a little time I'm going to try to make some overrides for the canning jars to match my custom jars so they're consistent :)

Preserving Skill

Not much to this skill but I've added:

• Hang Drying Herbs, Meat, and Grain
• Meat Curing
• Jar Fermenting
• Food Grinder for Meats, Sausages, & Pasta

This skill comes with similar interactions where sims can converse with other sims about Preserving and when they have max skill can sell  goods to the Food Co-op for a profit.

Handcrafting

This is early stages still but plans are...

• Corn Husk Doll crafting
• Twine Crafting
• Pottery Making (may be more in-depth, still need to flesh out)

Just some small simple crafting type things for your sim :)

Other Mods

• Hunting - basic for now but something I may be able to add a skill for once I've made enough ingredients to build skill tiers with
• New Lot Challenges - to make getting some types of ingredients or harvestables optional so you can turn it off or on
• Horse Ranch Improvements - I need to get the pack first but I'm anticipating there may be some edits I want to make to mesh better with my mods

Harvestables

• Prickly Pear
• Cantaloupe
• Chokecherries
• Sunflower
• Summer Squash
• Trees - Cedar, Pine, Oak
• Flowers - Bergamot

Crafting Ingredients

• Flours - Acorn, Corn
• Soup Stocks - Poultry, Corn
• Sunflower Oil and Butter
• Wojape Jam & Prickly Pear Syrup
• Meats - Rabbit, Venison, Bison
• Goat Milk (If EA doesn't already have it with the new pack)
• Lots of dried herbs and grains
• Jerky & Pemmican

Food & Drink Recipes

• Tamales
• Sofkee Porridge
• Bison Skewers with Wojape
• Salmon Cornmeal Balls
• Stuffed Trout Baked in Clay
• Acorn Pinon Soup
• Squash Blossom Soup
• Hominy Stews
• Sunflower Seed Cakes
• Harvest Cookies
• Cornmeal Hotcakes with Prickly Pear Syrup
• Melon Fruit Salad with Prickly Pear Syrup
• Cactus Pad Salad

Hot Drinks

I want to make these drinks function as natural remedies as well. This will be served on a clay tea set.

• Yaupon Tea
• Cedar Tea
• Mint Tea
• Bergamot Tea
• Raspberry Leaf Tea
• Chicory Tea
• Sofkee

What's After All This?

Unless something more pressing or inspiring comes up I'll likely be returning to cheese in addition to cured meats with some food recipes that revolve around that. I will also be looking at adding some options to the Nectarmaking skill from Horse Ranch.