Harvest Hollow

Harvest Hollow is a small farm seen from above with a gentle tilt, the way a picture book would draw it. Chunky beds of turned soil sit in rounded fields, a red barn and a farmhouse with a smoking chimney stand along the dirt lane, a windmill turns on the hill and ducks paddle circles on the pond. Ten crops grow through four hand-drawn stages — a sprout, a leafy clump, buds, then the ripe thing with a twinkle on it — and each one only takes in the seasons that suit it, so a carrot patch in spring becomes a pumpkin patch by autumn.

The farm keeps its own time. A day lasts about two minutes and a season lasts a week of those days, and as the year turns the whole hollow is repainted: blossom in the trees in spring, deep green in summer, orange leaves in autumn and snow over everything in winter. Rain sweeps through and waters every bed for you, leaving puddles in the lane. Crops only grow while the ground is damp, so a watering can and a well-placed sprinkler are the difference between a full barn and a row of thirsty fields. Crows come for anything ripe that no scarecrow is watching.

Pick a tool from the shelf along the bottom and tap a field to use it, or drag to work a whole row in one sweep. Pinch to zoom, drag the grass to pan, and use the number keys and arrows if you are at a desk. Chickens lay eggs and cows give milk as long as they are fed, and both of them like being petted. Market prices drift a little from day to day, village orders pay well above them, and everything is saved in your browser — go away for a while and the hollow carries on growing without you, then tells you what happened when you get back.