by Patricia Gilliam

Created on: November 25, 2010

Farmville collectables currently fall into two category sets.  The first are permanent (Bugs, Country Kitch, Button, Gardening Tools, Butterfly, and Feather).  The second are limited time and are retired after a certain period.  The game does provide you with clues on how to obtain each item, but here are some things to consider in completing entire collections.

1)  For most collections, it's impossible to obtain everything just on your own.

Some items are obtained from a friend giving them to you as a gift, and you may have to fertilize a neighbor's crops to find others.  If you're short on neighbors, one option is to click on the "My Neighbors" tab in the game.  At random, the game will pull up one of your Facebook friend's farms (who may or may not be your neighbor in the game) and allow you to access to their farm to perform a certain task (scare away racoons, rake leaves, etc.)   After you do the task, you have access to fertilize that person's farm, too-giving you another opportunity to find items.

2)  Many items are found while you're doing other routine tasks for your farm.

Things that you'll naturally be doing in the game-plowing, sowing seed, harvesting-will result in you finding a lot of common items.  Some items are specific to trees or certain animals such as cows, sheep, and turkeys.

3)  Keep an eye on your "Game" feed on Facebook.

Farmville sometimes allows players to share extra items they find with their friends, but this usually has a time or number limit.  If you browse your game feed, you'll see news from your friends and often the option to get a reward when they accomplish something.  When someone has just completed a collection, often the reward is a rare item in the set that you might need as well.

4)  Understand that most collections take time to complete.

If you play on a fairly regular basis and use the tips above, it still may take you a week to several weeks to complete a collection.  This is normal.  Once you complete a permanent collection, the usual reward is a combination of coins, experience, and fuel.  Limited time collections often have a fun decoration instead of fuel.

With a combination of patience and luck, you should be able to complete your collections and save your Farmville dollars for other projects.  Happy Farming!

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