Stardew Valley encourages players to live off the land, foraging and gathering materials available throughout the game's map. Each area — Cindersap Forest, the Beach, Calico Desert, and more — offers its own ways for players to get their hands on produce and building materials.
One area within Stardew Valley — or rather, a sub-area — can be a little trickier to access than most of the others. At the top left corner of the woods south of the farm, new players may notice a fallen log blocking a pathway. This leads to the Secret Woods, an area full of mystery — and some useful items. Here's how to get there.
How To Access The Secret Woods
In order to get to the Secret Woods in the first place, players will need to upgrade their axe to Steel or better. This will allow the player to break the large log that lies at the northwestern corner of the Cindersap Forest area, after which they can enter the Secret Woods.
Monsters
In this closed-off area of Stardew Valley's woods, a few dangerous creatures dwell. Fortunately, they're among the less menacing of the game's monsters — just a few blue and green slimes.
These little critters won't do much damage to the player. Still, it's best to bring a sword along, just to make it easier to move through the Secret woods without being slowed by slime attacks. Alternatively, if the player has the Slime Charmer ring, equip that to walk past slimes unharmed.
Gathering Items
For such a small area, the Secret Woods are rich in the variety of useful items players can find here:
Hardwood
Players can find several items in the Secret Woods, but its most useful aspect is as a primary source of hardwood. In this area, players can find six large stumps which regenerate every day. These provide two hardwood each, meaning that a maximum of 12 hardwood per day can be gathered in the Secret Woods. This makes the Secret Woods the best possible source of hardwood before unlocking Ginger Island (where hardwood-producing mahogany trees grow).
Foraging
As part of the untouched forest, the Secret Woods are a great place to forage wild fruits, mushrooms, and other items. Typical seasonal forage can be found here; i.e. Grapes and Sweet Peas in the summer, Holly in the winter, etc. There are also a great many berry bushes in the Secret Woods, allowing players to harvest dozens of Salmonberries in the spring and Blackberries in the fall.
Players can also find mushrooms here. The Common and Red varieties grow here frequently, but so do the rarer Morel and Chanterelle varieties. These are much harder to come by, especially if the player does not have a mushroom cave. Look for them in spring and fall, respectively.
Finally, the Secret Woods are the only location in the game where players can find Fiddlhead Ferns. Visit this location in the summer to gather them.
Fishing
At the left of the Secret Woods area, players will find a pond in which they can cast their fishing rod. There are three possible fish players can catch here: Carp, Woodskip, and Catfish. All three have a chance to spawn year-round, though Catfish will only appear on rainy days.
Old Master Cannoli
At the left of the Secret Woods just above the pond, players will see an old stone statue. Upon interacting with it, the player character will read the statue's plaque, which says:
"--Old Master Cannoli-- …Still searching for that sweetest taste…"
To give Old Master Cannoli the sweet taste he seeks, bring a Sweet Gem Berry to the statue. Players can grow these fruits from the Rare Seed, sold from the Traveling Cart. Upon giving it to Old Master Cannoli, his eyes will glow red, and he will reward the player with a Stardrop.
Secret Note #23
Once the player is able to find Secret Notes, they will eventually run across #23, which reads:
"If yoo can can reed dis…come to seecrit wudz. Pleez bring may-pal serrup.
Heed the instructions, and travel to the Secret Woods bearing a jug of maple syrup. Upon entering, a cutscene will play in which the player encounters a bear. The woodland creature chugs the syrup, and in thanks grants the player Bear's Wisdom, which permanently triples the sell price of Salmonberries and Blackberries.