Stardew Valley Junimo Hut Layout [Explained]

All Stardew Valley fans would agree that Junimos are adorable. That’s true, but they’re also so much more! It might initially seem like these little creatures of the wild don’t have much use other than being aesthetically pleasing as you rebuild the Community Center – but you’d be wrong to assume that!

Junimos can be pretty valuable. In fact, I’d recommend the Junimo Hut as an essential farm building you should have under all circumstances!

What Are Junimos?

Lore-wise, Junimos are considered to be ‘forest spirits.’ Inhabiting the broken Community Center, these small and colorful creatures will show up each time you complete a bundle in the building. Additionally, you might find some of these running around inside the Community Center now and then before eventually disappearing. 

Initially, you won’t understand what the Junimos say as they have their own language and alphabet. Once you unlock a decipher, you’ll be able to comprehend what they say and help them out in their quest! Each repair you do throughout the town is also carried out by the Junimos, which is shown in a cutscene each time you go to sleep. Overall, the Junimos are represented to be good, helpful creatures that want to restore the ‘balance’ of Pelican Town.

You should note that the progression with JojaMart goes against the storyline of Junimos. If you purchase the JojaMart membership, Junimos will disappear from your game altogether until you construct a Junimo Hut. 

Although you can’t exactly befriend them like other townsfolk, Junimos can be brought on to your farm as a helping hand! You won’t be able to do this until later in the game, but these creatures can be placed on your farm using a Junimo Hut. 

What Is A Junimo Hut? 

A Junimo Hut is a small building that can be purchased from the Wizard. This is unusual since Robin, the carpenter, constructs most Stardew Valley buildings. The building itself costs 20,000g to build and requires 200 Stone, 9 Starfruit, and 100 pieces of Fiber. It takes up a total of 6 tiles worth of space, and you can have multiple of them on the same farm. The base of the building is made out of Stone, and it features several leaves on its top. Visually, it looks similar to a tiny treehouse!

The Junimo Hut inhabits Junimos inside, allowing you to bring these small creatures back to the farmhouse with you. These Junimos will then become a helping hand for you on the farm and automatically harvest ripe, fully-grown crops that are within the Junimo Huts’ range. These harvested crops are stored outside the hut in a small bag that can be collected whenever possible!

Nevertheless, it’s important to note that you won’t be able to purchase the building immediately. There are some prerequisites involved in setting up a Junimo Hut. Namely, you’ll have to complete the ‘Goblin Problem” quest assigned to you by the Wizard.  Be wary to not confuse this with the “A Curious Substance” quest that is also assigned to you by the Wizard. Both of these are separate and progression of one does not count for the other! You can find in-depth information about the quest on the official Stardew Valley Wiki!

To quickly sum the ‘Goblin Problem’ quest up, you have to give a Void Mayonnaise item to the Goblin standing in front of the Witch Hut in the Mountains region. Once done, you’ll receive a Magic Ink item, which you must take back to the Wizard to complete the quest successfully. 

Once done, you’ll permanently unlock Junimo Huts as craftable structures from the Wizard’s Tower. 

What Is the Best Junimo Hut Layout?

Once you’ve set up a Junimo Hut, it’s essential to utilize it to ensure that you’re not wasting space. Each hut has a set amount of range, outside of which the Junimos will not operate. This range comes out to be 8 tiles in each direction, which is a total of 289 tiles for reference. 

Looking at it from the doorway of the building, you should place each Junimo Hut such that it’s 34×34 tiles away from one another. This is because each hut covers a 17×17 region. This placement ensures perfect coverage for each Junimo Hut. 

Essentially, a hut placed on the far east of your farm should have at least 34-tiles worth of space between another one set on the far west. This same logic applies in all directions.

The exact layout you should opt for ultimately depends upon the type of farm you chose at the start of the game, as well as factors such as the total crops you have and the amount of Junimo Huts you intend to set up. The general rule of thumb for effective placement is to maximize the distance between each hut within the proximity of their 17×17 tile range. 

Additional Factors For Hut Layout

There are some additional factors you should look into when placing these buildings. For one, Junimos can pass through solid objects and crops such as trellises, so you shouldn’t worry about setting up particular paths for the creatures to travel or them getting stuck somewhere around your farmhouse. However, tread carefully with this one because if the hut’s entrance is blocked, the Junimos might not be able to start harvesting!

Additionally, Junimos can harvest all types of plants, including Tea Leaves and crops such as Amaranth that require a Scythe to gather. Therefore, you should maximize the layout of each hut without focusing on any specific crops you intend to harvest. Note, however, that crops harvested by Junimos do not provide you with any farm experience and, thus, will not count towards skill progression. 

Your Junimo Hut layout strategy should also consider the fact that Junimos cannot harvest Giant crops. If you’re packing crops together and trying to set up massive harvests, your Junimos will be useless! This is because each giant crop needs to be manually ‘destroyed’ with an axe for it to be broken down into smaller crops and collected. Little Junimos can’t do that on their own!

Lastly, Junimos will not be able to collect Forage items. Since you can only plant wild seeds in the Winter, which count as Forage items rather than crops, your Junimos Huts will only be useful during the Winter season. However, this shouldn’t be too huge of a problem since you’ll rarely ever be trying to farm during the Winters!

Now that you know the best placement for your Junimo Huts, why not check out the most effective method of utilizing Sprinklers!