6 Ways to Get Clay in Stardew Valley and How to Use It

Clay is an essential early and mid-game resource in Stardew Valley that is required for certain items, recipes, and buildings.

However, it isn’t exactly clear how to get it which has left many players confused.

Thankfully, getting clay is fairly easy as it can be gained in various ways such as tilling dirt, sand, or artifact spots.

In this guide, I will explain how to get clay in Stardew Valley, as well as mention the best ways to do that and where to use it.

Table of Contents

1. All Ways to Get Clay in Stardew Valley
2. Best Ways to Get Clay in Stardew Valley
3. Where to Use Clay
4. How to Build a Silo
5. Wrapping Up

All Ways to Get Clay in Stardew Valley

There are various ways to get clay in Stardew Valley, ranging from digging to receiving it as a gift. Here are all the methods for getting clay in the game:

1. Tilling dirt - Use a hoe to till dirt and there’s a small chance of dropping clay.
2. Tilling sand - Similarly to dirt, there’s a small chance of getting clay when tilling sand with a hoe.
3. Artifact spots - Use a hoe to dig artifact spots found around the map for a 24-60% chance (depending on location) to get 1-3 clay.
4. Ginger Island Clay nodes - At the North side of Ginger Island, players can access the Dig Site after repairing the bridge with 10 golden walnuts.
5. Geodes - Geodes have a 6.25% of dropping clay. This is true for Geodes, Frozen Geodes, Magma Geodes, and Omni Geodes.
6. Received as a gift - Jas or Vincent can gift this to the player during the Feast of the Winter Star.

However, not each of the aforementioned methods is efficient and worth pursuing. Let’s examine the best one.

The Best Ways to Get Clay in Stardew Valley

The best and most consistent method of getting clay in Stardew Valley is by tilling dirt. Since farming is a big part of the game, you already have a reason to take your hoe and start tilling.

In addition, even if you don’t want to farm anything, you can just till as much dirt as your energy allows and leave it like that. After a few days, it will return to normal soil, which can be tilled again for clay.

One tip here is to go on with your day, and when you’re done with everything, if you have energy left, spend it tilling dirt. It only takes a minute and the clay you get is well worth it.

However, if you want to take this method a step further, community members have found a more unique way of getting clay by tilling soil.

Specifically, by investigating the game’s code, players can dig in certain spots and follow a pattern to consistently get large amounts of clay. (see video below)

Video available by joetg on YouTube.

But what makes clay so valuable? Let’s see all the ways to use clay in the game.

Where to Use Clay in Stardew Valley

Clay is a key resource in Stardew Valley and it’s needed for the following recipes:

• 2x Quality Retaining Soil - 1x Clay, 3x Stone - Increased chance of soil staying watered overnight.
• Deluxe Retaining Soil - 1x Clay, 5x Stone, 3x Fiber - 100% chance of soil staying watered overnight.
• Garden Plot - 1x Clay, 10x Stone, 1x Refined Quartz - Grows crops of any season when indoors and seasonal crops when outdoors.
• 5x Brick Floor - 2x Clay, 5x Stone - Decoration.
• 4x Fiber Seeds - 1x Clay, 1x Mixed Seeds, 5x Sap - Can be planted during any season, don’t require water, and yield fiber.
• Bone Mill - 3x Clay, 10x Bone Fragments, 20x Stone - Turns bone items into fertilizer.
• Silo - 10x Clay, 100x Stone, 5x Copper Bar, 100g - Stores hay converted from cutting grass.

While each recipe has its use, the most important one available from the get-go that every player will need is a silo.

How to Build a Silo

When starting in Stardew Valley, the majority of your income is going to come through selling crops. However, shortly after, you’ll unlock animals such as chickens, cows, and eventually pigs.

All animals in the game require hay to feed, and the best way of getting hay is by building a silo.

To build a silo in Stardew Valley, visit the Carpenter’s Shop from 9 am to 5 pm on any day except Tuesday.

Then, talk to Robin while having the aforementioned materials and she’ll start constructing a silo on your farm. It will take two in-game days to complete.

With the silo completed, any grass cut will be automatically converted to hay and transferred to the silo.

Even if you haven’t unlocked animals yet, getting a silo is important as you can start stockpiling hay. Each silo holds up to 240 hay and in the late-game, you’ll need more than one.

Wrapping up

To sum up, that’s everything you need to know on how to get clay in Stardew Valley, including the best way to get it and where to use it.

While there are many options, I highly recommend tilling dirt with any leftover energy before the day is over and you’ll get more than enough clay.

Also, if you’re enjoying Stardew Valley and are interested in a more end-game guide, consider checking out our article on how to get iridium ore in the game.

What’s your go-to method for getting clay in Stardew Valley? Which recipe are you trying to make that requires clay? Let us know in the comments below.