The Sims 4: Country Caretaker Aspiration

Whenever we get a new pack for The Sims 4, players are constantly hoping that this means we’ll get new aspirations for our sims to explore. Well, it’s your lucky day because The Sims 4: Cottage Living comes with a brand new Country Caretaker Aspiration where you can live out your farming dreams.

This aspiration focuses more on the building of relationships with animals and oversized crops, as there is already the freelance botanist aspiration for regular gardening which you could do before or after this aspiration if you so choose.

Aspiration Bonus Trait

Whenever you are choosing a sim’s aspiration in either create a sim or when they age up from child to teen, you need to be careful because you are also choosing a bonus trait that your sim will get too! If you choose to have your sim with the Country Caretaker aspiration you are going to get the collector aspiration as it is with all other nature aspirations.

This trait’s description states “Collectors can find rare collectibles more often” which unfortunately, isn’t super useful for this aspiration but can still be fun if you are trying to finish any of the collections in game.

Stages of the Aspiration

This aspiration has four stages for your sim to have to work through, in each stage they will have to complete three or four tasks that range from giving gifts to animals, crafting animal treats, and growing oversized crops. Let’s go over each stage in a bit more detail:

Level One: Campestral Curator

• Purchase 1 Cow, Chicken or Llama on Your Home Lot
• Socialize with a Fox, Rabbit, or Bird 5 Times
• Purchase 1 Garden Patch for Your Home Lot
• Visit Finchwick, Old New Henford and the Bramblewood Neighbourhoods

The first part of this aspiration is to have a cow, chicken or llama on your lot. First, you’ll need to get yourself either a chicken coop or an animal shed (for cows or llamas) once you have one of these on your lot you can click on the object to purchase an animal to satisfy this requirement.

The next thing you are going to need to do is socialize with a rabbit, fox or birds which are all animals that do not live on your lot. To begin socializing with these animals you will need to find them around the world, rabbits will usually be around their rabbit holes and birds have a large tree like structure where you can find them. Foxes are found wandering around the world!

Next, you are going to need to purchase your sim a garden plot that came with the pack. If you are having your family live in Henford-On-Bagley, there may already be one on your lot to satisfy this requirement but if not you can head to the outdoor activities section of build mode and find either the In-Ground Garden Patch or the Mounded In-Ground Garden Patch as either will satisfy this requirement.

The fourth and final part of this stage of the aspiration will have your sim travelling a little bit. All they need to do is travel to any of the lots in each of the three neighbourhoods in the world. The first neighbourhood is Finchwick which is the town square and has the pub. The next is the Old New Henford area where there is the A New Start Household, as well as the Watson Household and two empty lots. Finally, you’ll need to travel to the top neighbourhood of The Bramblewood where you’ll find a gorgeous park.

Level Two: Agrestic Savant

• Befriend a Chicken, Cow or Llama
• Place 1 Wild Rabbit Home or Flock of Wild Birds on Your Home Lot
• Fertilize 3 Plants of Oversized Crops

Becoming friends with your animals isn’t hard, but it will take consistent effort on your part to socialize with your animals and make sure they are well taken care of. You can consistently do social interactions for a day or two with your animal and befriending them will be easy as pie!

Before you are able to place a wild rabbit home or flock of birds on your lot, you will first need to befriend one of these animals. You’ll need to befriend a flock of birds to add that to your lot, and befriend a rabbit seperately to add the rabbit home. Once befriended you’ll be able to search either bird or rabbit in build mode and place these items to have these animals on your home lot.

Since you’ve already purchased your garden plots fertilizing will be easy! You’ll first need to purchase an oversized crop seed which you cand o by clicking on thos garden plots and plant it. Nice and easy! Then you’ll want to purchase oversized crop fertilizers, however, you will need to have at least level two of the gardening skill in order for your sim to use these!

Level Three: Critter Keeper

• Give 3 Gifts to Foxes, Rabbits or Birds
• Craft 5 Animal Treats
• Harvest 1 Perfect Quality Oversized Crop
• Forage 5 Items from the Bramblewood

To begin the second part of this aspiration you wil need to give some gifts to wild animals, these are fun because you’ll need to figure out which gifts they enjoy to build a better relationship. One thing you may want to do is discover the animals gifting preferences, as they will tell you the types of gifts they like and dislike so you don’t upset them! As you give these animals different gifts they will also let you know which ones they enjoyed.

You are able to click on the flock of birds tree stump or the rabbits or foxes in the world and choose gifting and you’ll be able to pick something from your sim’s inventory to give!

The next thing your sim will need to do is craft 5 animal treat which can be done by clicking on the fridge, or on the animal shed or chicken coop under the actions menu. Before being able to craft these treats, your sims will need to learn recipes which they can get if they purchase an animal treat, or sometimes you can learn them by doing errands for others.

Your next job is to harvest a perfect quality oversized crop, which will take a little while. Some factors to get one of such high quality include your sim’s gardening skill, the fertilizer used and how much tending you do (i.e., not letting it get infested with bugs for days on end). To see the current quality of your crop, just hover over the plant and it will show you details including its status and seasonality.

The final thing you’ll need to do for this section of the aspiration is to forage items in The Bramblewood which is the top neighbourhood of the world. You’ll want to go to the park lot for the best results because there you’ll find items such as Wild Chocoberries, Strange Mushrooms and more. Harvesting any of these items five times will complete this part of your aspiration.

Level Four: Legendairy

• Reach Maximum Relationship with a Cow, Chicken, or Llama
• Receive 3 Gifts from Rabbits or Birds
• Win a Competition in Henford-On-Bagley’s Finchwick Fair

The first thing you’ll need to complete to end off your aspiration is to reach maximum relationship with one of your farm animals. This is relatively easy and can be done by just consistently taking care of and socializing with your animals. This won’t happen in a single day, but consistent socialization will have it done within a few days.

Your next task will be to get some gifts from wild animals like rabbits and birds. First off, you’ll need a decent relationship with the animal which you should already have since you unlocked the ability to add their home to your lot. Once you have this relationship up you’ll have the option to take gift offered under thee gifting menu. This has a cooldown so you won’t be able to get more than one gift a day, so it may take a few days for you to complete the aspiration milestone.

Finally, to complete this aspiration you are going to need to attend the Finchwick fair and WIN! Depending on what week you are in game, you’ll need to bring something different to participate. The fair options are as follows:

• Chicken Fair (Eggs and Chickens Judged)
• Garden Fair (Pies and Plants Judged)
• Cow Fair (Cows and Milk Judged)
• Oversized Crop Fair (Oversized Crops and Pies Judged)

For each type you’ll want to bring the appropriate item to the fair to enter, when you arrive you’ll want to click on the little stands and choose to submit entry and add your desired item to the display. You’ll then need to wait for the fair to be judged, and honestly hope for the best and hope you win!

Aspiration Bonus Trait

A sim who manages to complete this legendairy aspiration is going to be awarded with the Nature Conservationalist reward trait. This reward trait has a description that reads “Nature Conversationalist Sims have improved relationships with animals, allowing their animals to live longer, happier lives. Rabbits and birds will bring them more gifts. And they can interact with plants in unique ways, receiving more yield from harvests. They will also receive free grocery delivery, and, when residing in Henford-on Bagley, a discount on their bills.“

This is actually a pretty sweet reward trait for living a farm life. You’ll be able to have happier animals which results in better yields from those animals, you’ll get more gifts from wild animals which can earn you more money, and you’ll get a higher yield from your crop harvests which can be a great money maker.

In addition to all of that, you will get free grocery delivery which can save you good money and you’ll even get a discount on bills but only if you are continuing to live in Henford-on-Bagley, as this doesn’t apply in other worlds.

Final Thoughts

There you have it, friend! Everything you need to know about the new country caretaker aspiration from The Sims 4: Cottage Living. This is a fun one, and will have you loving every minute of your new life in Henford-On-Bagley. Happy playing!