Where do you get plump helmet seeds and food?

[Olav Grey]

So I did the recommended start of just, the quick play, at least that's what's always been rec'd for me.

I had a few Plump Helmet seeds, which again I've always been told are all I want to grow basically, and planted them. But after 1 harvest I have none. I don't have a kitchen set up, so all my dwarfs are eating raw food which should get me more seeds but I'm not seeing any more? I don't have any seeds for above or bellow ground farming.

My food stores is also lowering. Are my dwarfs supposed to just live off of forged plants or what's the next step? Most guides I've read have just said "forage for plants for food and that's all you need till much later."

[Owl]

make sure you're brewing drinks, when the fruit is brewed or eaten in makes new seeds, you can also buy more from the caravan. After a few seasons you'll have enough to fill the farm plot and then you can use the extras in cooking meals.
Make sure you're not cooking meals either, or make sure the recipe doesn't include seeds

[Maltanis]

You need to make sure your dwarves aren't eating the plump helmets. Look at Labor -> Kitchen, and you should be able to toggle off eating plump helmets.

You then need to also be brewing them. Seeds wont be made until you brew them, so make sure you're continuing the brew the plump helmets into alcohol.

If you are completely out of seeds you can forage some seeds on the surface, but also in caverns underground.

[RcTomcat]

I got the same issue.
As far as I can tell seeds are not supposed to be eaten by my dwarves.
"This type is restricted from cooking" under the "seeds" tab in the kitchen.
I am also brewing fruit and plants. But I ran out of plump helmets, dimple cups, cave wheat and another.

[sajmon]

if you somehow run out of plants/seeds, buy more from caravan and tell them to bring more next time too

if you set your farms/kitchen properly for next time you should never run out of resources

[Duuvian]

If you have a type of plant that you need seeds from, it's a good idea to forbid a few of them before enabling cooking them into meals in the kitchen menu once you have too many. That way you can be sure to save a few for extracting seeds from. Cooking meals with them does not extract seeds.

EDIT: I see OP had no kitchen after re-reading it oops. If you still have your harvest of plump helmets you'll have to wait until the seeds are extracted. Try brewing some, that's probably the fastest way to get more plump helmet spawn.

[The Grand Mugwump]

You won't get plump helmet spawns until the plump helmets are eaten raw or used in brewing. So long as they aren't being stolen or cooked, you'll get your plump helmet spawn for farming eventually.

[RcTomcat]

Well I don't have any left and my kitchen is set to not eat the seeds.
The option "make drink from plants" is not available because there are no plants left. But there are also no seeds available anymore.
Buying seeds enables me to plant them once, after that they are all gone again and no new seeds are being generated.

[Olav Grey]

Originally posted by RcTomcat:

Well I don't have any left and my kitchen is set to not eat the seeds.
The option "make drink from plants" is not available because there are no plants left. But there are also no seeds available anymore.
Buying seeds enables me to plant them once, after that they are all gone again and no new seeds are being generated.

Same here.

I don't even have a kitchen set up so all my dwarves are eating raw. I've been brewing from plants but still no seeds.

[JaxterSmith]

Also make sure you dont have your seeds set to be used for cooking, thats an easy way to loose all your seeds. It also possible that the fields you have might be planted already, as there in no indication as to whether they have been planted yet or not until they are grown.

[Diarmuhnd]

Originally posted by RcTomcat:

Well I don't have any left and my kitchen is set to not eat the seeds.

Your need to set Plump Helmet plants to not be used in cooking. Using them in cooking = no seeds gained. They are set to be used by default

Your plump helmet seeds are already set to not to be used in cooking as default

I made the same mistake in my 2nd game and I ran out of seeds. The trader had none so i dug down looking for a cavern layer so i could try and harvest some ... turns out there were a couple of nasties down there and they had fun eating my dorfs.

In my 3rd game after setting the permissions/restrictions on everything i could think of, I've not run out of seeds and have had to slow down when I noticed my booze stocks are sitting at 300ish.

Good luck

edit: if your dorfs eat the plump helmet uncooked, or you brew it into booze, you will get seeds. I do not know if animals will eat plump helmets and/or the seeds. I'm no pro.

[Harmonica]

Don't worry you can just trade for the mushrooms themselves as well. They are usually on every caravan but if not you can request specifically that they be brought next time.

Then after that, build a Still and get to brewing and the seeds will be left behind for planting.

Make sure that the kitchen has prevented cooking them (mushrooms or spawn).

Cooking plump helmets destroys the seeds so it's usually only recommended if you're (more or less literally) drowning in them or you don't have enough barrels/can't chop trees for more.

In the meantime you can have fun exploring and finding other things to eat!

[harofax]

To restrict the dwarves from cooking the plump helmets (it's specifically cooking them that destroys the seeds), you have to go to Labour (the hammer in bottom left) -> Kitchen -> then click the cooking button next to plump helmets to restrict it from cooking.

After that, you can start brewing plump helmets to get seeds (the main way to get seeds). If you have a manager, you can even set up an automatic work order, that starts brewing as soon as you have less than X seeds, it should be one of the suggested rules at the bottom.

If you're completely out, either buy more or,
(and I will spoiler this very minor spoiler imo, but if you're completely new and in the beginning don't click I suppose, I've divided them into levels so check the top one only for the least spoiler I guess, it's something you'll stumble upon either way eventually)
level 1 spoiler: breach the caverns by digging down
level 2 spoiler: even just getting access to it will start a fungus infestation in your fort, covering all the soil in your fort with fungus
level 3 spoiler: now all the subterranean plants will grow randomly on all the fungus floors in your fort, and you can even delve into the cavern, where all the different mushroom types grow, and grab what you need, if you're impatient