With Stardew Valley’s Update 1.5, players get access to a brand new explorable zone – The Ginger Island. Living on Ginger Island is an NPC named Professor Snail. He is a quirky archaeologist who has been trapped in a Cave near the Dig Site for months. When he’s finally freed, he explains to the player that he has been conducting a survey of the island’s plants and animals for a year.
Located in the north-central region of Ginger Island is the Island Field Office in Stardew Valley. It is a little green tent where Professor Snail works once he is rescued.
The Island Surveys
The Professor asks players a few questions as a part of his Island Surveys in exchange for rewards. The Island Surveys are posted on the wall in the back of the Island Field Office. The surveys prompt the players to provide either the exact count of the purple flowers or the purple starfish that can be found across Ginger Island.
The correct answer to each question is as follows:
| Survey Questions | Answer |
| Number of Purple Starfish | 18 |
| Number of Purple Flowers | 22 |
Fortunately, the answers to these questions remain constant regardless of the circumstances. Players can also manually count the number of purple starfish and purple flowers on Ginger Island themselves, but this can be a time-consuming task.
Players are allowed to submit a response only once per day. However, if they get it wrong, they have a chance to try again the next day.
Rewards
For answering each Island Survey correctly, players are rewarded with One Golden Walnut. By completing both Surveys, players earn Two Golden Walnuts in total. Golden Walnuts are the local currency of Parrots on Ginger Island.
In addition to completing the Island Surveys, players have the opportunity to complete four different fossil collections: Large Animal, Frog, Bat, and Snake. Each of these collections rewards players with multiple Golden Walnuts. Professor Snail plays a significant role in helping players find fossil remains by providing hints to help them complete the skeletons.
To receive a hint about the location of a donation item, players can choose the “Hint” option on the donation interface.
Once players have completed all four fossil collections and two Island Surveys, they are rewarded with the crafting recipe for The Ostrich Incubator.
Stardew Valley is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
