Let’s Enchant, Part 1

I started a new game of Minecraft in Survival Mode with just one goal in mind: get an enchanting table up and running as soon as possible.

I started out on a small island. This isn’t good news because to eventually get an enchanting table, I’m going to need plenty of space to farm cows, which provide the Leather to make the books that you turn into bookshelves to make your enchanting table more powerful. But I have time, and with a boat I can find some cows.

The good news? There’s plenty of sugarcane right here and you need that for paper (also to make books).

My starting location in a new world in Minecraft. It’s enchanting!

Just like any other new survival mode game, the first objective is to get some wood and create a safe space for when night falls. I needed to chop the wood from the trees near my starting spot and rather than try to build a house, I’m just going to dig a tunnel deep underground. That’s because sooner or later I need to get to the bottom to start looking for diamonds, which I’ll need to craft the enchanting table.

My small little hidey hole underground. It’s simple, comfortable, and safe.

I created a small “hidey hole” underground and placed a crafting table and furnace there to get started.

Oh and this is an overhead view of my starting island. As you can see it is not very big. Later on, I will terraform it a little bit to make it more suitable.

Looking down at my little starting island at night.

The next thing I needed to do was to find some chickens and cows and transport them to my small little island. I built a boat and started exploring the nearby ocean. Eventually I found some mainland and it had a ruined Nether Portal right there. Cool! Later, when I get my diamond pickaxe, I can mine that and re-use the obsidian for the enchanting table.

A ruined Nether Portal on a nearby shore.

I found some chickens and lured them to the boat with some seeds. It’s pretty easy to tame a chicken and I was able to transport them one at a time across the ocean in my boat. Once I have two adult chickens on my starting island, I’ll breed them to make hundreds!

Luring some chickens into my boat. Here chicky chicky!

Off we row into the wild blue sea. Just me and my little chicken friend.

Later on I did the same thing, but with cows.

We’re mooving across the water.

After a while, I have three separate pens set up on my island. One is for chickens, one is for cows, and one is for sheep. A few of the cows wandered into the sheep’s pen.

I’m focusing mostly on the cows, because after I breed enough and then kill them, they’ll drop the leather that I need to craft the books. In turn, the books are used for the bookshelves that will surround the enchanting table.

Three different animal pens for chickens, cows, and sheep.

And that’s where we are. More to come in Part 2.