Snow Farm
Beginner Different design per edition
Produces: Snow layers to shovel into snowballs, then snow blocks - plus a bodyguard that pelts mobs
Quick answer: A snow golem standing in one spot blankets the ground under itself with snow layers. Shovel the layers for snowballs, craft them into snow blocks - infinite snow from two snow blocks and a carved pumpkin.
How it works
- Snow golems leave a snow layer trail as they move when the block can support it: in Java in any biome; in Bedrock not in high-temperature biomes (jungles, mushroom fields, savannas, stony peaks, deserts, badlands and the Nether).
- Confined to a single block, the golem still deposits snow on every supportable block in reach - a 1-block pen with a trapdoor lid is the classic design.
- Shoveling a snow layer gives snowballs; the golem lays it again as it moves.
- Watch the temperature: golems take damage and die in rain, water and biomes hotter than 1.0 (deserts, badlands, the Nether) - build the farm in a temperate or cold biome, or under a roof.
- mob_griefing false disables the snow trail - check the gamerule if your golem refuses to produce.
- Bonus: golems hurl a snowball per second at any monster within 10 blocks (16 when boxed), and snowballs damage blazes - free blaze chip damage in Nether runs.
Materials
- 2 snow blocks + 1 carved pumpkin (or jack o'lantern) per golem
- Blocks and a trapdoor for the pen
- A shovel - Efficiency diamond or netherite, ideally Unbreaking/Mending
- A roof if your biome has rain
- Optional: Silk Touch shovel to collect snow layers directly
Build steps
- Build the golem: two snow blocks stacked, carved pumpkin on top - it comes alive immediately.
- Fence it onto one block: a 1x1 pen with a trapdoor or slab lid keeps it planted while its snow spreads under the edges.
- Give it ground: supportable solid blocks around and beneath the pen edges where snow can form.
- Shovel the layers: stand at the pen and mine the snow as it appears - snowballs pour in faster than most uses demand.
- Roof the farm in rainy biomes: water hurts the golem, and a dead golem drops nothing but 0-15 snowballs once.
- Craft up: 4 snowballs make a snow block - storage, building, and more golems.
- Avoid hot biomes: in deserts, badlands and the Nether golems take damage (savannas only in Java); Fire Resistance protects them.
- Staff your base: a couple of penned golems near the wall knock back and distract zombies all night for free.
Rates
One penned golem with a good shovel gives about a stack of snowballs per minute of active shoveling - effectively infinite, and the only renewable snow in the game.
Tips
- Silk Touch shovels collect the layers whole for instant snow-block reassembly - snowballs are for crafting, layers are for lazy builders.
- Pumpkin must be carved: shears on a regular pumpkin first, or use a jack o'lantern directly.
- In Bedrock, also keep the farm out of jungles, savannas and stony peaks: no trail there.
- Snow layers stack up to 8 for a full block-height drift - decorative, and it slows mobs slightly.
- Source: minecraft.wiki Snow Golem.