No problem, I'll leave the game on pause for a while and check on the farm over the next day. I'll let you know if that works.

If it doesn't, I'll start over with a normal game.

Both games were a little different, but the 2nd I tried to keep simple. I either had the game on fast or pause. I'd tend to pause about 15 hours of the day (when not at work). In 2nd game, I kept my 6 population the whole time. I learned Harvesting 1, then Science 1, and have about 30k points towards Harvesting 2 (in my first game I had complete some of the other level 2's, such as building and medicine). I didn't both clearing the beach in this game, building much. I had 3 on research and 3 on food. When my farm expired and I had 1300 food, I put 5 on planting/watering.