f you'd like to get more out of the Pioneer Trail Halloween event, and don't mind spending some (ok, a lot of) Horseshoes to do just that, you can now purchase a series of five limited edition items in lovely shades of pink and purple in a special event. To be especially clear, this option hasn't rolled out to all users just yet, but once you receive it, you'll see a list of five items, along with their prices and a time limit for how long you have to purchase them.

The five items are those that you'd normally see around Ghost Town while playing:

Cursed Chicken - 5 Horseshoes
Ghostly Grave - 35 Horseshoes
Cursed Sheep - 40 Horseshoes
Cursed Cow - 45 Horseshoes
Haunted Dog - 45 Horseshoes

For the full set, it will set you back 175 Horseshoes. That might sound like a lot (ok, it is a lot), but you'll have incentive to go for the whole lot. If you do end up purchasing one of everything, you'll receive a free, exclusive limited edition Ghostly Horse. This one is bright purple, and will apparently only be made available through this event. Of course, this horse is one of the many "rideable" ones released in the game, so if you want your avatar to be able to ride in style the whole year through, make sure to give this event a look.

Unfortunately, if you don't have enough Horseshoes on hand by default, you'll only have a matter of days to either earn some extras, or purchase them - six days, to be exact (or less, depending on when this finally rolls out to you). Again, these items will likely only be available via this particular event (or, at the very earliest, might be released next Halloween), so do any shopping sooner, rather than later to make sure you won't miss out entirely!

Talk about incentive! With Pioneer Trail throwing multiple Halloween events this year, you've got plenty to work with when it comes to decorating your Homestead for the holiday. That's a good thing too, as Zynga wants to see just what you can do with all of those items (even those that you still have from last year) in its Halloween on the Homestead contest taking place on the game's official forums.

From now until November 2, you can take a screenshot of your Homestead decked out in all of its spooky, creepy glory and then post it on the forums for judging. At the end of the submission period, the Pioneer Trail Community Team will judge each picture on three categories: Originality, presentation and holiday theme. Once they've picked the top 20 entries, the fans will get to vote on which three pictures they like best.

The top prize? A whopping 2,000 Horseshoes! If you don't purchase them while they're on sale, that's a current value of over $200 US! Just think of all the decorations, boosts and animals that could purchase! If you're not lucky enough to be voted into the top prize, you could also win second or third place, with prizes of 1,000 and 500 Horseshoes each, respectively.

Did something ... strange happen to your homestead over the weekend? It apparently happened for lots of unfortunate pioneers, so Zynga is doing something about it. Between Friday night and Saturday morning, many FrontierVille players seemingly went, um, back in time.

But what really happened was that the game suffered a bug that caused its servers to roll back on players' progress by a few hours. In response, Zynga has compensated players with a hefty package. Here's the statement from Zynga community manager Stumpgrinder:

"We are aware of an issue that started to occur between roughly 6PM PST Friday (8/5) and 6AM PST Saturday (8/6) where FrontierVille players experienced rollbacks (their homestead was "reset" to a prior state) typically back to when they had first started playing during this 12-hour period. We have a listing of all the players affected by this issue and we will be issuing a compensation package on behalf of Frontier Jack (this will be awarded in-game). We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this issue has caused."

Since a great many players probably lost a level or two, thanks to that time warp rollback bug, Zynga has gifted players a Book of Experience and a Tragic Jack Statue. The Book of Experience will grant you another level instantly, regardless of how much XP it requires. The Tragic Jack Statue is, well, tragic. In fact, it's kind of a pathetic image of Jack riding on a ragged animal that looks like a bear ... maybe. We can't tell. Wouldn't you release more of a pick-me-up than something so, well, ew?

Either this is a bug, or the answer to that question is "yes." According to multiple reports on the official FrontierVille forums, it seem as though crop and animal acceleration boosts have gone entirely missing from the game. Users are searching their inventories time and time again, looking for boosts that they know were there, only to come back empty-handed.

Even methods that were previously known to give users an acceleration boost no longer seem to work. That is, when turning in collections that grant free boosts, the other prizes were rewarded, but not the boosts. The question now becomes "is this intentional," or better yet, "is it permanent?" Why would Zynga go through all of the trouble of creating this system of boosts (which can help any animal or crop grow faster), only to delete it from the game entirely? Were users not spending enough Horseshoes to purchase packets of boosts that way? Did they believe the boosts ruined the balance of the game? If so, why would they continually pass out free boosts as goal rewards?

Things just don't make sense here, but we can make a case for this being either a bug or downright purposeful. There's been no official comment by Zynga on the issue, so unfortunately there's no way of really knowing, at least for now. If Zynga makes an announcement acknowledging the missing crop/animal acceleration boosts (even in that announcement states that they've been removed from the game), we'll make sure to let you know.

Say goodbye to withered crops, pioneers. Zynga will soon release the Amazing Grain Silo in FrontierVille, a brand new building that will provide players with Unwither and Wither Protection Boosts through its Daily Bonus. (And that's not a typo.)

The new feature, which will require players to ask for materials from friends like all new buildings, will come with a duo of Goals. These Goals will guide players through the process of creating this building that sounds too good to be true. Well, it is, and let's get on with it:

1. A Grain Idea
Place the Grain Silo
Clean 12 Debris on your homestead
Harvest 25 Flax

To place the Grain Silo, purchase it from the Market for 2,500 Coins and 20 Wood, and just throw it any old place. To harvest 25 Flax, you'll need 3,750 Coins and at least eight hours for them to ripen. Your reward for completing this simple Goal is 500 XP and a Pink Rose Ready Boost.

2. Serious About Silos
Tend 15 Neighbor Crops
Harvest 25 Blue Corn
Collect 10 Silo Tarps

Blue Corn is a brand new crop to FrontierVille, and will cost a total of 5,700 Coins and take 12 hours to ripen. Better yet, each harvest of Blue Corn rewards players with 376 Coins, five Food and 18 XP. However, you may need to complete the Grain Silo to unlock this crop. To finish the Grain Silo after you whack it a few times using Energy and Wood you will need to request the following items from your friends:

10 Silo beams
10 Roof Tile
10 Silo Ladder
15 Hopper
15 Stone Siding
15 Silo Crate

Like most feature-rich buildings in the game, we imagine that the first three items will be asked for directly from friends, while the latter three will simply post News Feeds for players to respond to.

Once this is finished, the Blue Corn crop should unlock. The 10 Silo Tarps for the Goal look to be another item requested from friends. For finishing this Goal, you'll score 800 XP and a Queasy Chicken.

If you're still reeling from the Newlywed Newbies Goal in FrontierVille, this otherwise good news might be a doozy. Zynga will soon release yet another Timed Goal, titled "The Dog-less Shepherd." This looks to be part of an ongoing series of Timed Goals that will be stymied across a period of time.

This Goal, like the first in this new series, seems as if you'll have to accept it by Aug. 31. However, this information is early, and details are subject to change before this content is released. Enough with the disclaimers and onto the good stuff:

The Dog-less Shepherd:
Clear 30 Grass on a Neighbor's Homestead
Collect 10 Doggie Toys
Collect 10 Doggie Treats

Since there should be no need to explain how to clear Grass (Hint: You click on it), let's move along. The 10 Doggie Toys, if the previous Goal in this series is any indication, will be collected through individual help requests sent to friends. Doggie Treats, on the other hand, will likely be found through general News Feed posts. Both options read as "Ask Friends" on the Goal menu, so it can get confusing. For completing this Goal, you'll score 10 Chunky Chow for your Old Dog, 400 XP and 300 Coins.

As if FrontierVille wasn't already filled with enough wedding talk to last most of us a lifetime, a new timed goal has been added to the game that takes life after the wedding into account, as a pair of Newlyweds (Kit and Connie) have made a pit-stop on your Homestead on their way through to the Pioneer Trail. The Newlywed Newbies goal should be available to most pioneers as of this writing, and you'll find its icon along with the rest of your goals on the left-hand side of the screen.

This timed goal must be started by August 31. Once you start it, you'll have seven days to complete it, and if you do, you'll earn some Wedding Gifts that can be used towards special wedding decorations, if you're still trying to complete your collection of those. As you might have expected, this goal comes with three tasks:

Harvest 30 Potatoes
Collect 10 Spare Harnesses
Collect 10 Water Canteens

Apparently, Kit and Connie have found themselves in a spot of trouble, and you'll need to help them make up for the poor planning by rounding up some supplies. The Spare Harnesses are earned through individual requests sent to friends, while the Water Canteens are earned through a general wall post. As for Potatoes, they take just four hours to grow, so you'll likely finish that step first.

For completing this goal, you'll walk away with the aforementioned 10 Wedding Gifts, but will also earn 300 XP and 200 coins. Those prizes aren't huge, but the requirements here aren't too terribly difficult either. Just make sure to have some free space on your land to plant those crops, and the rest should come to you way before your seven day time limit is up. Good luck!