I've been making my way through that world for over a year now. Instead of going in order of the quest menu, we (me and my spouse) do other side quests, gather supplies, work on our house, and speak to every single person (and animal) just because, and sometimes we learn info that we wouldn't have learned otherwise.
We do this thing where we take or steal cheese wheels anywhere we see them as long as we can carry it, then bring it to our home in the mountains, and throw them all in the small lake. Interesting fun things happen to the lake, in the lake, and with the fish, insects, and plants in the water.

it's a weird thing we randomly discovered.
That's part of what I like about the game. The characters, animals, and environment sometimes reacts in surprising ways.