Minecraft wiki entry for Survival_in_an_infinite_desert, associated text: Actually, the best possible item you could find in a village would be some kind of sapling. Oak saplings can be found in weaponsmith chests sometimes. If you find a sapling, start a sapling farm. Make sure you are never so greedy for wood that you forget to farm leaves for more saplings than you cut down. Once you find a sapling (or actual tree), most of your problems are basically over. You have renewable wood. Wood means tools, weapons, fuel, charcoal, light sources. Wood means pickaxes, which means cobblestone, which means stone tools then iron tools then diamond tools. With one sapling or tree, you are back to playing a normal game of Minecraft - just in the desert.