Here's how my early game tends to go. Through all of my perfectionist restarting, I've gotten pretty used to doing this:

1) Hoard a couple of stacks of grass/twig/log while exploring the map as efficiently as possible. Hopefully I find the following within 2 days:
-beefalo for poop
-16 stone / 1 gold for firepit/science
-a spot at least 4 or 5 rabbit holes close together OR at least 3 ponds close together for camp. This spot must be reasonably close to the beefalo field and preferably not at an extreme of the map.

2) set up camp at the chosen spot, plop a chest, get the backpack and shovel

3) venture back out on an extended excursion prioritizing more stone, burning down a forest for charcoal, and getting digging up berry bushes to transplant. I grab a couple of stacks of saplings and grass tufts along the way also if there is space.

4) get a couple of crock pots and drying racks going and steadily add saplings, grass tufts, and planted trees to my base camp.


After this I get kind of bogged down and I just try my best to keep my resource levels balanced.