Just continued my old save tonight. Did well. I ventured through the Spelunker Mines I discovered earlier, and cleaned the place out of gravel iron and coal. That place was packed. Easily over 150 units of coal have been found, and almost 100 units of iron have been found. Not a bad haul. While at it, I also found a spider dungeon spawn point. Contents were a couple saddles, some iron ingots, and 2 iron buckets, along with a golden apple and some stalks of wheat. Not bad treasure.
Interestingly enough, I found a few other openings that stem from it, and highlighted their exposures so I won't accidentally fall in while venturing at night. I also incidentally found another cavern that has more of a pit access. No gold, diamond or red dust yet. Not even magma. At least I have 3 buckets in stock now without having to waste iron.
I have been having some troubles at home (Starter Mines), so I did a little modifying of the layout. I recently dug myself a real back door into the mines by using a cliff face that'll take a little jumping to reach, but easy nonetheless. I had to do it, seeing as creepers are annoying as hell, and already damaged my front door enough times, as well as severely damaged a well I made (infinite water supply) nearby, almost flooding the front door area. Fortunately, only 1 tile was exposed, and the leak was easy to repair.
To further protect the front door area, I've surrounded the sides of the front door path with cactii (an impenetarable "vvv" setup on both ends. It's been effective thus far, and I have established a small cactus plantation (2 cactii) in a reserved plantation in the farms, and I riddled the coastline and a tiny island with reeds for book production and scenery implements (as well as reed wells).
Considering my tree farm as it stands is just a breeding ground for mobs and creepers, I might deforest the area, and maybe build a more proper tree farm and fence off the open area left behind as animal (and creep) storage, or at least, make it easier for them to keep away. I'll maybe make an easier to access tree farm in an out-of-the-way enough location. At least where it can work, look nice, and still provide at least a sufficient stock per harvest.
I could maybe set it up nearby one of the caves I found, and make a home out of one of them. While at it (after setting up the farm), I might explore the new pit I discovered near the Spelunker Mines.