I've ignored Mining, Alchemy, Refining, etc. Pretty much that whole right side of the tree.
Gardening is a good way to get Favor. I harvest every tree I can find, and get enough food to restore most of my energy, and dozens of music blocks for 40-80 favor each. I can harvest for quiet some time now, since it's only 2 energy per Pet/Water/Harvest and I get about 6 exp per, plus a random food/collectible.
I squeeze/nibble/milk all the animals, they give bonuses. Chickens give music blocks, they all give the random Gurly Drinks (Animal interactions cost no energy for 5 minutes). Unfortunately the Gurly Drink doesn't work on the Butterfly "Sing To". So that still takes 80-160 Energy, but gives a ton of EXP.
Eggs give .5 favor when donated, and I can usually get 500-700 going through the NW Passage area. Cherries/Beans/Fruit don't give much, but the interactions give Food/Blocks, so that's good. Meat gives 1 each, so that's nice.
Once BL5 is done today I'm going to learn the 3 Croppery skills, then get the last Gardening Skill, then the last Animal Kindness. I should be rolling in the rewards after that.
I wish there was an easier way to harvest butterflies, they all move around so much it's hard to keep track of them. And your daily harvest is not connected to the auto-harvesters, so even if you have collectors in your yard, still harvest your animals every day for more items.
I do an ancestral lands run when I'm low on Energy or have harvested everything I can for the day.
On a side note, I got a free month's subscription for being a tester. Even though I didn't start playing until after it launched. So now my guy's outfit looks a bit different. But I think I'll lose it all once my month is over.
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Can't sleep, clown will eat me.