I think all food items should immediately have an energy gain upon collection, unless it also gives another benefit, such as mood, etc. If I harvest a tree with 3 cherries and it costs me 5 energy, I want to get at least 6 energy back from eating them, immediately. No food should cost more energy to acquire than it gives when eaten, even if the food is totally raw. Each step of processing should exponentially increase the energy profit. There should always be an immediate energy or mood profit when you harvest any food.
Petting and feeding/watering should increase your mood +1. This can also encourage people to love on things they aren't about to harvest.
Also, it seems like mood and energy go down too much without really doing anything at all but learning. I think the rate of energy/mood loss that is not tied to various activities should be lessened.