To TRY to keep on top of the dead bushes, you need to get as many axes as possible. To do that, you need to get as many 'goodies', ie presents from harvesting and collecting animal products.
They have altered it so that it releases more axes, but its still hard, so you NEED to get as many animals as you can. So save your vouchers for animals, don't use them to get coloured lures until you have all your pets.
FEED all your animals as frequently as you can. My 8 horses will give 2 or 3 goodies every time I feed them/wake them up. Keep on top of your other animals too. That can be tricky with the feed, so make sure you expand your feed lots as much as possible, and stock up on sheep and goat overnight.
And WHEAT - wheating is when you fill all of your planting area with wheat, harvest, sell all the wheat off cheaply (1 coin gets rid of it faster, without a large silo you will quickly get overrun by wheat otherwise). You will normally get 1 or two gifts for a complete harvest. The number of planting plots you need to harvest to get a gift changes depending on your level, but usually you will get at least one for all of it.
Wheating is the FASTEST way of getting gifts. Its also a great way of getting expansion items and mining items. Its a bit boring, but give it a try!!!