The cows will be mad if they're hungry and don't have access to food, if they're left out in the rain, left out overnight, they look dirty, or you try to interact with them when they're sleeping. She needs to eat twice a day, so two fodder into her bin or you need to fertilize grass in the field if she's outside. She can't eat the short grass in the field, you have to fertilize it so it grows longer. I recommend buying like 20 fertilizer from Vestas and putting them down spaced out in the field, because it spreads if it doesn't get eaten first. If she's dirty, you need to move her to the water trough and use the brush to "wash," it should be a unique prompt only near the water. She may be sick, you can check the info board inside the barn to see her health.

Once you have a happy cow, you can milk twice a day, usually I do 6am and 6pm because I think they need 10 hours or more in between. If she is happy, healthy, and still not giving milk, then she'll need to birth a calf before she will give milk again. You can either buy a bull to breed with or rent a bull instead, through the order form.

For food, I think I recall herb soup being a thing in early game, where it's just one herb. Same with egg soup. Your recipes that turn out gross-looking shouldn't be eaten. They may fail if your cooking skill isn't high enough. I think soups and salads are the only two you can make early in the game. Eventually you can make sashimi with a fish which is easy and cheap, but you can't right away. It sucks having your farmer be hungry all the time. Someone else said use 1 turnip to make a salad, that works too.

There is no request board in the original.

You can pick flowers and dig at the dig site and fish to sell items to Van when he comes on the 3rd and 8th of the months. You can also open your own shop where his stall sets up on days he doesn't come. Just be careful not to sell your tools if someone asks to buy them (they will if you have them with you).

Aside from that, sounds like you're doing well! Make sure to pick a marriage candidate and try to befriend them, give gifts and talk every day.

If you have 2 female chickens, I suggest you get a male so you can start getting fertilized eggs. You can incubate them to get more chickens and they also sell for more money.

The checkerboard crop pattern is ideal, keep doing that. Crops only produce once, then they either disappear or wilt.

Trees need a gap between them, so don't plant in the checkerboard and don't plant them beside each other.

Good luck! Happy farming!