I was impatient so I used one of my academy 5 minute infinite energy to do a quick spurt of collecting. Maybe it's a waste to do it on a comparatively easier event but now I'm free to take a step back and work on other stuff while I wait for my bottleneck items to catch up.
I agree that the sawmills drops seem to be even lower than usual but since it's still not a slower collection than the ultimate bottleneck, Ivy's Hut, it won't make a difference in when we complete the event. More irksome than actually detrimental.