The leisurely life of farmers in mountain villages

Chapter 48 Honeysuckle and Salvia
Ma Lili couldn't convince Wang Shaodong, so she had no choice but to go home.

In the afternoon, Wang Fumin found Wu Zhe's agricultural firewood tricycle in the village, and then he listened to his son and went to Fangjiazhuang Village first, planning to get some honeysuckle leaves first.

Honeysuckle is a good thing. It can clear away heat and reduce fire. In summer, make tea and drink a little to prevent colds.It is hot in summer, and children are prone to eczema. When they go to the hospital, the doctor will prescribe some hormonal ointment, and it will be fine after applying it.But that kind of hormonal ointment is harmful to the body. The local people in Luzhong City have their own way to treat infantile eczema. The method is very simple, that is, boil water with honeysuckle and then wash the skin.

In 2002, the price of honeysuckle was quite cheap, and a catty of dried flowers cost only 30 yuan.

But later on, the price of this thing rose to 300 yuan per catty, around 2004. If you went to a honeysuckle farmer to buy some honeysuckle leaves at that time, it would definitely be difficult to negotiate.Now, it's easy to handle.

When they arrived at Fangjiazhuang Village, Wang Shaodong and his son inquired and came to the farmer who planted three acres of honeysuckle.

Wang Fumin saw that it was his aunt's cousin.

I was planning to spend money to buy it, but now I don't need it at all.

Wang Fumin's cousin is surnamed Liu, named Liu Fu.Liu Fu's mother and Wang Fumin's mother are half-sisters. Wang Fumin used to play with him when he was young, but later they got married. Wang Shaodong was eighteen and still didn't know this old relative. .

As the saying goes, "Aunts and uncles are relatives for generations, and the bones and tendons are broken; aunts are not considered relatives, and the aunt's roots are broken after death." If there is less, it is normal for the next generation not to know each other.

However, this relative is still a relative after all, and the Wang family wanted honeysuckle leaves, of course Liu Fu did not refuse.

Besides, honeysuckle is a vine, and the branches need to be pruned every once in a while, otherwise the honeysuckle will only grow leaves and not bloom, which will reduce the yield.

The honeysuckle on the three-acre land can harvest about 20-15000 catties of honeysuckle every year. According to the purchase price of [-] yuan per catty, they can harvest [-] yuan after sales, which is most of Liu Fu's annual income.

In 2002, a rural family's annual income of 7000 yuan was considered a normal income in Dazhai Village.Then Liu Fu went to work as part-time workers in the labor market at Qiaotou, Dazhai Village during his leisure time, which increased his income by 5000 yuan a year. Adding in the income of more than 2000 yuan from growing grain in the field, Liu Fu's family can earn more than 2 yuan a year. I have an income of 2002 yuan. In [-], this kind of income was already very good in rural areas.

Hearing that his cousin's family needed honeysuckle leaves, Liu Fu asked Wu Zhe, a tricycle driver from Taohualing Village whom he also knew, to drive the tricycle to his family's honeysuckle field.

The honeysuckle field of Liu Fu's family is in a sloping field by the river, covering an area of ​​more than three mu.Now the honeysuckle is blooming, looking around, there are yellow flowers.

The honeysuckle should be picked before it is in full bloom, and the blooming honeysuckle is worthless.

The honeysuckle planted by Liu Fu’s family has four picking peaks a year, and each time lasts about two weeks. Generally, the first picking peak is in March of the lunar calendar, the second in May, the third in July, and the fourth in September. Second-rate.

Although Liu Fu's family grows four-season honeysuckle, there are flowers to pick in all seasons except winter.But because honeysuckle is not worth much now, if it is not in full bloom, it is better to work in the labor market to make money to pick honeysuckle.So except for the four picking peaks, Liu Fu did not pick honeysuckle at home.

When he arrived at the field, Wang Shaodong saw that there were many honeysuckle papers piled up on the field of honeysuckle, so he smiled and said to Liu Fu, "Cousin, there are quite a lot of honeysuckle leaves in this field alone."

Generally, honeysuckle is picked in the morning, but it has rained continuously for the past two days, and the ground is too muddy to settle, so all the honeysuckle bloomed.When the honeysuckle is not in bloom, it is white, and when it blooms, it turns into a flower color, so it is called honeysuckle.

"Cousin, there are a lot of these things. You can have as many as you want. You don't even eat these things for sheep and sheep, that is, they are dried and used as firewood. But who is still short of firewood now?"

While speaking, Liu Fu took out the sickle hanging from the belt on his back, and then cut off the branches with a lot of honeysuckle without any distress, and threw them on the ground.

Although the purchase price of a catty of honeysuckle is 20 yuan, it takes three catties of fresh flowers to produce a catty of dried flowers.And like these blooming honeysuckle, medicinal material merchants commonly call it "flowering goods", and they don't want it. When you are lucky and meet someone who wants "flowering goods", it only costs five yuan a catty.

Moreover, picking honeysuckle is a very labor-intensive job. A skilled farmer can pick up to 40 catties of honeysuckle a day, while an unskilled farmer like Liu Fu can pick about 20 catties a day.The couple come together to pick flowers, and they can pick 40 catties a day. After drying, they can have 200 catties, which can be exchanged for more than [-] yuan.

But this is the income during the blooming period. If it is normal, there are not many flowers, and it is not bad to be able to pick a few catties a day.

"Cousin, if you cut all these branches like this, won't it affect the production of honeysuckle?" Wang Fumin felt a little embarrassed.

But Liu Fu shook his head and said: "Cousin, even if you don't come, I have to cut off these messy branches. These messy branches don't bloom much, and it will take a lot of time to pick them. This honeysuckle can't be picked all the time." of."

What Liu Fu said is true. The honeysuckle in the honeysuckle field will grow another layer the next day if it is picked today. It is impossible to pick all the honeysuckle flowers in the blooming period.

Liu Fu was very willing to do it, and a large number of flowering branches were cut off, and then loaded on the tricycle hired by the Wang family.

Seeing that the honeysuckle branches weighing one or two hundred catties were loaded, Wang Shaodong signaled that it was almost done.

Liu Fu wanted to leave Wang Shaodong and his son to eat, but because Wang Shaodong had to rush to buy red sage seeds, he said goodbye to Liu Fu.

Liu Fu was sent all the way to the village head of Fangjiazhuang Village, and then turned around and went home.

Originally, Wang Shaodong planned to spend money to buy it, but when he talked about money, his cousin became unhappy, and in the end he didn't dare to mention it.

After leaving Fangjiazhuang Village, Wu Zhe drove a three-wheeler of agricultural firewood to the side where Danshen was planted in Dalongmen Village.

Then, after finding a Danshen grower, Wang Shaodong saw that a family of Danshen planted the seeds after harvesting the Danshen last year and used it as firewood.Wang Shaodong offered to accept the other party's Danshen seeds for ten cents per catty, and the other party happily agreed.

In this way, Wang Shaodong took another thousand catties of red sage seeds, and hurried home to cook soup for his little chickens.

(End of this chapter)