Rebirth in 1984, starting from beekeeping in the mountains

Chapter 141 Spring Planting! Clover Honey! (Two in One)

Plans for making mead.

The effect started when I first brewed the Kitobee wine.

Last time, I asked Fang Cuiyun to prepare the yeast for the wine, which was considered a further step forward.

Originally, I wanted to ask my third uncle to explore how to brew it.

At this moment, Third Aunt Fang Cuiyun pushed forward her cousin Lin Xiaofei, who might not be as experienced as her Third Uncle.

However, Fang Hongan also knew that Lin Xiaofei, because of his introverted personality, was actually somewhat similar to Zheng Quan in the way he did things.

Whenever I want to do something, I will devote myself to it like an obsession.

Fang Hongan had heard a long time ago that in order to make good sweet wine, he brewed one jar after another like crazy for several months.

His parents were not paying attention, so the limited glutinous rice in his home that year was eaten up by him.

With this kind of energy, Fang Hongan believes that he can definitely make good wine.

Moreover, his father is old after all, and his energy is definitely not as good as the young Lin Xiaofei.

If this were in Tongmuping, it would be inconvenient for communication.

Come to Shiwan Village, there will be many inconveniences.

If it were Lin Xiaofei, he could come to Shiwan Village and live in the apiary.

Besides, Fang Hongan also understood what his third aunt meant.

He wanted Lin Xiaofei to follow him, not only to find a career for his son.

More importantly, he was also considering his son's lifelong affairs.

After all, the example of Comrade Heizi Wang Tong is right there.

The last time their family came to a wedding, the light in Fang Cuiyun's eyes was as if she was about to pull Fang Hongan over and tell him directly.

Sort these out.

After Fang Hongan finished explaining.

Although this is facing something completely new.

But Fang Cuiyun nodded immediately and said firmly: "Hongan! Don't worry! Xiaofei can definitely do it!"

When he said this, he turned around and winked at Lin Xiaofei.

Seeing this, Fang Hongan also turned his gaze to Lin Xiaofei: "Xiaofei! How about it, do you have the confidence to give it a try?"

"hiss!"

The young man lowered his head and took a deep breath, then raised his head suddenly and said forcefully: "Yes... yes!"

"Okay! That's fine! Then you can discuss it with your aunt and uncle, and come over whenever you think it's time!"

Patting the young man on the shoulder, Fang Hongan made the decision directly.

When they heard that Lin Xiaofei was coming to help with the brewing, Wang Tong and Fang Chengtao soon came over.

He pulled Lin Xiaofei aside and started chatting and laughing.

Although Lin Xiaofei Su is introverted, he is not autistic.

This is another decision to come over and help.

After being awkward for a moment, he soon started chatting with the two of them.

After getting to know each other for a while, he not only started to actively find topics to talk about, but also had smiles and glow on his face.

See this scene.

Fang Cuiyun on the side was excited.

Suddenly, he turned his head, lowered his head secretly, and wiped the corners of his eyes...

……

This is Fang Hongan.

He walked back to Lan Wenxiu and briefly told him about this matter.

He also agreed very much.

Then find Yang Lili and ask her to arrange accommodation for Lin Xiaofei after he comes over.

This matter has been finalized.

in this way.

After returning to Lan Wenxiu, the two wanted to hold the baby and walk towards the back door, preparing to take a walk in the back.

Otherwise, when someone else comes, the sound of firecrackers will wake up the little baby who has just fallen asleep.

As soon as he walked out of the back door, a figure with his head down and a hat pulled down so low that his face was basically invisible came over quickly.

At first glance, he looked somewhat panic-stricken and seemed to be avoiding something.

However, one look at that figure.

Fang Hongan and Lan Wenxiu couldn't help but smile.

This person is no other than others.

It was Fang Hongan’s uncle Fang Qingshan.

Although Fang Hongan has not been in contact with his uncle's family for many years.

But Fang Qingshan is still Fang Cuiyun's brother after all.

He is considered Wang Yonghe's brother-in-law.

Over the years, their family relationship has become distant, and it is indeed distant.

But during the Chinese New Year, people still visit each other.

After all, there is a blood relationship involved.

only……

In previous years, Fang Hongan's wife, Diao aunt, would usually come as well.

Not only did Fang Qingshan come alone this year, he also deliberately went through the back door, looking like he was afraid to see people.

Needless to say, the reason is that it must be after the last fight, and they haven't reconciled yet.

This relative wanted to leave, but he was probably too embarrassed to see people, so this happened.

He lowered his head and stumbled. Fang Hongan was afraid that if he walked towards him, he would bump into someone without looking at the road.

So he simply pulled Lan Wenxiu to the other side of the door and waited.

Fang Qingshan is a local who is afraid of seeing people, so he only looks up at the road after walking for a while.

When I looked up earlier, Fang Hongan and the others had not come out yet.

When I got closer and looked up for the door, I noticed Fang Hongan and Lan Wenxiu on the side.

A moment of stunned concentration.

The scratched and scarred face froze in place.

but.

Fang Hongan and Lan Wenxiu on the side, however, acted as if they didn't see anything and just turned around and walked away.

Seeing this scene, Fang Qingshan trembled. He stayed in the bag for a while, then gritted his teeth and stepped into the gate.

After walking in the backyard for a while, Fang Hongan found a small building and walked in.

This was originally the small firewood shed of Wang Tong's family.

Later, because they needed to make beeswax, the pile of firewood increased and the small house could not hold it all, so they built another one on the flat land to the left of the house.

The small woodshed became empty.

Before the New Year, Wang Yonghe and Wang Tong cleaned up.

This place was made into a small compartment.

It was prepared to be used to store Kitobee wine, and it was kept quite clean.

This time when Fang Hongan and his friends came, they were afraid that the firecrackers set off by the people coming to pay New Year's greetings would scare little Fang Yuelan, and Lan Wenxiu sometimes had to breastfeed.

So they cleaned the place again so that Fang Hongan and the others could rest here.

There are stoves in this house.

After the two sat down, Fang Hongan took out the small notebook he carried with him and began to write and draw.

Lan Wenxiu half-lay down holding the child, and the sound of firecrackers came from the front room.

The little girl Fang Yuelan woke up with her bright eyes open.

But in this back room, the sound is not that loud.

Lan Wenxiu unbuttoned her clothes and fed the baby while humming softly for a while. The little guy closed his eyes and soon fell asleep again.

After a while, there was a knock on the door.

Lan Shufang's voice rang out, calling for dinner to begin.

When he returned to the front room, Fang Hongan took a deliberate look around but did not see his uncle Fang Qingshan.

After asking, Wang Tong said that after putting down the New Year's greetings, he found an excuse and left.

I guess he's afraid of losing face.

Sighing, Fang Hongan sat down...

……

This first month of the year passed quickly amidst the joy.

Fang Hongan doesn't have many relatives to leave.

Basically, by the tenth day of the lunar month, I have some free time.

The spring of 1985 came early, and New Year’s Eve was the beginning of spring.

By the tenth day, the weather had become noticeably warmer.

The snow on the mountain has almost melted.

On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, a truck drove into Shiwan Village and stopped at the door of Fang Hongan's earthen house without any accident.

Afterwards, Liao San and Pang Si jumped out of the car obediently.

He was holding a bunch of gifts in his hands.

These two smart guys, one turned his life around by relying on honey last year, and the other is currently making a difference in Guixian County. There is a smooth road ahead for them.

This had been discussed before the New Year, and we would come to pay New Year's greetings to Fang Hongan during the first month of the lunar year.

This is in addition to talking about feelings.

I was also thinking about selling honey, so I asked Fang Hongan for some more goods.

Fang Hongan was also fully aware of their current situation in Xin County, Gui County and Ning County.

It can be said that they have done quite well.

This is also in line with Fang Hongan's tone. As the processing plant is built, increasing the volume is inevitable.

However, Fang Hongan plans to wait a little longer before opening up markets in other counties.

It is not yet time to grade Linyuan honey for distributors.

With this scale of two people, the situation can be controlled if they are given to a few counties.

However, Fang Hongan still wants to have stricter control over the scale.

At present, there seems to be no problem for these two people to sell on behalf of one or two counties, but if there are more, Fang Hongan still needs to consider their capabilities.

After revealing some ideas, Fang Hongan called Wang Tong, Fang Chengtao and Zheng Quan.

One meal at noon and one meal at night.

After getting the two men drunk and keeping them in Shiwan Village, they called Wang Tong the next day and asked a truck driver to drive to Tongmuping Village in Shiqiao Town, more than 20 miles away.

It takes more than 20 miles to walk from Shiwan Village to Tongmuping.

This car would take a detour of thirty miles.

It’s about the distance to the county town.

Fang Hongan and Wang Tong set out early in the morning, and after paying New Year's greetings and picking up Lin Xiaofei, they loaded the 500 kilograms of yeast into the car and returned.

It's almost dark.

Liao San and Pang Sishun didn't sober up until the afternoon, and they realized that they couldn't go back that day.

At night, he started drinking again.

As a result, he was drunk again by the father and son Fang Dajingang and Fang Chengtao.

When I left the next day, I was still in a daze.

However, the two men also knew that the wine was not drunk in vain.

The fact that Fang Hongan brought back so many yeasts has already revealed that he is going to make mead.

In other words, in addition to honey and bee wine, they have new products to sell.

Moreover, according to Fang Hongan, these two goods will no longer be supplied to factories like raw honey. The basic sales channels are in the supply and marketing cooperatives and here.

Doesn't this excite them!
After Lin Xiaofei came.

Directly arranged in apiary No. 2.

The road there has been built, making it convenient to transport things.

There are many houses, and the one keeping watch is a young man from Shiwan Village, so it is convenient for the two of them to do so at night.

As for the accommodation environment, although it is a wooden house, the new bed room is no worse than the one at home.

The people who are on night watch at the three apiaries now basically regard the wooden house as their home.

When Lin Xiaofei entered, he was assigned to a special area used to experiment with brewing wine.

The room is new and built according to the hygiene standards of a honey-shaking room.

As for the steaming room, since it is still in the experimental stage, we just built a simple room nearby for experimental purposes.

Then, according to his needs for brewing wine, glutinous rice and yeast were prepared.

After it stood up, the temperature began to rise, although it was not the most suitable time for brewing wine.

But for someone who is very experienced in brewing wine.

In this kind of weather, it is completely possible to start brewing.

Fang Hongan just gave Lin Xiaofei some of the characteristics of mead and a general understanding of the brewing process as he had promised last time.

I didn't care about it anymore and gave full autonomy to Lin Xiaofei.

Leave professional matters to professionals.

Just go and have a look every three to five days when it is convenient.

Lin Xiaofei is not good at communication.

When it comes to winemaking, they are undoubtedly professional.

From the beginning of the experiment, we adopted a variety of solutions.

Ten vats are being fermented at the same time. In each vat, apart from the different concentrations of honey water, the type of glutinous rice, the degree of cooking of the glutinous rice, the temperature during fermentation, and the placement of yeast are all different.

Moreover, Lin Xiaofei prepared a plan for each cylinder and also prepared a piece of paper...

I recorded it in a way that only he could understand.

Looking at his expression, Fang Hongan knew that it was absolutely right to invite him over.

If you want to sell in large quantities and promote the health benefits of wine, you cannot sell bulk wine like those small workshops. The taste and alcohol content of each batch may be different.

Commercial promotion and sales.

What needs to be fully guaranteed is the controllability and consistency of quality control.

As for my third uncle, he is certainly more experienced and has better skills.

In terms of recording and summarizing, he is definitely not as good as Lin Xiaofei, who was born in the new era after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

It might be okay to let him do it himself.

But in terms of replicable promotion, he cannot compare with Lin Xiaofei.

The process of making mead is roughly the same as that of making sweet rice wine.

Because honey water is used instead of water, the fermentation time will be longer.

According to Lin Xiaofei, under this temperature, he planned to take out the wine from the first tank after seven days of fermentation.

As for the longest tank, it will be postponed to twelve days.

After knowing the time, I went there twice more. The third time I saw Lin Xiaofei, I specifically chose the day to take the first jar of wine.

Lin Xiaofei seemed to know that Fang Hongan was coming, and deliberately waited for him to arrive before walking into the winery and carrying the wine vat covered with gauze to the big room of the wooden house.

Because this is an experiment, the wine making vat used is a small one.

The capacity is about the same as a small jar of about ten kilograms.

When Lin Xiaofei carried the wine vat to the big room of the wooden house, Yang Lili and Lan Shufang also rushed over after hearing the news.

Plus Wang Tong and Fang Chengtao who came with Fang Hongan.

There are five judges in this room.

As soon as the jar was placed on the table, the sweet aroma of wine mixed with honey filled the entire room.

Even Fang Hongan, who went with Lin Xiaofei to move, couldn't help but take a few greedy deep breaths.

After smelling the fragrance, the other people immediately exclaimed with joy on their faces.

"Hmm! The aroma of wine and honey is very strong! Needless to say, this must be a success."

"I think so too. This smell is so comfortable!"

"expect……"

……

The sighs from the crowd made Lin Xiaofei, who had been somewhat tense, relax.

He glanced at everyone.

Then, his eyes finally fell on Fang Hongan.

"Just drive it!"

"It's time to show everyone your achievements!" Fang Hongan smiled and gave him an encouraging look.

"Ok!"

After nodding, Lin Xiaofei slowly lifted one end of the gauze cover.

Everyone couldn't help but stretch their necks and look over there eagerly.

I saw that the glutinous rice that was originally pressed tightly in the small jar had become loose and fluffy after fermentation.

There was a lot of amber-colored wine in the entire tank.

Especially in the center, where a round hole was dug out, the wine was even more abundant.

"Wow!"

Stimulated by the stronger aroma of wine, everyone couldn't help but sigh.

After seeing the scene in front of him, Lin Xiaofei couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly.

Obviously, he was very satisfied with the condition of this tank.

Putting down the gauze cover, he quickly took out a small conical basket woven from bamboo.

This thing has a special name in Xin County, which is wine sieve.

When brewing sweet rice wine, it is used to isolate the lees and filter out the wine.

Lin Xiaofei slowly pressed the wine sieve into the central hole.

Under the squeeze, there was obviously more wine in the hole.

Moreover, the wine, which originally seemed a little turbid, immediately became clear.

In the wine sieve, the bright yellow amber color also appears purer.

See this scene.

Wang Tong couldn't even help swallowing.

Lin Xiaofei, following the sound of swallowing saliva, glanced at Wang Tong, smiled, then hurriedly picked up a bamboo tube for getting wine and started taking out the wine.

Pour the wine directly into the glass.

Then they handed over cups one by one.

The first cup was naturally given to Fang Hongan.

Then came Wang Tong, Fang Chengtao, Lan Shufang and Yang Lili...

While handing over the wine, one could clearly feel that the expression on the young man's face was becoming nervous again.

After receiving the wine, Fang Hongan did not rush to drink it.

Instead, he looked at the color carefully first, then put the cup to his nose and smelled it carefully.

Look at its color, smell its taste...

At the same time, he tried hard to recall the mead that he had tasted carefully in his previous life.

To be frank, although the memory is a bit distant.

But as for the wine in front of him, apart from the color which was a little lighter, the smell was almost the same as the mead he tasted in his previous life.

However, judging from the color, this is probably newly brewed wine and has not yet been aged.

After aging and being left for a period of time, the color will definitely become darker.

So...

This first altar seemed to be quite successful.

When Fang Hongan was sighing, Wang Tong on the side exclaimed, "It tastes good!"

It turned out that this guy couldn't help but drink it.

After he sighed, the others also began to sigh.

"It tastes like alcohol, but it's sweet! It tastes great!"

“This can definitely be sold!”

“It tastes much better than sweet rice wine!”

……

Amidst the sighs of many.

Fang Hongan couldn't help but raise his glass and take a sip.

When you take a bite, you can taste the sweetness and aroma of wine, and you can also clearly taste the honey.

It tastes very good, and the taste experience gives Fang Hongan a very familiar feeling.

Although there are some differences between this and the mead I remember drinking, the difference is definitely not huge.

It can be said……

It completely exceeded Fang Hongan's expectations.

After swallowing it, my stomach didn't feel burning, but I just felt a warm feeling flowing into my stomach.

"Xiao Fei! Really good!"

Fang Hongan couldn't help but give Lin Xiaofei a thumbs up.

This compliment gave Lin Xiaofei complete confidence.

He nodded with a smile, then quickly picked up his own cup, fanned his hands and sniffed the aroma very skillfully, then took a sip, smacked his lips, closed his eyes and savored it carefully.

One bite...

Two mouthfuls...

Three mouthfuls...

After three mouthfuls, his face became calm and he began to talk to himself.

"There should be some problem with the ratio of sweetness and wine aroma. Maybe there is too much honey..."

"The aroma of the wine is not strong enough. It seems that the fermentation time is not enough."

"It's still a little spicy. According to what Cousin An said, mead shouldn't have this kind of spicy taste. It seems that the ratio of yeast is a little too much..."

"Or maybe, when the wine was added, the glutinous rice was not warm enough to suppress the spiciness of the spicy grass..."

"The time is still a little short..."

……

After muttering for a long time.

He shook his head and sighed, "No! There are too many problems! I've failed!"

After saying that, he put the wine glass on the table, quickly took out the piece of paper he had prepared in advance, and started writing frantically.

Completely ignoring the other people in the room.

Everyone looked at each other in surprise and exclaimed...

That's it, it's worthy of being what Fang Hongan calls a professional!

He admired her and quietly walked out of the room, leaving the entire room to Lin Xiaofei to continue summarizing.

Anyway...

After this tank, several people figured it out.

This Lin Xiaofei really is worthy of being from a wine-making family.

specialized!

After tasting this tank.

Everyone was even more excited about the next few cylinders.

Every time we start the tank, almost everyone is there.

And each of the following cylinders brought some amazement and surprise to everyone.

However, in sharp contrast, Lin Xiaofei can always find some shortcomings every time.

Moreover, after he mentioned these shortcomings, everyone could more or less see them.

after that……

After tasting a lot.

I simply don't participate directly.

The tasting was completely left to Lin Xiaofei.

in this way……

A full month and a half later.

this day……

An ordinary rainy day.

Lin Xiaofei suddenly found Fang Hongan with a bottle of wine.

The mead that made Lin Xiaofei satisfied was finally brewed.

After hearing the news.

Wang Tong, Fang Chengtao and others came over.

After tasting it, several people agreed that this mead was superior to the one from a month ago in every aspect.

rave reviews.

After tasting it, Fang Hongan couldn't help but nodded.

Even though it had not been aged yet, the taste and flavor gave him the experience of being much better than those bottled ones he had drunk in later generations.

This undoubtedly shows that this mead...

It is completely accomplished.

After getting Fang Hongan's affirmation.

Lin Xiaofei was also very excited. He raised his arms and jumped up, excitedly sharing his experience with Fang Hongan and the others...

After this tank, Lin Xiaofei made a batch of replicas according to the standards of that tank.

After ensuring the success rate of replication, we started from small vats to large vats and began the proper brewing.

After taking wine from the first large vat and receiving unanimous praise from everyone.

This is the mead brewing experiment that lasted for nearly two months, and it ended successfully.

While Lin Xiaofei was brewing, Fang Hongan also turned his attention to the apiary and the county town.

Fang Hongan and his team have not been idle in the past two months.

The land for this processing plant was approved by the county before the Chinese New Year.

Loans can also be obtained at any time.

After the first month of the lunar year, Fang Hongan went to the county town and began to prepare for the construction of the processing plant.

With the support of the government and a bank loan of 300,000 yuan, the preparations for the construction of the processing plant went quite smoothly under this double guarantee.

Construction drawings, materials, construction teams...

The county has also provided full guarantees in these aspects.

After choosing a date and setting off firecrackers, construction officially began.

Regarding the supervision, Fang Hongan asked the county to help make connections, hired a professional, and asked Fang Hongjiang to go to the county town to help watch over it...

He himself only needs to grasp the overall progress and quality.

These days, there are not many construction projects, and this is a project that the county pays special attention to.

The construction team also attaches great importance to it.

In addition, based on his experience at construction sites in his previous life, Fang Hongan also developed a series of very detailed procedures and plans.

The entire construction project is progressing very quickly!

The only trouble is the equipment and facilities!
However, this processing plant.

After all, it is just a small processing plant.

Just pursuing standardization and hygiene...

The degree of automation is not very high.

There aren't a lot of equipment used.

After taking the trouble to collect and customize the items, all you have to do is wait for delivery.

While the construction of the processing plant is in full swing.

At the apiary, batches of beehives were moved outdoors after the ice and snow melted, and then the bees were released from the hives...

Although early spring is not the peak honey flow period.

But there are also many nectar-producing plants.

After the hives were opened and released, the bees that had been cooped up for a winter began to come out of the hives to look for food...

The mountains and fields are full of vitality.

After getting busy at the apiary.

Fang Hongan immediately arranged for Wang Tong, Fang Chengtao, Zheng Quan and others to lead the team to collect bees.

Those bee-luring buckets and bee-luring holes that were prepared before the New Year have indeed attracted many bees after the spring.

After the bees were collected, we immediately organized the second group to participate in the cooperation plan for training, and then swarmed the bees for breeding...

in this way.

Even in this still chilly spring season, the mountains are already a busy scene.

……

This busyness has never stopped since it started.

After the second batch of farmers participating in the cooperation were in place, Fang Hongan found the old branch secretary and began to discuss the sowing of nectar-producing plants.

In early spring, there are many flowering plants.

But there are actually not many plants that produce nectar.

If we rely solely on wild nectar sources, with the current scale of breeding and fixed-point breeding methods, it is very easy for "honey snatching" to occur.

Therefore, Fang Hongan had already formulated a plan for sowing nectar-producing plants.

Moreover, this plan is even written directly into the cooperation agreement with the farmers.

The purpose is to organize personnel in a unified manner, carry out large-scale sowing, and better create a standardized beekeeping environment.

Fang Hongan also thought about the direction of sowing the plants.

This spring, there are mainly two kinds.

One is astragalus and the other is rapeseed.

Rapeseed is easy to explain. It is an important oil crop in the entire Xin County and even in Xiaonan area.

There are purchasing tasks, and every household needs rapeseed oil.

Especially last year, after the rapeseed in Shiwan Village was pollinated by bees and its yield increased, every household was very enthusiastic about planting it.

This year it just takes some mobilization.

Doubling the planting scale is not a problem at all.

In addition to rapeseed, Fang Hongan also thought of another nectar-producing plant - Astragalus membranaceus.

In the 1980s, astragalus was not common in the Xiaonan area.

The main reason is that there are not many wild species.

If it is to really increase in number, it has to wait until its green manure function is promoted and then it will gradually spread.

But astragalus has actually always been one of the top ten nectar plants in the country.

The honey flow is very strong.

Milk vetch honey not only has a unique taste and flavor, but is also rich in nutrition.

Very popular.

In later generations, it also became one of the best-selling honey varieties.

This thing is also quite simple to spread.

Just spread it on the ground and forget about it.

When the temperature rises, they will sprout and bloom.

Sweet clover blooms very quickly. If the temperature is right, it can bloom in sixty to eighty days.

The flowering period can last up to about 40 days.

If sowing is done in batches, a two-month honey flow period can be guaranteed.

Moreover, sweet clover is also a very important green manure. If it is sown in the mountains and fields, there is no need to worry about it.

Sow the seeds in rice fields, and after the flowering period is over, turn the soil over and the Chinese sweet clover can be used as green manure to provide rich organic fertilizer for the rice fields.

It can effectively increase rice yield.

It was also because of the many benefits that the old branch secretary heard Fang Hongan's plan.

It was immediately unified with Fang Hongan's plan.

Fang Hongan purchased the seeds of Astragalus membranaceus through his connections in the county when he was in the county town.

The seeds of Astragalus membranaceus are widely distributed throughout the Yangtze River Basin.

Seeds are not expensive.

Because it can be used as green manure, there are special state-owned farms that cultivate it.

A pound of seeds costs less than ten cents per pound.

Fang Hongan purchased several thousand kilograms at one time, and sowed seeds at a density of about five kilograms per acre of land.

This batch of seeds can be sown on a thousand acres of land without any problem.

After agreeing on a time with the old branch secretary and mobilizing the villagers, people from several villages quickly flocked over to collect the seeds.

Among them, in addition to those farmers who cooperate in beekeeping, even many people who do not raise bees have also participated.

(End of this chapter)