Siheyuan: A Very Happy Era

Chapter 207 Honey is coming out

In the end, Mou Zetian, Pang Yunchun and others did not stay in the Jinshanbao Production Brigade overnight. They took a donkey cart and hurried back to Majiadian Commune.

To show his hospitality as a host, Li Guoqiang, after asking Xu Guangfu for permission, gave each of Mou Zetian and Pang Yunchun three pounds of freshly dug honeycombs so that they could taste the sweetness of the mountains.

They also repeatedly assured that once the apiary produced honey, they would come back to check on the situation and then recommend to the unit leaders to set up a test site here.

Xu Guangfu was naturally looking forward to this.

Because in this way, their Jinshanbao Production Brigade will have the opportunity to become a demonstration base for bee breeding in Tieshi.

The only problem is whether they have enough nectar sources here.

You know, thanks to Li Guoqiang's hard work, there are now nearly forty groups of bees in the apiary.

With so many bees, there must be a large number of nectar sources to produce a certain amount of honey, allowing the villagers to obtain considerable profits.

Otherwise, just feeding them would be a problem.

The next day, life returned to its normal peace until a week later, when Li Guoqiang suddenly received news that all the subsidies for educated youth had arrived, and he was asked to go to the educated youth site to collect them.

In addition, it is almost time to go to the county town to buy lambs and piglets to raise, so the construction of a new educated youth site also needs to be put on the agenda.

"Well, the specific situation is this. Apart from a portion of the housing subsidy, which needs to be deducted to build a new youth base, the subsidies for other projects total 173 yuan. You will take turns to come up and sign to receive them later."

Xu Guangfu read a long and rambling red-headed document, and then asked the educated youth to line up to receive their money.

Shang Xiuzhen and others were very happy to hear that they could get nearly 200 yuan in the end.

Since they came here from the city, they had already spent all the money they brought from home. Some of them even asked their families for money several times.

Now with this subsidy, they no longer have to ask their family for money.

Soon, the big black notes were handed from Xu Yuliang to each educated youth, and the scene became filled with joy.

Next, Xu Guangfu started talking about the specific arrangements for building a new educated youth site.

Since the amount of housing subsidy is not very large and there is a requirement for unified management, the new youth training center still has a layout of two large rooms.

However, the area needs to be slightly larger than where we live now, and a large public kitchen and a large yard need to be built.

In addition, the various supporting furniture in the house need to be planned first, and then Li Guoqiang will help make them.

Because this is work for the collective, there will be no payment, only a certain amount of work points will be recorded.

Li Guoqiang had no objection to this. After asking about the various types of furniture needed, he reported to Xu Guangfu the various materials needed.

For example, tung oil, ink, window paper, etc.

After everything was discussed, Xu Guangfu took everyone to select a site for the construction of a new educated youth base.

Finally, after much selection, they chose a vacant lot near the threshing ground.

Next, Xu Guangfu will arrange people to come and dig the foundation and build the house.

According to past experience, it will take about one month to complete the construction without affecting the progress of the farming task.

By that time, the apiary will have almost started producing honey, so it will be a double blessing.

Soon, Li Guoqiang asked Xu Guangfu to run to the commune to get all the materials he needed, and then he entered into a busy and fulfilling life.

Every morning when he wakes up, he first practices various martial arts skills as usual, and then teleports to the deep mountains under the pretext of going into the mountains to look for beehives, taking Erniu and Sanwazi, the siblings, to expand and improve his private apiary.

At noon, he did not rush back, but stayed to taste Erniu's cooking and brush up on his skills in traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture and pharmaceutical manufacturing from Liang Xianglian.

In the afternoon, he teleported back to Jinshanbao Bee Farm to add new members to the bee colony.

Afterwards, he did not stay in the apiary, but returned to his own home, taking tools such as a plane and a saw, and asked the two sisters Zhu Caixia and Xu Dani to help him make furniture such as kang cabinets, wardrobes, cupboards, tables, chairs and washstands for the new educated youth site.

At the beginning, brigade cadres such as Xu Guangfu and Sun Maocai were still a little worried and took some time to come over and check on the situation.

When they saw Li Guoqiang holding a planer and making a washstand in just a few strokes, they were immediately impressed by Li Guoqiang's versatility, and then they all thought of asking Li Guoqiang to help them make furniture.

Especially those whose families are planning to get married, they would come to Li Guoqiang every few days, hoping to get a more affordable wage.

In response to this situation, Li Guoqiang specifically asked Xu Guangfu for his opinion.

After all, he is no longer an idle worker, but the director of a apiary.

If he took these orders, people would inevitably accuse him of using work time to run a side business.

He didn't want to ruin his good reputation for such a small profit.

Finally, at Xu Guangfu's suggestion, the villagers decided to make furniture after the slack farming season in winter.

Before that, they can prepare various materials and think about the style of furniture they want to make.

Just like that, half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

During this period, Li Guoqiang not only successfully completed the furniture making task, but also used some leftover wood to make a wooden cart, giving the sika deer a new use.

The new youth training center was also built bit by bit under Xu Guangfu's planning.

Next, all they have to do is wait for the fire pit to dry, and then install the doors and windows before Shang Xiuzhen and others can move in.

At the same time, at the apiary, the number of bee colonies had more than doubled without anyone noticing, reaching a total of 80 colonies.

Nowadays, there is no need to go to the beekeeping area. Just standing in the yard in front of the wooden house, you can hear the buzzing sound of bees, and even see the bees flying back and forth between the apiary and the mountains.

This shows that the number of bee colonies has almost reached saturation.

Regardless of whether there are enough nectar sources nearby, no more bee colonies can be added.

Therefore, Li Guoqiang directly placed the remaining 20 hives of bees at a private apiary, and then stopped going into the mountains to look for hives. Instead, he focused his work on checking and registering the nearby nectar sources.

Generally speaking, the more diverse the nectar sources near a bee colony, the more beneficial it is for the colony.

Because each plant blooms at a different time, the nectar components it contains will also be different.

This can not only maintain a longer honey-collecting period, but also allow the bees to eat richer, more nutritious and more delicious honey, so that they can grow and develop more healthily.

At the same time, this can also produce honey with more characteristics.

Just like in later generations, beekeepers in some places would place beehives in some special areas every year to collect various special honeys, such as locust honey, medicinal honey, and multi-flower honey.

In addition to their unique fragrance, these honeys also have a variety of special effects, so they can naturally be sold at a higher price and generate greater profits.

Of course, people these days don’t have such high demands. Being able to eat honey is already very good, and they won’t ask for too much.

The main reason why Li Guoqiang wanted to investigate the nectar sources near the bee farm was to estimate the honey production. If the nectar sources were not rich enough, he would have to consider looking for a better place to set up a bee farm.

Generally speaking, the collection radius of bees is about 2 to 3 kilometers. That is to say, if the placement of the beehive is the center of the circle, the bees can effectively collect within a radius of 2 to 3 kilometers.

Therefore, he only needs to investigate the nectar sources within this radius to roughly calculate how much honey the apiary can produce.

"How is it? Are there enough honey sources around here?"

That day, as soon as Li Guoqiang came back, he was blocked at the door of the wooden house by Xu Guangfu, who asked anxiously.

"Forehead"

Li Guoqiang was slightly stunned, then he smiled and comforted her: "Don't worry! After my investigation in the past few days, I found that there are enough nectar sources nearby, which should be able to support the current breeding scale of our bee farm."

"However, if we want to continue to expand in the future, we will have to find a new place."

"That's good, that's good!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Guangfu immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, he hesitated for a moment, then asked, "The beehives should be producing honey now, right?"

“Yes, and there are quite a lot!”

Li Guoqiang was delighted, then nodded quickly and answered.

"is it?"

Xu Guangfu's eyes lit up, and he said impatiently: "Then take me to see it quickly!"

"Okay, then let's go get two sets of protective clothing and put them on!"

When Li Guoqiang heard Xu Guangfu's request, he nodded and agreed without thinking.

Soon, they each put on a set of mesh protective clothing and walked towards the beekeeping area.

Seeing their actions, Qu Yinfeng, Xu Yuping, Li Xiuqin, Ma Guifang, Zhang Mei'e and others followed them with some curiosity.

Now, more than a month has passed since the apiary officially started.

On weekdays, the most they would do is walk up and observe the situation outside the beehive. They basically have never looked inside the beehive, so they don't know whether honey has started to be produced.

But Li Guoqiang is different, because he has the buff of "one effort, ten rewards". For every bit of honey produced by the bees, he can harvest ten times more honey at the same time.

So he can know what's going on in the beehive without having to go and see it.

After a while, he took Xu Guangfu to the first batch of beehives that were released, and then opened a beehive at random.

I saw that the box, which was originally somewhat empty, had already been filled with pieces of beehives.

The bee combs are divided into larvae combs, pollen combs and honey combs, which are clearly distinguished. Even a layman like Xu Guangfu can tell them apart at a glance.

He pointed at the golden honeycomb that was as big as three or four palms, and asked with surprise, "This should be honey, right?"

"That's right!"

Li Guoqiang smiled slightly, nodded, and replied: "This is the freshly produced honey."

After saying that, he reached in, squeezed out some honey with a little force, and then handed it to Xu Guangfu, indicating that he could taste it.

Seeing this, Xu Guangfu didn't hesitate to wipe it with his finger, and his eyes lit up instantly.

"Hmm! Not bad, this honey is sweet and fragrant. I should be able to sell it for a good price in the future."

Hearing this, Li Guoqiang immediately nodded and agreed: "In my opinion, these honeys are basically of excellent quality. Selling them for five or six yuan per pound is like playing."

"If I can find a good buyer, I might be able to sell it at a higher price!"

"so"

Xu Guangfu pondered for a moment, then fixed his eyes on the large field of beehives in front of him, and then said excitedly: "If it is true as you said before, that a hive of bees can produce 50 kilograms of honey, then wouldn't we be able to earn more than 20,000 yuan this year?"

"That's right!"

Li Guoqiang was delighted, then nodded seriously and said, "I estimate it's about this amount."

"When the money is divided equally, everyone in our village will get an extra 100 yuan, which is equivalent to three months' salary for an ordinary worker in the city."

"it is good!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Guangfu couldn't help but cheer loudly.

In fact, if he had not seen with his own eyes that there was actually honey coming out of the beehive, he probably would not have believed that making money could be so easy.

In this era when a pound of meat only costs 60 or 70 cents, what does more than 20,000 yuan mean?
All they need to pay is a little labor and a little space.

"Uncle Fu!"

Seeing Xu Guangfu so excited, Li Guoqiang had to pour a basin of cold water on him to cool him down for safety reasons. "Don't be too happy too soon. There is still more than half a year before the autumn honey harvest. No one can predict what will happen."

"If there is a disease or a reduction in nectar sources, the honey production will definitely be greatly affected."

"If you're not careful, you might end up with nothing."

"This"

Hearing this, the smile on Xu Guangfu's face froze immediately, and then he asked doubtfully, "Is it as mysterious as you say?"

"How not?"

Li Guoqiang straightened his expression, and then said seriously: "Think about it! If raising bees is really that easy to make money, then why do people still go to farm?"

"That"

Xu Guangfu's heart sank, and he quickly asked: "Then what should we do?"

"Don't worry!"

Li Guoqiang smiled slightly, then said softly: "I have already thought of some solutions to these problems, and basically I can guarantee the smooth completion of the production plan."

What this means is that he can only ensure the completion of the production plan, thereby lowering Xu Guangfu's psychological expectations and avoiding falling into a passive situation.

After hearing Li Guoqiang's assurance, Xu Guangfu felt slightly relieved. He no longer mentioned the issue of production and turned his attention back to the beehives.

(End of this chapter)