Good farming at the foot of Changbai Mountain

Chapter 26 Planting Ginseng
On the ninth day of the lunar new year, Zhixin and the old man went up to the mountain to plant sticks. Since Wen Han and Wen Cheng had all gone back to school, Mrs. Xue went up the mountain with Jing Han.Jinghan sat on the bullock cart, looking at the scenery on the side of the road.It's almost winter, and the whole mountain forest is full of bare trees, only some pine trees are still a little green.The mountains are undulating and continuous, and there are mountains everywhere.

They walked westward all the way, and after walking for less than an hour, they arrived at Shendi.The ginseng land is so large that the whole village grows ginseng here, and it is not a year, but several years of planting. It seems that there must be six or seven thousand feet of sticks.

After removing the ginseng seeds from the bullock cart, Zhixin and the old man carried them to their ginseng field.Xue Shi and Jing Han are holding a shovel and Zhizi in the back. This Zhizi is a tool for planting ginseng, which can make each row of ginseng have the same distance, that is, the row spacing is the same.This thing is made of wood, a wooden square about four and a half feet, only one and a half inches thick, two small wooden squares six to eight inches long are nailed on both ends, this is the row spacing of ginseng, and there is a rectangle in the middle A square plate with ginseng seeds can be placed inside.

Put all the things on Shenji's head, and then Zhixin started to use the three-toothed ginseng to flatten the soil.Because the turned ginseng soil is the kind of sharp big ridge, the soil must be flattened.Zhixin first leveled out the ginseng soil that was about two or three feet long, and then he and the old man started planting ginseng.

This kind of ginseng planting is to be planted backwards, that is, to open a small ditch with a shovel directly on the head of the ridge, put the ginseng seeds in front of the ditch, and then put the ginseng seeds into the ditch.Of course, put the reed head up and the beard down, and put it in obliquely.In this ditch, it is enough to place twelve seeds for the first road, fourteen for the second road, and sixteen for the third road. After this trip is completed, it is called a mile.Then pick up soil from behind and bury the small ditch in front.At this time, press the small wooden squares at both ends of the Zhizi hard into the ground, and then drag it back according to the mark, so as to ensure that the distance of every centimeter is the same.Put the seeds in the square plate, so that you can take it from the square plate when you use it, which is more convenient.

Jinghan helped pass the seeds, that is, put the seeds on the square plate, while Xue went to spread the remaining ginseng soil.In this way, everyone divides the work and cooperates, and the work is quite fast.At noon, Mrs. Xue brought out the dry food, and everyone ate the dry food and drank some water, and that was all. "Mom, why don't we go to the ginseng place to eat? Let him help to heat up the rice." In the previous life, usually the person who brought the rice would ask the ginseng to help heat it up. to eat.Some ginseng people are better, and they will boil some hot water for everyone to drink.

Mrs. Xue looked at Jinghan, "Who did you hear that the ginseng spectators would help cook the meals? These ginseng spectators are all bachelors, and they can't manage it themselves. How can they care about us? This old Liu , getting drunk every day, so he won't work for us in vain."

After hearing this, Jinghan realized that it was not a family looking at ginseng on the mountain, but looking for some old bachelors in the village, who had no work to do, so they asked them to come and see ginseng.Something seemed to flash through Jing Han's mind, but she didn't catch it. Forget it, let's work first and think about it later.

After eating and resting for a while, everyone started working again.Today is the day when the village has discussed and planted ginseng together, so people from the village can be seen everywhere.Everyone met, said hello, and then went back to work with their heads down.

Before Shen Shi, they planted all the fifteen-foot sticks, and some of the picked seeds were left, when they heard someone shouting not far away, "Who's plant is left, I still have shortcomings. , give it to me, go back and give the money." It was Er Gouzi's father, his family name was Li.

Zhixin shouted, "Brother Li, I have this, come and get it."

The man rushed over quickly, "Brother Xu, your family's plantings this year are pretty good, and there are still three ways left, so they won't grow big when the hammer is thrown?"

Zhixin smiled, "Hurry up and take it back and plant it, or it will be dark if you talk nonsense."

The man ran to the ginseng shop and brought a steelyard, weighed the ginseng seeds, and they weighed five catties in total. "Brother Xu, this is five catties. Let's stick to the old price, two hundred Wen per catty. I'll give you silver when I go back." Then he took the ginseng seeds away.

Jing Han listened, this ginseng seed is really cheap, only two hundred coins a catty.One catty of ginseng seeds can grow five or six catties of ginseng, and some can grow seven or eight catties, depending on the quality of the soil.Do the math, this ginseng seed is very cheap.However, it is also understandable that every family actually has ginseng seeds. In general, if someone has leftovers, they will just go home and steam them in the sun, waiting to be dried and sold.The dried ginseng seeds are very insignificant, and it is not bad if five catties can do one catty. After doing the calculations like this, I feel balanced in my heart.

Zhixin and Mrs. Xue packed up all the tools, and then the family went to the ox cart and put the things away. Zhixin drove the ox cart to the house.It was already the beginning of the unitary hour when they got home, and Mrs. Chen had already cooked the meal, and was waiting for them to come back to eat.

The ox cart entered the courtyard, Zhixin and Xue put all the tools back into the barn, Jinghan went in to wash his hands, and the old man also went in to rest and smoke.Chen Shi and Jing Han Huixin brought all the food to the table, "Hurry up and wash your hands and eat, it's been a tiring day, finish eating early and rest." Chen Shi meant the old man.

Just as the old man finished smoking his bag of cigarettes, he stood up and went out to wash his hands. When the old man came back, everyone sat at the table and began to eat.

"Jinghan, are you tired from working today?" Mrs. Chen picked out a piece of meat and put it in Jinghan's bowl.This old lady loves her grandchildren, unlike other people who keep a straight face all day when they are old, as if they owe her everything.

Jinghan hurriedly said: "Grandma, you should eat. I'm not tired. This kind of work is nothing. I run around all day long, and I don't feel tired at all."

Chen looked at her little granddaughter, this child has been wild since she was a child, and she dared not go up and down the mountain.Now that I'm older, I'm still the same, but I'm very diligent, rowing and pulling things at home all day. "There's nothing to do these days. Let your mother take you to the town to buy some cloth and cotton. It's time to make cotton clothes for winter. Shall I make new clothes for a few children this year, especially Jinghan? I always pick up Wenhan’s. The girl is getting older, she must wear something fresh, and she always wears boy’s clothes. I don’t know, I thought there was an extra kid in our family. This year, Jinghan and the others brought back a lot of things. Today, someone Come and collect it, I’ll sell it. Not to mention, it’s really sold for a lot of money. Well, this is ten taels of silver for selling things. It’s enough to make clothes for the children. If you have money, don’t feel wronged Children. As the children grow up, our family's life will gradually get better." Mrs. Chen took out a few pieces of silver and gave them to Mrs. Xue.

Mrs. Xue took the money, "Okay, then I will go to the town to buy cloth and cotton in the next two days, and when the time comes, it's time to make cotton clothes and so on." The six children in the family have to do it together. Which can not be biased.Wencheng and Wenchang cannot be left behind.

Zhixin looked at the old man, "Father, since it hasn't snowed these few days, I'll go pick up some pillars first. If the weather is good, I'll smash the pillars on, so that next spring can save some trouble."

The old man nodded, "Okay, just do what you see. You have been doing this for so many years, and you know everything. You don't need to ask me about these things in the future, just look at the arrangements." No matter what kind of job this boss does, he will discuss it with the old man. For a moment, ask the old man for his opinion.

Mrs. Chen suddenly remembered Zhiming's words, "Boss, take some time these two days to go to the county seat and take the family's stick to the pharmacy of the third child. The third brother has agreed with the shopkeeper of the pharmacy. The selling price is [-]% higher, so you can sell more six or seven taels of silver, and you can do whatever you want with it.”

"Hey, mother, then I'll go to the county first. It doesn't matter if the pillar is two days late." Buying ginseng is a big deal, if you go late, it will be bad for others to accept it.

Everyone had dinner and went to bed early.Although Jinghan said she was not tired, she was also a little lazy, and fell asleep after lying on the kang.

The next day, Zhixin took the family's more than 40 kilograms of dry goods to the county town, while Xue took Jinghan to the town.It took half an hour to get from the village to the town. Jinghan saw that there were a lot more people selling things in the town than in spring, usually selling cabbage and potatoes.Xue Shi led Jing Han to a shop selling fabrics, where there were all kinds of fabrics, including cotton and satin.

When the waiter saw Xue's mother and daughter, he hurried up to greet her, "Sister-in-law, I want to buy some fabrics to make winter clothes. Come and have a look. There are new fabrics here. The colors are vivid and the fabrics are thick. You can't wear them." Yes. What our farmers want is a durable one, doesn’t it?” The waiter led Xue’s mother and daughter to the cotton cloth and showed them the cotton cloth.

Listening to this guy's words, Jing Han admired him very much. When you buy something, you have to see who sells it. If you can't come to someone, let them buy expensive ones. The key is to be applicable.The types of cloth that the buddy introduced are thick enough, and they are really good for making cotton-padded clothes, but the price is a little bit expensive.

Xue looked at the cloth, "Brother, what you said is good, but it's a bit expensive, can it be cheaper?"

"Sister-in-law, you get what you pay for. Our shop is also a time-honored brand. We never dare to deliberately raise the price. These are real prices, and they can't be cheap. If my sister-in-law thinks these are expensive, I still have some cloth from last year." , It’s been a year, the color is not so fresh, it’s okay for farmers to wear it for work.” The man said, and took out several bolts of cloth from the counter.

(End of this chapter)