Good farming at the foot of Changbai Mountain

Chapter 18 Autumn Harvest
Time passed quickly, and it was autumn in a blink of an eye.In August, it is the season of autumn harvest.Wen Cheng and Wen Han finally got through the days of fighting with people every day. With the busy autumn, who has time to talk about Wei Shi's shit?Too busy to collect things at home.

Zhixiang had already gone to Zhoucheng, he was going to join Qiu Wei, and he was going with some classmates.Mrs. Chen took 30 taels of silver from her home and gave it to Zhixiang, and Mrs. Xue also took [-] taels.

Zhixin and the old man led the boys in the family to the field. The school in the village was on holiday at this time, and the students naturally went home to help the family harvest.Jing Han was restless, so naturally she followed suit.So, Mrs. Chen led Jingya and Huixin to cook at home, and even Wenxuan and Wenchang went to the farm for the rest.

Autumn is definitely a season of joy and sorrow.The joy is that one year's efforts have paid off. Looking at the grain in the field, everyone's face is full of smiles.What worries me is that there is endless work to do every day, and I am too tired to straighten up every day.

The Xu family's land was small, only about ten acres, and it took only a few days to harvest all of them.It happened that the people in the village discussed the date and went to the ginseng field to get ginseng.The rule here is that everyone discusses a good day together, goes to the market together to pick up the sticks that should be made, and then sell what should be processed and sold.

The people in the village made a plan to go to Shenchang to pick up ginseng on August [-]th. Zhixin and Mr. Xu led Xue Shi, Wen Han and Wen Cheng to Shendi together.Xu's family didn't grow much ginseng. This year, there are [-] feet of clubs to plant, and these people can finish it in one day.On the day of the ginseng incident, the county guards will also come to visit the venue. Every household must hand in the ginseng that should be handed in, and the rest will be their own.

Here, the quantity to be handed in is generally determined according to the number of feet of ginseng to be used each year. For example, if the Xu family wants to use [-] feet of ginseng this year, they must hand in the fresh ginseng at the rate of four catties per foot. .However, not all of the twenty feet are used for planting ginseng. Generally, four or five feet are reserved for planting ginseng seeds.The ginseng soil is all exchanged with ginseng. After a crop is used, saplings must be planted, not just leave it alone after it is used up.

According to this method of handing in, every household has to hand in 180 to [-] catties of ginseng, which is not a small number.This year, the output of ginseng is not high, and a foot of ginseng is only about sixteen or seventeen catties.Even if the Xu family's ginseng grows well this year, it is fifteen feet long, which means it can produce [-] to [-] catties, and [-] catties will be handed over, leaving less than [-] catties.

At night, Zhixin and the others returned home and brought two sacks of ginseng into the house.This year's production is not bad, and everyone has a smile on their faces.Mrs. Chen and the others had already prepared the meals, and when they saw the people who had gone up the mountain came back, they hurriedly asked them to wash their hands and then eat.

On the day of the autumn harvest, the food is still good, and there is some meat in every dish.Everyone hastened to eat, we are very tired today.

"Old lady, tomorrow you will lead the eldest daughter-in-law, and there are a few girls who will clean the sticks at home. We will still make red goods this year, and red goods are worth more." The old man arranged the work while eating.The red goods mentioned by the old man is a processing method of ginseng, which is to steam the ginseng in water for an hour and a half, and then take it out to dry. The processed ginseng is a kind of red, so it is called red goods.

"Success, I've been working for so many years, and you still need to order this matter?" Mrs. Chen nodded in agreement.

After dinner, Mrs. Chen and Mrs. Xue poured out a sack of ginseng, put it in a large water tank, and soaked it with water.In this way, the soil on the ginseng is easier to brush off.After soaking in ginseng, both mother-in-law and daughter-in-law went to bed quickly.

The next morning, after breakfast, Zhixin and the old man left again. They went up the mountain to get out this year's ginseng soil.The ginseng soil has been dug up and broken up with a three-toothed razor. This time, we need to turn over the ginseng soil again with a shovel to make a large sharp ridge, so that we can wait to plant ginseng in it.

Mrs. Chen led Mrs. Xue, Huixin and Jingya, all brushing ginseng there.There is no problem with being quiet, elegant and intelligent. Naturally, water is used to brush ginseng, but there is no need to worry about cracked hands.Because ginseng has a special effect, it is better for the skin, so brushing ginseng will not make your hands chapped.

Mrs. Chen took some ginseng out of the big vat, put it in several big basins, filled the basins with water, and then each of them had a brush to brush off the soil on the ginseng.Pay attention when brushing ginseng, and try not to drop the beards on the ginseng.Especially under the reed head, on the neck of ginseng, there are often some big and thick ginseng beards, which are also called beards.This one is the easiest to fall off, and if it falls off, it can only be sold as beards. Of course, the price is not as high as buying it from ginseng.

Jing Han didn't brush ginseng with her, but went up the mountain with Wen Han and the others.At this time, it is the time when there are the most good things on the mountain.Nuts such as pine cones, hazelnuts, and walnuts, as well as fruits such as grapes, schisandra, and jujubes, all ripen at this time.In addition, there are hazel mills, winter mushrooms, etc., which also come out at this time.Autumn is a harvest season.

The children are like a group of little squirrels, rushing to pull things home.Wen Han and the others would draw whatever they encountered into the back basket. The place they came to today had a lot of pine trees, and the tall red pine trees were covered with yellow pine cones.Wen Han climbed up the tree, holding a big pole in his hand, and when he saw a pine cone, he stabbed it down with the pole, and then Jinghan and the others picked it up from the ground.Wen Cheng also wanted to climb the tree, but Wen Han refused.Wen Cheng is only nine years old this year, how dare he let him climb a tree?
This pine cone is very big, and it didn't take long to fill a back basket. Fortunately, everyone came here with a back basket. "Brother, come down, our baskets are full." Jing Han shouted from below.

When Wen Han heard it, he got down from the tree. He was as light as a monkey.No matter which child in the countryside can climb a tree, even Jing Han can climb a tree, but Wen Han is determined not to allow Jing Han to climb a tree.Wen Han got down from the tree and picked up the biggest basket on his back, "Let's go, let's go home first. Send these back and then come out." As he spoke, he led his younger siblings home.

Wencheng and Jinghan's baskets are smaller than Wenhan's, while Wenxuan's and Wenchang's are even smaller. These are all made up by the old man and Zhixin when they have nothing to do.Peasants generally make things by themselves. Although they are not too beautiful, they can be used as long as they can be used.

When the children arrived home, they dumped the contents of the baskets on the ground, and then hurried out again.At this time, not only do you have to fight with people, but you also have to fight with the sky. It doesn't necessarily mean that the sky will change one day, and you will not be able to go up the mountain at that time.Returning to the place just now, Wen Han climbed up the tree again.The price of the pine nuts is very high, making more money by making pine cones than doing other things. Of course, we have to get the pine cones home first.

This time, everyone picked up another basket of pine cones. It was getting late, and it was time to go home for lunch.So Wenhan jumped down from the tree, and everyone went home with baskets on their backs.

At home, Mrs. Chen and the others also brushed a lot of ginseng, and Mrs. Xue took the time to cook. When the children came back, everyone stopped and went to eat.

"Grandma, there are a lot of pine cones this year. We have been making pine cones these days." Wen Han said to Chen Shi during the meal.

"Well, last year pine nuts were sold for [-] yuan a catty, which is really a good price. You can get more this year, but you must be careful, you know? Climbing trees is not fun, so be careful." Chen After hearing this, Shi hurriedly exhorted a few words.

"Hey, don't worry grandma, I will be careful." Wen Han nodded in agreement.

After lunch, the children didn't bother to rest, and left again with their baskets on their backs.Looking at the backs of the children, Mrs. Chen sighed, "They are all good children. They are all so young, so they know how to work. There is no one who is tired. That little girl Jinghan is a tomboy. Being behind Wen Han, I don't feel too tired and flustered." Speaking of Jing Han, Mrs. Chen really had no choice but to shake her head. "Meilin, this Jinghan is growing up slowly. If there is nothing wrong in winter, I have to teach her how to sew. You can't be like a tomboy, running around all day long, or what will you do in the future?"

Hearing what her mother-in-law said, Mrs. Xue was also a little helpless, "This Jinghan has been dishonest since she was a child. A while ago, she said that she would learn needlework from me, but she didn't expect that it was just three days of freshness. After that freshness, she ran away. It’s gone. Anyway, she’s still young, so it’s not too late to teach her well this winter.”

The ladies were talking, but their hands were not idle. They vigorously brushed off all the dirt on the ginseng, revealing the white and fat ginseng inside. "Mother, this year's mallets are growing really well. Do you think this tree should be more than two ounces? If everyone thinks about it, then one foot can't weigh more than thirty catties?"

"You are beautiful. Where can there be such a good thing? Now if you can lift 70 catties from a foot, it is very good." Chen said with a smile. "This year's production is good. Calculated based on four catties of fresh goods and one catty of dry goods, we can produce about forty catties of dry goods this year. This is really a lot. It can sell for six to seventy taels of silver. Our family points to these every year. Live on money. This year Zhixiang will go to participate in Qiuwei. If he can win, he will go to participate in Chunwei next year. Doctor Tao didn’t make it, and after a while he’s busy, he still has to make arrangements for Huixin’s marriage. If it can be done, it will cost a lot of money. In this way, this little money is really not enough.” Living at home , All pointing at this little money, it really is not enough to do anything.

"Mother, you don't have to worry too much. Whether it's Zhixiang taking the imperial examination or Huixin getting married, we won't care. When the winter is all right, let Zhixin go to the town to see what work he can do. At least he can do it." Earn some money and come back." Xue hurriedly persuaded her mother-in-law.

(End of this chapter)