Reborn farmhouse busy farming

Chapter 56
The most important thing to grow rice is the seedling field. Originally, the temperature in the north is low, and the weather in March is even more erratic and erratic, which is very unfavorable for the germination and growth of the seed. The next year's harvest is not guaranteed.

Her family has ten acres of paddy fields, at least one subfield is enough for seedlings. Luo Tian was worried that the temperature would fluctuate and affect the germination rate, so he opened half a subfield, making a total of one and a half subfields of rice seedlings.Their family is probably the only one in the entire Qiushui Town that grows rice. Unlike corn, if there are a few seedlings missing, you can find a few seedlings wherever you go. Half of the seedlings are gone, and there is no place to buy them even if you pay.

The seedling field is chosen to be near the pond. First, it needs to be plowed deeply with a plow, and then the soil should be finely crushed with a harrow.Paddy fields are no better than dry land. The most important thing is to ensure that the surface of the field is flat, and after deep plowing and harrowing the field, it is necessary to carefully dig it again.

These are all labor-intensive tasks, and of course Luo Baisu and Fang have to do them. Neither of them has planted paddy fields before, so they are very unaccustomed to it. It took two days to plow and rake the fields for one and a half seedling fields. over.

Luo Tian took a look at the finished paddy fields, and felt that they were fairly flat. After all, the seedling fields are not big, so even for a complete novice, it's not too difficult to set them up.

Fang and Luo Baisu soaked in the water for two days, and managed to make the seedling field look good, thinking that they could finally sow seeds and raise seedlings, but Luo Tiandu took two of his own poles and taught Luo Each of Bai Su and Fang took one end, one ridge after another, and flattened the field from one end of the field to the other until the field was completely bare. This was truly completed.

Luo Tiandu soaked the seed grains with lime water once, removed the grains, and left only the plump and strong seeds, which were evenly scattered in the seedling field. After sowing, it all depended on the weather.There is no plastic here, and we can't build a greenhouse. We can only pray that God will open his eyes and the weather will continue to be warm, so that the seeds can germinate smoothly.

At this time, the snow in the mountains melted slowly, and the quiet stream in the winter began to regain its former vitality. The clear stream was flowing, passing by the Luojia Pond, where it formed a gentle vortex, and then Continue to meander forward.

Luo Tiandu asked Luo Baisu to open a small opening on the outside of the pond, filled a pond full of water, and let his own paddy field filled with water, so that the field could be plowed after two days of soaking up.

The water intake in the paddy field is also very particular. If the water is too deep, it will not be easy to plow the field; if it is too little, the field will not be able to be plowed.

The paddy fields soaked in this way for several days can finally be cultivated.

Her family is the only one in the village who has opened a paddy field to grow rice. The rest of the villagers have already finished their work, and there are many idle cattle.

Luo Tian didn't want Luo Baisu to use his shoulders to pull the plow, so that his shoulders were bloody and bloody, so he asked the Fang family to pay, and rented the cattle from Lizheng's family to plow the field.

The villagers are very curious about his family's opening of the paddy field. You must know that the Northland has always grown wheat and rarely opened paddy fields. Most of them are jokes at the moment. They think that Luo Dalang's family's opening of the paddy field is so big this time. After losing his wife and losing his army, let alone people suffer, it would be a big joke that there would be no harvest in the fields.

Only Changhui's family, because Luo Baisu taught little Changhui to know the word Dong for a whole year, and sent it to the school in the town in the spring. Hui is very appreciative, and has already registered his name. He only said that if Changhui can be as good as he is now, with a solid foundation, in two years, when he is older, can sit still, and can get out of school and return home alone, he will be sent directly to the school. Come.Because of this, Changhui's family was very grateful to Luo Baisu's affection, and thought about sending Changhui over to learn calligraphy after the farming slack, so they offered to help.His family fed a yellow ox, and even brought the ox over.

Changhui Niang is close to the Fang family, and knows the family background of Luo Baisu's family even more. It has been less than half a year since the Fang family separated, and they are both land buyers and tallow oil extractors. Changhui Niang is very convinced of their family.This time the Luo family is going to open paddy fields again, no matter how the villagers make jokes, Chang Hui Niang faintly believes it.Rice is expensive and the yield is high. Changhui Niang thought, if the Luo family really grows rice, their family will follow suit next year, and the child's father will learn to grow rice from Luo Baisu this year. It's no big deal, it's just a few more days of hard work. Farmers are afraid that the gods will be angry and the harvest in the field will be bad, so who would be afraid of hard work and cherish those two efforts?

Both Changhui's father and Luo Baisu were good at farming, but it was the first time for a big girl to get on a sedan chair to plow the paddy fields.

It is good to plow the field, just drive the oxen, hold the plow, turn it over and over, and turn the soil deeper in the field. If the plowing is not even, just plow it twice more.

When raking the fields, both of them were novices, and they were full of tricks.

Harrowing is mainly to crush the plowed mud, and press the grass and other fields into the crushed mud to fertilize the field.When raking the field, people need to stand on the raking surface to crush the broken mud in the field with human gravity.Raking the field is easy to say, standing on the rake, you only need to drive the cattle, but for novices like Luo Baisu and Changhui's father, it is not easy to stand on the rake and drive the cattle freely. It's not that simple. Although this job doesn't require much effort, it requires the coordination of hands, feet, and even the brain.

Although Luo Baisu had done this job when he was opening the seedling field, raking more than one point of land was not the same concept as raking a field of ten acres. Raking, Fang Shi is behind to support, a few more times will be enough.This is actually the first time for him to really rake a large area of ​​paddy fields. It is not easy just to pay attention to making himself stand firm on the twisting rake, instead of just focusing on exerting force on his feet and pushing his hands together. Stand firmly on the rake surface with your feet, but forget to drive the cattle in the right direction, just focus on watching the cattle, but don't pay attention to your feet, and fall off the rake surface from time to time.

The field was filled with water, and the fall was wet.The two of them went to change their clothes in front of their heads. Later, they fell more often, and there were not so many clean clothes at home to change, so they simply wore wet clothes to work.

In March, even though it was spring, it was still a little cold, wrapped in wet clothes, and the wind blowing, it was extraordinarily cool.

Fortunately, both of them are veterans of farming. After falling twice, they quickly mastered the tricks and raked the fields in a decent way. Acres of paddy fields were raked.

After the field has been raked, it is time to plow the field.The essence of the paddy field is to comb the mud to make the surface of the paddy field more smooth.This step is very important. If the field is not well grown, it will directly affect the rice harvest.When Luo Baisu and Changhui's father were in the field, Luo Tian was there to guide them almost the whole time.

Comparing the two, it was Sai Tianhua who did the most work.

After the field is finished, take a wide and long wooden or bamboo board, smooth the field once, and then just wait for the transplanting of rice seedlings.

When planting rice seedlings, even Chang Hui Niang came over to help.

Originally, among the group of people, Luo Tiandu's rice planting skills should be the best, but she is too small, and the paddy field is deep. When she got out of the field, almost half of her body was sunk in the field. It was difficult, so I had to help cook at home.

By the time Luo's paddy fields were fully planted with seedlings, it was already mid-April.

Changhui's family helped Luo's family plow and harrow with their cattle, and even helped to plant the seedlings. They worked hard for more than half a month, and they didn't need a penny.Now that the paddy fields have been planted, Mrs. Fang wants to cook a good meal, treat Changhui's family to a meal, and thank his family for their help.

The so-called good food is nothing more than going to the butcher shop to weigh a catty of fresh meat and two pork bones, and the hunters in the village shot two wild geese. Fang was cruel and bought one.

Minced fresh meat, mixed with fresh shepherd's purse, made a pot of dumplings, boiled broth with big pig bones, washed and plucked the wild geese and stewed them, mixed a little cornmeal with white flour, mixed well, and fried for a while. The pot of tortillas was used to entertain Changhui's family. Not only Changhui's father who worked, but also Changhui's mother and little Changhui were invited.

Although it is said that there is plenty of oil and water during the Chinese New Year, neither of the two families has slaughtered pigs, and they are reluctant to spend money to weigh too much meat. When the spring begins, the cured meat at home has long been eaten, and when it catches up with the spring plowing, they are so busy that they don’t even have time to eat and rest. No, there is no time to cook seriously, so everyone is looking forward to Fang's meal.

Changhui's father even brought little Changhui over early, and chatted with Luo Baisu in the room, and Changhui's mother was not idle, helping Fang's fire.

The earthen stove that Fang built last year, together with the shed built outside, had been crushed by a heavy snowfall during the Chinese New Year, and now a new one has been built.

Changhui's mother looked at this as inconvenient, and was talking about when to ask Changhui and his third uncle to come over and help build a kitchen. Although Fang was a little moved, but thinking that the money at hand was getting less and less, she still refused. .

Her family is not comparable to others. Even if the rice is planted this season, it will take several months until the crops are harvested, but her family has already eaten almost all the grain. , and to maintain the expenses of the family, it is really not enough.

She originally planned to wait until the spring plowing was over, and the family had no other income, and she planned to ask the third uncle to find a way to help others do some work to earn some money.Luo Baisu has the status of a scholar, so it is not easy for him to be a small worker, but she is fine.

During the conversation, the rice was cooked. Originally, he also called Old Man Luo, but Old Man Luo refused to come no matter what, so Fang had no choice but to fill a bowl of each dish and asked Luo Tian to take it.The rest of my family and Changhui's family of three ate very sweetly.

After the rice was planted, there was no space on either side of the ridge or the edge of the pond. Mung beans, soybeans, red beans, and sesame seeds were planted wherever possible. All the crops suitable for this season were planted, and the lowland that no one wanted was a treasure land. Generally, the development is incisively and vividly, and there is really no waste of space.

(End of this chapter)