Chapter 594 Asking for Straw
Seeing Zhang An’s family still whisking the rice, Zhang Jianwen was too embarrassed to stand and chat, so he walked over and picked up the rice to whisk together.
Even though Zhang An and Zhang Jianguo kept saying no, Zhang Jianwen still insisted on helping.
"Zhang An, I remember last year, you didn't seem to need much of the grain and grass in your fields. In the end, they were all burned into grass and wood ash to fertilize the fields."
While whisking the millet, Zhang Jianwen suddenly Talk to Zhang An.
"Yes, uncle, my family has to harvest a lot of rice a year, and there is a lot of bran alone. There are also several acres of ryegrass planted in the nest over there, and we have prepared it before winter. There is a lot of green storage, so the grain and grass are not used much. If they are piled in the field, they will take up several nests of grain space. They will be directly burned into grass and wood ash to fertilize the field. "
Zhang An is not sure why Zhang Jianwen did it. Asked about this, he still nodded and answered.
"What about this year's ones? Are they no longer needed?"
When Zhang Jianwen heard Zhang An's words, his eyes suddenly lit up and he asked quickly.
“It’s about the same this year. At most, it’s cold weather. Take some back to cushion the circle.”
Winter is very cold. Although the animals have thick fur to protect them from the cold, Zhang An is still worried that they will be frozen, so he will put a layer of straw for them in the pen.
"Then don't burn the grain and grass in your house. I will get it back and feed it to the deer. Now there are more than 20 deer, large and small, in the village. They can't stand eating corn alone. We need to find some grain and grass to feed together.”
Hearing Zhang An say that their family doesn’t need grain and grass, Zhang Jianwen asked for the grain and grass.
Grain and grass these days are a treasure. It is not a big deal in spring, summer and autumn. You can cut the grass everywhere and feed the livestock. But in winter, this grain and grass can be regarded as the ration for every household to feed cattle and horses.
Although they are not doing well, over a few months in the winter, they can save a lot of food for farmers who raise livestock.
In addition, if the grain and grass are put into the pen, the livestock will not be able to finish it, and it can also be recombined into grass manure, which is the best base fertilizer for planting crops in the coming year.
Of course, it can also be used to make beds or many other uses.
So now the status of grain and straw in rural areas is not low at all. No matter whose family they are, when harvesting rice, they will tie up all their own grain and straw, and then pile it into haystacks, and then pick it back in winter. Feeding livestock at home.
Some people raise a lot of livestock and are afraid that they will not have enough grain and grass, so they even use the corn stalks in the field.
Take it home and chop it into pieces with a guillotine. The animals all like it very much.
But Zhang An's family is different. Although their family raises a lot of livestock, they usually store more green storage and rice bran, and whether it is green storage or chicken blood rice bran, they are extremely nutritious for the livestock.
Compared with those, this grain and grass is a bit tasteless to their livestock.
So the Zhang An family has not made much use of the grain and grass in the fields in the past few years. Basically, in the coming year, all of it is burned into grass and wood ash and used to fertilize the fields.
Nowadays, there are so many deer in the village. Although winter only lasts for a few months, he really feels bad eating corn every day.
It happened that no one came to the deer park to see the deer in winter, and those sika deer did not need to be specially fattened. Zhang Jianwen thought about saving the flowers in the province, and let them feed them with grain, grass and corn noodles like other livestock.
After all, even the cattle and horses that have to plow the fields in the coming year will eat cereal grass mixed with corn noodles in winter. These deer don't have to work, so they can naturally eat it.
But even with this grain and grass, their family alone would definitely not be able to feed Luyuan for a whole winter, and they would have to find other families to get some.
But although every family in the village has grain and grass, almost everyone has livestock, so it is not easy for him to ask for it.
At this time, he remembered that before plowing the fields, more than ten piles of haystacks were burned in Zhang An's field, so he came directly to Zhang An to ask.
Especially the grain straw from Zhang An's family is from chicken blood rice, which is much better than the grain straw from ordinary rice.
"Hey, what a big deal this is. Uncle, just come and pull it out when the time comes. I will burn it if you put it here."
Seeing that Zhang Jianwen wanted these grains and grass, Zhang An was very generous. So I gave him all my grain and grass. Since my family had no use for it, it would be a pity to burn it.
Seeing the old uncle making a serious trip for these grains and grass, Zhang An had to sigh. Times are different, and the status of items is different.
You must know that in the later generations when mechanization was widespread, this straw was the straw that no one wanted. It could not be burned, and it would be annoying to leave it alone. It was not as valued by everyone as it is now.
"That's what you want. I won't take Qian's grain and grass for free. When the deer dung comes next year, you can go directly to fertilize the fields."
When Zhang Jianwen heard that Zhang An gave away all the grain and grass. I was very happy when I gave it to myself, and it could save a lot of food.
Under this joy, some reciprocated and gave Zhang An all the deer dung in the Lu Park.
“You don’t need it, uncle, we have enough dung at home. Don’t just give this deer dung to anyone. It will be a good thing after it is soaked, not as good as those who spend money. Fertilizer and frying are not very effective. If you put them in the fields, the crops will be much better. If the news is released, someone will definitely be willing to spend money to buy it. Don't be embarrassed, uncle."
Listen. When Zhang Jianwen arrived and wanted to give the deer dung from Lu Park to his family, Zhang An immediately felt dumbfounded and quickly rejected the uncle's kindness.
Because their manure is really enough. The more farmyard manure, the better. If it is too much, it will have side effects.
Moreover, they already have deer dung at home, as well as pig dung, sheep dung, horse dung, chicken, duck and goose dung, etc.
I usually have more than I can use, and I have some left over to share with my two uncles.
But he also gave Zhang Jianwen an idea, which was to sell the deer dung in Lu Park to other people in the village.
“To sell it? Will anyone really buy it?”
Zhang Jianwen was not particularly surprised by this, because when they were young, no one had enough farmyard fertilizer.
At that time, there was a precedent for selling this thing in the city, but many rural people could not afford it. Most of them carried baskets on their backs and went to pick up cow and horse feces on the road.
However, the experience of picking up excrement only ended with Zhang An and his generation. Since Zhang An was the only son in the family, Wang Fang was not willing to let him do it, so he did not have the experience in this area. experience.
"Don't worry, uncle, retting deer dung is very effective. Don't forget how many people in our village are breeding macaques."
If it is just a simple breeding Some people may not be willing to spend money on crops.
But when it comes to kiwi fruit, those in the village may not be vying to buy it.
After all, the kiwis in Changqing Village are just chickens and hens that lay eggs. Many families have made a lot of money relying on kiwis.
In this case, they will naturally hope that the kiwi fruit will grow as long as possible.
The yield of the kiwi fruits grown by Uncle Zhang An’s family earlier was higher than that of other families.
The reason for this is the use of deer dung and sheep dung from Zhang An’s family.
Many villagers also came to Zhang An’s house to inquire and wanted to buy some. However, Zhang An’s house only had enough sheep dung and deer dung that they could not use up, and they could not supply it to several companies. They only had enough to distribute among them. Two uncles' house.
And Zhang An didn’t want to bother with the little money, so he refused.
"This seems to be something we can do. You young people have a bright mind."
Things that were of little use at first can now be sold for money, and Zhang Jianwen is even more happy.
“But uncle, deer dung is just like sheep dung. It needs to be well retting and fermented, otherwise it will have the opposite effect.”
Seeing Zhang Jianwen’s reaction to this matter Although his heart was moved, Zhang An still gave a special reminder to avoid causing undue losses to the villagers in the end.
"Don't worry, your uncle knows this. After all, I have been farming all my life." Zhang Jianwen told Zhang An not to worry. Out-and-out farmers like them know the common sense of retting better than anyone else.
After all, in the past, if a farmer's manure was not soaked well and the crops in the field were burned, it would not only be as simple as a family going hungry, but also being unable to pay the public food.
It didn’t take long for the rice to be harvested in the field.
In fact, there wasn’t much left, and Zhang An and the others wouldn’t need much time to solve it themselves.
With the addition of Zhang Jianwen later, the speed became even faster.
"Jianguo, don't bother to tie up these grains and grasses. I will call for people to tie them up when the time comes."
After finishing the millet, Zhang Jianwen saw that Zhang Jianguo was going to tie up the grains and grasses. , let his family not have to spend this effort now, and he will call someone to come over and stab him when the time comes.
After all, he got so much grain and grass for nothing, and he was really embarrassed to let others tie it up.
Zhang Jianguo did not insist and began to carry the bags full of millet from the field to the edge of the field.
After loading the millet in the bucket, Zhang An carried the bucket home and pulled Dahei out.
There are more than thirty and nearly forty bags of millet in the fields. Horses can only carry five or six bags at a time. The speed is too slow.
Zhang An simply set up the carriage for Dahei, and when it came to the roadside, he finished pulling two or three carriages.
By the time Zhang An returned home with the last load of millet, Su Ying had already finished school and returned home with her son.
“Dad~”
As soon as Xiao Siqi saw Zhang An, she stretched out her hands to ask him to hug her.
The little guy has a habit. No matter who he is in the family, he will start to miss him as soon as he hasn’t seen him for a long time. This is true for Su Ying, and it is also true for Zhang An.
"Son, be good, you play by yourself first. Dad still has to work. I will hold you after finishing the work."
Zhang An also carried a bag full of millet on his shoulders. Naturally, there are no hands free to hold the little guy.
Even if he brought all the millet home, he would not prick his son because he had been busy in the fields all day and his body was covered with millet burrs. He did not want to prick his son.
After carrying all the grains home, Zhang An picked up the clothes Su Ying found for him and took a shower. After coming out, he immediately felt much better.
Only the area under the collar where the straw leaves cut it appears a little red.
"Okay, it's time to eat."
When Zhang Jianguo and Zhang and his party came out from the shower, Wang Fang also made dinner and took the dishes out from the kitchen.
Little Siqi was still the same as before. As soon as he heard the word "eat", he immediately ran to the table and found a chair to sit down.
When it comes to eating, he is the most active person in the family, and he ranks first.
"Don't worry, I'll call you uncle."
Zhang An was not in a hurry, but turned around and went out to call Zhang Jianwen.
Regardless of whether you have done more or less, I just went to help, so I should give him a shout out due to both emotion and reason.
Unfortunately, when he arrived at Zhang Ping's house, his family was already having dinner.
"Xiao An is here, come and have dinner with us."
After Zhang Jianwen saw Zhang An, he spoke first, and the old aunt had already gotten up and was about to get the bowls and chopsticks.
"No, no, no, no, aunt, don't be busy, sit down and eat your food quickly, my house has already prepared it, and I plan to come and pay back a few bites that uncle came over to have a few bites of, why are you already here? Eat.”
Zhang An quickly called his aunt to stop. He originally came to invite someone back for dinner, but they didn’t invite him and he ate at someone else’s house.
"Oh, I said to you, why are you so polite? We came back early in the afternoon, and your aunt cooked early, so don't go back, you can eat here."
"This can't be done. I came here to invite you, but I ended up having dinner at your house. This is unacceptable."
In the end, Zhang Anren didn't invite you and went back by himself.
The next morning, when Su Ying went to school, she took her son away as usual.
After he no longer had to look after his grandson, Wang Fang followed him to the fields to cut rice.
Not long after we got to the field to cut, several people ran into the field, and one of them was taking pictures everywhere with a camera.
"Hello fellow villagers, we are from the county's Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau. We heard that there will be a bumper harvest this year, so we came down to do an inspection."
One of the women walked into the field and introduced herself.
As the agricultural sector, in this rare harvest year, it is natural to find a sense of presence.
So I sent some people down to conduct an investigation. When the time comes, a few reports and a newspaper will be considered their achievement.
Nowadays, the most developed village in the entire county is naturally Changqing Village, which has already become famous in the past two years.
Just like this, they came straight to Changqing. As soon as they entered the village, they saw Zhang An's family cutting rice. Because they were close, they naturally came straight.
“Oh, hello.”
Because today’s work would take less than a day, Zhang An planned to cooperate with them.
Otherwise, he would not want to pay attention to it at all.
He is not the only one who thinks so, others do too.
Because everyone was busy harvesting, but they came to delay everyone's time. Not many people would pay attention to them, mainly because there would be no benefit after doing so.
In the next few questions, Zhang An gave simple answers, wanting to send them away quickly.
Of course, these people seemed to be very experienced and did not delay. They left after asking questions. They must have encountered obstacles in other places before.
Since most of Zhang An’s land was harvested yesterday, there are only a little more than two acres left unharvested today.
Today, Zhang An was even more involved than yesterday. By noon, all the remaining rice in the field had been cut.
In the afternoon I just whipped the millet, and it was fast. Before four o'clock, all the millet was taken back home and put away.
Because there is no need to tie up straw this year, it saves a lot of time.
This season can also be declared to end here.
(End of this chapter)