Chapter 108 Autumn Harvest and Fertilizer Composting Go Hand in Hand

Tao Yuan stayed at home for two weeks. Her trip wasn't in vain. At least she supported the sale of the ancestral home and the transfer of household registration to the countryside. Not only did she support it, she also said that she would sell the house ahead of schedule even if it meant losing money.

In fact, the Tao family already knew the approximate timeline from Cuihua. After all, Tao Yuan lived in the industrially developed Northeast, and her husband was in the power center of the government. She certainly knew more than they did. She deeply agreed with her family's move to send a hermit to the village.

“Although our family is in a much better position, and my older sister and I are here to help out, in theory, even if we bring up our past identities, it shouldn't be too serious. But our parents are getting old and can't afford to cause any more trouble. Little brother, if things get too bad, we'll sell it. If there's an opportunity in the future, we siblings can pool our money and buy the house back.”

After all, it's the Tao family's ancestral home. Who would want to sell it to someone else like that? This is something we had no choice but to do!

“I wrote to my eldest sister, and she was supportive. Since both of my sisters have agreed, I will find a suitable buyer to come and view the house.”

As long as someone is interested, he doesn't want to be too demanding about the price.

With her parents healthy and her younger brother's family hardworking and happy, Tao Yuan felt reassured and boarded the train back home.

She left without taking anything with her. "I don't need anything there. I'm a woman and I don't want to take so much stuff. Mom and Dad, please don't make things difficult for me. If Tengfei wants to drink, let him come back and drink his fill. Alcohol is fragile, so I'm not taking it."

That being said, Grandpa still managed to get two large gourds and brought two or three catties of his homemade wine to Uncle.

My father took my aunt to the provincial capital. There was a direct train from the provincial capital. He noted down the train number and sent a telegram to my uncle after seeing her off, asking him to calculate the time to pick her up.

Father didn't go to the provincial capital for nothing; the provincial capital has a complete range of seasonings, so he went there specifically to buy seasonings.

In those days, transportation was slow and the roads were difficult to travel. From the town, one would take an oxcart to the county seat, then a bus to the provincial capital, and finally a public bus to the train station. Every step of the journey carried the unique imprint of the era.

Because of the severe reduction in wheat production this year, my grandparents plan to intercrop potatoes in the wheat field next year, so that potatoes can be harvested twice a year.

After harvesting the wheat, part of the ten acres of land is planted with corn, and the other half is planted with sweet potatoes, which have a high yield.

If it weren't for the fact that no other crops could be grown during the winter wheat season, this wheat might have really been abandoned.

In the days before pesticides, fertilizers, and water pumps, farming depended entirely on the weather. After all, there were no rivers or lakes near their land, so if they wanted their crops to grow well, they had to put in the effort. If they relied solely on the weather, the yield would likely be even lower.

Everyone knows that farmers have it the hardest. Business is easy, but when it comes to policies, they are like small boats in the ocean, always at risk of capsizing. Tao Changyi and his wife have thought a lot about how to ensure that their family can have enough to eat and sleep.

In her previous life, Tang Cuihua lived in the countryside and was not well-married. Her access to information was limited, and she could not even fully and reliably answer many of the questions raised by Tao Changyi. She could only give a general outline, and the specifics had to be decided by the couple themselves.

Around mid-September, people started harvesting corn one after another. This year, there was plenty of rain and sunshine, so the corn cobs ripened earlier.

However, winter wheat cannot be planted immediately after harvesting corn; experienced farmers must go to the fields and plant it at the right time.

Wheat is easily damaged by frost before winter if sown too early, which is not conducive to high quality and high yield.

Sowing too late is not conducive to increasing yield.

Timely late sowing is beneficial for robust growth before winter, safe overwintering, and also reduces pests and diseases.

As the saying goes, "Wheat can never be thriving in two places at once," and "Wheat is most afraid of having 'big ears' (meaning large ears on the surface)," which illustrates this point.

After harvesting the corn, there are still many things to do. The ash from burning some of the stalks can fertilize and sterilize the soil, while the corn stalks brought home are excellent fuel for cooking in winter.

The corn leaves are used in their shop to steam buns, mantou, and make vegetable pancakes. They can be taken home, washed, dried, stacked, and delivered to restaurants in stacks. Not only are they environmentally friendly, but the steamed food also has a natural sweet corn flavor, which is very rare.

It was Xiaojiu who suggested this, so this autumn harvest, while the adults were picking corn, she sat in a cool place sorting through the corn husks. She discarded the rotten and moldy ones, throwing them all into the fields to burn as ashes and scatter them on the ground.

These days, every household cherishes what grows in the ground. No one thinks of throwing things away carelessly. So once they've used up what they have, that's it. If they want some from other people's land, they have to go door to door asking who has the means and can collect what they don't need when there are many people in the house.

Picking corn is not a good job. The corn leaves are very prickly, and the pimple-like stuff on them can cause allergies if it falls on the back of your hands.

Grandpa and Grandma were getting old, so they were in charge of picking the corn, while my third sister was in charge of collecting the corn they threw aside.

Pack them in bags, carry them to the field, have Xiao Jiu keep an eye on them, and then push them home together when Tao Changyi comes back in the afternoon.

They bring their corn home with the husks on, which makes it easier to collect the husks. The ones Xiaojiu peeled were just a small portion of the whole crop.

When the older brothers came home from school, they would take shovels, sickles, and hoes and work together to cut off the corn stalks and roots, dig them out, and throw them directly into the ground to dry. Once they were thoroughly dried, they could be burned.

The young man was responsible for picking out the bad corn, small corn, and those that had sprouted or become moldy. He would collect these together and dry and grind them up with the corn kernels to use as feed.

After the corn stalks are cut down, they are neatly laid out in the fields to dry in the sun for several days. Once the green and yellow corn stalks are completely dry, they can be brought home and used directly as fuel.

It took them, young and old, almost a week to clear the land, which was ten acres in size.

About one-sixth of the corn stalks were brought home, while the rest, along with the corn roots and the ashes from the daily cooking fires, were returned to the field.

After an autumn rain, Grandpa and my third sister started turning the soil with shovels to turn over the wood ash underneath, which helps to kill insects.

There are so many insects these days. It's common to grow vegetables and grains, and we even have to compete with birds for food. The birds are also very hateful. After people leave, they can use their beaks to dig up the seeds and eat them.

The human and animal manure collected at home, after being diluted with water, must also be transported to the fields by cart and poured in. When turning the soil, it is turned down, and by the time the land is leveled, the fertilizer and water have been mostly absorbed, ensuring that the wheat seeds planted receive sufficient nutrients.