jdhmnovel Chapter 382 Spring Plowing
Chapter 382 Spring Plowing
Of course, this is only the case for some people. There are also many people who sincerely wish them well. After all, if the people around them are successful, they will have a place to go when they need help in the future. They can get some benefit from it and they don't lose anything.
……
The north only gradually thaws in February, and it takes until mid-March for the temperature to fully warm up.
After the ground gradually thawed, Zhou Guo went to the field to check and found the wooden stick he had buried last year. The two-foot-long stick exposed on the ground had been buried by clods of earth. The dead grass roots in the field pulled up gently, and the grass in the field also popped up one after another. He went back with a smile.
Farm manure was dragged to the field in carts, evenly spread on the ground, and covered with a thick layer.
The piles of fertilizer that had been piled up in the backyard for the whole winter were finally being taken away, and there was no place to put them if they were no longer used.
After applying enough base fertilizer, she harnessed the plow and drove the cows that had been resting all winter to the fields and began deep plowing, turning the weeds and farmyard manure on the ground into the fields.
After two days of learning, Zhou Gu was able to farm the land independently, so Zhou Guo handed the land over to him with confidence.
She moved the newly bought farm tool, the harrow, to the plowed field, placed a few large stones on it, put the rope over her shoulders, and pulled it in front like a cow. This was the first time she had seen this kind of farm tool, which was used to break up large clods of soil.
She had originally wanted to bring her family along with her to use hoes to knock the soil one piece at a time. This would save a lot of trouble. After one drag, the large clods of soil on the ground would be dispersed. After she had dragged the hoe back and forth five times, she looked around and found that there was no large clod of soil on the whole field. It was all fine and scattered soil.
Although pulling a hoe is not very easy for most people, it is not much different from pulling a plow in terms of strength.
Zhou Xing was selecting seeds at home. Among so much land, only the newly purchased two acres were suitable for growing rice. These lands were not near water, had no ditches, and no ponds, so they could only grow wheat.
A dozen acres of land requires a lot of seeds, three liters per acre, and ten acres and four mu of land require more than thirty liters of seeds.
Li took a hoe and went to dig ditches. If the two acres of land near the river were to be turned into paddy fields, ditches were necessary, and the ditches had to be deep. The ground had just thawed and was still frozen deep underground, making it difficult to dig.
The old man walked around the fields with his hands behind his back, then turned around and followed with a hoe in his hand. He had been staying at home for a whole winter and was almost sick from idleness. Everything he ate had no taste. I don’t know if it was because of his old age, but he also had trouble sleeping at night.
When Chen saw this, she asked curiously, "What are you doing digging ditches?"
Li smiled and said, "Zhou Guo is picky about food. He can't get used to eating steamed buns three times a day. He must prepare a big meal of rice every day. I thought of digging a ditch on the two acres of land near the river, filling it with water, turning it into a field, and planting rice. Then I don't have to trade with others."
Chen smiled and said, "No wonder. I was wondering why you bought two acres of thin land. You really love your daughter. Wait, I'll go back and call someone to help you."
Before Li could refuse, he left in a hurry.
After a while, three or four people came. There were men and women who were the laborers in the family. As soon as they received Li's instructions, they started to work hard.
It took about two days to dig two deep and long ditches. They also laid pebbles on the sides. The work was done quickly and efficiently.
Li smiled and thanked him.
Chen said, "Don't be so quick to thank me. We didn't work for nothing. I worked for you for three days. You have to lend me your cow. I won't take advantage of you. The cow is much more capable than I am. I'll just use it for a day and a half. Is that okay with you?"
Li said, "Why bother with half a day? Two days is two days. Go back and tie the rope. We have almost finished plowing the land."
Chen's eyes narrowed as she smiled. "How can I be so embarrassed? I'm just taking advantage of your family for nothing. The cow can do the work of two of us."
Li smiled and said, "That's nothing. It's just half a day. How can I calculate it so clearly with you about the relationship between our families? Forget about two days. Even four days will do."
Chen smiled and waved her hand, saying, "That's not necessary. It's not just me. They also came to your house to borrow cows to use."
The remaining few people are all in a hurry to borrow the cows. Otherwise, they are not related to your family, so why would they leave their home work to help you dig ditches? They are not crazy.
Li agreed to all of them.
This is how it is in the countryside. Neighbors live in the same village. During the busy farming season, they are too busy to handle the work, so they have to exchange labor with the villagers. One cow can do the work of three or four laborers. Unfortunately, there is only one cow in a village. When it comes to their turn, the spring plowing is already done, and they have to do it themselves.
Zhou Guo and his family settled in the village. When they first arrived, they received help from many people in the village. A big reason for this was the cows they brought with them. These cows were all laborers. Each family could be allocated a few acres of land, and they could also borrow some during the spring ploughing season.
She burned the weeds in the field, drove the cows to plow the field several times, and then poured water into the field.
The river water rushed into the fields. Seeing the water level rising little by little, Zhou Guo's mood gradually improved. The rice at home had been eaten up long ago. She had been eating steamed buns, steamed bread and noodles every day for the past month or two, and her face was almost turning green from eating so much.
Once these fields are harvested, she will have rice to eat!
We have to take good care of these pieces of land, as our food in autumn depends on them.
After the mud in the paddy field was dissolved, Zhou Guo went down to plow it again. After finishing, he put the harrow on the cow's neck, stood on the harrow, and rubbed several acres of land back and forth several times. He stopped only when the soil became broken into pieces. The thin mud also raised the edge of the field.
At this time, the few acres of land were already in good shape. She loaded six large carts with the fertilizer that had been piled up at home for the winter and spread it evenly on the fields. This was her first time planting rice, so the seeds were good, and since the soil was thin, she applied more fertilizer.
It was at this time that Zhou Guo finally understood why her mother valued the feces. She no longer thought they were dirty. It turned out that one has to do things by oneself to experience the sadness involved. Theory alone is useless.
Li felt heartbroken when she saw this, because their family had many fat livestock. If it were an ordinary family, they would not be willing to give away such livestock.
All the villagers came to see the two acres of paddy fields she had opened up. There was no other suitable land for growing rice in the entire village, so it was very new because they had never grown rice before.
There are one or two villages nearby that grow one or two acres of glutinous rice every year, but the yield is only two shi per acre at best, and less than two shi at most. So everyone doesn’t have land near the river, and even if they do, they don’t plan to grow rice. There is only that much land in each family, and if they can only yield a little more than one shi per acre after working hard for a year, what will they eat?
But when they saw the thick layer of black fertilizer in the fields, they all opened their mouths wide.