By the Huangsha River, mist envelopes the Song family's ten acres of land, most of which is planted with rice. It is now the time when the flowers are blooming and the ears are sprouting, and the land is green.
There are many vegetables planted in the corners. Song Zhenping planted the seeds when he was preparing to take over Tianxiang Tower and took care of them every day.
It has only been less than two months, and now the Chinese cabbage is growing very well, and the beans, peppers, and eggplants are also blooming under the hot sun, waiting for a bountiful autumn harvest.
The peanut and soybean pods are almost ripe and will be ready for harvest next month.
Song Liyun had difficulty finding land, so Song Zhenping cheerfully pointed out each of the crops he planted to her.
He also whispered that these planting techniques were all learned in the "Book of Heaven" and they were indeed better than others. He also wanted to plant some winter wheat this year so that he could have an extra harvest next year.
Song Zhenping spent the first ten years working in the fields and could not do anything else. Only by returning to the land could he have endless things to say.
Xiao An was now more agile. He caught the grasshopper and showed it to Song Liyun. The three of them laughed while working.
The rapeseed leaves have withered, but the bean pods are golden and plump, as if they will burst if touched.
Song Zhenping had no experience growing rapeseed for the first time. He was worried that the seeds were not mature enough, so the harvest was actually a little late.
We can only take advantage of the moist fog in the morning to quickly cut off the rape pods. Everyone works carefully, fearing that the full pods will explode in their hands in the next second.
These rapeseeds are all saved as seeds, and each one is very precious.
By the time the sun rose over the top of the mountain, eighty rapeseed plants had been harvested, and they were all spread out on a piece of cloth at the edge of the field to dry out the last bit of moisture and prepare for threshing.
Taking advantage of this time, Xiao An and Song Zhenping were not idle, pulling rapeseed stalks, pulling grass from the ground, and cutting grass around the ground for rabbits and chrysanthemum horses to eat.
Worried that rabbits and horses will have no grass to eat in winter, Song Zhenping and Xiao An will cut the grass, dry it and store it whenever they have time.
Song Liyun looked at the hard-working brothers and felt happy. Now the family was not short of food or money, and he could afford to support the brothers even if they were idle every day.
But no one wanted to eat and drink for free, especially if they didn't ask Song Liyun for money.
Song Zhenping either worked in the fields or helped in the carton factory, where his wages were calculated.
The same goes for Xiao An, but there are hay and ponds everywhere in the carton factory. He can't do heavy work, so he goes home to make money by making paper boxes.
Song Liyun feels that this kind of behavior is worthy of encouragement, and it is everyone's obligation to contribute to the family.
I just thought it was a waste of time for them to mow the grass like this every day.
Moreover, it is unsafe and unsightly to store hay outside, so it should be stored as pellet feed.
Hay is also needed to make feed.
Thinking of this, Song Liyun walked up to the brothers, rolled up her sleeves and started to help. She planned to do it as soon as she had this idea.
When the sun rose, the rape pods were dried, and the three brothers and sisters knocked out the dark brown rapeseed grains and bagged them before returning to Baolin Residence.
Song Zhenping was busy looking for a place to dry the rapeseed again, while Song Liyun went to the carton factory to find Han Ming.
Since Song Liyun went to Qili County every day and was accompanied by people from the guard station, Han Ming stayed at home.
He used to be a slave trained by his master as a steward, but something happened later and he became a runaway slave.
After arriving at Song's house, I had to follow Song Liyun, but now I finally stopped.
Now that the Song family has property, there is a place for him to use it, so he restarted his management profession.
The carton factory was previously managed by shopkeeper Mu, and the foreman was carpenter Mu who was meticulous in his work.
Now the carton factory and acorn workshop are all managed by Han Ming, who is much more professional than Shopkeeper Mu in all aspects.
Shopkeeper Mu had no objection either.
Because construction will start after the autumn harvest, wood, masonry, and craftsmen all need to be arranged in advance.
Several families' houses had to be renovated at the same time, so shopkeeper Mu took over all of them and linked up the affairs.
As soon as Song Liyun arrived at the Hebian Carton Factory, she saw Han Ming telling Carpenter Mu what to say. As soon as he saw her arriving, he hurriedly came over and said, "It's a good time that the girl didn't go out today. Why don't you come over and tell me what to do about this?"
"What's up?"
Song Liyun walked over and looked around.
The large pond in the carton factory is still soaked with yellow-brown straw. These are used to make thick carton boards and need to be soaked for a period of time before being hammered.
In the open space not far away, there are mountains of wheat straw piled up, and a water wheel with a waterwheel rotates day and night to hammer wood pulp.
Five workers were making paper in the pulp tank, and everyone was busy in an orderly manner.
In the large warehouse next to it, there are piles of cardboard being dried.
The carton factory is not far from Baolinju, but after purchasing the wheat straw, it took more than a month for Song Liyun to come here.
When Carpenter Mu saw Song Liyun coming over, he still smiled naively: "Miss Song."
He does little carpentry work now, and usually supervises pulp production as if he were carving.
At this time, he was holding a blue light pole in his hand, with a troubled look on his face: "Miss Song, you see, this is what Lao Han wants to use for soaking in pulp, and he bought so many of them."
It turned out that the two people were arguing about whether these green straws could be used to make paper.
According to Lao Mu, the stems that have not grown yet cannot be soaked to produce pulp, and will also spoil the pond material.
Han Ming said: "Girl, they have already sent it to me, so I don't want to give it up.
I'll take this car if it's only sold for fifty cents. If it doesn't work, just deduct it from my wages!"
His monthly salary is now more than one tael of silver, so he can easily afford compensation.
Song Liyun took the straw and took a look at it, and couldn't help but be happy: "Uncle Mu, Uncle Han, don't make any noise, can you tell me where this thing comes from first?"
Han Mingdao: "This is sorghum that has not grown well on the mountain. It has been dry this year and there has been little rain. The corn and sorghum on the mountain slopes have not grown well. They have taken up a lot of space to grow, so farmers have cut them to feed their livestock. Some people want to sell some of the stalks.
He asked me if I wanted the money. I looked at it and thought it was hard, so I decided to try making paper."
Not every family has large animals, and these sorghum stalks, which are not much thicker than a thumb, can only be used as firewood.
Song Liyun smiled: What is missing is what you get.
This batch of sorghum did not grow well, and the seedlings were weak. The ears on it were only finger-long and shriveled, so the farmers simply cut them off and left them on the ground.
But this kind of silage should be the best grass meal in feed.
"Uncle Han, keep all these rods, don't make paper, just make feed!"
"What is feed?"
"What is feed?"
Lao Mu and Han Ming asked in unison.
Sorghum stalks and corn stalks are heavy in crude fiber and have a bad taste. They can only be eaten by cattle with four stomachs and rumination function.
Horses need fine fodder, and things like sorghum leaves and corn leaves can be eaten, but stems are absolutely unacceptable.
But grind it into powder and add other ingredients such as corn meal, grass meal, soybean meal, wheat bran, bone meal, etc. to make feed.
Soon, Song Liyun handed over the feed formula to Han Ming and asked Carpenter Mu to improve the water wheel and add a grinding plate.
In addition, two more wooden boards with grooves like washboards are carved, so that the grass powder can be ground into powder and then kneaded into feed particles.