Zhufeng, Old Man Xu, and the third oldest child of the Huang family came to Old Huang's house in the countryside. An ox cart was parked outside the yard, and in the yard were unloaded seedlings and seeds.
Lao Huang was explaining to the tenant farmers in the courtyard the names of medicinal materials, medicinal properties and lighting preferences.
Before Lao Huang's son entered the hospital, he shouted, "Dad, we are back."
The tenant farmers in the yard all looked towards the gate of the yard. When they saw Zhu Feng, they all stepped forward and shouted "Zhu Boss".
Zhufeng said goodbye to everyone with a smile, and then introduced Old Man Xu to everyone: "Uncle Xu has been growing medicinal materials all his life and has quite a lot of experience. This time I invite him to come with me to teach everyone how to grow medicinal materials.
"
The tenant farmers hurriedly paid tribute to Old Man Xu.
The delivery man came over waving his fan and said, "Boss Zhu, I have met you. The goods are all here. You can order them yourself. There are a total of two thousand seedlings and fifty kilograms of seeds."
Zhufeng looked at them one by one and nodded with satisfaction. The seedlings and seeds were well protected and did not appear to be dried to death, so he settled the knot with the deliveryman.
At that time, it was still early and the medicine seeds could not be delayed, so Zhufeng suggested that everyone go to the fields immediately. The tenant farmers couldn't wait for it, so naturally they applauded one after another.
Someone went to Debao's house in Rizhengtian to borrow a cart, and then a group of people pushed the cart and carried the medicinal seeds to the fields.
Thirty-two fields, thirteen tenant households, and a labor force of forty-three people. Because the fields are not next to each other, movement is not very convenient, but Zhufeng tried his best to take care of it.
"Uncle Xu and I are divided into two groups. One group of you is following me, and the other group is following him." He then said to Uncle Xu: "I have to go to the fields in person to show them planting demonstrations. None of you have ever planted them before. What are the names of medicinal materials?"
I can’t even tell the names clearly.”
Old Man Xu patted his chest and promised: "Don't worry, Boss Zhu, I will definitely teach these people step by step."
Zhufeng smiled and said "hard work", and then said to the tenant farmers: "Now I will send the medicinal seeds to you. I have told each household which land to grow what medicines before, and now you come to report them one by one."
I."
The tenant farmers immediately lined up, and Lao Huang stood first and said: "I grow Shegan in Changsha, Angelica sinensis in the Huang family's land, and Atractylodes in Daduanpo..."
Zhufeng put the medicinal seeds one by one into Lao Huang's backpack, and warned: "Be careful when carrying it. Don't shake, don't drop, don't shake."
Lao Huang said hello and stood aside carefully carrying the medicinal materials on his back. The next person followed and said: "I grow salvia in my land and rhubarb in my sorghum field..."
Because this was just a demonstration planting, there were not many medicinal seeds, only five plants of each medicinal material per person, so the medicinal seeds were distributed quickly, and then everyone followed the distribution of the land, half of them followed Old Man Xu, and half of them followed Zhufeng.
...
On the ridge of the field, Zhufeng led a group of people for two or three miles, and finally came to the first piece of land. The tenants there stood up and followed him, while others gathered around to listen.
Zhufeng took out the medicinal seeds and confirmed that the amount of fertilizer in the ground was fine, then he said to the tenant: "Salvia is a deep-rooted plant, and its roots can penetrate more than ten inches into the soil.
Therefore, in order to facilitate the growth and development of roots, you should choose fertile, loose and deep land with slightly higher terrain and good drainage for planting. For mountain cultivation, you should choose a sunny, low hillside. Your land is just right.
Salvia miltiorrhiza is a root medicinal material with a long growth period, so when preparing the land before, I asked you to apply base fertilizer on the ground first, mash the decomposed manure and spread it evenly on the ground, then turn it into the soil and this will be the base fertilizer. This will be more beneficial.
Root growth.”
The tenant farmer nodded: "Yes, that's what I did."
"Yes. Then there are at least four ways to plant Salvia miltiorrhiza, including seeds, divisions, root segments, and cuttings. Among them, planting root segments is the most productive. However, it is already midsummer, so we can only choose
Cuttings. But this also has an advantage, that is, it can be harvested as soon as one year."
Zhufeng pointed out the salvia stems to the tenant farmer, "The best time for cutting planting is from Mengxia to mid-summer. The stems should be strong and cut into two to three sections, like this."
The tenant farmer nodded. Zhufeng continued: "Cut off some of the leaves and insert the cuttings into the border, preferably two to three inches into the soil, so that the buds are slightly exposed above the soil.
After the cuttings are made, compact the soil, and then water it immediately to keep the border surface moist." He demonstrated while talking. After that, he said to the tenant farmers who were learning next to him: "Come and try it."
The tenant farmer said "Okay", took out a few stems from his basket, and planted one every seven or eight inches. Because he was used to growing crops, his hands moved quickly. Following the method, he planted four stems in a few clicks.
All rhizomes are planted.
Zhufeng nodded: "Yes, that's it. All the medicinal materials will come back in a few days, and then you can plant them like this."
The other tenant farmers who were watching couldn't help but nod, and some couldn't help but whisper: "I didn't expect that there is so much care in growing medicinal materials."
"No, just plowing the land makes me tired. I plowed the land four times and fertilized it twice. I just finished plowing it all yesterday. Fortunately, I kept up."
"Then you are slow."
"Don't I still have a few acres of other land? Those lands can't be left to dry. My mother-in-law is busy planting soybeans these days, and I'm the only one."
The crowd was discussing in low voices. Zhufeng stood up and said, "Let's go to the next piece of land."
...
It was getting dark, but there were still people in the fields in Pingpo Village. A barefoot child ran to the field ridge and shouted to a group of people: "Dad, it's time to eat."
Someone in the crowd responded, but the crowd did not move, they were all gathered together.
The child waited for a while and then shouted: "Hurry up, I'm waiting for you. Let's have dinner at Grandpa Tian's house tonight."
The crowd stood still for a while, and then one person in the middle stood up first and breathed a sigh of relief: "This is the last piece of land. Is there anyone who hasn't planted it yet?"
Everyone shook their heads, and someone said: "Boss Zhu, you can't go back tonight, it's already so dark."
"If I don't come back, I'll be sleeping at Li Zheng's house these days. Before the medicinal seeds come back, I'll tell you about the medicinal materials."
"Dad, hurry up." The child on the edge of the field shouted again.
Someone urged: "Let's go, let's invite the boss first, and we'll go back for dinner."
A group of people then walked into the darkness of the night and walked towards Zhengtian Debao's house.
At that time, six large square tables had been set up in the yard of Tian Debao's house. Several women were serving dishes from the kitchen one after another, and several people were setting out chopsticks, bowls and wine glasses.
It was a rare occasion for the children to have such a happy gathering. You chased me around the table to play. Someone ran too fast and bumped his foot against the leg of the bench, making him cry out in pain.
The woman scolded angrily, "Slow down, you bastard," but kept moving her hands.
Outside the courtyard gate, the noisy voices gradually approached, and some children shouted, "Dad is back." Tian Debao went out to welcome him, and when he saw Zhufeng and Old Man Xu in the crowd, he smiled and cupped his hands, "Hurry up and eat. Today, everyone is here."
The whole village has dinner at my house."
A group of people laughed, washed their hands and faces, and invited each other to sit down. The laughter spread all the way across the courtyard.