Gastrodia elata, a perennial herb, also known as red arrow, mountain potato, Dingfengcao, stick and stick, the tuber is used as medicine. It is rare and in short supply. It has been used as medicine for more than 2,000 years.
Gastrodia elata generally emerges in mid-to-late June. It is easiest to dig elata elata at this time. Just find the elata elata seedlings and dig along.
After Gastrodia elata blooms, the underground tubers will become hollow and rotten when their nutrients are depleted, and some small Gastrodia elata seeds will grow, and the Gastrodia elata seedlings will wither.
Therefore, digging Gastrodia elata during the Spring and Autumn Period is generally called digging for sprouting.
People who dig up Gastrodia elata can only hold a shovel and dig where they think they have it. Turn the shovel over and look. If they are lucky, they can dig a lot.
In comparison, the quality of the germinating Gastrodia elata is higher than that of the seedlings.
The county medicinal materials company began to acquire Gastrodia elata in 1963.
In recent years, beekeepers in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other provinces have been keen on purchasing fresh gastrodia elata, so that the price of gastrodia elata has also increased.
The mountains are rich in products, including countless wild vegetables, Chinese herbal medicines, and fungi.
The forest farm is located in the mountains. Whether it is employees or family members, they all like to run into the mountains whenever they have some free time.
When everyone enters the mountain, they pull everything back.
Skins and medicinal materials can be sold for money, and mushrooms, fungus, and wild vegetables can be kept for home use.
The locals also call this kind of going into the mountains to collect goods from the wild.
Many family members of employees go to the mountains all year round to work in the mountains and earn a lot of money.
From the middle of May to the beginning of June, people go into the mountains to pick ox hair, that is, weed, and make it into dried products and export them to Dongyi, which can be exchanged for foreign exchange.
In order to encourage export exchange, higher-level departments will give various rewards to lower-level departments.
In order to encourage employees and their families to generate income, the forest farm will also provide various conveniences.
During the cattle picking season every year, Qianchuan Forestry Farm will arrange commuter buses to take people into the construction area for picking.
Starting from late June, we have been digging Gastrodia elata and gathering Ganoderma lucidum.
In September, when all kinds of mushrooms and wild fruits come down from the mountains, those who work in the mountains will go into the mountains to pick Schisandra chinensis, thresh pine nuts, etc.
So as long as people are diligent, living in this big mountain is fine. Otherwise, how can we say that we rely on the mountain to live on the mountain?
Compared with the tree mushroom discovered by Sheng Xiping, the Gastrodia elata that Chen Weiguo saw made everyone more happy because it could be sold for money.
Although Gastrodia elata has just been unearthed and is difficult to find, everyone spread out and searched in the forest with great interest.
"Don't wander around and follow me.
In this deep mountain and old forest, the trees are tall and the grass is dense. If you have never been in the forest, you might be in trouble if you turn around."
Sheng Xiping was worried about Zhou Qinglan and told her not to wander around, even if she couldn't find anything, as long as she didn't lose anyone.
Zhou Qinglan also knew how much she weighed, so she nodded obediently, "Yeah, I know, don't wander around."
In this way, everyone, men and women, walked into the forest in groups of two and two, looking for the newly unearthed Gastrodia elata.
Sheng Xiping's eyes are so good that according to the local dialect, they are called eyes that kill grass.
So after walking a few steps, he also discovered the newly unearthed Gastrodia elata seedlings.
And there is more than one tree, there are actually five or six trees in a row.
Under normal circumstances, there will be Gastrodia elata among several seedlings, and the harvest will not be small.
"Qinglan, come here."
Sheng Xiping waved behind him and called Zhou Qinglan over to teach her how to identify Gastrodia elata and some common sense about digging Gastrodia elata.
"You see, when you encounter more than three Gastrodia elata seedlings, most of them are caused by the fact that a Gastrodia elata seedling appeared before and then rotted.
After two or three years of growth, those Gastrodia elata seeds have all emerged this year.
In this case, there will be a lot underneath the majority.”
As Sheng Xiping spoke, he moved his hands to remove the soil from under the stem of a Gastrodia elata tree.
Most of the coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest belts are filled with humus-rich black soil, which is soft and moist. No tools are needed, and the soil can be peeled off directly by hand.
As the depth increases, the situation under the Gastrodia stems is also revealed.
A spindle-shaped rhizome with some black filaments wrapped around it appeared.
Sheng Xiping did not dig out this Gastrodia elata tree directly, but dug up the soil of all the other Gastrodia elata trees, and then started digging in the direction of the tail of the Gastrodia elata.
It doesn’t need to be too deep. After a slap or more, you will see many spindle-shaped underground tubers of various sizes lying in the soil, a bit like potatoes.
"Okay, I can only use the food bag."
Before going out in the morning, Sheng Xiping had no intention of going into the mountains, so he didn't bring anything to pack Gastrodia elata.
Fortunately, everyone brought food bags with them when they went into the mountain, so this was the only thing they could use at this time.
So he handed the tree mushrooms inside to Zhou Qinglan and asked her to put them away. Sheng Xiping used his own rice bag to put the gastrodia elata.
Sheng Xiping was digging up the soil and picking up Gastrodia elata from the soil. Zhou Qinglan came forward and helped put Gastrodia elata into his pocket.
Gastrodia elata is not spread flat in the soil, but layer by layer. Sheng Xiping dug about three layers of soil, and he dug a hole in the ground.
In the end, just the Gastrodia elata seeds under these Gastrodia elata seedlings almost filled the bag. It was estimated that there must be at least five or six kilograms of fresh Gastrodia elata.
"Wow, there are so many."
Zhou Qinglan was shocked. How could he have imagined that there were only five or six seedlings on the top, but so many seedlings could be dug out from the bottom?
"Then what should we do if we meet again later? What should we pretend to be?"
Just now, Sheng Xiping handed the piece of tree chicken mushroom in his pocket to Zhou Qinglan and put it in her pocket.
Both of their pockets are full at the moment, what will they pack later?
"We came early. Most of the Gastrodia elata have not been unearthed yet. How can there be so many of them? It's great to see these." Sheng Xiping laughed when he heard this.
"If we meet again later, I can still keep some in my trouser pocket."
Sheng Xiping was wearing the work clothes issued to Sheng Liancheng from the forest farm.
The work clothes have four pockets on the top, and most pants also have four pockets, and they are quite big.
The main reason is that Sheng Xiping brought a lot of things into the mountains, such as slingshots, marbles, matches, etc. His work clothes have many pockets, so he can come in handy.
After digging out the Gastrodia elata here, the two of them got up and continued looking elsewhere.
While walking, Sheng Xiping had to shout twice, fearing that Chen Weiguo and others would go too far and get separated.
After lunch, we went into the mountains. At this moment, Zhou Qinglan felt a little uncomfortable.
"Brother Shanda, you go forward first, I'll wait for you at the other end."
Zhou Qinglan tugged on Sheng Xiping's shirt in embarrassment and said with a blush.
As soon as Sheng Xiping saw Zhou Qinglan's appearance, he guessed what was going on.
It’s understandable that there are three urgent needs in life.
"Well, don't go too far. Pay attention to your surroundings, especially the stingers. Be careful."
There is a kind of grass called stinging pockmark, which has small burrs on the edges of its stems and leaves. If you are stung by that thing, it will itch unbearably and you will be particularly miserable.
Zhou Qinglan had spent half a year in the forest, so he knew how powerful stinging pockmarks were, so he nodded, turned and ran to the side.
Sheng Xiping couldn't continue walking forward, and couldn't look around. He could only look forward without squinting, waiting for Zhou Qinglan.
Unexpectedly, not long after, I heard Zhou Qinglan scream "Ah".