Chapter 371: Little Treasures in the Gentian Pasture

"What's wrong?"

Xiulan also heard the noise in the house.

"It's nothing, it seems like a pheasant flew out." Lin Heng said, looking at the mountain.

After a while, his uncle came over carrying a large bundle of ryegrass, looked at Lin Heng and said, "You may have a pheasant coop in the past few years."

"That's unlikely. The pheasants haven't started laying eggs yet, right?" Lin Heng said.

"It has already started snowing. We'll know after we finish cutting the grass." Lu Honghai said, and continued to move the grass.

"Let's start." said Father Lin.

Lin Heng nodded, and went to bring the lawn mower over with his father. The machine was very efficient and chopped the ryegrass into pieces in just a few strokes.

After chopping, the two of them first put it into a bag to test the effect. They filled the plastic bag and placed the vacuum cleaner nozzle at the mouth of the bag. They pinched it tightly with their hands and then turned on the vacuum cleaner.

After a few buzzing sounds, the air in the bag was sucked out, as if a vacuum had been created.

Pull out the tube and tie the mouth of the bag with a rope, and a bag of silage is ready.

"Okay, it's fast enough, and the effect is much faster than pressing it with our hands." Father Lin said with satisfaction.

In the past, the most time-consuming and labor-intensive part of making silage was manually squeezing out the air in the bag. With this vacuum extractor, the speed of making silage can be increased by at least three times.

"And the fermented products are also effective." Lin Heng said with a smile.

There are very few silage balers in China now, and most of them are imported. He can just use a vacuum cleaner to achieve the corresponding effect.

After the plastic bags are packed, you can put another cover with a snakeskin bag. The main function of the snakeskin bag is to protect the plastic bags from being worn out. Once the silage leaks, it will be ruined.

The two of them took action and packed up all the ryegrass piled here in a short while.

"You guys are so fast today." Lin Hengsan's father was a little shocked when he came down.

"Lin Heng bought another vacuum cleaner. This thing is very useful."

Father Lin showed off his son's newly bought vacuum cleaner to his younger brother.

"This thing is good and powerful." Lin Xutao, who had helped with the silage storage, understood it immediately when he saw it.

With the help of the new machine, they worked faster in the morning, while those who were cutting grass and carrying materials on the mountain were slower.

At lunchtime, they produced two acres of silage for the first time, weighing about 8,000 kilograms, filling up half of the warehouse.

Xiulan prepared lunch. The main dish was bear ribs, which were stewed and braised. The other dishes were pretty normal, just bacon and a little lamb left over from the last barbecue.

After dinner, we worked longer in the afternoon until dark, and cut three acres of ryegrass and one acre of alfalfa.

The yield per mu of ryegrass and alfalfa is similar, about 4,000 kilograms per mu. Today, six mu of land was harvested, producing 24,000 kilograms of forage grass, all of which was made into silage.

Lin Heng plans to make 30,000 kilograms of silage, and the rest will be dried into hay for storage.

Although silage is rich in nutrients, it also has disadvantages. In addition to the unstable nutritional content, it is highly acidic and can cause miscarriage in cows and sheep. It cannot be fed to pregnant cows and sheep.

Once alfalfa is grown, he will mainly use it to make silage, as it is more nutritious than ryegrass.

After dinner in the evening, when his third father and third mother came back, Mr. and Mrs. Lin started talking to his uncle about Widow Zhang.

At first, his uncle was a little shy, and Lin Heng Xiulan also tried to persuade him.

The widow's mother asked around and said it was not bad. The most important thing was that his uncle was very old and didn't have many choices.

"Uncle, don't worry about having no money. Just follow me and grow some Chinese herbal medicines. For example, astragalus, hay, gentian, all are fine. You just plant and I will harvest. You can easily earn six or seven hundred yuan a year." Lin Heng said to his uncle.

His uncle has been hunting for many years and has saved quite a bit of money, but the main problem is that he doesn't have a stable source of income.

"You're going to take them all?" Lu Honghai was a little confused.

Lin Heng explained: "In fact, it's not just you, uncle. There are also my third uncle, my third father, and my uncle-in-law. I plan to let them all plant. I will advance the money for the seeds, and after two years of planting, I will buy them back at the market price. You just need to plant them."

With this model, if he collects the coins and sells them directly, he can make a small profit. If he saves them and sells them after two years, he can make a slightly bigger profit. In any case, he will not lose money.

Just like the turmeric and Coriolus versicolor that he asked the purchasing station to stock up last year, he made a profit by selling them.

"Aren't you all just helping us? How can you make money?" Lu Honghai still didn't understand.

"The market price I'm talking about is the price at the purchasing station. I can still make some profit if I sell it again." Lin Heng said with a smile.

"Okay, I'll go back and plant some, but I don't need you to pay for the seeds." Lu Honghai said with a simple smile.

"It's okay, we can discuss this later." Lin Heng said with a smile.

After saying that, Lin Heng took the children and Xiulan home. His uncle also moved into the old house to help with the things, and Caiyun helped take care of Xiaoxia.

He didn't want the dog I saw in the morning and said he would order a smarter one next time.

After returning, Caiyun arranged a bed for his uncle, and Lin Heng and the others went straight home.

The next morning, another two acres of ryegrass were cut and all made into silage.

Just when the grass was almost cut in the morning, Lin's mother exclaimed: "There really is a pheasant nest. Five eggs have been laid."

After a while, she came down with the eggs and looked at Lin Heng and Xiulan and said, "Do you think we should hatch these pheasant eggs and keep them?"

Lin Heng shook his head: "I don't think it's necessary. They're not easy to raise, and they're not as heavy as domestic chickens."

"I think we should raise them and give it a try. We don't need those eggs." Xiulan was quite interested in raising pheasants.

"Then I'll listen to my daughter-in-law and take it back to incubate it now." Mother Lin thought for a while and said, she took the eggs into the house and took out last year's incubation box to incubate them.

In the afternoon they cut another three acres of grass and dried it to make hay, and left one acre of ryegrass and one acre of elephant grass uncut to feed the cattle and sheep.

Because Lin Heng and his father joined in the afternoon, they finished work at around three o'clock.

The ryegrass he grows is perennial, and like alfalfa, with adequate fertilizer and water, it can be harvested continuously for three or four years.

After three or four years, when the yield drops, it will have to be replanted.

During lunch in the afternoon, Lin Heng repeated to his third father and third mother what he had said to his uncle yesterday.

After hearing what Lin Heng said, his third mother Li Xue immediately agreed: "That's no problem, we will plant as many seeds as you provide."

"Lin Heng, can we also plant it?" Liu Juan beside him asked with some interest.

Lin Heng provides the seeds and Lin Heng collects the fruits. They just need to plant them. This is a good deal no matter how you look at it.

"Of course."

Lin Heng smiled and nodded, then continued: "I am going to let you plant ginseng. This thing doesn't take up much space if it is planted in the forest. I will ask my aunt in the next two days. You can think of how many acres you can plant. Just report to me when the time comes."

They say that this place is at the junction of the north and the south, but strictly speaking it still belongs to the north, so ginseng is more suitable. It's not that they can't grow things like Panax notoginseng, they can dig Panax notoginseng in the mountains, the main question is which one is easier to grow.

"Are there any requirements for ginseng cultivation?" Lin Hengsand's father asked.

"Of course there are. If you grow forest ginseng that doesn't require maintenance, there's actually nothing to maintain. It just takes a long time to grow, usually three to seven years, and the value is also very high."

"If you take good care of it, you also need to weed and loosen the soil every year, so the yield will be higher."

"If you want a shorter cycle, you can choose scutellaria, astragalus, gentian, and licorice, which can be harvested in two to three years. They are also easy to grow, and only require weeding and winter management. On average, the annual income per mu is between 150 and 250 yuan, depending on the yield."

Lin Heng said as he ate his food, and everyone else stopped and listened to him attentively. If it were in the past, people might not have been like this, and they might even have suspected that there was something fishy going on.

But now that Lin Heng’s industry is so big, they don’t think that others will fool them with such things.

After a little thought, Li Xue immediately said, "We would like to plant this kind of short-term, easy-to-make crops. Which of these is the most valuable?"

"In the short term, the most valuable thing is definitely gentian, but it takes three years to mature. The next most valuable things are astragalus, scutellaria and hay, but astragalus is the easiest to grow." Lin Heng said to Third Mother.

Lin Heng's father thought for a while, looked at Lin Heng and said, "How about this, we mainly plant Astragalus, and also some ginseng. I'll think about the specific amount when I get back."

His choice is the most pragmatic one, a mix of long-term and short-term, with money to spend in the short term and big money to be made in the long term.

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"Let's just grow some ginseng." Lin Yue said.

"I listen to Lin Heng. I have never grown it myself, so I don't know which one is suitable." said Lu Honghai.

"Then let's plant Astragalus and Ginseng. Ginseng is planted under fertile and tall forest plants and does not require much care.

Astragalus is drought-tolerant and dry-resistant, so it is more suitable to be planted in sunny broken ground.”

Lin Heng also prefers that they plant both, taking into account both the long and short term.

After confirming, they will first think about how much to plant, and then Lin Heng will buy seeds for them.

After lunch, everyone dispersed and went home. I originally wanted to ask everyone to help plant alfalfa and astragalus, but tomorrow is Qingming Festival, and everyone has to go back to visit the graves.

Lin's father and mother went to find the matchmaker in the village and went to Widow Zhang's house to talk about this matter.

Widow Zhang's real name is Zhang Gaolian, she is 33 years old this year. She originally married to Baima Village and gave birth to a son and a daughter.

Seven years ago, her husband and children were fishing in the river and were all killed in a flood. Then she was driven back to her parents' home by her in-laws.

Zhang Gaolian suffered such a great shock at the time that she was mentally unstable. In recent years, she has recovered and has started thinking about finding a man again.

After hearing about it, Lin's mother tried to test the relationship, but the other party rejected her at that time. However, at the beginning of this year, she expressed her desire to give it a try again.

While Lin's mother was out doing something, Lin Heng went to check on the fry. They had basically digested the yolk and turned into small black dots.

Lin Heng tried crushing an egg yolk and mixing it with a lot of silkworm pupa powder to feed the fish.

"sure."

Seeing the fish fry chasing each other and eating, Lin Heng suddenly became happy. As long as they are edible, it is good. As long as they open their mouths, they are easy to raise.

However, he soon discovered a problem. The fry only ate food floating on the water surface, and could not be seen at the bottom of the water.

He tried to stir up the water from the bottom but it didn't work very well.

As a result, he didn't dare to feed too much for the time being, fearing that the water quality would deteriorate.

"You said we should feed it first, and then start the water flowing after two hours. Do you think it will work?" Father Lin thought.

"We can give it a try." Lin Heng nodded and said that the living environment of smelt fish is originally in streams with relatively fast currents.

It is also simple to make a stream. Just turn on the water on one side and release water on the other side. You just need to use a sponge to block the front of the water to prevent the fish from being washed away.

The impact of water coming down from the mountain is already very strong and has a strong ability to create waves.

Alternatively, you can filter the water and then use a water pump to put it back into circulation.

After feeding the fry, the two tried to release the water. The food on the bottom was blown up, and the fry became more active and would chase after the food.

"It seems feasible. Leaving the water in this way for two hours after each feeding can not only remove food residues, but also increase the dissolved oxygen content."

After observing for a full half hour, Lin Heng nodded affirmatively.

This is the easiest way to avoid having enough equipment.

After preparing the fish fry, Lin Heng and Xiulan pushed the stroller and took Xiaoxia back.

"Tomorrow is Qingming Festival. Do you want to eat green rice dumplings?" Xiulan sat down and looked at Lin Heng and said.

"It's up to you to decide." Lin Heng said with a smile.

Xiulan was speechless: "I'm asking you because I can't decide."

"Then let's not eat it. The taste is just so-so anyway. It's better to eat some other wild vegetables. If mom and the others have made some, we can just take some." Lin Heng said with a smile.

"That's it." Xiulan agreed immediately.

Lin Heng drank a glass of water and rested for a while, then went to the study to find some white paper and cut Qingming hangings with Xiaoxia.

"I can cut it, Dad!"

Xiaoxia said while holding the folded paper. What Lin Heng didn't expect was that she actually cut out a rough outline.

"That's great!" Lin Heng praised her with a smile.

"I can also cut little white rabbits~" Xiaoxia raised her little head.

The father and daughter worked together, one serious and the other playful, and soon they finished cutting the Qingming hanging.

The next day was Qingming Festival. When Xiulan woke up in the morning and snuggled into Lin Heng's arms, she said, "It should be raining outside, otherwise it wouldn't be so cold."

"It should be." Lin Heng nodded, because he couldn't see clearly because the curtains were drawn.

After staying in bed for two minutes, the two prepared to get up. Lin Heng went to open the curtains, and it was indeed drizzling outside.

"I said I wanted to wear this dress today, but it seems I can't wear it." Xiulan said helplessly as she took a simple sky blue cheongsam and looked at it.

These were made by Lin Heng at the store when she was pregnant. They were made according to her body proportions before she was pregnant. There are three pieces in total, one sky blue velvet cheongsam, one navy blue velvet cheongsam, and one goose yellow printed cheongsam.

"It's okay, just don't go out. I really want to see it." Lin Heng said with a smile.

Xiulan shook her head and refused mercilessly: "I am afraid of the cold, let's wait for next time."

After getting dressed, he went out for a brief exercise. Lin Heng played with the bow and arrow for a while. After breakfast, because it was drizzling, the adults went to visit the graves today. Lin Heng and his elder brother asked his father to go to the graves together.

(End of this chapter)