Chapter 120: Earthworm Farming

The creek upstream of the orchard was cleaned up, and my uncle began to clean the lower section of the creek, and continued cleaning until he reached the lower section of the rice field. He only finished work and went home when he was almost close to the mountain where Yi Ke's paradise was.

The next day, everyone continued cleaning until they reached the back side of the mountain where the paradise was. At this time, everyone noticed that the stream had become shallower, about half a meter deep, and the width was still about three meters.

"Brother Ziyi, is it because we are too far away from the water source that the water has become less?" Yike wanted to know the reason, so he had to turn into a curious baby.

"Not entirely. The terrain here is slightly higher than that upstream of the orchard. You see, it feels like we are upstream when we are here, and it feels like we are downstream when we are on the orchard side. However, the water source is on the orchard side, so the main reason is that the terrain here is higher." Ziyi used a towel to wipe the sweat off Yike's forehead, and handed the kettle to Yike to drink water.

"We can build a road from here to Tunnel No. 2. In the future, rice, sweet potatoes, etc. can be transported here by bamboo rafts and then transported back to the paradise by carts."

"That's fine. I'll go talk to Dad and ask everyone to help clear the way." After Ziyi said that, he went to find Li Haoran. Li Haoran then talked to everyone and everyone was very willing to help.

Everyone was wielding machetes and chopping down bushes and some blocking trees. The closer they got to Tunnel No. 2, the more large trees there were and the harder it was to chop down a tree. Sometimes it took hundreds of hits to cut down a tree. After it was cut down, all the branches had to be cut off and the tree trunk was left aside to be used for building a house after it was dry.

The women and children cut weeds and tied up branches of bushes. The children put the ropes for tying bushes on the backs of cows and let the cows help drag the bushes to a place for stacking.

With the help of the cows, the women and children, although not very strong, completed the task easily, which reduced the workload of the men. They no longer had to cut down bushes and trees and carry these bushes and branches.

After everyone's hard work, a one-meter-wide dirt road was built from the creek along the mountain wall directly to the bottom of Tunnel No. 2.

Adults and children joined in the work. Wang Cuihua and Du Jiankang also joined in after finishing their housework. It took ten days in total. Not only was the creek finally cleaned up, but everyone also worked together to cut bamboo and make rafts, with each family having one raft.

At the beginning, a one and a half meter wide dirt road was left in the middle of the wasteland that was reclaimed, so that the crops could be transported out by carts after harvest. This time, everyone also got gravel and paved the road so that it would not become a muddy road on rainy days.

That night after the creek was cleaned, Li Haoran brought over a lot of meat and vegetables, and everyone had a sumptuous dinner together.

It was almost eight o'clock in the evening when we returned. Everyone was a little tired, so they walked quietly and no one spoke.

"Brother Ziyi, there's a baby crying." Amid the chirping of insects and frogs, Yi Ke seemed to faintly hear the sound of a baby crying. He was so scared that the hairs on his body stood up. There couldn't be a baby in the forest, unless...

"Don't be afraid, there are so many people here." Ziyi held Yikeban in his arms to comfort him, and prepared to illuminate the surroundings with a flashlight.

"Don't move, don't shine it randomly, turn off the flashlight, it's a giant salamander." Li Haoran said in a low voice.

"Baby salamander?" Yike wanted to ask curiously, Ziyi quickly covered Yike's mouth and whispered in Yike's ear: "It's a kind of fish. Its cry sounds like a baby crying, and its meat is very delicious. You and mother don't leave here. Daddy and I will go catch them." After saying that, Ziyi followed Li Haoran and Du Qingcang and quietly touched the creek.

Not long after, Ziyi and his friends came back, with three or four giant salamanders in their backpacks. They didn't expect to have such a harvest when they returned home at night, and everyone was in a good mood.

After returning to the cave in this paradise, Yike couldn't wait to stretch his head to see the giant salamander in Ziyi's backpack. Yike had heard a saying in his previous life: "The giant salamander sits on the beach and food comes to it by itself." It means that when the giant salamander hunts, it hides quietly among the rocks at the beach, and once the prey passes by, it swallows it and eats it.

As soon as you can see the giant salamander in the basket, it is almost one meter long, with a wide and flat head, short limbs, brown color, and a very strange shape. The giant salamander is rich in nutrition, has tender meat, and tastes delicious, which is completely different from its appearance.

"Brother Ziyi, do you want to raise a few in the water hole?" Yike asked when he saw Ziyi taking out the basin.

"If you want to raise them, then go ahead. There should be more giant salamanders in that creek. If there are not enough, you can catch them tomorrow. Do you want to raise them in water hole No. 1 or No. 2?" Ziyi selected five smaller ones, took a flashlight and went to release the giant salamanders.

"Water hole No. 1." Yike also followed Ziyi to watch him release the fish.

"Giant salamanders like to hide in caves under the water. This water cave is bare. Tomorrow I will move some bigger stones and build a few caves." Ziyi poured the giant salamander into the water cave.

"I also go to the creek to catch some tadpoles, small fish, shrimps, etc. and put them into the water." When he thought that the water hole was clean and the giant salamander had no food, he thought of putting some food in.

"Okay, let's call Jiankang to come with us tomorrow. There should be a lot of giant salamanders by the creek. No one has caught them before, so there must be a lot. We can raise half and eat the other half." Ziyi and Yike said as they walked, "It doesn't matter if there are no small fish or shrimps. We can feed them animal organs."

"Brother Ziyi, I know how to raise earthworms. Let's raise earthworms. This way, not only will we have food for the giant salamanders, but we can also feed them to chickens, ducks, and even pigs. They are also very nutritious, and chickens, ducks, and pigs grow fast after eating them." Yike suddenly remembered that in her previous life, she and her husband raised earthworms on the farm to feed chickens, and the method was very simple.

"Can earthworms be raised?" Ziyi asked doubtfully.

"Yes, it's very simple." Yike and Ziyi returned to the cave to wash their hands.

Ziyi wiped the water off his hands with a towel, and then helped Yike wipe his hands clean. He went to the kitchen to get some hot water and went to the bathroom. "Take a shower first, and we'll talk later. I'll get you some clothes."

"Ziyi, those giant salamanders are in the bucket and we can deal with them tomorrow morning. You take a shower and go to bed first. You are all tired today, so go to bed early." Li Haoran said after taking a shower and seeing Ziyi.

"Okay, Dad, you go to sleep first. I'll go take a shower soon." Ziyi answered as he went into the room to get his and Yike's spare clothes.

"Yike, what method of raising earthworms do you mention?" Ziyi saw that Yike wanted to sleep as soon as he went to bed, so he didn't want to ask, but he didn't know why he felt uncomfortable in his heart.

"Oh, there are many ways to do this. But we can use the simplest one, which is to dig a pit. The depth of the pit is about 50 cm, and the size of the area does not matter. Add fermented nutrient soil to the pit and then put in earthworms. Later, you can add a thin layer of organic fertilizer to the soil, as long as you control the soil moisture. There is another method. In the orchard, you can dig a 40 cm wide and 20-25 cm deep ditch between the rows of trees, and then add various animal feces, weeds, straw, dead branches and leaves and other rotten organic fertilizers, cover it with a layer of soil, and open the drainage ditch at a certain distance. The water content should be kept at about 30%. It's not difficult. Well, I'm going to sleep, good night! Brother Ziyi." Yike closed his eyes and fell asleep after he finished speaking.

Ziyi suffered from insomnia again. Yike’s intelligence made him doubt: how could an uneducated person know such knowledge? I seemed to have some impression of the method she just mentioned, but I didn't know where I had seen or heard it.

He found that recently when he was intimate with Yike, there were always some fuzzy images flashing in his mind. When he wanted to see clearly, there was nothing. He didn't know what was wrong, but he didn't dare to tell Yike for fear that she would worry. So he didn't dare to be intimate with Yike anymore, and he just slept soundly.

Yike: Finally freed...

"What? What did you say? Raising earthworms?" Du Jiankang opened his mouth in surprise.

During breakfast, Yike told everyone at the table about his idea of ​​raising earthworms that he had planned to do last night. Everyone stared at him with wide eyes.

"We all know how to raise chickens and ducks, but how do you raise earthworms? What do they eat? Do they eat the same food as chickens and ducks? We have never heard of them. Cuihua, have you heard of them?" Zhang Yuling also found it incredible. "I haven't heard of it. But if you say you can raise it, then you can raise it." Wang Cuihua fully believed that it was possible for someone to do what he said.

"Tell me about your method. If it works, it can save food for chickens and ducks." Li Haoran was also full of interest. He also believed that since Yi Ke said it, there must be a way, just like the organic fertilizer mentioned last time, now the organic fertilizer can be used after a while.

"Well, there are many ways. But we can use the simplest one, which is to dig a pit. The depth of the pit should be about 50 centimeters, and the size of the pit does not matter. Add fermented nutrient soil into the pit, and then you can put earthworms in. Later..." Yike repeated what he said to Ziyi last night.

"And earthworms are not only used as food to feed animals, but also can speed up their growth and reduce the chance of them getting sick. The earthworm's feces can increase humus. If earthworms are raised in an orchard, the soil will be softer and more fertile, which is very good for fruit trees. In fact, they can also be raised in vegetable gardens, which will make the soil richer and better for growing vegetables. Finally, we can also use earthworms to make organic fertilizer." Yike added some benefits of raising earthworms.

"Is it the organic fertilizer we make?" Du Jiankang asked, staring at Yi Ke with his bright eyes. He was in charge of the organic fertilizer that was made some time ago. He knew best how those dead leaves, weeds, pig manure and cow manure were slowly turned into organic fertilizer. It was completely turning waste into treasure.