Chapter 31 Second Straw Pigpen
Ye Yu performed as usual, relying on brute force and never failing. On the other side, Han Jing, Xu Fei and others were also struggling to adapt.
There is no need for so many people in the wheat field today. Han Jing and Xu Fei did not plant wheat. They were transferred to plant soybeans.
Soybeans are often intercropped with sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes. The main purpose is to fertilize the land. The sweet potato and potato fields that need to be intercropped with soybeans have already been planted after the sweet potatoes are harvested. Now only the corn fields are left that have not been planted yet.
The reason why corn fields are not planted immediately after corn harvest is that the straw in the corn fields needs to be cleaned before planting soybeans, which is also a big project.
Han Jing and Xu Fei were assigned to clean corn stalks, a job that requires more strength than skill.
But that doesn't mean that technology is completely unnecessary.
Cutting straw requires skill, and bundling straw also requires skill. After drying, straw can be used as firewood. Every household can get some, including the educated youth centers. Even transporting straw requires skill. It is not impossible to rely on pure strength, just like Ye Yu who can break all obstacles with one force, but their strength is obviously not enough.
Fortunately, there were people in the same group to help him.
Uncle Hong, the leader of the second group, is a visionary man. He is willing to accept Han Jing and Xu Fei because they are older men after all. Even if they cannot do their jobs well now, they may still be able to do them in the future. At their age, they can still work for many years.
In fact, Uncle Hong wanted to be assigned to Ye Yu, but unfortunately Ye Yu was snatched away by the third group.
Why didn't he see Ye Yu's potential at first, thinking she was a spoiled city girl? The main reason was that he was blinded by her appearance when he secretly went to see her that afternoon when the educated youth arrived.
When Uncle Hong thought about this, he felt a pang of regret. He felt that he had always been smarter than the other team leaders, but because of this matter, he had been hunting geese all day and had his eyes pecked by geese.
However, since he had already taken over Han Jing and Xu Fei, Uncle Hong was mentally prepared for their poor performance at the beginning and specially sent two experienced veterans to guide them.
With the help of the veteran, Han Jing and Xu Fei were indeed much better. They were no longer running around like headless flies like they were on the first day. At least they had a reference point and finally got the hang of it.
But physical labor is physical labor after all, and the fatigue and hardship cannot be changed.
Han Jing and Xu Fei cut straw for an hour, their waists were sore, the corn leaves scratched their faces and hands, making them itchy and painful, and there were also unknown small flying insects.
When the whistle blew, the village accountant made a round of inspection. The two of them each earned 3 work points in the morning. This result was not excellent, but it was not particularly lagging behind.
Han Jing was very happy and showed off that he had made a lot of progress compared to the 1 work point he earned a day. Xu Fei, who was so tired that he sat on the ground, also cooperated and high-fived him.
The villagers didn't understand what they were so proud of. Three points was almost the worst level in the group. Some people got full marks but were not proud of it. They were really surprised by what they saw.
But smart people like Uncle Hong or some of the older generation looked at Han Jing and the others with satisfaction and even appreciation.
Although the work done by these two guys is still average, they have open personalities and no bad intentions. It's okay if they just work and study normally. What the same group fears most is the kind of people who do bad things behind the scenes. Character is more important than anything else.
Compared with Ye Yu, Han Jing and Xu Fei, Hua Feifei's job is relatively easy, especially because the leader of the fourth group is Aunt Bai Yun, the women's director of the village.
As a women's cadre, Aunt Baiyun is very conscious and often rushes around to deal with family conflicts, big and small, in every household in the village. Although she may not always solve them all, she is definitely enthusiastic and she also has a natural sympathy for women.
Hua Feifei is not only a young girl, but also thin and small, like a child, with a cute apple-shaped face. Her mouth is still very sweet when she is not facing Ye Yu. Naturally, she has won the sympathy of many aunts and mothers-in-law, including Aunt Baiyun.
This morning, Hua Feifei didn't even have to go to the fields. She was helping the two aunts feed the pigs. The two aunts were also villagers who were close to Aunt Baiyun. They were very enthusiastic and cheerful, and their kindness towards the educated youth was greater than their malice.
All the pigs in the team are raised together, about five to eight per year. The exact number depends on the specific indicators allocated to each production team by the commune.
No production team was unwilling to raise pigs.
If you raise six pigs and hand in four, all the villagers can get two pigs at the end of the year; if you raise eight pigs and hand in five, there will be three left; if you raise ten pigs, there will be four left.
The more pigs you raise, the more meat you will get at the end of the year.
Of course, pig farming is not without risks.
Swine fever was the biggest risk. We worked for over a year in vain, but in the end, nothing happened. To prevent the pigs from getting sick, we often had only two people feeding them. If a nearby brigade was infected with swine fever, even the people who went up the mountain to cut grass for the pigs would be the same people, and they would do nothing but feed the pigs.
In addition, there are standards for pig farming.
All the pigs handed in must be full-fledged, that is, weigh at least 120 kilograms. If they do not reach that level, the pig-raising quota for next year will be reduced. If they exceed 120 kilograms, the excess pork will be purchased by the Agricultural Science Station at a price of one yuan or even several yuan, and then converted into dividends and distributed to the villagers.
120 kilograms may not sound like a lot, but the team can’t buy pig feed to ripen the pigs.
Hua Feifei started learning how to prepare pig food with her aunts.
The pig food of this era mainly included wheat bran, bean cake and pig grass.
Wheat bran, also known as wheat bran, is a by-product of wheat flour processing, as the name suggests; soybean cake is the oil cake obtained after soybean oil is extracted.
My aunt said that wheat bran is very chewy, and bean cakes are softer and finer to chew than wheat bran, so pigs like them more.
"Why does Auntie know this?"
As soon as Hua Feifei said this, the two aunts laughed. She was not stupid and immediately realized that she had made a fool of herself.
Why do people know the taste of wheat bran bean cakes? Of course, they've eaten them! Why would people eat pig feed? In those days of food and clothing shortages, it was of course a last resort due to food shortages and famine.
Hua Feifei realized that her question was similar to the historical question "Why didn't Emperor Hui of Jin eat meat porridge?" She scratched her face awkwardly and said, "Sorry, I made a fool of myself again."
"It's okay, it's okay," the auntie across the street waved her hand. "You guys in the city eat commercial grain, all hulled flour. It's okay if you don't know about wheat bran."
Of course, Hua Feifei would not talk about the fact that the staple food in her hometown was rice, and the flour was all fine flour, and wheat was even harder to find.
Another aunt lamented: "This bean cake is not only tastier than wheat bran, but also more nutritious. Pigs will grow fat if they eat it. It's a pity that there is not enough of it."
Who in the team can produce so much oil at home? Soybeans are a type of food.
Moreover, there is no oil press in the village, so people can only go to the Hongqi Brigade or the town to press oil. They have to pay for each press with oil cakes, and there are not many oil cakes left.
Of course, wheat bran and oil cakes alone are not enough to feed the pigs, so pig grass is needed at this time.
Pigweed is mostly wild grass on the mountain.
There are more than one kind, there are mulberry leaves, garlic stems, duck toe grass, sticky vegetables, ghost pine leaves, etc. If it is really not enough, add some sweet potato vines, chop it up, chop it and boil it.
There are the most types of pig grass in spring and summer. Not only that, those older wild vegetables, such as amaranth, Swiss chard, and ground lettuce, which are edible by humans, can be fed to pigs. Rotten cabbage leaves are also fine, but the latter are basically not available.
In autumn, the pig grass on the mountain will become less and less as the weather gets worse, until the cold winter with snow.
At this time, you need to store more hay for the pigs, and pay a little attention to the amount of each meal. If they eat too much, there will be nothing left, and if they eat too little, they will not only not gain weight but will lose fat.
The end of the year is also the time to hand in pigs to the agricultural and sideline product station every year. Around the Spring Festival, the village slaughters pigs and distributes the meat. Many children in the village look forward to this day.
After a busy year, there must be some meat on the dinner table on New Year’s Eve. If it is a bowl of braised pork, it is worth showing off all day long.
"There are really some who show off." While chopping grass for the pigs, the auntie told funny stories that happened in the village.
Many people eat meat during the Spring Festival, but not necessarily during the Spring Festival. After eating meat, they will smear the meat on their mouths, making it look greasy, and then wander around the village for a day.
"Hahahahaha——" Hua Feifei laughed, "We actually have this in the city too."
Eating meat is indeed something worth showing off.
Chopping and boiling pig grass is indeed not a particularly complicated task. Hua Feifei is not really an expert in cooking. She has good cooking skills.
After the pig grass was cooked, the two aunts took Hua Feifei to the pigpen to feed the pigs.
There are five pig pens in the village, each half a person's height, surrounded by fences, but three of them are empty and only two have pigs in them, a total of six, not a lot.
My aunt said that after the team leader took office, he went to find his comrades in the town. The indicators are already more than before. The pigs are being raised well, and the indicators may increase next year.
The two aunts poured the pig food into the pig basins respectively and knocked on the basins a few times with a wooden stick used to stir the pig food. Hearing the sound, the pigs came over happily.
They ate so happily and resoundingly that Hua Feifei felt a little hungry and touched her stomach.
Feeding pigs is not difficult for Hua Feifei, but cleaning the pigpen is a bit difficult.
But Hua Feifei's self-hypnosis was much better than composting, until she heard that they were also required to carry the pig manure in loads to the open space next door, cover it with stream mud, and pat it into gray manure piles with rust, waiting for other people from the production team to come and take it.
"...Pig manure is a good thing. It can fertilize crops. The food we eat depends on crops."
Hua Feifei nodded with difficulty: "I can." She was not an ungrateful person.
Compared to working in the fields, the job introduced by Aunt Baiyun is really suitable for her. It was specially arranged to take care of her.
Moreover, an aunt gave up the job because she felt that the work points earned from this job were too few, especially in the autumn when it was impossible to go up the mountain to cut grass for pigs. Without this coincidence, she would not have gotten it.
Hua Feifei spent the whole morning studying and didn't do any work. She only got one work point, but compared with last time, she was really satisfied.
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