Chapter 229 Planting Season, Harvest Season, Grain Storage Season: Strawberry Planting, Autumn...
A week has passed in the blink of an eye.
The vegetable shop's business wasn't particularly good, but it wasn't so bad that it couldn't break even.
Compared to that area, the stalls set up in front of people's homes are much more lively, attracting local residents every day.
I mainly buy bird eggs and fresh vegetables to make fruit salad.
The nobles felt that what Lai did was beneath their dignity and were unwilling to eat the vegetables produced on the estate, but the servants of each household did not care so much.
I often come here during my breaks, and I even buy more because of Kama.
The vegetables grown in greenhouses were the first to sell out.
These were all vegetables with short growth cycles. We picked and sold them, and finally emptied one greenhouse.
Several days passed after the soil in the greenhouse was turned over, and during this time, Lai cultivated the strawberry seedlings in the original glass room.
Planting seeds directly in the ground and waiting for them to grow little by little will take an unknown amount of time.
It would be better to use magic catalysis together, then divide the seedlings after they grow a bit bigger, and plant them in a greenhouse once they have matured into plants.
This not only increases the seed survival rate, but also simplifies subsequent weeding and other tasks.
"Lord Lei! The carpenter in town has delivered the items you ordered. Where shall we move them?"
Ross gently pushed open the wooden door.
The containers that Ray had asked him to prepare in the glasshouse were filled with densely packed, fuzzy, tender green seedlings.
"Just put it at the entrance of the glass room."
"Alright! Please continue with your work, sir. We'll be done moving soon!"
Ross is a lively person, and he always stays home when Rye is home, helping Rye with all sorts of chores.
Not long after, the sound of things being moved around could be heard outside.
Lai went out and unwrapped the canvas packaging. He took a look and saw that the delivered item was actually a wooden lattice he had ordered.
It is about 60 centimeters long and nearly 50 centimeters wide. The inner layer is divided into small compartments of roughly the same size by narrow wooden strips, and small holes are drilled at the bottom for ventilation and drainage.
Each drawer can hold eighty seedlings, and he ordered twenty of them.
Ten silver coins were spent, but two gold coins were used in total.
The workmanship is excellent. It is said to be made of special wood that is insect-resistant and rot-resistant, and it is coated with transparent lacquer inside and out.
"Look at the workmanship, the craftsmanship, I guarantee it won't break even after three years."
"Yes, that's fine. Cher should pay his bill."
"If you need anything, just send us a message. Our master craftsman has done a lot of work and is very skilled at it."
"Um."
Ray nodded in acknowledgment, and Cher led the deliveryman to the living room to get the money.
"What are all these compartments for?"
"Karma asked."
When someone came to deliver something, Kama and her friend came over to join in the fun.
"For use in cultivating strawberry seedlings."
"That's what Lei explained," Rye said.
Modern agriculture uses plastic seedling trays for large-scale seedling cultivation, but conditions are limited on the Casa continent, and there are no plastic products available here.
Seedling trays that can be reused and whose cost cannot be too high.
After much deliberation, Lei Yi realized that only wood could meet these requirements for the time being, which was truly a last resort.
I originally thought that these wooden products might be bulky and prone to rotting.
The finished product is much better than expected.
"Ross, go check if the craftsmen have left, and have them make ten more and send them over."
"Okay, I'll be right there!"
Ross ran back to the front yard.
Ray took apart the wooden frames, with Karma and Diana helping him.
"Does this need to be filled with soil later?"
Diana asked Rye.
She had seen how others bred crops in the countryside.
"Yes, fill these compartments with soil from the greenhouse, then water them thoroughly before bringing them over here."
"good."
Karma and Diana accepted their assignments and went off to do their work.
Lei quickly used magic to make the strawberry seedling grow a little more.
"Why bother with all this planting? With your current abilities, it wouldn't be difficult for you to just let them mature."
Ryan didn't understand Ray's thought process.
"Perhaps it tastes better when you take care of it yourself and watch it blossom and bear fruit."
Ryan thought Lai was being incredibly boring, spending all his time here in such a rigid and predictable manner, so he flew straight back to the villa.
Ray watched Ryan leave, then returned to the glass room and began tidying up the clutter on the wooden shelves.
After seeing the person off, Cher came over to help.
It wasn't safe for Jane, a young girl, to stay in the front, so Cher sent Ross to the front to watch the dishes with Jane.
When three adults work together, they are incredibly fast.
While Karma and Diana were filling the containers with soil and watering them, Cher pushed a cart, delivering stacks of wooden frames already filled with soil to the marble open space in front of the glass house, where they were neatly stacked.
Less than half an hour later, Cher knocked on the door to tell him that he was ready.
"Young Master, is there anything else we can do for you?"
"So fast? Wait a minute."
Lai hurriedly stood up, holding several un-shaved wood chips in his hand.
He took a plate of seedlings from the shelf and handed it to Cher, then turned around and took down an even bigger one for himself.
"Let's go out first."
Karma and Diana were still busy outside, placing the wooden frames filled with soil on the ground one by one.
"In a moment, we'll use this to dig a hole in the soil in the wooden tray, and then select three to five seedlings from the plate to plant in it."
"good."
The three responded in unison.
After being catalyzed by Lei, these seedlings have grown true leaves and are no longer so fragile. They still need to absorb nutrients to continue growing, and now is a good time to transplant them.
After giving the instructions, Lai didn't sit idle. He found some planks and, together with Cher, pieced together two makeshift tables.
Four people stood in front of the table, patiently filling each wooden grid with strawberry seedlings.
After careful consideration, Lei only bred regular strawberries this time.
After a while, once the vegetables in the other greenhouse are sold out, we can plant the more precious white strawberries. There's plenty of time.
By staggering the planting times in the two greenhouses, the sales period can be extended.
The only concern is that once the white strawberries hit the market, others will see the business opportunity and buy them in bulk to keep for seed.
When the strawberry market becomes flooded with white strawberries, he will lose his initial market advantage.
We'll deal with the future later; Lei can only take it one step at a time.
As the green in the dish gradually decreased, all the seedlings were transplanted, but quite a few seedlings remained.
There are a total of 1,600 strawberry seedlings. If they were planted densely, it would definitely not be enough to fill the entire greenhouse.
Lei didn't plan to plant them that densely, but the remaining seedlings couldn't just be thrown away.
He plans to plant strawberry seedlings on raised ridges, leaving space for people to walk through when picking them.
Besides planting strawberries, some vegetables can also be planted between the rows, so the farm won't have to worry about having enough vegetables for winter and can even sell them in the store.
Finally, Cher somehow found four more large pots and planted all the seedlings.
The four of them worked together to neatly stack the wooden frames one by one on the shelves in the glass room, and the job was completed.
Once these seedlings have grown into mature plants, they can be transplanted into greenhouses.
During this period of downtime, it's a good time to hire people to build ridges for the greenhouse.
It's only mid-August now, not yet the busy farming season, so it's a good time to hire help.
Wait a month or two, when everyone is busy harvesting their land, and then you can find people to do the work. Maybe you'll only find people willing to come if you pay double the wages.
Vincent is currently busy running the shop and has virtually no time to work in the fields.
Kama and Diana were two women, and Rye certainly wouldn't let them do manual labor like digging. Cher was too old, and Duncan and Rose were too young.
He could work in the fields himself, but he couldn't possibly finish all that land by himself, even if he worked himself to death. It would be better to hire someone to do it.
Lei was busy with greenhouse and shop renovations every day, and occasionally went to Anderson's tavern to sit for a while.
Life was quite fulfilling.
Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye, all the strawberry seedlings in the first greenhouse had been transplanted. The second greenhouse was also ready.
Early autumn has arrived, and the vegetable garden is reaping a bumper harvest.
Karma and Diana pick a lot of vegetables every day and make them into dried vegetables in preparation for the coming winter.
I also need to take leave to take the children to the farm to help pick fresh fruit.
The farmer was an old acquaintance of Cher's, and every year he would send them some fruit and firewood for the winter. It wouldn't be right not to help.
The better blueberries and apples they brought back were given to the children. The bruised ones were made into jam that can be preserved for a long time.
With Cher and Kama taking care of everything, Lei didn't have to worry about winter supplies much this year.
He only instructed Cher to buy more potatoes and sweet potatoes, foods that can be stored for a long time.
The border region is still at war. The capital city is relatively safe for now, but who can guarantee that the war won't spread here?
Clearly, everyone shares this view: the price of potatoes and sweet potatoes has at least doubled compared to previous years.
Lai gritted his teeth and bought a truckload of potatoes and half a truckload of sweet potatoes at the price he used to pay for two truckloads in previous years.
This year's situation is not as good as in previous years.
Before, it was just him, Neil, and Tata, who only loved eating meat. This year, however, there are five adults, plus three teenagers—a proper big family.
We absolutely cannot prepare too little food.
Inside the pendant, there were still several bags of wheat harvested last year from the small mountain village. Lai didn't plan to take them out unless absolutely necessary.
Even though it's all old wheat, it's still better than having nothing to eat later.
Because of the war, taxes in several countries have increased to 50% this year. Farmers are complaining, but they have all paid their taxes, and nothing major has happened.
There were many wealthy families around the capital. Even if they paid only half a percent, the remaining grain was enough to feed their entire family.
After discussing it, Lai and Cher went to the countryside and brought back two cartloads of wheat, which they stored in a dry place.
Fireplaces are needed in winter greenhouses, and villas also need fireplaces for heating; firewood and charcoal are absolutely essential.
Cher and Vincent spent several days running around and finally managed to place an order for the firewood they needed at a nobleman's forest.
With the several cartloads of charcoal Edmund sent, there was no problem getting through the entire winter.
Busy as ever, it's time to harvest the corn.
They husked the corn, cut the stalks, and husked the corn for more than ten days.
More than half a month after the harvest festival ended, the work on the manor was almost finished.
This was the busiest autumn for the Cher family.
I was tired, but looking at the full grain reserves and half a warehouse of corn, the sense of satisfaction I felt was indescribable.
If I had to describe it in two words, it would be "steadfast".
The strawberry plants in the first greenhouse, scattered here and there, have already started to bloom.
The temperature is dropping day by day, and the fireplace in the greenhouse needs to be burned with wood in the morning and evening to keep it warm.
Vincent and Cher took very good care of him.
The little gadgets that Lei bought from the dwarf shop came in very handy, saving a lot of watering time and reducing everyone's workload.
Time slips away little by little as strawberries bloom, set fruit, grow, and change color.
Winter has finally arrived.
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