Chapter 19 Let's Raise Some Livestock
Ye Zhen rode his electric bike home. It was already afternoon. He ate some of the leftover food, and many of the things he bought were also delivered to his home one after another.
Only Ye's mother was left at home. Grandpa Ye and Dad Ye went to the fields. The people that Ye Zhen had called to plow the land yesterday had arrived. Dad Ye and the others were watching over there. The land was 200 yuan per acre, and Ye Zhen asked for more than two acres.
We had someone pull out the weeds in the morning. We specially asked people from our village to do it, and it cost several hundred yuan.
Originally, Ye's father said that spraying herbicides would be faster, but Ye Zhen disagreed, thinking that it would cause too much pollution. Besides, it would take more than ten days to wait after spraying, and there would still be pesticide residues.
So at this moment, Ye's mother was watering the vegetable garden in the yard, looking at the electrical appliances being moved back and forth with a look of surprise and distress. After knowing the price, she kept muttering, "It's so expensive, why spend so much money!"
He carefully touched the brand new refrigerator and watched the staff installing it, unable to hide the joy in his eyes.
Ye Zhen chose not to hear Ye Ma's muttering.
The rented machine is very fast. The fields were plowed before nightfall.
When he got home that night, Grandpa Ye couldn't help but exclaim, "The machines nowadays are so fast. It's not like before when we had to work so hard, driving oxen to plow the fields, and we were exhausted by the time we finished."
Apparently Grandpa Ye was very satisfied with the speed of the machine.
"By the way, what do you plan to grow, Ye Zi? And the lotus roots are still in our pond, but we haven't put any fish fry in it yet this year."
In addition to using the sloping land to grow vegetables, Ye Zhen also reserved a piece of land to plant some ordinary flowers and plants.
So I told him my plan: "Put some crayfish and crabs in the pond, and wait until the fall when they are fat, catch them and cook them with garlic and spicy sauce."
"I plan to plant some flowers and potted plants on that land. Our province has a suitable climate and a good environment. Now that people's living conditions have improved, they like to buy flowers and plants. There is definitely a market for this."
Father Ye disagreed. In his opinion, growing flowers and plants is not for eating or drinking, but for the sake of beauty. How can one make money from it?
Father Ye shook his head. "What's the point of growing this? It's better to grow some vegetables. Now grow some cucumbers, eggplants, rapeseed, etc., aren't they easier to grow than this? You can pick them and sell them later. Why do you grow this?"
Dad Ye looked at Ye Zhen with an expression that said "young people don't know how to farm".
"Listen to your dad. Just plant some flowers and plants at home. Why bother to set up a special land for planting? Won't it be free to buy seedlings when the time comes? You can sell the vegetables and the like later, but who will buy these flowers and plants?" This time, Ye's mother disagreed and patted Ye Zhen's shoulder.
"Don't worry about this! My classmate's grandfather bought a pot of flowers and spent tens of thousands of yuan. He showed off in his circle of friends and acted like he got a great bargain. Which old man and old lady in the neighborhood wouldn't be envious?"
Ye Zhen came up with a well-chosen excuse and lied in a serious manner, sounding as if it were the truth. His tone was so sincere that the Ye family members were itching to try.
Do these flowers and plants really make money that way?
Ye Ma and the others looked skeptical. Is this flower really that expensive? This thing is everywhere when you cut grass in the mountains in spring and summer. Why do you need to buy it?
Ye's father didn't believe it, and looked like Ye Zhen was making fun of him. Although he had never seen the flower Ye Zhen mentioned, according to his experience, it would take only a few months to grow. He was kidding!
"Do you really think that flowers and plants can grow and bloom in a few months? Which one doesn't take a few years to grow? Even people who have worked in the farm for several years can't do the delicate work of pruning and trimming. You have never been to the fields, how can you raise them?"
It is indeed impossible according to common sense, but who is Ye Zhen?
As long as there is enough spiritual energy, a patch of it can grow in the blink of an eye.
"Don't worry. Provincial experts have specifically said that our area has steep mountains, deep valleys and forests, and a variety of species, which is most suitable for the growth of various flowers and plants. In addition, an acquaintance of mine has some flower seedlings that have been developed. When the time comes, I can go to him to buy them. He can give me a preferential price."
Ye Zhen continued to deceive, this is a non-existent acquaintance, thank you for being a tool!
Ye Zhen didn't show what he was thinking on his face, and continued:
"The land on the slope is big enough after it's been cultivated. It's fertile and perfect for growing vegetables. There's also good sunlight, so it's plenty for growing vegetables."
This time, Ye's father did not object, "It's good to grow vegetables. If you can't sell them all, you can eat them at home." Growing vegetables is always more practical than growing flowers and plants.
"That's the reason. I also want to grow some vegetables for my family to eat and sell to customers in my group."
Speaking of this, now that we have vegetables at home, it’s time to serve the meat, right?
Ye Zhen turned to Grandma Ye and Mom Ye, "Grandma, Mom, let's raise a few pigs at home. The backyard is so big, and we can raise a few chickens, ducks, and rabbits. They'll be delicious, braised or stewed, and we don't have to buy them!"
Think braised pork, braised pig ears, dumplings...
Ye Zhen started drooling just thinking about it.
"How many more pigs are you going to raise? Don't you need to cut the grass for the pigs? Don't you need to cook it after cutting it? Oh, raising pigs smells so bad, don't you need to clean up? You want to raise a few more? It's hard enough to raise just one. It's so much work. Your mother and I will be exhausted to death!" Before Ye's mother could say anything, Grandma Ye started to scold her, and she was so anxious that she was about to jump up and down.
Not to mention Grandma Ye, Ye's mother also frowned, "The smell of pig farming is so strong that it will stink to death. When the wind blows from the backyard, the stench will drift to the front room. How can you eat?"
Ye Zhen thought about that scene, hmm...
Forget it, let’s talk about it later!
She couldn't stand the smell either.
But, if we can’t raise pigs now, we can always raise ducks!
Ye Zhen was unwilling to give up. He stepped forward and held Grandma Ye and Mother Ye's hands. "Well, then why don't we raise some ducks and geese? Is that ok?"
Nowadays, there are many fast-growing chickens and ducks on the market that are fed with feed. They look fat and tender, but they taste too fat and the sweetness of duck meat is gone. Of course, these chickens and ducks are not expensive, and you can buy one for just over ten yuan, but they really don’t taste good.
"How many?" Ye's mother really wanted to say that her daughter had never done any housework. "Do you really think chickens and ducks are so easy to raise? It's good enough if you can get one of the chickens and ducklings that grow up. We should be careful about chicken plague when we buy them, right? What should we feed these ducklings? We should build a nest, right? Chickens and ducks can't be free-range. We need to feed them some corn kernels and rice husks..."
Not to mention anything else, last year Grandma Ye adopted more than a dozen chicks, but only two of them survived and were eaten. The survival rate is quite low, and this is the result of careful care.
I feed the chickens every morning, and during the day, the chickens are flying and the ducks are quacking. Don’t you find it noisy? Do you have to clean up the poop everywhere? And you have to mix the chicken feed... There is really no work to do in the house, and it’s not tiring enough!
In Ye's mother's eyes, Ye Zhen still had some success in growing fruits, after all, his family could help. However, raising chickens and ducks was really difficult. He bought them in batches, but only a few of them would survive in the end of the year.
"Besides, if one of them gets sick with chicken plague, then not a single one will be left. It would be a waste of our efforts!"
Ye Zhen also knew this truth, but she was greedy!
She can manage this kind of land, but she has never raised livestock.
"Mom, the chickens and ducks we raise at home taste delicious. Besides, they can lay eggs, right? If there are too many to eat, we can pickle the duck eggs and cook some porridge in the morning. I can eat several bowls of them. If we raise a lot of them, we can sell them out..."
"Duck stewed with pickled radish, braised chicken, I'll plant some potatoes later and make potato stewed chicken, it tastes so delicious!"
Those were the free-range chickens and ducks running around in the fields, with little fat and plenty of lean meat. As an expert breeder who had raised chickens and ducks from the time they were brooding until she stopped in recent years due to severe disease in the livestock, Grandma Ye also became greedy and forgot her initial refusal, and joined in the conversation.
"How about raising a few more? The chicken plague doesn't seem to be that serious this year."
Ye's father beside him also started to make a noise, "Yang, it's been a long time since I've eaten my mom's salted duck eggs."
Grandma Ye rolled her eyes at Dad Ye, saying, "You're so old, but you're still greedy!"
Grandma Ye completely forgot that she was also craving for duck.
Mother Ye thought about the city people who came to the countryside specifically to buy local chickens and ducks, which cost hundreds of dollars each. It was easier than farming, and even if more of them died, the worst that could happen was that they could just raise a few more.
"Raise them. Anyway, local chickens and ducks are expensive now. At worst, we can build a bigger nest outside the dean. There are few people in the village anyway, so we are not afraid of losing them. We can drive them to the fields and ponds during the day and raise them. We can raise 20!"
Even if they die by then, at least a few of them will survive, right?
That's too few, Ye Zhen plans to raise one or two hundred. There are plenty of fields in the countryside, so there's no need to feed them anything, the small fish and snails in the paddy fields can feed them.
Raise more, she also plans to eat one a day to satisfy herself!
Ye Zhen said quickly: "Buy more, so that more can survive, and there is no need to build a shed. Just fence the chickens and ducks over to the pond. The pond is big, so just divide it in half, one side for the chickens and ducks, the other side for the fish, shrimp and lotus roots."
"During the day, we pull the wires out and rush to the fields and hilltops. There's so much space, isn't it enough for those chickens and ducks to move around?"
Chickens and ducks are familiar with their nests and are used to living in one place. No matter where they are during the day, they will return to their nests at night.
"When it gets late, we can knock on the basin and the chickens and ducks will come back by themselves."
This time, not to mention the experienced people like Grandma Ye and Mom Ye, even Grandpa Ye and Dad Ye were all puzzled.
Whose chickens and ducks are so obedient? Isn’t this a joke?
These chickens and ducks are flying everywhere. Even though there are few wild animals in the fields and mountains now, there is no shortage of animals like weasels, snakes and owls. Who knows if they might kill one or two?
Take the chickens and ducks walking all over the ground, for example. How can they grow meat?
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