Growing medicinal herbs, especially perennial ones, is far better than growing grains!
Whether it's wheat, rice, or beans, grains are generally harvested in the first half of the year. During this period, the work involves plowing, soil preparation, and planting, followed by fertilizing, weeding, and watering, and finally harvesting. Except for the middle part, the entire process is a race against time, and there's no time to relax for even a single day.
Furthermore, with all the households clustered together, it's difficult to hire people! There are only two seasons a year, and the off-season is very short.
Medicinal herbs can be grown, especially He Shou Wu, which is a perennial plant. The specific growth time of wild plants is not fixed, but the ideal harvest time for artificial cultivation is about two or three years. After that, He Shou Wu can still grow, but the weight it can grow is limited.
Harvesting early is fine too; it just means losing some weight. It's up to you to choose.
Shuiqing and a few other families in the village planted their crops last year. This autumn, almost two years have passed, and the harvest was meager, but the losses were not significant. However, for the sake of sustainable development, they will only harvest two-thirds of the land and the rest next year.
The vacant land can be planted this year and the year after, and can be harvested every two or three years. This makes life easier for people and maximizes the profits from medicinal herbs.
Most families in the village plant late, and they plan to harvest only half of their land. Fortunately, last year's potato harvest was bountiful, and there is enough grain to eat. They only need to plant a few acres of grain, and use the rest to grow medicinal herbs. Half an acre is still quite a considerable amount!
The same applies to yams. If the land is densely planted, harvest it this year; if the land is sparsely planted, don't harvest it this year. This is because Shuiqing said that if you don't harvest it in the first year, the yams will sprout and grow roots again in the following spring, and they will grow more and more.
Most importantly, these two medicinal herbs can continue to grow in the soil, unlike rice, wheat, and beans, which are prone to sprouting, mold, and rotting if not harvested quickly after ripening. Therefore, there is no need to rush to harvest them.
For farmers who make a living from the land, the autumn harvest is a matter of utmost importance!
This was the first time the villagers had ever harvested medicinal herbs, so none of them had any experience. However, out of a sense of solemnity, they chose the sixth day of the ninth lunar month to begin digging.
The first place to be dug was Shuiqing's land, where the earliest plants were grown last year, meaning they've been growing for two years.
Men, women, and children from the village all came. The old village chief, Uncle Fan, and other elders stood at the front, while the men and women surrounded them. The teenagers stood on the ridges of the fields, tiptoeing to see.
"Good heavens, I'm a little nervous. He Shou Wu (Polygonum multiflorum) used to sell for several taels of silver! It was so precious. Now we can grow it too?" Aunt Zhang patted her chest, extremely excited.
Taurus quickly corrected, "That's for those that have been around for a long time! Mom, didn't Uncle Ding say that ours have been around for a short time and don't weigh much? We don't count them by the number of pieces, but by the number of years and their weight."
Aunt Zhang said to her son in an annoyed tone, "How could I not know? I'm only excited about the weight! Especially since we grew them ourselves, we'll soon know how much each one weighs."
Ding Heli had already told the villagers that fresh He Shou Wu of good quality and age was 450 wen per catty, while fresh He Shou Wu of poor quality and age was 210 wen per catty. This year, the herbal medicine shop would buy it at this price. If they thought the herbal medicine shop's purchase price was too low, they could go to the prefectural city to find a pharmacy to sell it to!
How could they possibly go to the prefectural city to find a pharmacy to sell to? Not only is the prefectural city far away, but the journey back and forth would also be exhausting. And which family doesn't have someone who delivers medicinal herbs? Of course they know the price of medicinal herbs.
This price is much better than the pharmacy's. Besides, the herbs are sold to the herbal medicine workshop in my own village for processing. My family members can get paid for processing them, and they can also deliver them themselves. I earn three cents per herb. What more could I ask for? If I'm still not satisfied, Heaven might take this good fortune away!
Others thought the same way.
"Needless to say, ours is from a shorter growing season, and the quality probably won't be good either. But 210 coins a pound isn't bad. Now we just want to know how big the difference is between the two years that Shuiqing's family has grown and the one year that ours has grown. If it's too big, we'll sell less this year and leave it in the ground for another year. If the difference isn't that big, then we'll work harder every year!" Granny Xu's gaze fell on Feng Da, who was pulling up the He Shou Wu vines in preparation for digging, and she spoke everyone's mind.
Families who planted He Shou Wu this year all nodded in approval!
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