Chapter 215 Bumper Vegetable Harvest
The extreme cold weather has lasted for a full month.
After the winter temperature dropped to -40 degrees Celsius this year, it gradually leveled off. After the reflective screens were hung up, the temperature in the plantation remained at around -5 degrees Celsius.
Although the plants in the plantation are growing much slower than in the summer, wild vegetables are still gradually growing.
The shepherd's purse and chives that were transplanted after one harvest are growing particularly well.
The largest shepherd's purse leaves are already as big as a washbasin, and the chive leaves are over 80 centimeters tall, so they are ready to be harvested.
Because solar radiation is relatively weak in winter, and the constant temperature greenhouse filters out some of the radiation, and the roots of the poplar trees continuously absorb radioactive substances in the soil, most of the mature wild vegetables in this batch are moderately irradiated, and a few are even lowly irradiated.
A rough estimate suggests that the edible rate exceeds 80%! Among them, low-radiation vegetables account for more than 10%!
Such results are difficult to achieve even in the experimental fields of agricultural research institutes, demonstrating that poplar trees are indeed very effective in reducing radiation levels.
Zuo Shan first picked some vegetables with low radiation levels and sent them to Old Madam Gu and the old housekeeper, but Old Madam Gu kept declining them:
"Such rare and good food should be given to you children. We are all old, and it would be a waste for us to eat this kind of thing."
"Madam, it is precisely because you are old that we should give you the best food first. We young people will have plenty of time to enjoy it in the future."
"Besides, this was grown on our own land. If we don't satisfy our own people first, are we going to let outsiders benefit from it?" Zuo Shan laughed.
She not only sent fresh vegetables, but also included recipes for cold dishes and stir-fries. Madam Gu was overjoyed. After learning the recipes, she personally cooked them and had the old housekeeper deliver them to them for lunch.
The only regret is the lack of ingredients like scallions, ginger, garlic, chili peppers, soy sauce, and vinegar, but having Sichuan peppercorn powder as an addition is quite nice.
The wild vegetables grew one after another. After a rough estimate, the first batch that matured should weigh about two tons. It was definitely not enough for them to eat themselves, so Zuo Shan decided to put them up for sale on the Ninth Forum.
The price is based on the market price. During this season, most wild vegetables are available but not sold. Only a few merchants with large cold storage facilities have stock, but these are limited to wild vegetables with moderate radiation.
After all, wild vegetables with low radiation levels are already in high demand and short supply, and there will be some loss during the preservation process, which will result in significant losses.
Therefore, they only buy moderately irradiated wild vegetables cheaply in the summer and then profit from the price difference in the winter.
Zuo Shan learned that the average price of fresh wild vegetables with moderate radiation during this season is between 80 and 150 yuan per 100 grams, and those sold on the Ninth Forum are usually wholesale, with a minimum purchase quantity of 100 kilograms.
This shocked her!
In the summer, these moderately irradiated wild vegetables are mostly worthless; in District 50, the price is about 20 to 50 yuan per kilogram.
Even on the Ninth Forum, it could only sell for 80 to 150 yuan per kilogram at most, but now the price has increased tenfold.
Furthermore, those people were selling cold-stored fresh produce, which was completely different from what she picked fresh from the field.
So she posted a sales ad: "Selling freshly picked vegetables with moderate radiation, radiation level range: 135 to 199."
The price of freshly picked chives is 1200 yuan/kg, with 100 kg per serving, for a total of 20 servings;
Freshly picked shepherd's purse is priced at 1800 yuan per kilogram, with 100 kilograms per serving, and a total of 20 servings available. Buy now while supplies last!
Additionally, steamed mustard green meatballs and chive meatballs are available for sale, 20 per serving, each weighing 25 grams, priced at 5000 silver coins per serving, with a total of 100 servings available, minimum order of 10 servings.
How fragrant are these meatballs? Compare them to the sausages we mentioned before—they're even more tender and delicious!
In the post, she even highlighted the words "freshly picked" in red, bold, and large font.
As for the meatballs, she didn't add much promotional material, since all the sellers on the forum who had tried her sausages before gave them positive reviews.
Especially the person nicknamed "Ninth Forum Know-It-All," who was incredibly eloquent, praising her sausages to the skies, almost like a shill she had paid to be.
This time, the meatballs sold out quickly after she posted the post, but some people questioned the freshly picked vegetables.
Fu Gui Xiao Xian: "The poster deliberately emphasized the words 'freshly picked.' May I ask where I can pick fresh wild vegetables this season?"
Happy Mutant Pig: "I only know that some agricultural research institutes have experimental fields where you can pick them, but the quantity is extremely small. They don't even have enough for their own people, let alone sell them here, right?"
Mad Dragon Arrogant Heaven: "Hahaha! Did the poster dream of going back to before the Great Cataclysm and picking fresh wild vegetables from the endless farmland?"
District 30 Little Tyrant: "I'll take one first. If it's inferior, I can ask for a refund on the spot and then make a profit of ten times the original poster's compensation! With the Ninth Forum around, I'm not worried about not getting compensation!"
The Ninth Forum's Know-It-All: "The person upstairs said there's a tenfold compensation for selling inferior goods as superior ones. Does the poster have nothing better to do than give you tenfold compensation for free? I'll order two portions first, and wait for you to regret it and cry your hearts out when you miss out!"
With the support of his post, the 40 portions of vegetables were quickly snapped up. Some people thought that good products should be grabbed first, while others were worried that if they found out the vegetables had been stored in a cold storage for a long time when they arrived, they would apply for compensation.
Zuo Shan didn't bother to care about their mentality. After seeing the order, he sent a message to the back office, asking them to pick up the goods in two days.
Then she took Lele and Maoli to start picking, and the old housekeeper, ignoring her advice, came over to help.
Zuo Shan didn't dare let him do heavy work, so he was responsible for packing the vegetables that Zuo Shan and the others had vacuum-sealed in bags, labeling them with the name and quantity.
At the same time, Linghu Yi received a routine report from Hurricane Messenger No. 48, informing him that Zuo Shan had posted a sales ad on the platform for freshly picked vegetables and meatballs, and asked him to pick up the goods in two days.
Linghu Yi immediately perked up.
He already knew that Zuo Shan had rented an experimental field to do planting, but he originally thought she was just daydreaming.
After all, many people have tried growing wild vegetables before, but the input far outweighs the output, and the edible proportion of the harvested wild vegetables is not much higher than that of those collected from the wild.
Surprisingly, she actually succeeded!
He wasn't one of those fools on the forum who would think Zuo Shan bought wild vegetables from cold storage from other merchants and then resold them as high-quality ones.
After all, the lie of selling food is very easy to expose, and even if she wanted to make money, she wouldn't do something so foolish.
Thinking of this, he sent a message to No. 48: "I happen to be passing through District 48 the day after tomorrow. I'll pick up this order in person and also verify just how fresh her 'freshly picked vegetables' really are!"
#48: The boss is getting more and more dedicated. Shouldn't these small fry work even harder? Otherwise, they're not far from losing their jobs!
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