Gastrodia elata, a perennial herb, also known as Chijian, Shantudou, Dingfengcao, and Bangchuihuangzi, has its tubers used in medicine. It is a precious and scarce herb with a history of medicinal use for over two thousand years.
Gastrodia elata usually sprouts in mid-to-late June, which is the easiest time to dig it up. Just find the Gastrodia elata seedlings and dig them down.
After the gastrodia elata flowers, the underground tubers will become hollow and rotten due to depletion of nutrients, and small gastrodia elata offspring will grow out, while the gastrodia elata seedlings will wither.
Therefore, digging for Gastrodia elata during the Spring and Autumn Period was generally called "digging for sprouts".
People who dig for Gastrodia elata can only use shovels. They dig a bit in what they think is a good spot, turn it over, and if they're lucky, they can dig up quite a lot.
In comparison, the germinated gastrodia elata is of higher quality than the seedlings.
The county's medicinal herb company began purchasing Gastrodia elata in 1963.
In recent years, beekeepers in provinces such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang have been keen to buy fresh Gastrodia elata, which has led to a rise in the price of Gastrodia elata.
The mountains are rich in resources, with countless wild vegetables, medicinal herbs, and fungi.
The forest farm is located in these mountains. Whether it's the staff or their families, they all love to go to the mountains whenever they have a little free time.
Once everyone entered the mountains, they carried everything back with them.
The hides and medicinal herbs can be sold for money, while the mushrooms, fungus, and wild vegetables can be kept for family consumption.
Locals also call this kind of mountain harvesting "gaoshan liluo'er".
Many employees' family members work in the mountains all year round, earning a considerable amount of money.
From mid-May to early June, people would go into the mountains to collect *Vigna fuciformis*, also known as wild ferns, which would be dried and exported to the Dongyi people, earning them foreign exchange.
In order to encourage exports and foreign exchange earnings, higher-level departments often give various rewards to lower-level departments.
In order to encourage employees and their families to generate income, the forest farm will also provide various conveniences.
During the annual harvesting season for wild yak hair, Qianchuan Forest Farm arranges shuttle buses to take people into the operating area for picking.
Starting from late June, it's time to dig for Gastrodia elata and harvest Ganoderma lucidum.
When September arrives, all sorts of mushrooms and wild fruits come to the mountains, and those who are good at farming go into the mountains to pick schisandra berries, collect pine nuts, and so on.
So as long as you work hard, living in these mountains is not bad. Otherwise, how can you say that you live off the land?
Compared to the tree mushrooms that Sheng Xiping discovered, the gastrodia elata that Chen Weiguo found delighted everyone more, because it could be sold for money.
Although Gastrodia elata has only recently emerged from the ground and is difficult to find, everyone still enthusiastically dispersed to search for it in the forest.
"Don't wander off, stay behind me."
Deep in these old forests, the trees are tall and the grass is dense. If you've never been into a forest before, you might get lost in a single turn.
Sheng Xiping was worried about Zhou Qinglan and told her not to wander off. He said that even if she couldn't find anything, she just needed to make sure she didn't get lost.
Zhou Qinglan knew her own limitations, so she obediently nodded, "Yes, I know, I won't wander off."
And so, the group, men and women paired up, walked into the woods, searching for newly unearthed Gastrodia elata as they went.
Sheng Xiping has excellent eyesight; in the local dialect, it's said that he can "kill weeds with his eyes."
So after walking only a few steps, he also discovered the newly sprouted Gastrodia elata seedlings.
And it wasn't just one tree; there were five or six trees in a row.
In this situation, there will usually be gastrodia elata offspring among several seedlings, and the harvest will be substantial.
"Qinglan, come here."
Sheng Xiping waved behind him, calling Zhou Qinglan over, and taught her how to identify Gastrodia elata and some basic knowledge about digging it.
"Look, usually when you encounter more than three Gastrodia elata seedlings, it's because one of the Gastrodia elata seedlings here rotted after it sprouted."
After two or three years of growth, those Gastrodia elata seedlings have all sprouted and emerged from the ground this year.
In this situation, there will usually be many underneath.
As Sheng Xiping spoke, he began to dig away the soil from under the stem of a gastrodia elata plant.
The mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest belt is mostly composed of humus-rich black soil that is soft and moist. No tools are needed; the soil can be easily broken up by hand.
As the depth increases, the condition beneath the Gastrodia elata stems becomes apparent.
A spindle-shaped tuberous root, with fine black threads wrapped around it, comes into view.
Sheng Xiping did not dig out the gastrodia elata directly. Instead, he dug up the soil around the other gastrodia elata plants and started digging along the direction of the tail end of the plant.
You don't need to go too deep. After going about a hand's width of depth, you'll see many large and small spindle-shaped underground tubers lying haphazardly in the soil, somewhat resembling potatoes.
"Well, we'll have to use the food bag then."
Before leaving home in the morning, Sheng Xiping did not plan to go into the mountains, so he did not bring anything to store the Gastrodia elata.
Fortunately, everyone had brought food bags when they went into the mountains, and this was the only thing they could use now.
So he handed the tree mushrooms inside to Zhou Qinglan and told her to put them away, while Sheng Xiping used his rice bag to put the gastrodia elata in.
As Sheng Xiping dug through the soil, he picked up the gastrodia elata from the ground. Zhou Qinglan came over and helped him put the gastrodia elata into his bag.
Gastrodia elata doesn't lie flat in the soil, but rather in layers. Sheng Xiping dug out about three layers of soil, creating a row of pits on the ground.
Finally, the pups under these few Gastrodia elata seedlings almost filled the bag; it must have weighed at least five or six pounds of fresh Gastrodia elata.
Wow, so many!
Zhou Qinglan was stunned. She never expected that there would be so many seedlings underneath when there were only five or six seedlings on top.
"What if we run into them again later? What will we use to cover it up?"
Just now, Sheng Xiping handed the piece of tree mushroom from his pocket to Zhou Qinglan and put it in her pocket.
Both of their pockets were full at the moment. What would they use to put them in later?
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