Chapter 197 A Bumper Harvest: It's suddenly turned into a food processing plant! ...
The Feiyan Textile Factory's affiliated No. 57 Farm has entered the harvest season. Thanks to scientific breeding and planting technology improvements, the farm is full of bountiful harvests.
Besides vegetables, the main crops are sweet potatoes, white potatoes, and red-skinned, yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes. You can dig up a huge pile of them, which is very exciting. However, sweet potatoes are indeed high-yielding, and eating too many can be a problem.
These rather large sweet potatoes are a staple food in autumn and winter, and also serve as pig feed.
Beneath the sweet potatoes were corn and sorghum. The golden corn, once peeled, released a fragrant aroma. The canteen of Feiyan Textile Factory served large quantities of steamed sweet potatoes and corn starting in the morning.
Sorghum is excellent for brewing alcohol, and its stalks are also used to make brooms.
In addition to these grain and vegetable crops, they also had a bumper harvest of some dye crops and even grew a small amount of cotton. Although this small amount of cotton was insignificant, it was of great significance to the textile factory.
"The cotton is grown in our own factory."
"This is extra cotton, which can be spun into some cloth as a factory benefit."
"Our farm is really thriving, but it's also incredibly tiring... Even after becoming a worker, you still have to do farm work!"
Qin Xiangxiang felt like crying right now. Raising pigs and growing vegetables was fun for a while, but digging sweet potatoes and picking corn led to a funeral. Harvest season killed people. Even salted fish had to go to the fields to dig sweet potatoes.
After that, they slaughtered pigs to make sausages, slaughtered ducks to make salted duck eggs, and Shen Wenbo and others were already researching and improving salted duck eggs.
"The factory is mobilized! Everyone should dig sweet potatoes whenever they have free time! Once you've dug them up, you can put them in your pockets and eat them however you like. The canteen has been serving sweet potatoes every day for the past few days!"
These words made the person's face turn green, but they could only silently console themselves that a bumper harvest was a good thing.
Having sweet potatoes is better than not having them; both sweet potatoes and sweet potato leaves are good for feeding pigs.
Qin Xiangxiang was also wearing a straw hat and work clothes. She had been pulled over by the union chairman to serve as an "example," so she was expected to at least dig up a few sweet potatoes and pick some corn.
Before my eyes, the workers are digging sweet potatoes and picking corn together, a beautiful scene of labor.
Xiao Pang and Sui Sui, along with their group of children, ran and played on the ridges of the fields. They even started a fire in a corner and roasted sweet potatoes and corn on the cob together.
"Factory manager, we have way too many of these sweet potatoes."
"I couldn't believe it when they dug it out!"
"Xiao Qin, what should we do now?"
Faced with the scene before her, Zhuang Xiaoman was filled with worry. The yield was terrifying. She was exhausted. But it was difficult to preserve so many sweet potatoes. What was even more terrifying was that they still needed to be processed, washed, sliced, and dried. Thinking of this, even the diligent and thrifty Zhuang Xiaoman felt dizzy.
Qin thought for a moment: "We need to think of a way to store the sweet potatoes."
"Let's build an insulated warehouse for sweet potatoes!"
Sweet potatoes need to be stored for the winter because they are susceptible to freezing and rotting, and there are so many of them. Even if it's for her pig farming plan, she has to try her best to prevent food waste.
"Didn't we learn about that material? The leftover foam scraps from making slippers. That stuff can insulate. Why don't we ask the rubber factory for some foam material and line the warehouse with it to make a sweet potato storage warehouse..."
Qin Xiangxiang mentioned this method to Shen Wenbo, who agreed. So Shen Wenbo led the workers to mix foaming material with mud and use the existing materials to build a "constant temperature preservation warehouse".
Now that the problem of sweet potato preservation is solved, new problems arise in processing. Sweet potatoes need to be sliced and dried, which traditionally all rely on manual labor. "Slicing so many sweet potatoes will wear out all our workers."
We absolutely must invent a lazy way!
Qin Xiangxiang cursed inwardly: Looks like I really need to study math, physics, and chemistry. A salted fish needs to improve the machine!
"Master Liao, could you and your workers find a way to convert this old loom into a sweet potato machine so that it can automatically slice the sweet potatoes?"
Master Liao was shocked: "!"
"Automatically slices sweet potatoes?!?"
Master Liao gasped. She used to be a professional textile worker, living in a textile factory, but she never worked in a food processing plant, much less in the countryside where she produced grain.
However... it seems possible to convert a loom into an automatic slicing machine.
"Factory manager, we should give it a try. If the modification is successful, it will be much more convenient to slice sweet potatoes or cut pig feed on a daily basis."
Qin Xiangxiang said, "And what about the centrifugal dehydrator we use for dyeing fabric? Could we ask a sister factory to make a centrifugal dehydrator using a rudimentary method to dehydrate vegetables, based on the principle of this machine?"
Master Liao stared in disbelief: "!!!"
This was originally a textile factory! Now it's been turned into a food processing plant!
Qin Xiangxiang said, "I propose that, in order to reduce the burden on manpower, we should mobilize the factory workers to improve the machines. Those who are selected as outstanding in improving the machines will receive a certificate and an industrial voucher at the end of the year!"
"good!"
Qin Xiangxiang's suggestion was unanimously supported. At this time, television tickets were rare, but bicycle tickets, radio tickets, sewing tickets... these four items were not uncommon. If they wanted to get the latter industrial tickets, their textile factory could get quite a few as employee rewards.
As for the "TV ticket," it's already quite an achievement if the entire factory can get just one.
Qin Xiangxiang's actions encouraged everyone to innovate and improve independently, and many workers resolved to secretly tinker with some things.
As the weather gets colder, the factory occasionally releases one of its large, fat pigs for slaughter. Some of the sea ducks raised are kept to lay sea duck eggs, while others are made to contribute their down. Feiyan Textile Factory is trying to make down jackets.
After being slaughtered, the ducks are air-dried to make uniquely flavored dried duck. Because of the strong winds on the island, the duck meat is cut into strips, rubbed with salt, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise and other spices, and then hung in a cool, ventilated place, just like making dried fish and dried eel, to make each "dry duck".
Some ducks are cured by smoking them with burning materials such as cypress branches after marinating.
"With so many ducks in our factory... are we perhaps a food factory?"
"Our May 7th Farm has only been operating for a year, and the harvest is already so good!"
"Next year, everyone will have no worries about food and drink."
"Factory manager, come and try this new batch of salted duck eggs! These are salted duck eggs made with brine, and these are salted duck eggs made by wrapping them in mud."
The factory produces salted duck eggs using two methods: one is by soaking them in a brine tank, which is a simpler method; the other is the traditional method.
Traditionally, salted duck eggs are coated with mud. A mixture of loess, salt, and other ingredients is kneaded into a paste, and the duck eggs are coated with a layer of "salty mud." The mud-coated duck eggs are then placed in a vat to pickle for more than a month, and the salted duck eggs are then ready.
These salted duck eggs with a muddy coating can be preserved for a considerable period of time.
"Just poke it with chopsticks and the chili oil sizzles out. It's perfect for eating with porridge in the morning!"
"We'll raise even more pigs and more ducks next year!"
...
The workers ate salted duck eggs with excitement. The most difficult part was processing the duck feathers, which was very tedious. When slaughtering the ducks, the most precious downy parts had to be plucked by hand. These parts were located under the neck and on the breast of the duck, and were the softest and most valuable parts.
The entire duck is plucked, and the down feathers, small feathers, and large feathers are separated.
Only down and some small feathers can be used to fill down jackets.
Down jackets filled with fine down, especially fluffy down, are expensive, while those filled with small feathers are much cheaper. In the future, many inexpensive down jackets will be filled with small feathers.
In order to produce down-filled fabric, Qin Xiangxiang suggested making a batch of "down vests" on the spot, using high-count poplin and polyester twill fabric produced in the factory as down materials.
"Fluff, and these little feathers, try filling them separately, make a fluff vest, a little feather vest, and a mixed vest, and see which one works best."
Gao Rong said, "Factory manager, the smell of these duck feathers is really strong. Ask Teacher Shen to help us get rid of the smell!"
"Otherwise, you'll smell like duck when you wear them!"
Zhuang Xiaoman said, "If it's really warm, I'd wear it even if it smells like duck! I'm just afraid I'll drool in the middle of the night and dream about a row of ducks."
Qin Xiangxiang: "..."
Qin Xiangxiang didn't want to smell like duck, so she had to thoroughly clean and disinfect the duck feathers.
The collected duck down is repeatedly rubbed and rinsed with soapy water to remove grease and dust. After wringing it dry, it is sterilized with high-temperature steam in a steamer. Dr. Ye gave a lot of advice on this aspect of sterilization and deodorization.
After thorough cleaning and disinfection, the fibers are spread evenly on a fine mesh screen and air-dried in a ventilated place. Then, workers sort them to remove impurities.
"This is as difficult as making silk; both are meticulous tasks."
Qin Xiangxiang said, "This down jacket is too extravagant. The down is so light, and we still have to sort it. How long will this take?"
"That's right, they fly up with just a gentle breeze, all scattered like fluff."
Qin Xiangxiang: "!"
"Actually...why not blow the fluff up? Wouldn't that automatically separate the fluff?"
Putting aside the improvement of this machine, the priority is to make a down vest to test the effect. If the effect is not good, why bother with all that effort?
The duck down has been processed; it's time to start filling.
The vest's inner lining is made in a grid pattern, and a fixed weight of down is manually filled into it using a long funnel.
"How much warmth can so many duck feathers provide? Can they compare to cotton?"
"You'll only know if you try it; I've never worn a feather garment before."
Thankfully, the weather has turned cold. As the factory manager, Qin Xiangxiang was the first to put on the down vest made by the factory. She was surprised to find that such a thin layer of duck down was incredibly warm!
"It's so warm inside, like it's burning hot, even warmer than cotton!"
"Really!"
After confirming the warmth of duck down, Qin Xiangxiang decided to open a duck down jacket production line. This would not only alleviate the cotton crisis but also increase the income of textile factories. Moreover, the poplin and polyester fabric produced in their factory were very suitable for making down jackets and would not leak down at all.
"Now here's the problem... we don't have enough duck feathers."
"These down jackets filled with small feathers are okay, but they're not as comfortable as down. Down is much warmer, and these small feathers are barely usable."
"Down is so precious! Why don't we collect duck down in the province?"
Qin Xiangxiang heard from the radio that there would be a very fierce cold wave this winter, and the amount of duck feathers in their factory could not be made into many down vests.
At this point, Qin Xiangxiang began to use her Shanghainese advantage of being meticulous and calculating, saying, "I think our down vest is still too padded. In the future, we should use layered filling, only filling a few key areas on the chest, back, and front with down, and filling other areas with small feathers... This way, it will be more effective and save on down."
"Let's think of more ways to save duck down."
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