Chapter 297 Autumn Harvest 3
Dark clouds were hanging overhead, the wind was howling, and the adults in the rice fields were rushing back in ox carts. They were driving the ox carts so fast that they were almost catching up with the speed of the minibus.
As soon as they arrived at the gate, they jumped off the ox cart and rushed quickly to the threshing ground. Some began to put the grain into the baskets, moving their bodies up and down, and filling a basket in a few strokes; some carried the grain to the warehouse, and they hurriedly hung the basket rope on the shoulder pole, picked it up and staggered towards the warehouse; some picked up large brooms and waved them desperately, not even bothering to pick up any grains that had slipped through the net.
Everyone quickened their work, each doing their own job, and moved the grain into the warehouse as if their lives depended on it.
The sky was already as dark as the bottom of a pot burning with wood, and not a single bit of white could be seen. The wind blew even harder, and someone's straw hat was blown to the ground, rolling away. No one in the hurry tried to pick it up.
"The rain is coming, the rain is coming!" Someone screamed, the voice was sharp and revealed a hint of fear.
A drop of rain fell from the sky, followed by strings of raindrops falling down. In an instant, strings of water droplets connected the sky and the earth into a line.
The millet on the threshing floor had just been rushed back to the warehouse. Only some scattered grains, rakes, brooms, etc. were washed by the rain. In the blink of an eye, the dust on the threshing floor was washed clean by the rain.
Everyone was in the warehouse looking at the heavy rain outside. Ma Youcai squeezed through the crowd and walked towards Han Guihua. "Wife, are you wet in the rain?"
Just now, Han Guihua was almost drenched by the rain while trying to pick up the hat that was blown away by the wind.
"No, just a few drops of rain, it's okay." Han Guihua touched her hair and smoothed it out that was messed up by the wind.
"Don't pick it up next time. Let the wind blow it away. It's easy to get sick if you get caught in this kind of rain." Ma Youcai took out his towel and wiped Han Guihua's hands.
"No, your handkerchief smells of sweat..." Han Guihua was a little disgusted.
Ma Youcai's hand stopped in mid-air, and finally he realized that the smell of sweat on the towel was indeed unpleasant, so he put it back embarrassedly.
"The sky is clear!" Someone shouted again, and everyone looked outside.
Sure enough, the rain that had just poured down as if someone had opened the floodgates of a reservoir in the sky, now disappeared abruptly as if the floodgates had been closed.
"God is playing tricks on us. It only rained for a few minutes and we are already tired like dogs." Someone complained.
"Let's go. This is how the weather is. We should be thankful that we can complete the autumn harvest smoothly." Someone said as if it was a matter of course.
No matter how naughty God plays tricks on people, the rice in the fields still has to be harvested. Half a month later, all the rice in the fields was stored in the warehouse.
After harvesting the rice, everyone started to busy themselves with drying the straw. The straw lay lazily on the rice piles, looking up at the sun, completely unafraid of the sun's scorching rays.
The dried straw was tied into bundles and thrown onto ox carts, which rumbled as they transported the long straws to an open space near the orchard and dumped them. Daddy Li Haoran and godfather Du Qingcang stacked the straw up layer by layer. They were afraid that the straw would not slide down, so they stood on the straw and stomped on it hard.
The tightly trampled straw can only passively become the reserve food for the cow's stomach for a long time. It is just a dream to want it to rot secretly without entering the cow's stomach.
These straws are not only fodder for cows in winter, but also used as warm pads for newly born chicks and ducklings, allowing them to step on them.
Straw: Life is hard, dignity...
Godfather Du Qingcang performed his unique skill: piling straw into straw trees.
The specific method is to stand a dry wooden stick in the middle, dig a hole and bury a part of the stick in the ground to fix it, then bundle the straw into small bunches, and then use the wooden stick as the core of the tree to pile up the straw bunches, making them larger at the bottom and smaller at the top, stacking them upwards in a circle, and capping them with the top of the wooden stick, and a straw tree successfully stands on the ground.
Godfather Du Qingcang said that if the straws were not placed properly, the straw tree would not be successful and would collapse. It looks simple, but there is actually a trick.
This kind of straw tree will not go bad even for seven or eight years, and is the best way to store straw. Just take as much as you need from the bottom, and it won’t affect the entire straw tree.
Godfather Du Qingcang also said that there is a kind of suspended straw tree where cows can cool off underneath, and when they are hungry they can look up and eat the straw on their heads, and the straw tree will not collapse. However, the person who stacks the straw must have a certain level of skill, otherwise the straw will easily fall off.
After the rice is harvested, in addition to drying and storing the rice straw, the weeds in the fields must also be cleared.
Some rice fields have a lot of weeds, and some weeds also have weeds on the ridges. As the rice matures, some weeds also enter the maturity stage. If the weed seeds fall into the rice fields after they mature, there will be more weeds when rice is planted the following year, so they must be cleared in advance.
Unlike the past, when there were no herbicides or lawn mowers, this era had to rely entirely on manual labor with sickles.
At this time, the men were collecting straw and the women were cutting weeds. Yike also cut weeds with his sister Han Guihua.
The advantage of having more people is evident. With the addition of a dozen newcomers, this year's rice harvesting, straw harvesting, and weeding the edges of the fields were completed in just over half a month.
In the following days, godfather Du Qingcang and father Li Haoran began to plow the fields where the rice had just been harvested using oxen.
These rice fields cannot be left vacant, but must continue to be used for a purpose, that is, to grow rapeseed.
Before planting rapeseed, the land must be prepared and ridges must be formed, and dig trenches between the fields and around the fields for drainage. The work of working the cows was done by the two strong men, and the work of digging the drainage ditch was done by Ziyi, Ma Youcai and a few others.
Yike and the rest of the people began to rush to harvest corn and sorghum. The husks of mature corn turn yellow and become fluffy. The corn tassels are like yellow hair hanging down, and the green and yellow husks are like swaddling clothes, wrapping the baby corns inside layer by layer. Now the whole field is full of mature corn.
Picking corn in the cornfield is no easier than drying millet. Don’t be fooled by the tall corn stalks standing around, they are like guards blocking the scorching sun.
In fact, it was just the opposite. It was these corn stalks that blocked the wind and made the cornfield extremely hot and stuffy.
Yike gave everyone who was picking corn a mask and gloves, and asked everyone to put sleeves on their arms. This way, the leaves on the corn stalks would not be able to bully people and teach the people who were picking corn a lesson. People's skin is not scratched, and the straw hats on their heads prevent ultraviolet rays, thus protecting themselves well.
"Sister, we look so fully armed, we really don't look like we are going to work. Look at the labor in the production teams before, it was never like this." Sister Han Guihua felt sorry for the fabrics.
These masks, gloves, and sleeves seem to be cut from a piece of cloth. She has never had a hard life, and she doesn't feel sorry at all for cutting a whole piece of cloth into small pieces to make masks and other things. She doesn't empathize with what others think, so she doesn't care.
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