Thanks to the local climate, crops can be harvested twice a year.
The winter wheat planted last year has already started to head, and it will be harvested in mid-to-late April. After the wheat harvest, rice will be planted, without stopping for a moment.
As for the dry land, after the last soybean harvest last year, Yi'an did not allow any crops to be planted, allowing the land to rest and recuperate.
Yi'an examined the land carefully. The soil on her family's 25 mu of dry land was relatively loose and somewhat sandy. In fact, the dry land in the entire Jiangjia Village, or even the entire Xinyuan Town, was somewhat sandy. Although it wasn't too severe, the soil was loose and well-aerated, resulting in poor grain yields.
Yi'an thought that if her watermelon cultivation was successful, she could gradually promote it. She had the technology, and anyone who wanted to grow it could join her. Eventually, she would become a large watermelon wholesaler. They could make money together, which would avoid unnecessary trouble and also build a good reputation among her clan and fellow villagers.
In this era, reputation is very important to a person, especially a scholar. Mu Yi'an wouldn't feel any guilt doing something that would achieve multiple benefits. She knew all too well that sometimes, people would even curse you after taking advantage of a free lunch.
It's too early to say all this. Mu Yi'an laughed at herself when she thought about it. She hadn't even bought the watermelon seeds yet.
"Yi'an, what kind of sweet dream are you having in broad daylight?"
Jiang Shuyun had just come out of the study when she saw Yi'an sitting at the table in the living room, lost in thought, with a smile occasionally appearing on her face.
"There's no such thing as a pipe dream. I went for a walk around the dry fields at home the day before yesterday, and the soil is suitable for growing watermelons."
"You can determine the composition of soil without instruments?"
Jiang Shuyun was a little incredulous; his wife was just too amazing.
"What are you thinking? I don't have X-ray vision, how could I tell the composition of the soil? Traditional Chinese medicine has to use observation, listening, questioning, and palpation, how could we, who study agriculture, not be able to tell the type of soil?"
Soil can be divided into three types: sandy soil, clay soil, and loam.
If we break it down further, it can be divided into many types such as red soil, brown soil, ochre soil, black soil, wet soil, saline-alkali soil, lithological soil, and alpine soil.
Mu Yi'an counted on her fingers; these were all the ones she could remember.
"Hehe... I thought 'rustic' was just 'rustic,' but there's so much more to it than meets the eye. I've learned something new."
Jiang Shuyun smiled and bowed to Mu Yi'an. He really didn't know any of this. He had never seen what rice looked like before, nor could he distinguish between chives and grass.
"Stop joking around, let's get serious. I've checked, most of the dry land in our Jiangjia Village is sandy, which should be suitable for growing watermelons."
I was thinking, if we succeed in growing watermelons this year, and the technology matures, and we find a sales channel, we can cooperate with our clansmen, and even the entire Jiangjia Village, to grow watermelons on a large scale, and become a major wholesaler.”
Jiang Shuyun looked at Mu Yi'an, who was speaking eloquently and confidently, and felt radiant, as if she were glowing.
"Hmm, your idea is good. Sharing is worse than enjoying alone. If we make the pie bigger, we won't have to worry about others taking a share. Yi'an, are you sure you were just an agricultural science teacher before?"
"What do you think? With my limited knowledge, my only advantage is in farming."
"But you know a lot of things, you seem pretty impressive."
Jiang Shuyun's living environment has always been quite simple. His parents enjoy exploring, but they're not just doing it for fun; they have research experience and hold many intellectual property rights. Therefore, he has lived a privileged life since childhood, and his family has good connections.
For this reason, Jiang Shuyun lived to be over forty years old in her previous life, and her living environment was relatively simple.
Aside from traveling for three years, choosing less crowded places to see the scenery, he spent the rest of his time teaching at the school. Thanks to his parents' connections, and his lack of competitiveness, he didn't experience many of the darker aspects of life.
"I haven't experienced much, but the living conditions in the mountains are harsh, and human nature can't withstand the test. Moreover, I've worked there for many years and seen a lot, so I've learned a bit."
"Let's put those aside for now. Our priority is to reach an agreement with Uncle Jiang. We won't lease the dry land to them anymore, but we can hire his son as a long-term laborer for us."
Mu Yi'an had initially considered renting the dry land to Uncle Jiang's family, but then she thought about how people nowadays are fundamentally focused on growing food; food is the most important thing for people, and it's the foundation of life. Her idea of growing watermelons was difficult for most people to accept. Most importantly, she didn't know if the land in this area was truly suitable for growing watermelons. Without sophisticated equipment to measure the specific values, she had no confidence.
“This is easy to handle. I’ll go with you to talk to Uncle San. The main problem is that we’re not entirely sure about this. They rely on this little bit of land to make a living all year. We really can’t let them take this risk.”
"Okay, let's go talk to them in a bit. It's already early March, so we need to have plenty of time to prepare."
"Okay, I'll tell Jiang Qi. You go change your clothes, and we'll go to Uncle San's house now."
Jiang Shuyun got up to find Jiang Qi, while Mu Yi'an went to change her clothes.
"Let's go. I told Jiang Qi, and she's playing with Chu Yue and Shao Yun right now."
"Okay, I've changed my clothes too."
The couple left home together and headed towards Uncle Jiang's house.
The two houses are not far apart; it only takes three to five minutes to walk there.
"Third Aunt, is Third Uncle home?"
"I'm home, I'm home. I just came back from the fields. Come in quickly, I'll call you Third Uncle."
Aunt Jiang was very hospitable and went inside to call people.
Uncle Jiang's house is a very ordinary farmhouse with three main rooms, east and west wing rooms, and a relatively spacious courtyard.
The Jiang family members all own relatively large residential plots, but Mu Yi'an didn't know the specific reasons why.
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