Her Cultivation Diary

Chapter 112: 112. Farmhouse Compost Fermentation Bacteria_1

Wang Lifan also made a couple of thousand picking tea leaves in March, even if she was a bit slow, the quality wasn’t bad at all!

Nowadays, you really can’t stand to hear such words!

She quickly asked, “Am I old at this age?”

Mao Li was stumped again.

In her mind, she tallied up the old lady’s age: You’re already in your seventies or eighties, and that’s not considered old?

Wu Lan hadn’t realized that these words had implications, suggesting that she was making the elderly lady work at home—after all, everyone chipped in to help with the meals; picking vegetables wasn’t such hard work!

She replied with a chuckle instead, “Not old, not at all old, this year both you and my dad look full of energy, in great shape!”

That’s right, the Spiritual Energy scattered around the rooms, food, and tea leaves. It silently influenced everything. Not to mention curing diseases, but it definitely boosted one’s spirit steadily.

Wang Lifan thought about it and became even more convinced of the old saying, “It’s really a poor fate, the more there is to do, the better the spirit.”

Wu Lan smiled at Mao Li again, “Big sister, there were many of us at lunch today, and I was thinking of booking a table at the family restaurant at the entrance of the village. They cook good food, it’s also made in a traditional clay pot. But mom insisted against it.”

Her aunt, upon hearing this, decisively joined in, “That cannot be done. We have our own vegetables, why spend money to eat someone else’s? How expensive that would be!”

She sat down without hesitation in front of a basin of Milk Vetch and began picking, while saying, “Where’s Tantan? The last time she brought this vegetable she didn’t mention the price. I mean, the kid has good stuff and should save it to make money, why give it away? For our own family, what’s wrong with eating something?”

Looking at the big bunch of Milk Vetch in front of her, many with pink blossoms, she became even more regretful, “Those are too old now.”

Wu Lan chuckled, “When Tantan came back, she mentioned that her aunt specially took her to buy some ducks, saving her several tens of bucks.”

“What’s more, when it’s family, that’s when you save the good stuff for.”

She looked at the Milk Vetch in her hand, “It’s because I’m short on cash this year that I thought of selling it to try it out. Who knew it’d taste so good? But now that they’ve flowered, they can’t be eaten anymore. There’s so little left, might as well stir-fry all of it for lunch.”

How come there’s only a little left?

Mao Li quickly laughed:

“That’s what I was saying, why you’d eagerly send Milk Vetch over. Only later at the vegetable market did I find out, this stuff is so expensive. Look at me…”

She feigned a sheepish expression, “I thought it was two bucks a pound, I went there offering to buy ten bucks worth. Tantan even got mad, she flatly refused to sell.”

Song Tan didn’t mention a word about this when she came back, and Wu Lan was hearing this for the first time now.

At that moment, hearing this neither here nor there tone of voice, she got annoyed, thinking to herself, a vegetable that costs twenty bucks a pound, and you expect to buy five pounds with ten bucks? What are you dreaming of?

You can’t do calculations like that even with your own family!

Giving away is one thing, buying is another; they’re completely different matters.

But before she could say anything, she saw Song Sancheng coming over, grinning, accompanying Uncle and the older cousins back, then he turned and went into the house to get a bag of yellow paper:

“Let’s go, we should go pay our respects at the grave first.”

Uncle looked around the yard, “Where’s dad?”

Speaking of which, Song Sancheng couldn’t help but boast, so he held up his chin with a bit of pride, “He’s up on the mountain. Tantan wants to plant some fruit trees there, and Baba is watching over them right now.”

Uncle was shocked, “Planting fruit trees?”

“That’s no joke, letting a young girl like her do as she pleases? What if she ends up losing money? That would be no small sum.”

“Besides…” He looked towards the back mountain, “I haven’t seen any activity up there, have I?”

Speaking frankly among family, Song Sancheng didn’t give much thought to the potential loss. He added proudly:

“Once Tantan came back, the village secretary said she was a university graduate returning to start a business, and insisted we take over the back mountain.”

“That’s right, they even provide subsidies and help arrange it. Now they’re planting fruit trees on that barren mountain. Today they started digging holes, and I guess the saplings might even be delivered by this afternoon.”

The young guy operating the excavator was really impressive; a job scheduled for five to seven days was almost done in less than four.

Now that big bucket is digging holes, one accurate pit after the other, and the rest of us just need to tidy them up before we can start planting.”

Ah, that Yanping found some really reliable guys!

But he went to the city this morning to pick up the saplings, so that’s why he’s not around right now.

Talking about it, Song Sancheng felt somewhat worried, “Planting the trees a few days late, I don’t know if that will affect the harvest.”

Wu Lan couldn’t stand his smugness and quickly changed the subject:

“You guys better hurry up and burn it, it’s almost noon. Oh, and tell the plowman not to leave today, have him stay for a meal.”

The plowman was quite firm about his payment, and although we said food wasn’t included, he indeed didn’t eat.

He has relatives in the village and always mooched off them.

Now that the plowing is almost done, it wouldn’t be right not to offer him a meal.

Song Sancheng glanced at the time, indeed it wasn’t early anymore, so he quickly led his uncle and his eldest uncle towards the back mountain.

As for the tomb-sweeping, the local customs mostly involve the men. If his aunt and Mao Li wanted to go they could, and if not, that was fine too.

However, Mao Li and Sun Yanyan were preoccupied with the prospect of more and better things in the fields, while his aunt was busy preparing dishes for a group of about twenty people, and couldn’t spare a hand.

Just then, Song Tan drove back with Qiaoqiao.

The car stopped at the gate of the courtyard, emitting a faint scent. She had connected a hose to the outside tap and was now vigorously washing it down.

Seeing this, Wu Lan wondered:

“Didn’t you say you were just driving around the back mountain? What’s this smell?”

Song Tan laughed, “My dad called it. This morning, Uncle Zhang went to the back mountain to help. He collected all of the broken branches and leaves.”

“Then he piled them up at the edge of the orchard, told me to bring it to our back mountain to get acquainted with Big Wang—he’s going to take manure from the pigsty and poultry area, to create compost.”

Thinking about it, Song Tan felt the 2000 yuan salary was well worth it.

Because although Zhang Wang is slightly lame, he works swiftly and isn’t weak. You wouldn’t know it from his quiet demeanor, but he’s quite progressive-minded.

This morning, Song Tan watched him mix pig manure, poultry manure, broken grass, mud, and whatnot, with experience layering them in piles. Then, he flipped a bag of fermentation bacteria intended for agricultural use out of a basket onto them…

Song Tan was genuinely surprised.

When it comes to using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, she fully acknowledged the villagers’ expertise, but using fermentation bacteria—that mix of various beneficial microbes, of a wide variety of species—she doubted anyone else in the village had ever heard of it.