HPDBC Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Wen Qian's family's yard used to be under a grove of trees, which like the big trees around were all willows. Later they were chopped down and sold, and the land was made into dry cropland.
After that, nobody planted there anymore since they had all gone out to work, and now willows were replanted in the fields.
Originally they were saplings as thick as thumbs, but now they had grown to be as thick as calves.
Wen Qian only knew this after randomly scanning with her phone. She found out that the trees they called willows locally were actually called poplars elsewhere.
Their scientific name was acer negundo, and their leaves used to commonly be rubbed and put between toes to cure foot odor. It was a folk remedy, but now it's discovered the leaves are toxic. They really can kill germs and mold, which is scientifically proven.
Further down from the grove was Wen Qian's family's two plots of vegetable gardens, now overgrown with weeds.Upttodated from
Below the vegetable gardens was a small D-shaped pond dam.
Looking down from the dam, there were terraced fields of various shapes, extending all the way to Xiaochenwa, where there was a slightly bigger pond dam. Further down were more terraced fields.
Standing in the middle of the dam, Wen Qian could already see the corner of Auntie Chen's house.
The terraced fields here were different from scenic terraced fields in other places. The vertical drop of the fields here was only 2-3 meters, and the widths of the fields were also much wider.
In the mountain valleys, it was difficult for harvesting machines and such to go up and down the terraces, so it could only be done manually. Only fields along rivers and roads were suitable for machinery.
Planting just a small area, a small machine was not very cost effective, so 3-4 families would share an ox for plowing.
In recent years, some who had picked up and planted others' fallow fields bought small machinery for those fields, but that was only along the creeks.
Wen Qian had boiled the two pots in the kitchen several times, using the hot water to soak clothes, sheets, adding laundry detergent to make more bubbles, then putting them into the washing machine to wash.
A water pipe from the kitchen wall went to the washing machine, so after putting the clothes in, Wen Qian didn't have to do anything else for the laundry.
Wen Qian tore up old clothes into strips, nailed them onto a wooden handle to make a mop, and mopped the cement floors all over the house.
After finishing cleaning, Wen Qian wiped the dust off herself, changed into pajamas, and started her afternoon nap.
On the way home Wen Qian saw the golden rice paddies, and the neat rows of corn and sweet potato fields.
In a while she planned to go to nearby villages to buy some produce to store.
The corn and sweet potatoes from her hometown were mostly used to feed pigs.
She still clearly remembered what pigs ate - originally it was pigweed foraged from the mountains, mixed with bran and wheat husks cooked together.
Later pigs were also fed pumpkin vines, sweet potato vines, corn and sweet potatoes. In short, the meat of these homemade pigs was very good. Auntie Chen's family raised two pigs.
In Wen Qian's hometown, most of what was grown was for people to eat a bit, and more to feed pigs. This was not a joke.
In Wen Qian's hometown, only rice, wheat and sweet potatoes would be sold. Some people came to the village to buy produce too.
Rice prices didn't fluctuate much, and sweet potato prices were even lower.
Corn was only planted more later on. While young and tender it could be boiled for people to eat. When old, it was harvested and taken home to be processed into pig feed, cobs and all.
Only large scale farms on flat plains could earn more money. In hilly regions like Wen Qian's village, with small family plots, you could avoid starving, but forget about saving money.
When not busy, Auntie Chen and Uncle Chen would go out to do odd jobs - transplanting rice seedlings, planting, building houses, chopping trees, collecting pine mushrooms and herbs in the mountains, catching river prawns, eels and loaches.
These were also sources of income, an inseparable part of life in their rural village.
That's how it was - in years of bad harvests, income would be even less.
In the countryside, tiny bits of money were earned bit by bit like this. So many people went out for migrant work.
To get rich in rural areas, you had to get involved in business. Just farming would definitely not lead to diligence and wealth.
Wen Qian had also seen on TV that planting one specialty crop in a region - such as scallions, Sichuan pepper, kiwifruit - then building roads and opening markets, with unified planting, transportation and sales, required someone to lead, invest money and technology, and unite people, spending years to build up scale.
Things like this Wen Qian could only watch on TV.