Volume 1: Farming Chapter 37 Harvest of This Matter
You can't rely on fleecing the minotaurs every year to grow vegetable seeds; you must have the awareness of saving your own seeds.
As for preserving seeds, for example, crops like vegetables and soybeans, you cannot harvest all of them after they mature. You have to keep some of the crops that are growing better, are healthier, and have better shapes as seeds.
When reserving soybeans for seeds, you must pull them up with their roots, let the whole plant air-dry, and then remove the shells and take out the seeds. Reserving the plants for later maturation is conducive to the accumulation of nutrients in the seeds, and is a safe storage method to protect the activity of the seeds. The seeds are protected by the pod shells outside, which can buffer the humidity changes of the seeds... Modern high-yield hybrid soybeans cannot be reserved for seeds, but the original ecological black beans do not require this.
Well... the soybean maturity period is about 150 to 180 days, so we are not busy with that now.
If you want to keep seeds for Chinese cabbage, green vegetables and radishes, wait for the plants to mature and produce flower stalks to bloom and produce seeds. Then collect the fruits after they are ripe to obtain the seeds.
The tribe leader led Niu Jiao and Hong Ye, carrying gifts and carrying radishes and vegetables, to go out to lend money. Xiao Yun stayed at home and led the tribesmen to collect vegetables and store them in the cellar. He was very busy... There were three kinds of vegetables in three large fields. When planting, Xiao Yun, a big-eyed and black-hearted guy, felt that it was not enough. Only after harvesting them did he realize the happy troubles of having ten thousand vegetables... Well, in fact, the radish with the highest yield did not reach ten thousand catties per mu. Xiao Yun estimated that it should be five or six thousand catties at most. There was no other way. Although there was no shortage of soil fertility, the seeds were not very good after all - the white radishes domesticated by the Minotaur were far from the fat and strong standards of later generations. A large one weighing three or four catties was considered fat and strong.
The cabbages and radishes were put into the cellar. The vegetables that were sensitive to heat and cold and could not be kept for a long time had to be eaten quickly or sliced and dried in the sun. All the staff worked hard and finally finished the vegetable fields. The clan leader also came back with the borrowed people.
"We have kuri kuri!" Xiao Yun, who was numb to the sound of vegetables, immediately slapped his knees and stood up when he heard the good news, "Bring me, no, bring me Sal's skinning knife!!"
The tribesmen carrying skinning knives, carrying water and firewood rushed outside the tribe with ferocious faces. Looking around, Xiao Yun seemed to see his own family members from last year...
The group of wild, uh, natural snow werewolves following the three tribe leaders Niu Jiao Hong Ye, looked so familiar: no matter big or small, adult or cub, they all had particularly unruly and sloppy long hair, were shirtless and wore only animal skin shorts, or even nothing at all, just walking their birds, their faces and bodies were so dirty that their original color could not be seen, and the whitest parts on their dark faces were their hair and teeth.
The clan leader smiled and waved: "Ayun!"
Xiao Yun smiled happily, then turned serious in an instant: "Ayue and I, take off all your clothes and go over to shave them, wash them, boil water and disinfect them. Everyone else, be careful not to cross this line. Before they are washed clean, no one except Ayue and me, including the clan leader, should have any contact with them!"
Hongye's face changed: "Again? I'm clean, I don't have lice!"
"I didn't get it either?" the patriarch was surprised.
Only Niu Jiao's reaction was unique: "Ayun, I'm hungry!"
"There's no point in explaining!" Xiao Yun skinned himself clean, even throwing his shoes aside, and took out his skinning knife and strode forward, "Be good and prepare to be cleansed, don't waste time!"
The confused wild snow wolves: "???"
Hongye took off all her clothes with a pained look on her face, and threw them to Ashan to cook... er, disinfect them. She sat cross-legged and turned her head to let Xiao Yun toss her around: "Don't cut it unevenly again, it's too ugly, cut it neatly."
"Don't worry, don't worry. I've shaved so many heads that I've already gotten the hang of it." Xiao Yun pressed Hongye's ears and used the knife that Sal had sharpened to be extra sharp to ruthlessly cut short the hair that Hongye had finally grown.
With his white short hair fluttering, Hongye once again turned into a social person who had just been released from prison. He blew a puff of air at Xiao Yun and walked to Ashan to wash himself with water.
The cow's horns had been taken off long ago and it was waiting for Xiao Yun to start, and it was busy gesturing at its own head.
Xiao Yun quickly dealt with the chieftain of the ox-horns, who had not grown much hair to begin with, and looked at the coolies with a smile and enthusiasm... uh, the compatriots who came from afar: "Don't be nervous, everyone. We are all snow wolves. Once we are here, we are one family. Shaving the hair can prevent lice, which is good for everyone. Who will go first?"
The wild snow wolves looked at each other, and both the big and small focused their attention on the only warrior in the team.
The snow werewolf warrior was not worried about how scary the small knife in Xiao Yun's hand could be. He just couldn't understand why their tribe had to do such a thing before entering the door. He stared at Xiao Yun suspiciously.
"Will you come first?" Xiao Yun used the standard routine he used when dealing with the clan leader: he put on the expectant face of a cub looking at an adult member of the clan, and blinked his pure starry eyes.
...This killing move was so severe that even the tribe leader couldn't withstand it. How could this seemingly young and strong warrior be Xiao Yun's opponent? He immediately bit the bullet and tore off the animal skin skirt around his waist, put aside the spear, bow and arrows he was carrying, and walked over while swinging the bird.
Xiao Yun, who hadn't smelled the familiar body odor of a snow wolf for a long time, felt a little nostalgic when the other party came over and sat down...
Xiao Yun had practiced shaving with his family members, gray dwarves and caracals. Although it was still impossible for him to shave a beautiful bald head, at least the bumps would not be too ugly. This was a great bargain for these wild snow werewolves. The shaving process was uneventful, but there was a small commotion when it came to scrubbing. The reason was that these wild snow werewolves found that after washing off the mud, their skin was surprisingly snow-white. It was okay for the adults, but the cubs were all screaming and shouting.
After giving this group of freshly washed new fellows (……) rattan straw sandals and new clothes, and leading them to sit in the open-air square of the tribe, Xiao Yun watched with satisfaction as they all stared at the green vegetable leaves drying all over the tribe and the cabbages and radishes that had not yet been stuffed into the cellar, with dull faces. He waved at Qingyan and once again took out his weapon to kill the (snow) wolf - mutton offal soup.
The hot soup is made from mutton offal that has been thoroughly washed and chopped into small pieces. It is seasoned only with wild garlic and salt and does not have the rich taste of modern northwestern mutton offal soup, but mutton offal is mutton offal. If you process it patiently and stew it, it will have the flavor of mutton offal. In the past, the snow wolves were not picky about food and would eat mutton offal. Now mutton offal is quite popular in the tribe... but the quantity is really limited, so the big ones are only supplied to the oldest tribe leaders and cubs, and adults can only get a little to taste.
The group of new tribesmen that the chief had worked hard to coax here totaled sixteen people, including one warrior, five adult tribesmen, and ten cubs around twenty years old. Xiao Yun filled large bowls of mutton offal for the cubs according to the tribal rules, while the adults only had a small half bowl with a large amount of vegetables and mutton. Without saying a word, they understood the status of mutton offal in the food world of this tribe.
"Eat first. We'll talk about other things after you're full." Xiao Yun said with a smile.
…Before the guests started eating, the impatient Ox Horns had already started slurping up the food.
The new wild snow wolf warrior was named Yu. He picked up the pottery bowl, looking at Niu Jiao, Huo Yan, and Hong Ye, who were eating with sticks. He also looked at his family members, who were also holding the bowl and not knowing how to eat. He suddenly felt what it meant to be in pain...
Yu had never expected that the tribe he had met last year had changed so much, or rather, when the leader of the Huoyan tribe led his people and brought gifts to their door, they were afraid to recognize him.
Chief Huoyan stated his purpose. Not to mention Warrior Yu, all the other chiefs thought there was something wrong with their hearing - a tribe that had become rich enough to give high-quality pottery as gifts would actually ask them to borrow people?
Wealthy means powerful, powerful means large population and prosperous people. What is wrong with this simple common sense? !
The tribesmen were completely confused but finally couldn't refuse the request of Chief Huoyan. On the one hand, the pottery Chief Huoyan brought was exactly what they needed, saving them the trouble of trading cattle and sheep with human caravans. On the other hand, they were very tempted by the high-quality forage grass Chief Huoyan promised... Such a broad standard of taking as much as they could was a godsend for the Snow Wolf People. Did the Snow Wolf People still lack the strength?
So the chief called the warriors together to discuss and decided to send out sixteen people to see how wealthy Chief Huoyan's tribe was... and because Chief Huoyan boasted too much, the chief decided to send out ten underage cubs who could eat more than the adults to take advantage of them. Ahem, just because the Snow Wolf is silly doesn't mean that he won't play tricks.
Warrior Yu, who led his tribe to "work" with this in mind, did not expect to be given such a blow when he first ate the meal after entering the door - this soup looks very hot, you can't eat it with your hands! Do they also have to learn to use small wooden sticks?
"Oh!" Xiao Yun was wondering why they didn't eat, but when he met their resentful eyes, he finally understood and quickly gave them the small wooden spoons he made for the two youngest cubs of the caracal clan.
Using a wooden spoon to scoop up the vegetables and meat in the bowl, Warrior Yu and his tribesmen finally had the welcoming banquet. Then, including Yu, after taking the first bite, their eyes changed, not caring that the soup was still hot, sticking out their tongues to cool it down while tilting the ceramic bowl to pour it directly into their mouths...
"Don't be so anxious, there's enough food, don't burn your throat!" Xiao Yun was startled.
“Mmm…ha, ha…mmm…” No one paid any attention to him. The whole group of people were eating crazily.
"..." Xiao Yun's mouth twitched, and he gave her another powerful drug. "Green grass and wool, quickly peel and slice the radish and throw it into the soup pot to lower the temperature."
At least half of the radish slices were stuffed into several earthenware pots to lower the temperature of the soup, so that the guests' tongues and throats would suffer less, and then they ate up the radish slices...
As the saying goes, it is easy to get along with people at the dinner table. After a hearty meal, the warrior Yu, who had a cold face when he entered the door, became much more friendly. Without the leader of the Fire Clan saying anything, he introduced his own tribesmen to his fellow tribesmen: "My name is Yu, and these are my people..."
Xiao Yun looked at the tribe leader, who stood up and introduced his family members to the guests: "This is Ayun, who is in charge of all the work in the tribe. This is Qingcao, and this is Ayue..."
Warrior Yu looked at the cub Ayun with some surprise and some understanding. As Hongye said, their tribe was a little different from other tribes.
Xiao Yun noticed that there was something in the eyes of the Snow Wolf Warrior, and he touched his chin... He seemed to be the same kind as Hongye, the kind who knew what was going on without saying anything? Well, that was good, it would save some effort when explaining something.
After the tribe leader introduced the tribe members present, Xiao Yun stepped forward with a smile and said, "We don't have enough people in our tribe to build houses right now, so you have to live in tents outside like the caracals. We will get more people to build houses before the weather turns cold. It's a good opportunity for you to learn the house-building skills of our tribe."
The snow wolves originally lived in tents, so they would not mind this arrangement. But Yu could understand the second half of Xiao Yun's words. He could not help but turn his head to look at the houses in the tribe. When he looked at Xiao Yun again, he felt that this cub was much more pleasing to the eye.
When the Fire Chief was patting his chest and bragging, he mentioned countless times that their tribe had houses that were very warm even on snowy days and would not freeze people at all. Not to mention the chief, Yu himself was envious - his cub was less than ten years old and was almost frozen to death last winter.
Using the temporarily unreachable carrots to hold these compatriots back, Xiao Yun finally spoke with a look of regret: "Right now, our tribe is in urgent need of manpower to harvest grass. To be honest, the grass could have been harvested more than ten days ago, but there is really no one available. There is also a pond that must be dug before the hottest weather arrives. Alas, construction has not started yet. By the way, there is also the issue of widening the river. Our tribe is too close to the river. If we don't protect the river ourselves, it will be dangerous when the flood occurs..."
Xiao Yun counted the tasks to be done on his fingers, but the newcomers didn't understand and looked confused. The tribesmen who understood shuddered and sweated profusely - wait! Why did it sound like even if reinforcements came, it would be impossible to finish the work? !
Xiao Yun, who was definitely not a devil, let the clan leader and the new compatriots rest for half a day, and only dragged them to the vast alfalfa field the next morning.
...Yes, it is really endless. Of the three hundred fields, wheat, soybeans and vegetables only account for a small half, and the rest are all planted with alfalfa. The endless purple flower fields are shocking just to look at...especially since there has been no manpower to harvest them, and only a small amount is taken to feed cattle and sheep. The alfalfa has reached maturity, and large groups of butterflies and bees are flying in the fields. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a spectacular sight.
"These are all grass?!" Yu was shocked. You can't expect the Snow Wolf to have any romantic feelings.
"Do we have to harvest them all~~~~~~" This was the wailing of the tribesmen. Everyone was so exhausted from harvesting the vegetable fields. The alfalfa field, which was more than ten times larger than the vegetable fields, made them feel despair at the mere sight of it.
"Alfalfa is the best forage grass that can be grown in a cold temperate climate. It can be harvested every 60 days, and at least three times a year." Xiao Yun also felt tired, but he could never show his tiredness, so he excitedly waved his sickle to the tribesmen, "We are late for this harvest, everyone, come on, make up for the lost time!"
Qiu finally led the adult tribesmen to complete the production of the waterwheel parts, and assembled them onto the water wheel according to Xiao Yun's instructions. Then, with the help of Ashan, they set up the second waterwheel: the adult caracals stood on the shore to exert force, and Ashan jumped into the river to lift it. After a lot of effort to set up the waterwheel, the caracals, who had put in a lot of hard work, were so happy to see the amount of water brought up from the river into the canal increase.
"We've been so exhausted these past few days, harvesting vegetables at night and making waterwheels during the day." As everyone was walking back together, one of the adult caracals said with emotion, "Now we can finally take a break. At least we can have a good sleep at night."
"..." Qiu thought about it, but held back from speaking to break the tribe's thoughts. Today, Ayun led people to collect grass. According to the experience of collecting vegetables... this time, there is definitely no rest while collecting grass.
Qiu's expectation was absolutely correct. The caracals were not physically strong enough as livestock and would not be assigned overly heavy work. But this did not mean that Ayun would let the caracals go - when the snow werewolves tied the harvested alfalfa at the edge of the field, their work began.
Alfalfa, known as the king of forage grass, is best harvested during the early flowering period, that is, when the flowering rate of buds in the alfalfa field is about 20% to 30%. The alfalfa harvested during this period has excellent yield and quality. It’s just that people are busy harvesting vegetables at this stage and it has been delayed to maturity. The dry matter and crude fiber content in alfalfa gradually increase, the protein content slightly decreases, the lignification degree of the fiber increases compared to before, and the feeding value slightly decreases - but it doesn’t matter, after all, it is the first harvest, and it can be directly fed to cattle and sheep or cooled to half dry and used as semi-dry silage. It is much better than ordinary forage grass and weeds, and it will definitely not be wasted.
The caracals did not have to go to the fields to harvest, but they had to do work other than harvesting, dragging the bundles of alfalfa piled up by the fields back home, or feeding them directly to cattle and sheep, or untying them and spreading them on the open space in the north of the tribe to dry, and then re-bundling them when they were half dry...
This job is not really tiring, but the amount of alfalfa is huge. After just the first day of work, Qiu and his tribesmen had sore hands, back pain, and leg cramps, and they couldn't even force themselves to cook.
As for the snow werewolves... well... except for the warriors who could still stand upright, everyone else was lying down.
Five+ soldiers, with trembling hands, cooked a few large pots of mutton and vegetables, and put two baskets of unpeeled radishes on the table (if you want to eat them, you can peel them yourself), which was considered dinner.
A rough estimate shows that there are more than 1,800 acres of alfalfa fields. Even if it was planted in the first year, with only soil and fertilizer before sowing, watering depends on the weather, and the yield per acre is not high, it is easy to imagine how huge the harvesting project is without mechanized tools and relying entirely on manpower... All the snow wolves, including all the cubs, took turns working day and night, gritting their teeth and shedding sweat and tears, and it took them five full days to harvest all the alfalfa in the fields... This was with the addition of sixteen new forces.
...On average, each person harvested about 37 acres of land. Even the physical strength of the Snow Wolf People, like animals, could not withstand such exhaustion. Not only were they exhausted, but even their sickles were torn.
When the last alfalfa was harvested, the corpses of snow werewolves and caracals were lying everywhere from the tribe to the edge of the alfalfa field...
No one could move, and no one had the strength to wail. The only sound that could be heard between heaven and earth was the rustling of alfalfa bales in the evening breeze, and faintly, the joyful bleating of sheep munching on delicious green fodder.
Xiao Yun chose a good position before he fell down. He fell on a bundle of alfalfa. He lay there for more than half an hour. When the nearby cow horns snored, he stood up and staggered into the harvested alfalfa field to check... Alfalfa has a strong regeneration ability. When harvested, it leaves a stubble slightly shorter than the index finger (about five centimeters). In two months, this place will be a large alfalfa field that can be harvested again.
The stubbornness of the snow wolves is sometimes useful. Although everyone's eyes are red as if they were crazy in the later stage of harvest, no one takes out their anger on the crops, and all the stubble that should be left are left. Xiao Yun was relieved and slowly walked back to the place where he had fallen before... and continued to lie down and sleep.
In the second half of the night, the hungry people crawled back to the tribe with each other's help. At this time, the inside and outside of the tribe were full of alfalfa bundles. This happy worry could not bring the joy of harvest to the people who were exhausted physically and mentally... They hastily cooked some meat and vegetables, ate a few radishes, and then found a random place to lie down and sleep again.
When the morning came, Xiao Yun, who had somehow squeezed into the caracal tent to sleep, was woken up by his biological clock. He let go of the caracal cub he was hugging and staggered out of the tent. He habitually went to find his hoe and sickle, his magic weapon for waking up.
"Wait...!" Xiao Yun woke up with a start as the morning breeze blew across his face. "I've tortured them too much before. If I force them to work now, they might rebel... Forget it, I'm not a devil. Let them rest for a while. It's not good to let things go to extremes and then rebel."
So he yawned, turned around and went back to the caracal's tent.
Cats love cleanliness, and if conditions permit, they will try their best to keep their own tent clean. The manul's tent has no odor at all. In addition, the manul's human form and combat form are not much different, and the transformation does not increase consumption much. Cats sleep in their transformed form... In this evil, backward world where there is always work to do, what could be more stress-relieving and relaxing than hugging a big cat and snoring!
Even though Xiao Yun treated the Snow Wolves like animals without any hesitation, he was actually under a lot of pressure!
It was already noon when Xiao Yun was woken up by his rumbling stomach again. Yawning, he returned to the open-air square of the tribe. At a glance... well, the snow werewolves were all up. They were all sitting in a circle, staring at the backs of the caracals who were busy at the stoves in the two large rooms, waiting for their meals.
"Did everyone have a good rest?" Xiao Yun put on a smile and sat over.
…The tribesmen collectively responded to his expressionless face, and the ten new cubs even looked at him with fear.
How could Xiao Yun be so shameless as to show his cowardice at this time? He immediately looked around at the alfalfa bales piled in the open air with a happy and satisfied expression, and said with great emotion: "This much grass is enough for our cattle and sheep to eat for a long time. We no longer have to worry about the drought in the pasture and the lack of food for the cattle and sheep like in previous years. It's great~" He squinted his bright eyes and looked at the tribesmen happily, showing a particularly sincere and touching smile, showing his eight big teeth, "Seeing this grass, I feel that all the hard work before is worth it!"
...Even if the yield per mu of 1,800 mu of alfalfa fields is less than one ton, the total amount can produce more than two million kilograms of fresh fodder. Not only will the open space in the north be filled up, but the entire tribe will also be almost flooded. With Xiao Yun taking the lead, the Snow Wolves looked around, and the joy and shock of the harvest immediately diluted and drowned out the slight resentment they had before - 1,800 mu, to put it bluntly, is just a little more than one square kilometer of land. How many days can such a large grassland feed cattle and sheep?
Although it is very hard, Ayun is right, it is worth it!
The smarter snow wolves like the tribe leader, Hongye, Qingyan (well, he counts as one too), Dahe, and Yu couldn't help but do the math: such a small alfalfa field can produce so much fodder, so if we plant more... how many cattle and sheep can we feed? !
You don’t have to worry about your pasture being taken away or withering due to drought!
It makes me excited just thinking about it!
...The muscle aches coming from all over the body quickly made these excited snow wolves give up their unrealistic ideas.
Xiao Yun smiled as he watched his tribesmen get excited after realizing what was happening. When everyone was almost happy, he added, "Like I said before, the alfalfa fields can be harvested three times a year. The stubble I asked everyone to leave before harvesting will grow again in two months." He looked at the migrant soldier Yu and threw out the carrot again to prevent these guys from running away. "The alfalfa fields can be harvested twice more before the weather turns cold. The last harvested grass will be taken back by you. Your tribe should also need grass. Consider it a thank you gift for helping us."
"We have to harvest the same grass twice..." The tribesmen suddenly felt a darkness before their eyes.
"..."Yu and his people showed complex expressions of pain and happiness.
