Daily life of farming and supporting a family on the ancient Loess Plateau

Thinking of this, Ji Yongling felt a little excited.

After all, colchicine, as an alkaloid, can be used not only to cultivate seedless watermelons but also as a medicine and a poison. Moreover, it is a colorless, water-soluble, and highly toxic substance; an adult can die from a single ingestion of 3-20 mg, and there is no antidote. Isn't this more useful than other poisonous herbs?

With so many daylilies in the Niujiazhuang area, and her ability to extract high-concentration alcohol, extracting colchicine wouldn't be difficult either. Could it be that instead of becoming an ancient physician, she became an ancient "poison master"?

However, since seedless means childless, and given the superstition in ancient times, could she die before her business was even halfway done?

Although the light rain that night wasn't very heavy, it greatly comforted the villagers' parched hearts. Sure enough, as soon as the rain stopped the next day, all the men and women in the village rushed to the fields to take advantage of the remaining moisture and quickly start planting soybeans and millet.

However, millet was not widely planted; people preferred to grow soybeans because the income from soybeans was used to pay rent and taxes, and to support weddings and other celebrations.

A few days ago, every household was plowing the fields in preparation for planting beans.

Fortunately, the Ji family had mules to help this year; otherwise, relying solely on manpower would have been nearly fatal.

After Ji Manchuan finished plowing his own land, he went to help Ji Mancang's family plow their land. Before he had even plowed half an acre, the mule was so tired that it rolled around in the field. Ji Manchuan and Ji Manqing were so distressed that they couldn't eat.

Ji Yongling recalled seeing online that in modern northern China, after the wheat harvest, the land is not plowed or the stubble is cleared; instead, beans and corn are directly replanted in the wheat fields.

Because she herself was from a rural area and her family still had land left by her grandparents, she looked up relevant literature when she was bored. The literature confirmed through data comparison that this method of no-till precision sowing and replanting beans after wheat stubble yielded significantly higher yields than replanting beans after uprooting wheat stubble, and it was also less labor-intensive, less time-consuming, and cheaper.

Because no-till precision sowing and replanting technology can make full use of the light and heat resources after wheat harvest, it can seize the time to sow early, and can sow 3 to 7 days earlier. Moreover, crop residue covering the ground can reduce water evaporation, play a role in conserving moisture and stabilizing the soil, and is conducive to promoting early maturity and high yield of beans and corn, resulting in significant cost savings and efficiency gains.

Ji Yongling recalled reading in a book that the Loess Plateau is a typical rain-fed agricultural area. The special loess structure, unreasonable traditional farming practices, and large variations in precipitation throughout the year and between years have led to severe soil erosion, decreased soil fertility, and deterioration of the ecological environment in this region.

Implementing conservation tillage methods such as no-till farming and summer straw covering can not only improve water use efficiency but also effectively suppress soil evaporation, increase precipitation retention, and enrich the soil. So, can these two modern farming methods be adopted and used today?

Thinking of this, Ji Yongling suddenly felt excited. Being spared the hardship of tilling the land and being able to increase production and have a bumper harvest would mean that many people would not have to go hungry.

Since the wheat harvest and the lack of rain have delayed the bean planting time, why not simply do no-till replanting like in later generations? This would save time and allow us to plant several more acres of beans.

Ji Yongling immediately shared her idea with Grandpa Ji: to try planting beans directly without plowing or clearing wheat stubble.

Upon hearing this, Grandpa Ji shook his head decisively and refused: "Young man, farming is something that absolutely cannot be delayed, and we dare not do anything reckless. Planting directly without plowing or clearing the wheat stubble is the way lazy bums cheat crops, and we cannot learn from that!"

My child, as the old saying goes, "A person can fool the land for a while, but the land can fool the person for a year. A person who cheats the land will cheat his stomach." If you don't farm properly, you'll go hungry.

“Sir, can we try plowing a piece of land? We can’t possibly finish all the wheat fields anyway, and some fields are just lying idle, so let’s give it a try,” Ji Yongling pleaded.

Grandpa Ji didn't even want to think about it and shook his head in refusal.

Ji Yongling knew that the old farmers' cautious attitude towards crops could not be changed in a short time, and persuading them would be more difficult than the Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains.

However, Ji Yongling didn't want to give up. She knew that only by improving planting techniques and tools could she increase crop yields and improve the villagers' living standards. But the prerequisite was to get Grandpa Ji's support and approval. Only if her own family accepted the new technologies and tools could other villagers follow in Grandpa Ji's footsteps.

But how to persuade Grandpa Ji, a stubborn and headstrong old man from Northwest China, is a real headache.

Ji Yongling pestered Old Master Ji with all her might, but Old Master Ji just wouldn't budge.

Suddenly, she thought of the peanuts in the rapeseed stubble field. She pulled Grandpa Ji aside and said, "Grandpa, I'll show you something."

Grandpa Ji shook his head helplessly and said, "You stubborn child, you're just as stubborn as a mule! People say that stubborn people get beaten a lot. Luckily, when you were born, your parents only had you. Otherwise, your father would probably have beaten you badly."

Ji Yongling was both amused and exasperated. He said, "Sir, I've heard people say that the temperament and character of us Northwesterners are inherited from our ancestors. If we old Qin people of the Northwest weren't so stubborn, would the First Emperor have been able to unify the six kingdoms? To put it more simply, if you weren't so stubborn, sir, wouldn't I have convinced you long ago?"

Grandpa Ji was amused by the joke and said, "You silly child, after all this talk, you're actually blaming your grandpa for being a stubborn person?"

Ji Yongling raised an eyebrow mischievously and said, "Anyway, when our family gets stubborn, it's all rooted in our roots."

As they talked, the group arrived at the peanut field where they had previously planted peanuts. The peanut seedlings had already sprouted from the soil. Although some seeds may have been eaten by birds and rodents, the entire field was still lush and green, neat and tidy, and looked very pleasing to the eye.

Grandpa Ji squatted down at the edge of the field, looking down at the peanut seedlings, and asked, "What kind of seedlings are these? I've never seen them before."

Looking at her masterpiece, Ji Yongling felt a sense of pride, even though it had been tiring and difficult to plant them. She said, "Grandpa, these are peanut seedlings. I got some seeds from Xu Dong's family and planted them. They've grown so tall now."

Grandpa Ji's eyes lit up with joy. He said, "Good, really good, they're growing so well! Oh dear, can we grow peanuts here? I heard your grandma say that the apprentice at the pharmacy said these things are only grown in the sandy soil of the south. I never thought we could grow them in our dry land."

"Yes, I've heard that cotton can be grown in some parts of Northwest China."

Grandpa Ji straightened up and asked, "Who told you that?"

"Well... I forgot. Anyway, look, the peanuts in our field have taken root and are growing quite well. Most importantly, look, I planted them after pulling up the rapeseed roots, without even turning the soil over."