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

Ji Manchuan, who had been following behind and checking the peanut seedlings, said, "Oh—I was wondering why you were so enthusiastic last time, coming all by yourself to pull up rapeseed roots despite the heat and fatigue. It turns out you were afraid we would find out you were secretly planting peanuts."

Ji Yongling smiled shamelessly and said, "I was just afraid you wouldn't let me plant it this way! You see, planting it this way is perfectly fine!"

Grandpa Ji inspected the peanut seedlings again and said, "They look like they're growing well, but I'm afraid they'll just grow tall and tall but won't bear fruit."

Ji Yongling was getting anxious, thinking, "Why is this old man so stubborn about farming?" While it's good to be cautious about crops, she wasn't one of those hot-headed experts who sit in their offices and boss farmers around. She was an academic who grew up in the countryside and had read and studied a lot of literature, even though she wasn't an agricultural major.

"Sir, let's give it a try," Ji Yongling pleaded again.

Grandpa Ji was still hesitating.

Fortunately, Ji Manchuan stood by Ji Yongling's side and stepped forward as an intermediary, saying, "Father, there was a batch of bean seeds among the seeds on the mule cart before. I think they are much better than our soybean seeds. With our land, it takes a long time just to plow and clear the wheat stubble. Why don't we take out half an acre and try planting other people's beans using Ling'er's method?"

Actually, Grandpa Ji was already somewhat tempted, and after hearing Ji Manchuan's opinion, he finally made up his mind and said, "Then let's leave that half-acre of mountain land in the ditch for you to try? Anyway, the yield of that mountain land is low, and even if we seriously plant beans, we won't get many pounds. You can do whatever you want, it's just a pity about the seeds."

Ji Yongling was overjoyed. Now that Old Master Ji had agreed, everything would be much easier.

She tried to persuade the control group again, saying, "Grandpa, could you give me another half an acre of mountain land? I'll use it to plant our family's bean seeds. That way, by comparing the same seeds, we can see whether this method of replanting without plowing has any benefits, and we can also see whether other people's seeds are better on the same land."

Actually, she had another idea: since beans could be replanted after the wheat harvest, why not replant corn, since corn yields a higher amount?

However, according to her observation, corn in this era is all spring-sown corn, and she doesn't seem to have heard of summer-sown corn. Moreover, the wheat fields for this year have already been planned, and if Grandpa Ji insists on plowing and replanting, it will be too late.

Let's wait until the soybeans are replanted after the wheat stubble is harvested and the yield is seen before making any decisions. Without presenting facts and results, it's difficult to convince these old farmers. After all, their farmland is the lifeblood of their entire family, and they absolutely cannot take any risks.

In Niujiatun, beans are planted using basket carts, a method also known as "sowing beans."

The so-called "laying beans" usually involves pouring the seeds into the bucket of a basket cart after plowing the land, pushing the cart forward while swaying from side to side, and the seeds will automatically fall down the three wooden troughs due to gravity. The person behind then walks barefoot sideways step by step, so that the soil covers the newly sown seeds.

This is quite different from Ji Yongling's memory of how beans were ground without tools in later generations.

She remembered that when villagers used to plant one or two acres of beans, they didn't use a planter. They planted the beans directly, just like when she planted peanuts. One person would dig a hole in front, and another person would scatter the beans into the hole from behind. It was simple and convenient.

Unlike now, sowing with baskets is cumbersome. It requires someone to pull the basket from the front and someone to push it from the back. In addition, someone else has to follow along to cover the soil to cover the planted beans.

In short, the program is quite labor-intensive, time-consuming, and labor-intensive.

Ji Yongling and Grandpa Ji explained how to plant the beans, but Grandpa Ji shook his head, saying he'd never done it that way before and was worried it wouldn't work. He thought that not pulling up the wheat stubble was already a lazy approach, and to plant beans so casually was just lazy and haphazardly wasting the land.

Ji Yongling had no choice but to bring up the peanuts again, and Ji Manchuan and Ji Manqing immediately accepted it and thought it was worth a try.

When the topic turned to the peanut seedlings in the peanut field, Grandpa Ji's mind softened again. After much deliberation, he reluctantly nodded in agreement, but suggested that the Ji brothers plant a few rows of beans to test the waters first.

The two had only worked for two rows when Old Master Ji loudly called a halt, and everyone thought that this kind of farming was not feasible. Just as Ji Yongling was feeling disappointed, he saw Old Master Ji squatting in the dug-out pits, carefully examining each one.

He squatted there, constantly scooping up soil from the ditch, pondering for a long time before standing up and saying, "I've checked, the soil moisture is good, and this method of planting beans makes it easier to control the spacing between seedlings. It seems like it's feasible. So, let's plant beans like this on two acres first, and use a basket cart for the rest of the land. We'll see the results after the autumn harvest. When it comes to farming, a delay can mean missing out on a whole crop. Let's compare the results honestly, without deceiving the land, others, or ourselves. If this method works, we can share it with the villagers."

Ji Manqing and Ji Manchuan were both delighted to hear this, because grinding beans was indeed less strenuous than using a basket cart.

In this way, a total of one mu of mountain land was cultivated using the direct no-till replanting + bean planting method, and two more mu of flat land on the plateau were cultivated using the tilling and bean planting method.

For farmers who have spent their entire lives toiling in the soil, making the change from arranging beans to lighting them is a huge breakthrough and requires a lot of courage.

Because Ji Yongling was still a child, she was assigned to work with Yang's group to collect beans.

When they arrived at the field, Yang followed Ji Yongling's instructions and used a hoe to dig holes in the stubble. She would also teach Ji Yongling how to plant crops: "Planting soybeans early or late makes a big difference. Look at this row of fields. Plant the seeds first, and after you've finished, turn around from the other end of the field and dig around again. The seeds will have turned over."

Ji Yongling lowered her head and hummed a few times, as if she remembered Yang's words. Her hands didn't stop. She grabbed a handful of beans and threw them into the pit, then used her feet to push the soil into the pit and cover the beans with them.

Seeing that they were almost finished with half an acre of land, Yang turned around and saw Ji Yongling scattering handfuls of beans into the pit. She hurriedly slapped her thigh and cried out, "Oh dear, stop! Stop! Don't scatter so many! Three or four is enough!"

As she spoke, Yang hurried over and took the bag from Ji Yongling's hand, saying, "You silly child, how could you waste the seeds like this! With that handful, you'll ruin most of them! Oh dear, my heart aches so much!"

Ji Yongling felt somewhat innocent. This was how she planted beans in her later life, and the beans were planted quite densely in her later life. Was there anything wrong with that?

She stared blankly at Yang and asked, "Grandma, how come there are so many? What if the seeds don't sprout? Besides, we can pick the extra seedlings and eat them as bean sprouts later."