Witty Wife, Better Life

Chapter 723: Chapter 713 Busy with Farming

In the greenhouses, a fixed-staff, fixed-post system was implemented, where each person was responsible for one greenhouse. Although it was hard work, the rewards were considerable. Those assigned to work in the planting greenhouses were mostly military wives, most of whom had experience from the previous year. They were well aware of the profits to be had, so in order to earn more money, they practically lived in the greenhouses, working tirelessly from dawn until dusk.

Now that departments had been divided, Zhao Dabao adopted the method of having experienced employees mentor new hires. Before long, the new employees were up to speed, working as vigorously as the veterans.

Shen Yunfang, the boss, visited several times and expressed her satisfaction, also praising Zhao Dabao for the buddy system he had implemented. She then encouraged all the employees of the greenhouse vegetable department to work hard, assuring them that Feiyang would not let them down.

Of course, when she, the boss, made an inspection, there were bound to be some suggestions for improvement. Seeing how demanding it was for one person to manage such a large greenhouse, it wasn’t long before a semi-mechanized irrigation system was installed in all the greenhouses.

It wasn’t particularly advanced, merely involving several iron pipes running through the entire greenhouse. When it was time to water, one only needed to open the valves branching from the iron pipes, and the connected rubber hoses would automatically start flowing water for irrigation.

While this setup still didn’t allow for controlled irrigation amounts, it at least spared the employees the task of moving around the cumbersome coils of hose, thereby somewhat reducing their workload.

The second crop of vegetables officially hit the market in May. The three people in the sales department, having tasted success the previous year, began their sales rounds in advance, securing buyers for most of the vegetables even before the harvest. Under the guidance of Shen Yunfang, they not only targeted various enterprises and institutions but also connected with several vegetable wholesalers, essentially middlemen.

They couldn’t determine the wholesale prices, so Shen Yunfang personally dealt with several people, discussing prices. After several rounds of negotiation, they finally settled on a price that was satisfactory to both sides, then wholesaled the vegetables to them.

As a result, the entire second batch of vegetables was sold before reaching maturity. When certain wholesalers from Lin City arrived on time, they found no vegetables left to buy—there was nothing they could do but try to come earlier next time.

The last item was the planting of the fields.

A total of seven hundred acres of land were designated for cultivation on the farm. Originally, it was planned to plant rice on four hundred acres, wheat on one hundred acres, and the remaining land with corn, soybeans, and other economic crops.

Considering the different habits of each crop, the planting department started getting busy as early as February.

They sowed one hundred acres of wheat in the biting cold of early spring, and fortunately, with the help of heavy machinery, the dozen or so people in the department completed the task without much effort.

Of course, the seeds were provided by Shen Yunfang, the boss. She got superior varieties from the Agricultural University and soaked them herself in Essence of Life, which not only optimized the species but also effectively prevented diseases and pests.

By April, the staff of the planting department had truly entered the busy farming season.

It was time to start planting corn and soybeans, and the rice also needed to begin sprouting.

They were already busy enough, but at this time, Shen Yunfang, the boss, raised the stakes, suddenly proposing that, to increase economic efficiency, all fields capable of intercropping should implement the practice.

The planting department staff were all scratching their heads, even the department manager Sun Dawei was worried. Why does this piece of land have to be so difficult? Can’t we just farm peacefully for a couple of days?

At this time, Shen Yunfang couldn’t consider whether they could accept it or not; she just took charge without hesitation.

The land that grew soybeans last year was planted with wheat this year. The patch that grew cabbage last year returned to growing corn this year, and where corn was planted, soybeans now took its place. By rotating crops like this, the fertility of the soil could also be distributed evenly.

Shen Yunfang’s plan was to intercrop the corn field with Lingzhi, sweet potatoes, peanuts, rapeseed, and various beans.

Other crops were easy to deal with, but intercropping with Lingzhi was something the workers had never even heard of.

All hopes were pinned on Shen Yunfang for this. After all, she was a teacher at the Agricultural University. Others might not even think of such methods, but in her previous life, Shen Yunfang was already aware of this technique. Having studied this field, she consulted some senior professors and sought help from professionals, eventually securing the intercropping with Lingzhi project.

Once the Agricultural University got wind of it, they took a special interest, sought out Shen Yunfang for a detailed discussion, and upon her project approval, they were ready to allocate 100,000 yuan for research funding.

Shen Yunfang was overjoyed—this 100,000 yuan windfall was unexpected. Of course, she didn’t forget the teachers and professors who helped her along the way, sending them all a token of thanks.

Unconsciously, she was no longer a fringe figure at the school. Other teachers would greet her with a respectful "Teacher Shen".

However, since they started late this year and preparations were not sufficient, the Lingzhi plantation was not very extensive—only ten acres in the end. For the rest, Shen Yunfang intercropped with peanuts, rapeseed, and so on.

Then came May, and workers were busy planting rice seedlings in the paddies and intercropping potatoes and sweet potatoes in the soybean fields.

Shen Yunfang also introduced new ideas to the rice fields. She originally planned to raise ducks in the paddies, but the breeding facility was truly too far from the rice fields. Relying on the ducks to waddle there on their own was impractical, as they’d hardly make it back and forth in a day, so this plan had to be abandoned.

Later, Shen Yunfang consulted some experts at the university and finally decided to raise some fish in the rice fields, as well as place some loach and eel fry.

Raising eels was less common in the north, and it was uncertain whether it would succeed. Anyway, it was just a small cost for the fry. Shen Yunfang thought to give it a try for the first year. If it succeeded, that would be great; if not, the loss would be minimal.

Of course, talking about it was easy, but the actual work was anything but simple. After an entire day of instruction from the senior expert regarding the timing and method of stocking fish, loaches, and eels, Shen Yunfang respectfully invited the expert to the farm. With no shame, she had the elderly person roll up their trousers, take off their leather shoes, wade barefoot into the fields, and sequentially release the eels, loaches, and fish fry at different times. Once out of the water, he showed the workers hand by hand how to mix feed for the eels and fish, when to spread the feed, and so on. Shen Yunfang accompanied Sun Dawei throughout the entire process, learning as much as possible in preparation for the following year. Whenever the workers had a chance, they too joined in to learn.

After dealing with the rice fields, the workers also planted three acres of carrots on the remaining land for livestock to eat in winter. On the rest of the land, they planted various seasonal vegetables, which were reserved for their own employees.