8.Milk Vetch_1

Song Sancheng frowned, "Are you planning to plant rice on dozens of acres of land?"

Otherwise, there wouldn't be a need for so much milk vetch to fertilize the soil, dozens of pounds? Milk vetch only requires five or six pounds of seeds per acre.

Now at the end of February, people are still wearing down jackets and heavy coats. Once March passes and the temperature quickly rises, as long as there's no spring cold snap and the day-night temperature difference isn't so great, most crops can be planted.

If milk vetch is planted, at the very least it wouldn't be until the end of April or May that the soil could be turned over to plant something else... but that would work too, it wouldn't delay the planting of other crops.

According to Song Sancheng's farming experience, May is the most suitable month for planting. Every year, March and April pose risks of spring cold snaps, with large day-night temperature differences that could frostbite the sprouting seeds, making it unsuitable.

It's just that he wasn't comfortable starting with spending so much money and time.

Last night, Song Tan thought long and hard, and now was calm and unhurried, "The two fields at the bottom will be planted with rice for our own family's consumption."

Together, those two fields add up to three or four acres. Nowadays, the yield of rice is also high, enough to feed the family and even give some to friends and relatives.

Song Tan didn't consider planting more, as rice farming is laborious, and he didn't want to plant too much of it.

Raising fish in the rice paddies is also something to consider trying.

"The other fields will first be planted with milk vetch to fertilize, and when it gets warmer I'll plant vegetables."

This time, Song Sancheng didn't oppose, "Planting vegetables is good, they sell well. Later, we can take them to the market on a tricycle." Low cost, quick harvest, and easier than planting rice.

Song Tan smiled, "Yeah, that's what I was planning too." As if. How many people are there in the town?

If going, it would be to the city.

In fact, last night, reflecting on her own work, Song Tan had a different idea—nowadays, people like watching pastoral videos for stress relief and tranquility. But with so many rural areas around, how could she quickly catch people's attention?

Either be beautiful or unique.

Her hometown Yunqiao Village is pretty ordinary.

Therefore, she must focus on the "beautiful" aspect.

Milk vetch has a short growing cycle, it's hardy and easy to plant, and its blooming is beautiful enough. When the time comes, she'll make a video, and she'll rely on the continuous milk vetch flowers to attract viewers for her first shot.

Otherwise, with so much farming and vegetable planting, when could she create a premium product?

...

At the end of February, the agricultural supply store wasn't very busy. When Song Tan asked for 70 pounds of milk vetch seeds, the owner was quite surprised,

"How much land are you planting? The original seeds are enough with five pounds per acre, while the medicinal seeds require ten pounds. The prices are the same, ten yuan per pound."

Original seeds are natural seeds that haven't been treated.

Medicinal seeds are the ones with pesticide coatings to prevent insects and diseases, offering better resistance.

Song Tan thought to herself that she couldn't have cultivated Spirit Plants for a hundred and ten years without having some pest control methods, so she made a resolute choice:

"I want the original seeds!"

Besides milk vetch, she needed to buy all the other seeds as well, such as vegetable seeds, starting from the short-cycle bok choy to seedlings that need to be raised like peppers, eggplants, cucumbers... everything had to be prepared.

The local seeds might not be as comprehensive as those online, but for a novice, they have the best adaptability. So, by the end of her purchases, Song Tan had spent over a thousand yuan, which made Song Sancheng's heart twinge.

Song Tan was still asking!

"Do you have rice seeds? I want ones with good taste."

The owner looked up, "We do, this Long Grain Fragrant variety has an amazing taste, and you can't buy it for ten yuan a pound. It just has low yield, with an output of only around eight hundred to a thousand pounds per acre."

Song Tan couldn't help but sigh—technology truly is productive force!

In the Cultivation World, those Spirit Grains without hybrid optimization, despite her efforts and Spiritual Energy, would yield only about five or six hundred pounds per acre at most.

"How much are they selling for?"

The owner didn't beat around the bush, "These seeds are expensive, eighty yuan per pound. You need two pounds per acre."

Eight pounds of seeds for four acres of land, how expensive could that get? Thinking of the fragrant pure rice, Song Tan's mouth was already watering,

"I'll take it!"

...

After spending two thousand yuan on seeds, Song Sancheng took a drag from his cigarette, speaking earnestly:

"Tantan, there's no rush to buy things, take your time. Plowing the field later will also be costly, you need to prepare quite a bit of money,"

That plow machine needs to be fitted with different depth harrows, and if you buy it, those have to be matched separately. Since they were renting, there wasn't this trouble.

But their fields hadn't been plowed for many years, so they'd have to hire people to clear the weeds and miscellaneous trees, costing no less than 150 per person per day. For the seven plots, finishing in one day would require around a dozen people, and there goes another 2000 yuan.

If they didn't hire people, it would delay things, affecting their farming.

Then, they'd have to set a fire in the fields before they could begin plowing. After turning and airing the soil for two days, they could start planting.

Even with machinery, their fields could at most manage deep plowing of five mu a day. For fifteen mu, that would take three days, and 1500 yuan.

And then there would be the subsequent expenses for fertilizers and pesticides... When Song Sancheng thought about the money spent, he felt his daughter was spending way too much!

"With all those vegetables you're planting, won't you need to set up greenhouses for the seedlings? Didn't you say you needed to hire people to dig into the mountain? What are your plans for the mountain?"

Calculating all this, Song Tan felt a bit overwhelmed too.

Work hadn't even started, and tens of thousands of yuan were already planned to be spent.

Song Tan made a decisive decision, "Dad, we won't dig into the mountain for now. I plan to grow black fungus and white fungus on the mountain, using the oak trees there to culture the spores, so there's no need to clear them out."

There were many oak trees, also known as cork trees, locally. The wood was solid, and it burned well, which was what Song Tan's family used for heating.

Of course, it was also excellent material for cultivating black fungus and white fungus.

However, nowadays everyone directly used spore culture bags, and this old method hadn't been seen for many years. Consequently, the price of tree-cultured fungi has gone up.

Song Tan vaguely remembered that when she was young, her family used to cultivate black fungus and white fungus this way.

In the end, every household grew them, but the promised buyer didn't show up, so they had to dry them and keep them at home, consuming them for years.

Song Sancheng was completely numb.

—Grow black fungus and white fungus?

Wouldn't that mean cutting trees and processing the trunks? Suitable tree trunks had to be chopped down, holes drilled in them one by one, then stuffed with the spores…

Because it took up space and the yield was low, it has been slowly phased out by spore culture bags. But Tantan made sense; people now prioritize natural and pollution-free products. Regardless of whether there's pollution or not, spore culture bags just seem to lack some flavor compared to tree-cultured ones.

Song Sancheng sighed deeply.

But then he thought—never mind, they had plenty of oak trees crowding several mountaintops, chopping down some would be fine.

It was still better than spending money elsewhere.

Spend it, spend it, once the money is gone, out of sight, out of mind!

He muttered grimly, "I'll go ask about the spore suppliers."

Seeing her father like this, Song Tan also felt uneasy—because she had ordered a computer and several accessories online last night, spending 8000 yuan to ensure efficient editing later on.

But what's spent is spent.

So Song Tan struck while the iron was hot, "Dad, let's clean up the pigpen by the door, and raise three or four pigs this year."

If the vegetables are delicious, the meat has to keep up!

Song Sancheng was about to jump up, "With all this work, do you want to work your mom and me to death?"

Thinking about how expensive pork was at the moment, he was actually quite tempted, so he softened his expression:

"We can't build a pigsty by the door now, the village says it ruins the aesthetic, even the firewood shed has to be tidied up."

...

...

...

[About cutting trees, since there are plenty of them on rural mountaintops and each household has some, the unspoken rule is that if you cut them down, you must plant new ones, so there's no need to worry about deforestation.]

[About cultivating fungi in the forest, there's scientific guidance behind it, and it's stable. The basswood white fungus we eat now is cultivated in this way, just that it's assumed there are no basswoods here, but local trees work just as well.]

[About plant pictures, fearing you might find it troublesome, we haven't included any easter eggs. If anyone has pictures, feel free to share them in the comments on this chapter. Those who are interested can click to see; those who aren't, can just skip it, it won't affect the reading.]

[If you have any other questions, just ask in the comments, and I'll explain as much as I can. Free chapters will be included during the free period, while I'll try to put notices in the author's comments later on not to take up word count.]