The happy little days of the Ye family

Summer harvest is coming soon, and this gathering is especially crowded.

The summer harvest is not just about harvesting food, but also about immediately clearing the harvested fields and planting autumn food.

The summer harvest will be busy for at least half a month. Farmers take advantage of the summer harvest to come to the market to purchase the things they usually need. The most important thing is to buy some meat to replenish their bodies.

As soon as Mr. Ye put the dried fish on the stall, an aunt asked: "How much does this dried fish cost per pound?"

"13 cents per pound, it's all dried out in the sun. It won't break even after being stored for several months."

"Fresh fish only costs 13 cents per catty, and your dried fish costs [-] cents per catty. It's too expensive." The aunt said it was expensive, but she didn't put down the dried fish in her hand.

"Out of nearly 60 kilograms of fish, only 20 kilograms are made into dried fish, and there is salt in it. Not only does it take a lot of work to make dried fish, it's also expensive, but it can't be any cheaper."

Mr. Ye is not lying. Making this dried fish does take a lot of work, and the dried fish shrinks too much.

The aunt looked at the dried fish. They were all made of big fish. The summer harvest was about to begin and there was no room for the fresh pork. You could buy some of the dried fish and keep it for the summer harvest to eat later.

The aunt bought two kilograms of dried fish, a wooden basin and two sickles.

There were many people at the big market, and the two small stalls of Ye's family were surrounded by three floors inside and three floors outside. Among them, farm tools and dried fish were sold the fastest, and light fabrics were also sold well.

When the market was ending, most of the items on the stall had been sold, and several people started to pack up their things.

"There are still two kilograms of dried fish left, just in time for the summer harvest." Mr. Ye looked at the remaining dried fish and said happily.

In fact, there are still a lot of bacon and fish prepared by Mrs. Ye and Mother Ye at home, but the summer harvest requires a lot of effort, and your body will not be able to survive without eating well.

After packing his things, Mr. Ye went to the drug store and bought a large bag of herbal tea to relieve the heat.

The summer harvest is hot and sunny, and many people in the fields suffer from heat stroke at this time of year. During the summer harvest every year, Mr. Ye would cook a large pot of herbal tea to relieve the heat every day.

In addition, when Ye Mu cooks, Ye will cook a pot of mung bean soup, and no one in the Ye family has ever suffered from heat stroke.

Mr. Ye drives his donkey cart to various villages every day. Within a few days, all the goods he brought in this time are sold out, and the summer harvest is about to begin.

Because of the summer harvest, the school was on holiday, and Ye Donglin and Ye Xilin also went to the fields.

Although the Ye brothers have been studying for several years, they know their identities very well. Without the talent for reading, they are just ordinary farm boys.

The Ye family has no dream of becoming a high official, as long as they can write and read and understand things.

Ye Donglin has a flexible mind and is very interested in doing business. He has already made up his mind that if he doesn't study next year, he will follow Ye's father and help him, and then he will do it himself in a few years.

Ye Xilin is young and has not yet decided. Father Ye and Mother Ye have not asked him about his future affairs. It is good to be a carefree child.

Mr. Ye and Mrs. Ye are open-minded and transparent, and never interfere with their children’s education.

The Ye family cares about their children. They grow up healthy and happy, and they are satisfied if they learn a craft to support the family.

It was too hot during the day, and people in the village started working before dawn. It was still gray when the Ye family came to the fields, but the villagers harvesting rice in the fields were already busy.

Harvesting grain is the most important day for farmers. Except for those who cannot get out of bed, everyone who can move must go to the fields to collect grain.

Because Ye Mu and Ye Qingqing were doing embroidery, they worked with gloves on their hands. The heat was a bit hot, but it didn't affect their work.

There are often heavy rains in summer, and the summer harvest is about competing with God for time. We must take advantage of the good weather to harvest all the grains and dry them quickly.

It rains all the time in summer, which makes no sense, so someone must dry the grain on the drying ground.

Except for working in the fields on the first day, Ye Mu and Ye Qingqing spent the next day drying grain and cooking on the drying field.

The Ye family only had three acres of paddy field, and it took three days to harvest it.

After the rice is harvested, the fields are soaked in water. After a few days, the soil becomes soft and plowing begins.

During the past few days of soaking the land, the Ye family just harvested the corn from the cornfield.

There are donkeys at home, and there are not many paddy fields. Father Ye and Mr. Ye plowed the paddy fields at home in one day.

The rice seedlings in the paddy field are cultivated in advance. When planting, three or four small rice seedlings are inserted into the field. The seedlings should neither be inserted too deep nor too shallow. This degree must be grasped.

The spacing between the seedlings is also particular. If they are too far apart, less rice will be planted, and the grain yield will decrease. If it is too close, nutrition will not be provided.

Although Ye Mu and Ye Qingqing usually do embroidery at home and rarely do farm work, they can do both home work and field work, and they will go to the fields when farming is busy.

Grandma Ye often told Mother Ye that you don’t have to do some things, but you must be able to do them. There is no harm in learning more things if you have more skills.

It took the Ye family three days to plant rice, and another two days to replant the corn field with corn.

The grain for the autumn harvest is planted, and the rice and corn harvested a few days ago are dried, and the dried grain is put in the cellar.

Rice is always in the shell, so it can be better preserved by removing the shell when eating. Father Ye and Mr. Ye would bring some rice up from the cellar to shell it every other month.

The corn is whole. Nowadays, we are busy with farming and have no time. When we have free time, we have to rub the corn kernels out and then grind them into corn flour, which is used to cook porridge and make pancakes.

The Ye family's food is not for sale. When the three children are old enough to eat, no amount of food is enough.

Moreover, farming depends on the weather. Too much or too little rain will affect the harvest, so life-saving grain reserves at home are indispensable.

After planting autumn food, the Ye family harvested sweet potatoes from the five acres of sandy land without stopping. The sweet potatoes from the five acres of land filled half of the yard.

Mother Ye and Mrs. Ye picked out some damaged sweet potatoes. The ones that were badly damaged were used to feed the pigs in the past few days. The ones that were not so damaged were cut into pieces and dried in the sun, and were kept to feed the pigs later.

Intact sweet potatoes need to be dried for several days before being put into the cellar.

The Ye family has two cellars, one is used to store grain, and the other is used to store sweet potatoes and winter fruits and vegetables.

After drying the sweet potatoes and putting them in the cellar, the Ye family could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The beans, corn and sweet potatoes at the foot of Xiaohou Mountain were planted later and will not be harvested for another month.

After harvesting, Ye’s father plans to continue planting half of the corn and save the other half for planting rapeseed later.

The children all turned a lot darker during the 20 days of summer harvest. They had lost all their flesh some time ago, and Mother Ye felt very distressed.

Ye's mother came up with different ways to feed her family every day. With Ye's mother's fancy feeding, Ye's family regained their strength in just a few days.