The Lucky Farmgirl

Before transplanting the rice seedlings, Old Zhou’s family had already scattered wheat and bean seeds in the fields. After the transplanting was completed, the wheat and bean sprouts had emerged, along with countless wild weeds.

Thus, spring labor entered its second phase—weeding.

This task was suitable for men and women, young and old, and even Manbao followed along to weed in the fields closest to home.

There were basically two methods of weeding: one was extensive, and the other, meticulous.

For the former, wielding a hoe, one would lightly hoe through the field, uprooting the weeds along the ridges and covering the weeds in the furrows with soil.

Not only could some weeds be removed, but this also provided more soil nutrients for the wheat or bean sprouts.

The latter method involved using a small hoe to thoroughly remove all the weeds from the furrows and ridges, and then transport them out of the field.

Even with many hands, the Zhou family couldn’t meticulously weed all of their land.

They made choices based on the germination rate of the seeds and the fertility of the soil.

Fields with the best sprouting rates and richer soil were meticulously tended, while the rest were dealt with as circumstances allowed—if there was spare capacity, meticulous efforts were made; if not, the extensive approach was adopted.

Of course, Old Zhou had no knowledge of extensive or meticulous methods; these were terms Manbao heard while discussing with Keke. Old Zhou only had decades of farming experience, and the villagers had been doing it this way for scores, if not hundreds, of years.