Chapter 259 - 0259: The Autumn Harvest Begins3_1
The sliced red potatoes are sun-dried during the day and collected in the evening.
If the nightly dew falls on the potato slices, they could easily mold, so they must not be exposed to rain.
A bunch of children, who had either just gotten out of school or did not attend, plucked up the potato slices from the ground with their big and little hands, filling their bamboo or willow woven baskets, then dumping them into larger bamboo containers, before returning to pick up more slices.
Jiang He, Zhang Erya and a group of orphans hurried here and there, with Feng Qingxue assigning them work points according to Wang Zhenguo’s suggestions.
At sunrise the next day, the gathered potato slices would be spread out on the ground to continue drying. This process would be repeated in the evening.
They repeated this every day tirelessly, until the potato slices were completely dry.
As soon as the spring potato slices were thoroughly dried and stored, they started harvesting summer potatoes and corn.
Those responsible for digging up the summer potatoes were experienced farmers. Their digging would result in less damage to the potatoes. With careful screening to remove damaged, diseased, or water-logged ones, only the unspoiled and plump potatoes made it into the storage cellar, persisting on a storage methodology from the past. Throughout the process, everything was handled with the utmost care to ensure the best crops for the next year were saved.
Good seeds bring good shoots, strong seedlings, and naturally, excellent harvest.
Men did the labor-intensive task of cutting down corn stalks one by one, lining them up neatly on the ground. Each row of corn was attended by women and children squatting down to peel back the husks with a pick, removing the corn from the stalk and throwing it onto bare ground.
The piles of corn, golden and lovely, were quite a sight.