CHAPTER 1876: CHAPTER 886 SOONER OR LATER PLANT WILD VEGETABLES_2

The folks over at Heap hillock are not to be outdone either. Although they were a step behind, the whole village, young and old, men and women, are at the cattle farm.

They are truly afraid of being poor!

Even though their lives have changed dramatically in recent years, they still hold a deep fear of poverty, which has transformed into a pursuit of wealth.

As the most remote village in Sancha River Township, they rarely benefited from any good initiatives in the past. Even activities like fruit tree planting for poverty alleviation were indifferent to them by the township.

This was because their land was too barren, so even promoting cash crops had to halt when it came to them.

Yan Fei treated all villages pretty much equally and even gave a little extra care to this village due to Tian Dafu’s connection. For example, when choosing to plant forage grass initially, this village was selected, although at that time, Tian Dafu wasn’t a village cadre, and the then-village cadre missed that opportunity.

They won’t miss it this time. From the moment Zhang Haiyang suggested setting up a cattle farm, it only took them seven days to get it built—including the time spent leveling the land on the slope.

Even with subsequent tasks added, it took less than ten days in total.

Those who haven’t seen it can’t understand how a village that just recently began to eat meat could, without tractors or mechanical tools, build a cattle farm in just seven days.

Firstly, a cattle farm is easy to construct, with walls made of mud bricks, and shelters set up. Secondly, the entire village mobilized, contributing labor and materials.

When Yan Fei arrived here, he was startled, thinking the village had been raided by bandits—a lot of houses had turned into vacant lots, and some didn’t even have roofs, looking quite pathetic.

Yet everyone was full of smiles and didn’t mind at all—those who dismantled were ready to build new houses anyway, and all these contributions were recorded, with the village’s cattle farm promising compensation later.

Moreover, the people here have always felt a kind of inferiority.

There was once a saying in the township that this place was Huangtuwa Heap hillock, with nothing but bandits. Here, they were so remote that good things never came their way. Last time, they finally got a chance, but missed it due to the selfishness of village cadres.

This time, they won’t let the opportunity slip by again!

To put it plainly, they are aiming to be the first village in the township with a cattle farm. To clear their past name, to show Boss Yan their determination, and to prove that they were poor not because they were lazy...

The truth is, people here are not lazy. Due to the geographical conditions, they work harder than other villages for the same farm jobs, yet their yields are not as good.

Looking at the cattle farm on the slope, Heizi was a bit worried and whispered, "Built so fast, and this spot is windy, won’t there be any problems?"

Suddenly, a young man sprang up beside him, "Manager Shi, don’t worry, the quality is absolutely fine, we’ve tested it, nothing will go wrong. If you don’t believe it, wait, I’ll show you..."

Saying that, he ran over to the side of the shelter, grabbed a ladder left over from construction, and swiftly climbed up to the roof.

He then began to stride across the top, introducing, "Everything solid, the house purlins and beams are sturdy..."

The gusty wind between the two ridges blew his hair wildly as he walked on the roof, standing against the cold wind with his chest out, head held high, making the distant ridges a backdrop, resembling a dashing lead in a film...

Photographer Zhang Kun from the Cow flower company caught this moment just in time. He already had a name for it: With people like this, we won’t stay poor forever!

The only issue was, he only brought a camera today. He thought the opening of a small village cattle farm was too trivial for a big report. Encountering such a scene, he regretted not bringing a video camera, and he glared helplessly at Lin Haihu, who was pretending to be serious, thinking he’d be exploited again by this rascal!

This rascal Lin Haihu told his dad he wanted to learn journalism with Zhang Kun, skipping school again.

Now, Yan Fei’s uncle, who’s also Lin Haihu’s dad, had mostly given up. He realized this kid wasn’t cut out for academics, and beating him wouldn’t work, so he just let him do what he wanted!

While Zhang Kun pondered how to get hold of Lin Haihu’s recordings, Tian Dafu was up there giving a speech. He explained to the township and county leaders more like reading a pledge: "We can definitely solve the pollution issue. As long as our people are diligent, anything is possible. We have summarized a few experiences on this front to report to you all..."

Though he intended to speak directly, he probably feared making mistakes, so he pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and began to read: "Apart from using cow dung for vermicompost and growing Agaricus bisporus, we have multiple plans... concentrating some for fermentation as soil fertilizer, while combining it with decentralized treatment. The concentrated fermentation will deal with cow dung, whereas the decentralized treatment involves dispersing the liquid part over pastures and farmland... drying some to send to the fertilizer factory... at the same time, we are actively considering biogas applications and will soon explore experiences tailored to our village’s situation..."

Simply put, his method was to fully utilize the abundant land and labor advantages in the village, transporting what would typically accumulate and pollute directly to the farmland.

Many small rural farms cause pollution due to a reluctance to invest and a mindset of earning money before addressing pollution. These wastewater outlets lead to pollution over time.

If everyone in the village acts, delivering what would have been pollution to the farms in time, it becomes fertilizer, not pollution.

If there’s a biogas digester, one small cattle farm can certainly be pollution-free.

It’s just a bit laborious; after all, they are on ridged terrain. To disperse cow dung wastewater, it’s several miles up and down, It looks close but is actually far away, dragging a cart could tire a bull...

But this terrain has its benefits too: pouring liquid fertilizer from a high place means you’ll never worry about drowning or burning the crops and pastures. Broadcasting fertilizer from a height is definitely easier than on flat ground—of course, getting the fertilizer up there takes much more effort than on flat ground. Fortunately, now with hand tractors priced at two or three thousand, they already seem no longer an unaffordable luxury.

With hand tractors, kids who grew up in the countryside aged twelve or thirteen face no pressure ploughing or transporting goods.

Interestingly, there were a few college students among the people from the county, just assigned to work in the county departments. On the way, they were discussing how small-scale livestock pollution was unresolvable, not expecting Tian Dafu to present such a big answer, leaving them quite dumbfounded.

The solution is really simple, but... if it wasn’t a collectively built farm, who could mobilize an entire village to help turn pollution into fertilizer?

Yet, someone still had doubts. Yan Fei overheard a college student from the county mumble, "Isn’t this reverting, going back to the era of communal meals?"

Yan Fei glanced at the guy, too lazy to argue with him.

Whether it’s a step back or not depends on the results. Maybe when the villagers start having money, they’ll think differently, but during this phase of struggle, when it’s time to unite, if he dared to say it aloud, someone in the village would dare to tell him to leave...

When it was Yan Fei’s turn to speak, he had nothing much to say. He just stood up and said a few words: "Rest assured in raising cattle, the more cattle you raise, the more you’re supporting me, and together we’ll sell the cattle abroad and earn foreign money. As long as I have food, you all won’t starve, so go ahead and work hard. By the way, don’t root out the Wild Vegetables in the fields; in a few years, when we get tired of eating meat, sooner or later we’ll have to grow Wild Vegetables to eat..."

In an instant, applause, laughter, and cheers rang out. The county and township people had been talking for a while, but nothing invigorated them like what Yan Fei said!

Zhang Kun quickly noted down Yan Fei’s last sentence, soon we’ll grow Wild Vegetables, such confidence!...