It took seven days to harvest the corn, and the original plan of harvesting thirty mu per day had to be changed on the second day. This was because the yield of the Longgao variety of corn, harvested on the first day over thirty mu, was excessively high. The entire drying ground was piled high with corn cobs, and they dared not stack them too high for fear of them heating up and spoiling due to poor ventilation.
Thus, Uncle De and a few others, after deliberation, decided to change the corn harvesting plan on the second day and instead focus on building granaries. These granaries were to store the corn cobs harvested from the "Liangyu" fields on the third day, which also spanned thirty mu. If this were done, the corn cobs from the first day, "Longgao," could be threshed, freeing up most of the drying ground to air dry the corn cobs harvested from the "Jinchong" fields on the fourth day, also thirty mu.
So it was decided. On the second day, all the men would collectively go up the mountain to cut branches and vines to build granaries about a meter off the ground to store the corn.
All the women would continue to shuck corn and dry the cobs on the drying ground.
On the second day, over a dozen strong laborers set off before dawn, each armed with a machete and two corn cobs boiled by Lin Maizao, heading up the mountain to cut branches and vines.
After bringing back the branches and vines, they began constructing the granaries. It took over a dozen people the entire day, working diligently, to barely build thirty-two granaries, which was far from enough.
Chen Lan suddenly realized that growing corn was easy, but storing it was a significant problem.
However, dwelling on this issue was useless now. The immediate problems were purchasing a thresher and a dryer from the system and building more grain storage warehouses.
On the third day, as planned, they proceeded to harvest corn cobs from another thirty mu of "Liangyu" land.
Chen Lan woke up early that morning and skipped breakfast. She rushed to the drying ground and retrieved the automatic thresher and dryer, which she had long purchased from the system, along with one thousand snake-skin bags for storing the corn kernels.
After returning for breakfast, she left the twins this time and hurried to find Teacher Zhou, asking him to help convert the power from the solar batteries and debug the equipment.
Teacher Zhou, upon hearing about debugging new equipment, was very interested. He immediately put down his bowl and, with his four students, followed Chen Lan to the drying ground to help debug the automatic thresher. Chen Lan handed him the instruction manual and then left, bidding farewell to Teacher Zhou and his four students before returning for breakfast and to pick up the children.
By the time Chen Lan finished breakfast and brought the twins to the drying ground, Teacher Zhou and his students had already connected the power and were debugging the automatic thresher.
After settling the twins and asking her mother-in-law to watch them, she organized everyone to transport the corn cobs that had been drying for two days towards the thresher to make space for the corn harvested that day.
Soon, the automatic thresher was debugged and ready for use. She then watched as Teacher Zhou and his students moved on to debug the dryer.
Chen Lan quickly assigned three people to load corn cobs onto the conveyor belt and three others to take turns using snake-skin bags to collect the kernels, which would then be taken to the dryer for drying.
Once Teacher Zhou and his students finished debugging the dryer, Chen Lan promptly handed over the drying task to them.
At this moment, Xiao Shan arrived at the drying ground driving a tractor laden with a full cart of corn cobs. Fortunately, a portion of the drying ground had already been cleared.
Her mother-in-law immediately assigned people to shuck the corn cobs and then spread them out for drying.
Teacher Zhou, seeing that only a few elderly people and children were shucking corn cobs while others were busy transporting them to the conveyor belt, voluntarily took on the task of threshing the corn cobs, assigning it to his four students.
Chen Lan's group was only responsible for transporting the corn cobs to the thresher, while loading them onto the conveyor belt and collecting the kernels was handled by his four students.
Chen Lan was deeply touched and felt a significant relief. She sincerely thanked Teacher Zhou and his students. "Teacher Zhou, thank you so much to you and your students."
Teacher Zhou waved his hand. "No need to be so polite. This is our work, not just yours."
Chen Lan nodded repeatedly. "Yes! Yes! Right, right, right. This is everyone's grain, not anyone's alone."
After seven days of shucking, drying, threshing, and dehydrating, the corn could finally be stored in the granaries.
Everyone was exhausted, especially Wen Kai, Wen Qi, and Ming Zhe, who looked as if they had suffered a serious illness, drooping and listless.
Her mother-in-law smiled and said, "This is just the beginning. The autumn harvest has just started. We still need to harvest potatoes and store them, harvest peanuts and dry them, harvest soybeans and dry them, and finally harvest the vegetables from the garden. Once everything that needs to be harvested is harvested, and everything that needs to be dried is dried, and all these things are stored, winter will be here."
However, the problem of corn storage had resurfaced. The caves that Xiang Dong and Er Hu had rushed to dig a few days earlier were not completely dry and were still a bit damp. What to do? They had to temporarily change the plan of storing corn in the caves and instead use them to store potatoes. The corn kernels would have to be dried under the current good weather. This time, they would not be dried directly on the cement ground but on a rainproof tarp purchased by Chen Lan from the system. If it didn't rain, they would not be brought in at night; they would simply be covered with the tarp. During the day, a few children would be assigned to chase away the birds that came to steal them. As for rats, there was truly nothing they could do.
Now, the corn kernels were dried to a crisp, and they no longer had to worry about mold or spoilage.
Chen Lan asked her mother-in-law to discuss the potato harvesting with Uncle De and Uncle Fu. Her mother-in-law returned and informed everyone, "We will start preparing the potato fields tomorrow. Listen up, everyone! Except for our relative's wife and Xiao Shan's mother, who will bring seven children to watch the drying ground, everyone else will go to the potato fields tomorrow to help harvest potatoes."
Upon hearing that potato harvesting would begin the next day, a wave of groans went through the crowd.
The next morning, her mother-in-law started shouting for everyone to wake up with a loudspeaker. Chen Lan somewhat regretted buying her mother-in-law the loudspeaker; it was now impossible to sleep in or slack off.
After breakfast, everyone, led by her mother-in-law, headed to the fields.
"Green leaves, red vines, and golden eggs underground."
Amidst the roar of machinery, round, golden potatoes "emerged" from the automatic harvester. They were all large, plump, evenly sized, and brightly colored.
Her mother-in-law said, "Potatoes are a good thing. They can be eaten as a staple food or as a vegetable."
Chen Lan continued to introduce them to everyone:
"Yes, Mother-in-law is right, potatoes are indeed a wonderful thing. They have medicinal effects, strengthening the spleen, tonifying qi, and reducing inflammation. They also have good auxiliary therapeutic effects for burns and eczema.
Their nutritional value is also exceptionally high. The protein content is ten times that of apples, earning them the nickname 'underground apple.'
Potatoes are rich in B vitamins such as B1, B2, B6, and pantothenic acid, as well as a large amount of high-quality dietary fiber and other nutrients. They have excellent anti-aging and beautifying effects, and also very good slimming benefits."
The crowd marveled, "Xiao Lan, we never knew eating potatoes had so many benefits without you telling us."
Chen Lan continued, "Indeed! Potatoes can not only be processed into various delicious foods but are also very easy to grow. Whether in the cold Changbai Mountains or the warmer Yunnan, you can find potatoes."
At this point, her mother-in-law said loudly, "Alright, now is not the time to discuss how nutritious potatoes are. Hurry up! Everyone, grab your bags and follow the tractor to load the potatoes."
Upon hearing this, everyone scrambled to pick up potatoes with their bags and went off.