The selection and storage of potatoes took another three to four days, and in the midst of busyness, time had unknowingly slipped into the final days of August, with September just around the corner.
After breakfast, Uncle De, Grandpa Xu, and Grandpa Li, along with a few other experienced farmers, went to check the spring wheat field. Upon their return, Uncle De spotted Chen Lan.
He smiled and said to Chen Lan, "Xiao Lan! Your Grandpa Xu and I, along with the other old fellows, just went to see the wheat field. The spring wheat we planted is about ninety percent mature, and it's time to start harvesting."
Chen Lan asked with some curiosity, "Uncle De, why don't we wait until it's fully mature before harvesting?"
Grandpa Xu chuckled and replied, "There's an old saying among us experienced farmers: 'Ninety percent mature, a hundred percent harvest; a hundred percent mature, ten percent lost.' It means the best time to harvest wheat is when it's ninety percent mature."
Grandpa Li added with a smile, "And there are also specific times for harvesting wheat. The best times of day are between nine and eleven in the morning, and four to six in the afternoon."
Chen Lan had planned to have everyone work together to finish the harvest in one go this morning. She asked curiously, "Grandpa Li, why are these two time slots the best for harvesting? And why can't we harvest at noon?"
Grandpa Li patiently explained, "If it's too early, the sun hasn't dried the dew yet, and it's quite humid. Wheat harvested at this time is too moist and not conducive to drying. At noon, the sun is too strong, and besides the heat, the wheat grains are prone to splitting on their own, with the kernels falling to the ground, making it difficult to collect every grain. Therefore, during these two periods, the wheat is neither too humid nor too dry, making it easy to thresh."
Uncle De continued, "Xiao Lan, let's take advantage of the good weather and strong sun these few days. The threshing ground is also cleared. We should start harvesting the spring wheat!"
Chen Lan readily agreed, "Okay! Uncle De, it's only just past nine o'clock, and there's still time. I'll arrange for people to drive the combine harvester and tractors to the field to start harvesting right away. Uncle De, please trouble you and the grandpas to clean up the threshing ground so we can dry the wheat as soon as it's brought in from the fields."
Uncle De smiled and agreed, "No problem! We'll head there now."
With that, he called out to the grandpas standing beside him, "Come on, old fellows, let's go!"
With a rustle, Uncle De led a group of grandpas away. Chen Lan dared not delay and immediately turned to find Lin Mai, Hu Yuzhen, and the others.
Chen Lan found Lin Mai, Wang Yuling, Zhang Xiaohe, and Zhang Dani helping at the construction site for the grain warehouse they were building.
She then told them about harvesting the spring wheat today and asked the four of them to follow her to the wheat field to harvest, while the others continued to help at the construction site.
For this spring wheat harvest, they were using the same combine harvester that had been used for corn and soybeans last year. This type of harvester could complete harvesting, threshing, and cleaning in one go.
The characteristics of this combine harvester were its slanting design, light weight, powerful engine, comfortable operation, low labor intensity, clean harvesting, neat laying of straw, simple operation, and convenient maintenance.
Lin Mai drove the harvester into the wheat field and quickly started it up. In a short while, a large area was harvested, and dust flew up from behind the machine. Chen Lan told everyone to wear dust masks and hats.
Shortly after the wheat was harvested, as soon as the dust settled, Chen Lan immediately arranged for Wang Yuling and Zhang Dani to wear masks and hats and drive the tractors to deep plow the field. This was because the combine harvester had already crushed the wheat stalks and spread them on the surface of the land. Deep plowing was needed to bury the crushed wheat stalks underground. After a few months to half a year of fermentation, the crushed stalks would turn into organic fertilizer.
Mechanical wheat harvesting was fast. Because of the timely arrangements and the synergy developed through previous work, Lin Mai and everyone else were now working together very harmoniously.
With everyone working together, it took about an hour and a half to complete the harvesting of all 130 mu of spring wheat. Chen Lan had driven the tractor back and forth to the threshing ground four times, transporting four loads of spring wheat. Based on the carrying capacity of the tractor, Chen Lan estimated that the spring wheat harvested this year would be over forty thousand kilograms.
The remaining key task was to wait for the wheat to dry on the threshing ground before being stored in the grain warehouse.
The freshly threshed wheat grains were very moist, so they could not be piled up for storage. This was because wheat piled up would react with the oxygen in the air, releasing a large amount of heat, which would raise the temperature of the wheat pile, making it prone to mold and sprouting.
Therefore, freshly harvested wheat must be spread out evenly and dried promptly. Furthermore, it needed to be constantly turned and aired. Once spread completely under the sun, it could be dried in about three days before being stored. This also echoed the old saying: "Wet wheat turned eight times a day, dry in three days under the scorching sun."
At this stage, if you bit a wheat grain, you would hear a crisp "crackling" sound. However, if you bit a wet wheat grain, the white juice would flow out.
This was the clear difference between dried wheat and wet wheat.
This also aligned with the old farmers' saying: "Wet wheat is full of sap in the mouth, dry wheat crackles. Wet wheat stored in the granary will rot completely."
After the wheat was dried, it could be collected and stored in the warehouse.
As everyone was calmly bagging the wheat in preparation for storage, Grandpa Li hurried them, "Everyone, hurry up! Bag the wheat while it's still warm and transport it back to the warehouse."
Chen Lan was very confused by Grandpa Li's actions and asked, "Grandpa Li, the wheat is still warm. Won't it be a problem to bag it like this?"
Grandpa Li smiled and replied, "Dried wheat should be bagged and stored while it's still warm. This will kill any insect eggs inside the wheat grains, preventing the wheat from being infested by insects. This way, the wheat can be stored for a longer time and its quality will be maintained."
Chen Lan said with great emotion, "So there are so many considerations when drying wheat. There's so much knowledge involved in drying things!"
Grandpa Li still smiled and explained, "Of course. It's like the old saying goes: 'Beans are bagged when cool, wheat when hot.' Storing beans is the opposite of storing wheat. After harvesting and drying beans, they need to be placed in a cool place for a while before being bagged and stored. Otherwise, hot beans are prone to rot."
Chen Lan thought to herself, these must be the wisdom passed down through generations by our ancestors.