Chapter Sixteen: Fermented Organic Fertilizer

Zhong Di casually picked up Yu Sheng, then patted the dog's head.
"Uncle Zhang, is there something you need?"
Generally speaking, when a middle-aged man comes all the way over, it's not to just chat idly with a young fellow like him.
"I heard you brought back a truckload of chicks yesterday. I wanted to come and see how your project is going."
Uncle Zhang stated his purpose. He'd originally thought this boy might not last very long—maybe he'd give up after a day.
But to his surprise, the kid really got started, and from the looks of things, was actually making something of it.
"Yes, I brought a batch in, but I'm free-ranging them. Right now they’re all scratching around in the fields, enjoying themselves. You’ll only see them come dusk."
Zhong Di glanced askance at the homestead; only a few chickens were wandering about, the rest nowhere to be seen. He hadn’t expected the chicks to adapt so quickly.
"No matter, I just came to take a look."
Uncle Zhang entered the orchard, observing all around. It was truly a different approach; he’d never considered it before.
It seemed that a bit of schooling made the mind more flexible. The older folks like him had grown set in their ways.
He’d thought of trying his hand at raising livestock before, but as soon as he realized he couldn’t even build a proper coop, and couldn’t raise the chicks, he’d given up.
If only he’d thought more about it, he would’ve realized that raising half-grown chicks could easily solve the problem.
"You’re doing well. I see you’re cutting grass here? Why not use a grass cutter?"
Uncle Zhang’s eyes fell on the patch of jujube trees Zhong Di had cleared, and he asked in curiosity.
"Those things are too expensive. I can’t afford one," Zhong Di replied. He knew about grass cutters, but those large machines cost tens of thousands—best to wait.
"Too expensive? Come with me. I’ll get you one to use. It only costs a little over a thousand, and it’s much faster than using a sickle."
After a bit more looking around, Uncle Zhang saw there wasn’t much else to see, so he led Zhong Di back to his own orchard.
Zhong Di locked his gate and followed. When he arrived at Uncle Zhang’s orchard, he was stunned—this was a true orchard.
Not a weed to be found, everything clean and tidy. Beneath the jujube trees, two-meter-wide black weed mats were laid out, neat and orderly.
As for the jujube trees, they were pruned perfectly—open vase shape, spindle shape, all tailored to current conditions, not just blindly following practice.
Scattered among the branches were clusters of green jujubes and a profusion of blossoms. Bees buzzed among them, busy gathering nectar.

"Well? Isn’t my orchard beautiful?"
Seeing Zhong Di’s careful observation, Uncle Zhang couldn’t help but feel proud. In terms of jujube tree management, no one in the area did it better.
"It’s beautiful, truly beautiful," Zhong Di replied honestly.
"Here, a grass cutter—take it and use it. I don’t need it for now. Just bring it back when I need it next."
While Zhong Di was admiring the orchard, Uncle Zhang had already fetched the machine.
To Zhong Di’s surprise, it was a small, portable gasoline-powered grass cutter—diesel could also be used.
He realized he’d fallen into a rut, only thinking of the large agricultural machines he’d seen at Chenghua Agriculture, and had overlooked these smaller, practical machines.
Such small machines were cheap and efficient, greatly improving orchard work, especially for small-scale operations.
"Thank you, Uncle Zhang."
Zhong Di didn’t stand on ceremony. He’d remember the favor and repay it when he had the chance.
With the grass cutter in hand, he returned to his own orchard. After some adjustments and familiarization, he soon mastered its use.
Before he knew it, noon had arrived. All the weeds in the first plot had been cut down by midday. Looking at the piles of grass, a new idea formed in Zhong Di’s mind.
He would collect the weeds and ferment them into organic fertilizer!
The best option would be to buy a feed processor and turn everything into feed for the chickens and rabbits. But a decent feed machine would cost several thousand, which wasn’t practical right now.
His farming was still small-scale. For now, just pulling some grass by hand was enough.
But collecting the cut grass would have to wait until afternoon; the sun was high and the temperature was rising—any more work and he risked heatstroke.
"Eh, the jujube trees are blooming?"
On his way back to the house, Zhong Di noticed the trees were flowering. There had been a few blossoms before, but only a handful.
After watering them, the leaves had greened, the trees grew stronger, and now the blossoms had appeared in force.
Given the state of the home orchard, without proper pruning, fruit set would be difficult.
There was much to do and no one to help—he’d have to hire someone.
Even though gray jujubes didn’t fetch high prices, a harvest was still money in the pocket. As long as he didn’t sink too much money into it, he could still make a profit.

Zhong Di thought of Uncle Zhang, took out his phone, and messaged him, asking whether he could find skilled pruners. He’d pay standard wages—three hundred a day for skilled workers.
Uncle Zhang replied that it was no problem; he’d call in two people and have the job done in two days.
Zhong Di did the math—one thousand eight hundred for two days—it was acceptable.
Initially, he’d thought of doing it himself. He could observe the trees and find the best way to prune each one, but his ability was limited.
Once this was settled, Zhong Di gathered a bundle of bitter grass from the field to feed the rabbits and chickens.
As he approached the chicken run, he suddenly noticed a few chickens acting furtively. That was odd for chickens.
He stopped and watched from a distance.
The three chickens made for the gap in the fence from the day before and, in a flurry, managed to open it and squeeze out.
Were they trying to escape?
Zhong Di hurried over with a net, but before he could catch them, the chickens turned around and slipped back into the run on their own.
Had they become spirits? The thought flashed through Zhong Di’s mind.
He set the net down, brought the grass to the pen, and tossed it in for the chickens and rabbits.
As for the gap, this time Zhong Di didn’t block it—he wanted to see what the chickens were up to.
There were three more eggs in the run, all laid in the same spot. It seemed the chickens had chosen their nesting place.
In just two days, the chickens had adjusted to the new run and found where to lay their eggs.
Hmm? As Zhong Di was about to cook, he noticed something unusual about the rabbits.
One rabbit was nosing around, gathering dry grass in its mouth until it couldn’t hold any more, then running to the little nest Zhong Di had made.
He got down and looked—inside the nest was a patch of gray rabbit fur. After dropping off the grass, the rabbit started pulling fur from its own body.
With some experience, Zhong Di knew what this was: the rabbit was nesting, getting ready to give birth. Excellent—he’d bought a pregnant rabbit.