Chapter 58: The Greenhouse Construction Plan (Seeking Support)

Due to a variety of reasons, certain technologies today are difficult to promote. Zhong Di considered writing a down-to-earth technical article and posting it on the Xuan Yin platform. Regardless of how many people read it or what comments it receives, he would simply do what was within his power.

This matter required further observation, especially in real production settings. He would only start writing once his ideas matured.

Aside from a ewe in the sheep pen that had given birth, not much else had changed.

After collecting the last two double-yolk eggs, Zhong Di merged all the chickens together; now that he had accumulated enough double-yolk eggs, he could switch to collecting regular eggs.

The young rabbits in the pen could now come out to eat grass, which astonished Zhong Di. He had raised rabbits before, and typically, the young ones would only start to leave their mother intermittently between eighteen and twenty days to search for a bit of grass, eating very little. Only after a month would they be considered fully independent, eating grass on their own, though sometimes they would still nurse.

But his own rabbits, at just about ten days old, had already started intermittently seeking out grass to eat—far faster than usual.

The young native chickens were also growing quickly. With a steady supply of corn and wheat bran—though most of their feed was green fodder and a little herbal medicine—their growth was not hindered in the slightest. Their rate of development was astonishing; from an initial weight of about one kilogram, they had grown to nearly two kilograms. If you didn’t pay close attention, you might not notice anything unusual, but upon observation, their growth seemed almost meteoric.

Of the two hedgehogs, one had given birth while the other, likely a male, had settled in with Zhong Di and showed no signs of leaving. Zhong Di didn’t mind; he simply fed them eggs and other food daily.

Hedgehogs are omnivores; chicken bones, fish bones, even fruits and vegetables, they eat it all, making them easy to care for.

He wasn’t deliberately keeping them; they just refused to leave. Even if someone reported him, he had an explanation: he wasn’t selling or harming them, and was actually providing good food and care. Who could object? Keeping a hedgehog was actually quite interesting.

The female hedgehog couldn’t leave because of her offspring, but what about the male? He would occasionally leave his nest for a stroll, only to return with a chicken egg from the coop.

Zhong Di didn’t concern himself with these details. If they ate, so be it—there was no point in fussing over it.

As for the vegetables, everything had sprouted and begun to grow rapidly.

Some fast-growing varieties, like baby bok choy, could be harvested for tender shoots within a week. Zhong Di remembered that as a child, he loved using bok choy shoots in hand-rolled noodles, eating bowl after bowl.

“You need to change my soil. I’m really, really hungry now.”

Just as he was about to help Shao Hong secure the chicken coop, the voice of the bougainvillea popped into Zhong Di’s mind.

He looked at the bougainvillea, puzzled. It had only been a few days, yet its roots had already recovered?

That seemed unusually fast. Normally, for root rot and secondary cuttings like this, it would take at least half a month before watering could be controlled and the bougainvillea could be planted in regular soil.

“Shao Hong, you secure the chicken coop first. I’ll tidy up these flowers.”

“Alright.”

Seeing Zhong Di start working on the flowers, Shao Hong took his tools to fix the coop.

“Hey, stop staring and plant me already. I’m starving!”

At that moment, Zhong Di was carefully examining the bougainvillea. Its roots had recovered nicely, and its overall condition was restored, making it suitable for transplanting into a pot.

“What’s the rush? Why are you whining? Do you want me to break all your roots?”

Despite his words, Zhong Di was already mixing soil. Bougainvillea is quite woody, so garden soil could be used in larger proportions.

Five parts garden soil, three parts well-rotted sheep manure, two parts sand—no problem.

After quickly planting the bougainvillea, Zhong Di went to join Shao Hong and help secure the chicken coop.

He had prepared two coops: one occupying a third of the space, the other two-thirds. The larger one housed chickens ready for sale after a period of breeding, while the smaller one was for half-grown chicks purchased from elsewhere. After half a month of raising, they would be combined.

When the number of saleable native chickens dropped below three hundred, they would supplement with half-grown chicks. Zhong Di had explained all this to Shao Hong in detail.

Currently, the orchard’s income was stable. Aside from supplying Dongyang with large orders, there were occasional smaller buyers for native eggs and chickens, gradually increasing his funds.

Dongyang had transferred three hundred thousand yuan in total, and at the current supply rate, it was estimated that this sum would be offset in nearly four months.

Zhong Di planned to increase the supply of native chickens—raising it from two chickens (four kilograms) per day to five chickens (ten kilograms) per day—so that the three hundred thousand yuan could be settled in two months.

The intermittent income was modest, around ten thousand yuan or so, and the money his mother had given him was long gone.

One hundred thousand yuan was with his elder sister; sixty thousand had been spent on lambs; eighty thousand was earmarked for his third uncle, to exchange for agricultural machinery, leaving less than one hundred thousand yuan on hand.

Even if the Forestry Bureau’s paperwork came through, Zhong Di wasn’t in a hurry to start building the greenhouse. He wanted to proceed step by step.

Moving too quickly would only lead to trouble. Although Zhong Di had ways to secure large-scale financing in a short time, it would inevitably come with constraints. Better to develop slowly.

The whole plot was nearly a hundred meters wide; subtracting the shelterbelt, it was about eighty meters. After careful consideration, Zhong Di planned to build an eighty-meter-long greenhouse.

Stretching across two plots from east to west, the greenhouse would sit facing north to south, at the northernmost edge of the orchard.

Zhong Di intended to create a grape trellis as the central main path, reaching all the way to the greenhouse.

Subtracting the partition and gaps, the eighty-meter length would actually provide only sixty meters for planting. The overall width would be ten to twelve meters, with a net planting width of six to eight meters.

Calculating it out, a greenhouse would have a net planting area of about 360 to 480 square meters—just over half an acre.

He planned to build six such greenhouses, each twelve meters wide, with 2.5 meters between them; each would occupy 14.5 meters, and six would total eighty-seven meters.

Both the east and west plots were one hundred meters long; such a layout would take up most of the space.

Once the greenhouses were completed, the land would need to be replanned.

This was Zhong Di’s intention, and he had discussed it thoroughly with Shao Hong.

If outsourced, a greenhouse of this size would cost about one hundred thousand yuan in materials and labor, according to Zhong Di’s estimates.

He planned to build them himself, not outsource, as outsourcing, despite its advantages, wouldn’t yield the results he wanted.

Most importantly, it wouldn’t provide any sense of accomplishment.

He would prepare materials and build the framework first, then improve it as funds became available.

Early the next morning, Zhong Di and Shao Hong got to work. Yesterday, they had drafted a rough plan, realizing the distance still to go—the revolution had yet to succeed, comrades still needed to work hard.

In this situation, even if Zhong Di wanted to take it easy or write technical articles, he had no time, nor could he settle his mind.

Today’s plan was to weed. The vegetable seedlings had grown, and so had the weeds.

Weeds under the trees and in the gaps between vegetable rows needed to be cleared.

Under the trees, herbicide could be used, which would be faster and save time and costs.

But Zhong Di insisted on his principles; those could not be compromised. Green and safe practices were essential.

There weren’t many choices for orchard herbicides—mainly glyphosate, paraquat, and Roundup, along with some hormone-based pesticides, but generally just those few.

Glyphosate and Roundup leave high residues and couldn’t be used; these two are systemic herbicides, killing roots.

Compared to these, paraquat leaves much lower residues; it’s a defoliant.

In simple terms, it kills anything green—whether crops or weeds, if it’s green, it dies.

But it only works on annual weeds; perennial ones with roots like bindweed, bitter grass, or thistles can’t be completely killed, only controlled.

Even so, Zhong Di didn’t intend to use paraquat.

For manual labor, he was considering alternatives: either laying weed mats or mechanical removal—he needed to think carefully.

“Is anyone here?”

Just then, a middle-aged man’s voice sounded outside the gate, causing Zhong Di and Shao Hong to pause their work.

“That voice sounds familiar,” Zhong Di mused, as if he’d heard it somewhere before.

“Yes, it does,” Shao Hong agreed.

“Let’s head back; no need to keep working, it’s almost noon anyway.”

Zhong Di glanced at the sun—it was nearly midday. There was no need to be so precise when working alone.

Upon opening the gate, Zhong Di saw a fisheries truck parked outside. The driver sat in the cab, while the caller looked familiar, though Zhong Di couldn’t recall who it was.

“I’m Qian Weining—do you remember me?” the middle-aged man introduced himself.

“You know, the one who bought the Five-Stripe Black from you at the reservoir.”

Seeing Zhong Di’s confused gaze, Qian Weining added, “The guy who paid five thousand yuan for your fish.”

“Oh, I remember now!”

Hearing “reservoir” and “Five-Stripe Black,” Zhong Di immediately recalled the wealthy man who had spent five thousand yuan on a fish.

“Come in and have a seat! Take a look around the orchard, feel free to wander.”

Whoever it was, whatever their business, they were a guest. Zhong Di welcomed Qian Weining into the orchard, taking out the new cups he had prepared. There was no fancy tea, only plain water.

For regular visitors, Zhong Di labeled the cups—for example, the one used by Sun Miaomiao had been marked for her use only.

“Hmm? Not bad! This orchard is really nice—very comfortable. If you’d told me earlier, I would have come to visit long ago.”

Looking at the tidy chicken coop, rabbit pen, and sheep enclosure, energetic and clean, it was indeed a good place for recreation.

With chickens and sheep, plus likely vegetables, a bonfire barbecue would be wonderful.

“As long as you like it, come often!” Zhong Di replied simply. He wasn’t the type to treat guests differently depending on whether they spent money; whether someone came to play or not was entirely up to them.