When it was time to harvest the wheat, Li Long let Gu Xiaoxia know, then drove the tractor back to the compound.
Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang had both stopped catching fish over the past few days. The wheat harvest was a major undertaking, and preparations had to be made in advance.
Those preparations were rather tedious. Before cutting wheat by hand, they had to sharpen sickles, beat reeds to make binding ties-reeds tied together to form ropes for binding wheat-get the horse-drawn and donkey carts ready, and level the ridges at both ends of the wheat fields and through the middle-
When irrigating the wheat earlier, they had needed to build ridges on some of the steeper ground to ensure water reached every part of the field.
Of course, before all that, they also had to clean and flatten the threshing ground, and each household had to clear a spot for stacking its wheat.
Farmers approached the grain harvest with deep reverence. They would not be the least bit careless with these preparations.
Although Li Long had already bought a harvester and all the Li family's wheat would be harvested by machine, Li Jianguo still used his spare time to sharpen all three sickles at home. If the harvester did not do a satisfactory job, they would still have to cut it by hand.
Li Long's job was to work with Tao Daqiang to mount the harvester securely on the front of the tractor and connect the belt. Once that was done, they also had to lash a wooden frame onto the trailer.
Every year after the wheat was cut, hauling the bundles was another exhausting task. At this time of year, donkey carts and horse-drawn carts piled high with wheat bundles could often be seen on the roads