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Everyone has been quite tired lately, but thankfully the results have been remarkable.

Lin Chengqian has already published enough papers to graduate, while Ge Yue is still a little short, but he will definitely finish publishing them next year, so graduating on time will not be a problem.

After discussing academic matters, Ge Yue couldn't help but ask curiously, "Brother Shi, what have you been doing lately? I see the ranch is on track, and it seems like there's nothing much to do?"

Shi Wen, "No, there are so many chores to do. For example, these next few days, I need to take advantage of the good weather and harvest all the vegetables from the ranch."

It's already past October, and the weather is getting colder every day. If the vegetables in his backyard aren't harvested soon, they'll wither and die.

He just hadn't had time recently, otherwise he would have organized it by now.

However, it's not too late to prepare now. Although the cold and strong winds may reduce vegetable production, they can help keep them fresh.

Ge Yue asked, "Should we hire someone?"

Shi Wen, "Forget it, I'm too lazy to ask someone. I'll just do it myself. It's not that troublesome anyway."

Tidying up the backyard is a long-term project.

Shi Wen that early the next morning, he and Yan Kexing to the city to have mutton soup and breakfast before returning to tidy up the ranch.

Their backyard, though called a yard, actually has no fence; the entire land behind the house is considered part of the backyard.

In the past two years, their planting area has been expanding year by year, with the vegetable area covering more than 30 mu (approximately 2 hectares), which is considered a very large vegetable field.

If it weren't for its large size, this vegetable garden wouldn't be able to support the needs of so many people and dogs.

Shi Wen and Yan Kexing are both people who have a strong aesthetic appreciation.

They made a special plan when planting vegetables, planting a separate plot for each type of vegetable.

The vegetable garden is now neat and tidy, and from a distance it looks like a giant vegetable platter, with red, yellow, green, and white vegetables of all colors.

Rotary tillers and small trucks were parked along the edge of the vegetable garden, which looked quite pleasant.

As they approached, the aroma of various vegetables wafted towards them.

Since it was late autumn, almost all the vegetables were ripe, and they emitted a bright and strong aroma that smelled quite nice when mixed together.

The aroma of the vegetables also attracted a large number of insects, especially bees and butterflies.

For a while, we had some bugs, Shi Wen didn't want to use pesticides. So I drove over some Bress chickens and geese, and they ate a bunch of them.

After the treatment, there were fewer pests.

Shi Wen and it seems that eggplants, peppers, pumpkins, green beans, okra, onions, and other vegetables are all ready to be harvested.

Especially chili peppers.

The chilies that turned red before were fine, but this new batch of green chilies is small and crooked, and the quality has dropped a lot. It looks like I'll have to pull the seedlings out too.

Similarly, other vegetables are also facing the problem of drying out and aging, so the seedlings have to be removed and replanted next year.

Shi Wen pulled out work gloves and put them on. "Shall we start harvesting the vegetables now?"

Yan Kexing put on his gloves as well. "Hmm."

They brought over the baskets and began picking vegetables, one plot at a time.

The vegetables were picked and put into baskets, while the seedlings were pulled up and left to dry on the soil. After a few days of drying, they could be bundled up and sent to the boiler to be burned.

After being burned to ash, it will be sent to a waste pit for composting, and then applied back to the ground next spring.

This cycle continues, maintaining the pasture's ecosystem.

Shi Wen that this vegetable patch is planted with tomatoes.

Their tomato seedlings grow bigger every year. This year, each tomato plant is one and a half times the height of a person, with lush branches and leaves. The glossy green leaves spread out, looking from a distance like a giant broccoli or a large shrub.

The tomatoes have been bearing fruit for almost half a year now, and the leaves are starting to curl and the branches are showing signs of aging.

Shi Wen, you simply break off the branch and then pick the fruit off one by one.

Naturally ripened tomatoes are soft, juicy, and look incredibly appealing with their reddish hue.

Shi Wen putting tomatoes of all sizes into baskets; they only picked half a plant, and the basket was already full.

Shi Wen went and got a new basket, put it at her feet, and continued picking tomatoes.

After picking for quite a while, he finally finished picking one plant.

After picking them, he pulled the tomato seedlings out and placed them on the ground, then went to pick the next one.

He pulled the plants off, and he could see the dark, fluffy soil underneath.

This area was originally black soil, and after more than two years of maintenance, the soil has become even more oily and delicate, almost reflecting light.

When you pull up the plant, you sometimes bring out earthworms from underneath.

After several years of growth, the earthworms have become large and energetic.

Shi Wen glanced down and thought that he should dig up some earthworms and go fishing sometime; the results would definitely be excellent.

Shi Wen they finished picking the tomatoes it was already noon.

He and Yan Kexing back for lunch.

Yan Kexing said, "With so many tomatoes, let's find a factory to process them."

Shi Wen, "That's what I was thinking too. After we finish picking them all this afternoon, I'll pick out the best-looking tomatoes and sell them. I'll send the rest to make tomato sauce. It's a shame to turn all these fresh tomatoes into tomato sauce."

Yan Kexing: "Should we ask someone to come and choose?"

Shi Wen, "I probably won't need it. I'll finish picking it out by working overtime tonight. I'll probably need to hire someone to pack it. I'll order some more wrapping paper and have someone design it later."

Yan Kexing: "If you want to sell, eggplants, green beans, okra, etc., can also be sold; these are all easy to transport."

Shi Wen and said, "Then let's ask someone to come and pick some vegetables."

Since we're selling them together, we need to act quickly, otherwise these vegetables will go bad if left out too long.

Shi Wen they directly hired a group of people from part-time job groups.

These people often came to his house to work and were familiar with his home.

Seeing the vegetable garden, everyone couldn't resist.

"The ingredients are all the same, so why is your food so much better?"

"Hey, Brother Shi, do you have any seeds? Could you give me some?"