Farmer's eldest sister becomes rich

Chapter 256 Catching Locusts

"Miss, Chunzhi went out to pick mulberry leaves just now and saw that some of the rice leaves in our paddy fields were curling. I'm afraid it's time to water them again."

An Yue, who was sitting under the stove passing firewood to cook rice, said: "In the next two days, Daniu and Ale's rooms will be finished. When they are finished, let them carry some well water to water the plants."

Chunzhi sighed and said, "Hey! The little water we put in won't do any good. Rice needs a lot of water to grow."

An Yue continued, "With the drought at the moment, we don't have any better solution. We can only carry as much water as possible to feed them, hoping that they won't die of thirst."

Chunzhi, who was washing Chinese cabbage behind the stove, listened to An Yue and nodded in agreement.

"Chunzhi, we must save the water we use for washing and watering the land. Please pay more attention to the water level in the deep well."

"If the water from the deep well becomes less, we will have to stop watering the land and save enough water for our family first."

Seeing that An Yue specifically asked about this, Chunzhi quickly responded, "Okay, Miss."

When An Yue heard Chunzhi say that there was a shortage of water in the fields, locusts suddenly came to her mind.

She thought about it and felt a little worried.

So she decided to go to the fields to see the situation herself.

At this time, Meng Xiuer, who had just hung up the clothes, walked into the kitchen with a wooden basin. An Yue said to Meng Xiuer, "Sister-in-law, please come and help pass the firewood. I have to go to the fields."

After An Yue finished speaking, she stood up from under the stove and walked straight to the gate of the yard.

Ba Shi, who was lying under the eaves, saw An Yue was about to go out.

It quickly stood up and ran to follow An Yue.

The man and the dog soon arrived at the two acres of paddy fields.

From home to the paddy field, An Yue found that there were countless locusts in the fields along the way.

With every step An Yue took, the locusts around her would jump or fly away in fear.

When Eighty saw the locusts flying around, he opened his dog mouth and started biting the locusts.

An Yue looked at the locusts in front of her. A lot of the leaves of grain and vegetables in the fields had been eaten by them.

An Yue shook her head helplessly, feeling extremely anxious.

She knew very well how much damage these locusts would cause to the crops, and she had to find a way to solve the problem as soon as possible.

How to kill locusts?

Pesticides? Fire?

In this day and age, there is no absolutely effective pesticide.

Using fire will hurt the enemy by a thousand but hurt yourself by eight hundred.

When burned with fire, the weather is dry and the wind blows, these crops can easily be set on fire.

None of these methods worked, An Yue squatted down and rubbed her temples.

Suddenly thinking of Ba Shi eating locusts, she couldn't help but recall that she saw someone loving to eat this thing in the 21st century.

Locusts, commonly known as 'grasshoppers', are rich in high protein and a variety of nutrients.

In the 21st century, there are many ways to cook grasshoppers in restaurants or barbecue stalls, such as fried grasshoppers, charcoal-grilled grasshoppers, and pepper and salt grasshoppers.

An Yue caught a few locusts and broke off their two long legs so that they could not jump.

Spreading them in her palms, she looked at them carefully.

She was thinking about how to catch them.

An Yue knew that with so many locusts, catching them manually would not be able to keep up with their reproduction speed.

However, if everyone knows that they are edible, some of them can be eliminated.

If that doesn't work, think of other ways.

An Yue cursed at the locusts whose hearts were not beating in her palm: "You eat the crops, so I will eat you! I will show you that humans standing at the top of the food chain will not tolerate your provocation!!"

An Yue cursed at the five locusts.

Looking at the locusts flying around in front of her, An Yue didn't want to wait any longer and just wanted to make a tool to catch them right now.

Suddenly, a few locusts flew onto An Yue's skirt, which gave An Yue an idea.

She turned around and called Bashi and ran home quickly.

An Yue plans to use an old skirt and bamboo to make a simple catching tool.

……

Soon, An Yue and Ba Shi ran home.

An Yue did not run directly into the yard, but went to the east side of the yard.

At the place where Daniu Ale and his men built their house, a bamboo was pulled into the yard.

She did what she thought, picking up a machete and cutting the bamboo into strips of appropriate length.

Then, he took the bamboo sticks and went to the kitchen stove.

Chunzhi and Meng Xiuer looked at An Yue and thought it looked like she was making some tool.

So, Chunzhi couldn't help but ask, "Miss, what are you doing?"

An Yue took the bamboo strips and roasted them on the stove. As she roasted them, she said, "I want to make a tool to catch locusts."

Chunzhi and Meng Xiuer asked in unison: "What? Catching locusts?"

Meng Xiuer asked curiously, "Locusts are pests, why do you catch them every month?"

"Sister-in-law is right. There are too many locusts in the fields now. If we don't take action, they will eat up all our crops. I made this locust-catching tool to catch locusts and cook them into dishes."

After hearing this, Chunzhi and Meng Xiuer both frowned in disbelief.

Meng Xiuer knew that An Yue was a thoughtful person who did things in an organized way, but she never expected that she would actually think of eating locusts.

Chunzhi asked doubtfully, "Miss, can these locusts still be eaten?"

An Yue said confidently: "Of course it's edible. I'll catch some and cook it for you to try."

After An Yue finished roasting the bamboo strips, she began to bend them into a circle.

Then take it under the eaves and tie the circle up with straw rope.

Finally, sew the old skirt hem that is no longer worn to the circular bamboo piece with a needle, and then tie the skirt up at the waistband.

In this way, a locust catching tool similar to a fishing net was made.

After making the tools for catching locusts, An Yue carried the small basket she had woven and took the homemade catching tools and ran quickly towards the paddy fields.

——Arrived at the paddy fields.

She began to catch locusts in the fields using a catching tool.

The frightened locusts flew up. An Yue held up the catching tool, and the locusts flew into the tool one after another.

An Yue couldn't help but feel happy when she saw that this method was effective.

After a short while, they caught hundreds of locusts.

It was the first time that An Yue tried to catch locusts using this method, and she was surprised to be able to catch so many.

She planned to take the captured locusts home and try a dish first.

If this method is feasible, the village chief can convene a meeting of villagers the day after tomorrow and teach this method to all the villagers.

It would be a good idea to nip the locust plague in the bud if everyone takes action before the locusts become a disaster.

……

An Yue returned to the yard carrying a small basket and taking the catching tools.

As soon as she entered the yard, she said to Chunzhi in the kitchen, "Chunzhi, quickly boil a pot of water."

"Okay, miss."

Although Chunzhi didn't understand why she was asked to boil water, she thought it would be useful, so she did it.