Chapter 172: Turning Waste into Treasure

Chapter 172: Chapter 172: Turning Waste into Treasure

Spices are generally divided into two main categories: aromatic and bitter.

For example, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves, licorice, perilla, fennel, and thyme fall into the aromatic category.

Meanwhile, nutmeg, white cardamom, red cardamom, tsaoko, sand ginger, galangal, long pepper, and white peony root are in the bitter category.

In addition, there are numbing spices like Sichuan peppercorn; spicy ones like chili peppers, black pepper, mustard, and ginger; and the five-flavor berry, which encompasses all five tastes.

Before arriving, Ji Huan had already inspected the seeds. They were more or less what she had requested, including all the common varieties.

There were also some, like black pepper, that couldn’t be planted even if she bought the seeds, as they were only suited for tropical or subtropical climates. Besides, black pepper isn’t grown from seed but propagated through cuttings.

Spices like that would have to be bought from the market.

Selling southern goods in the north was almost guaranteed to double their price, but with her current lack of resources, she had no other choice.

As for the more common local spices, like star anise, cinnamon, chili peppers, and Sichuan peppercorns, there was no need to plant them either.

Ji Huan handed out the seeds, explaining the characteristics, maturation period, and planting method for each one.

"Dill. The plant grows to about fifteen inches tall and has an aromatic scent. It’s highly drought-resistant and isn’t picky about soil, though sandy loam with good sun exposure is ideal.

It has a faint scent of nutmeg, a tongue-numbing taste, and a strong fennel-like aroma, making it a key spice for sausage.

Its growth cycle is eighty days, and it can be sown in both spring and autumn. The seedlings emerge in ten to fifteen days. After about forty to fifty days, when the fruits start turning yellowish-brown, you cut down the entire plant. Once it’s seventy to eighty percent dry, you can thresh the seeds.

Dill has a long flowering period, and the seeds mature at different times, so they need to be harvested in batches. The harvest usually starts in mid-June and is mostly finished by mid-July."

"Fennel can be sown in any season and is also well-suited to the sandy loam of the mountains.

Its seeds can remove gamy odors from meat and impart their own fragrance, making them an essential spice for roasting fish, stewing meat, and preparing braised dishes.

The stalks and leaves are also aromatic and are often used as filling for things like steamed buns and dumplings.

If sown in spring, you can harvest it around June."

"Luo Le is heat- and drought-resistant and also isn’t picky about soil. It’s good for seasoning cold dishes or making soups, with a flavor that’s sweet and spicy, with a hint of mint.

It’s also used as both food and medicine. The entire plant can be used for medicinal purposes, helping to relieve summer heat, detoxify the body, aid digestion, and invigorate blood circulation.

If you sow it now, it’ll flower around June. You can start harvesting the tender stems and leaves when the seedlings are two inches tall. The seeds can be collected when the fruit ripens between July and August."

"I don’t need to tell you about coriander. It can be grown year-round and is usually ready to harvest forty to sixty days after sowing... But since it’s common around here, we can plant a little less of it."

She also gave other instructions, such as which seeds needed to be soaked to encourage sprouting, which ones needed to be rubbed and split in half, and which ones should be set aside and planted last.

No one really understood the details, but they knew they just had to follow her instructions.

A few days earlier, they had spread silt from the riverbed over the fields. Then, following Ji Huan’s instructions for soil depth, they had tilled the land deeply. She explained that this would loosen the soil and improve aeration, help mix in the silt, and promote the growth of something called ’microorganisms.’

There was a stream at the foot of Nanshan, so getting water wasn’t difficult, but it wasn’t easy either. It had to be carried in wooden buckets, which was back-breaking work.

Ji Huan divided the three-mu plot into more than ten sections of varying sizes, making it look like a collection of experimental fields.

After they leveled the beds and gave a thorough initial watering to the sections that needed it, Ji Huan assigned everyone their areas. Then, they all took their seeds and got to work.

Widow Xie’s plot was right next to Ji Huan’s, so they could chat easily while they worked.

"You say you’re not much of a farmer, but you sure know a lot. I’ve never even heard of planting spices like this. Where did you learn it all?"

Ji Huan couldn’t very well tell her that in her past life, her maternal grandparents had done this for a living. ’I grew up around it, so I picked up a thing or two.’

"I heard most of it from Doctor Xin, and some from my mother..." ’My apologies to Doctor Xin and Mrs. Wei,’ she thought silently.

"I only know the theory. I’m all talk and no action, really. I can’t compare to you, Aunt Xie. And look at Liangzi and Dacheng—they’re already so far ahead..."

’A giant in words, a dwarf in action—that was her, all right.’

"They’re just using brute force. That’s nothing compared to how sharp you are."

’Was she really that sharp? Not necessarily.’

’This was simply what she was most familiar with, what she’d been exposed to her entire life. You could even call it another one of her obsessions.’

After her grandparents closed their breakfast shop, they had returned to their rural hometown and made a living cultivating spices.

They started small, with just a few mu of land, but eventually contracted large plots from villagers who had left to find work elsewhere. They went from selling their goods at a small stall to becoming a supplier for numerous factories.

Neither of them was particularly business-savvy, so the operation never grew massive, but they stuck with it for the better part of their lives.

Ji Huan’s childhood dream had been to take over for her grandparents.

She loved visiting the farm, wandering from plot to plot, from one plastic-sheeted greenhouse to the next, able to describe every single plant in intimate detail.

She loved being enveloped in the interwoven scents of the spices. To her, that was the warmth of home, a feeling she knew in her very bones.

But tragically, before she was old enough, her grandparents’ health failed them. Their only daughter—her mother—was a successful career woman with no interest in the farm, so in the end, it was sold to someone else.

It was Ji Huan’s greatest regret.

Now that she had the time and the freedom to choose, she wanted to make up for that regret.

Widow Xie started musing about something else.

"I wonder if this will actually make any money. If it does, I’m afraid your three mu of land won’t be nearly enough."

Ji Huan had thought about that, too.

"We’ll just have to give it a shot and see. We’ll treat this first crop as an experiment. If it succeeds, it means the money will start rolling in. Once the business grows and I have more cash on hand, I’ll lease or buy more land."

’At that point, she wouldn’t even have to farm it herself. She’d hire others to do the planting, freeing her up to focus on creating spice blends.’

If Hu Liang had spoken with such bravado, Widow Xie would have surely scolded him for getting ahead of himself.

But since it was Ji Huan saying it, Widow Xie found herself, for some reason, starting to get excited.

When they were making dehydrated vegetables, Ji Huan had also called it an ’experiment,’ and in the end, it not only made money, but a good amount of it.

’So this time would surely be the same! Wuan had never failed at anything she set her mind to.’

With that thought, Widow Xie worked with renewed vigor.

In truth, there was another reason Ji Huan hadn’t mentioned.

These three mu of land were what Ji Lianbai had painstakingly cleared, and they were the only "property" she had received from the Ji Family when the family assets were divided.

The Ji Family, thinking it was barren wasteland where not even a blade of grass would grow, had given it to her to get rid of her as if she were a beggar.

She was determined to turn this "trash" into treasure and make these three mu of wasteland the most valuable land in the entire village.