Zhang Yunxia: There are more and more opportunities to make money now
Zhang Yunxia cut a Chinese cabbage in the vegetable garden to prepare a dish for the guests.
"Make a dish of Chinese cabbage stewed with tofu, that's what the guests who just arrived ordered." Holding the Chinese cabbage, Zhang Yunxia said cheerfully, "The roads here are easy to travel now, and the scenery is more beautiful, so more tourists come." In this small farmyard in Bajia Village, Xiaochengzi Town, Ningcheng County, Chifeng City, Zhang Yunxia's husband Ming Xiantang and the waitstaff were busy washing vegetables, cooking, and greeting guests.
Xiaochengzi Town in Ningcheng County has 35,800 mu of fruit tree planting area. As the town's fruit industry demonstration village, Bajia Village has a per capita fruit tree area of 2.8 mu. With the advancement of the "Ten Full Coverages" project, Bajia Village has built a beautiful living environment where "the orchard is within the village and the village is within the orchard." Coupled with continuously improving infrastructure conditions, the influence of tourist attractions such as the Peijia Peony Historical and Cultural Park, the Gaoqiao Seven Martyrs Cemetery, and Huluyu continues to expand, and an endless stream of people come here for leisure and entertainment.
In August of this year, seeing the village's growing popularity, Zhang Yunxia and her husband seized the business opportunity and invested more than 200,000 yuan to open a farmhouse restaurant. What Zhang Yunxia did not expect was that without any advertising, customers came to them on their own, and the 10 tables were often packed full. On their busiest day, they received more than 140 people and earned a net income of more than 3,000 yuan. In less than 3 months, this farmhouse restaurant brought Zhang Yunxia more than 30,000 yuan in income. "The mushrooms are picked on the mountain, the vegetables are grown by ourselves, and the breeding area on the back hill also raises more than 100 sheep and more than 200 free-range chickens. We act as our own cooks, and with authentic farm meals, the guests love the food." Zhang Yunxia chatted with the reporter while staying busy.
What attracts customers is not only green and organic ingredients, but also the fun of picking. Zhang Yunxia's 30 mu of fruit trees entered full fruit-bearing period this year. Although apple prices in the market are generally declining, Zhang Yunxia's apples can sell for 5 yuan per jin. When the picking volume was large, her family earned 8,900 yuan in a single day. Before late autumn had even arrived, several thousand jin of apples were snapped up, and the apple sales alone brought in more than 130,000 yuan. Seeing that Zhang Yunxia's family had made money, the villagers came one after another to ask for advice on ways to get rich. Qi Chunsheng from the same village grows more than 10 mu of fruit trees. After learning from Zhang Yunxia's experience, he plans to open a farmhouse restaurant in the spring of next year as well. Zhang Yunxia and her husband have longer-term plans: "We plan to renovate the warehouse that was originally used to store apples, add a few more tables, and be able to receive more guests. Next year we also want to plant squash under the fruit trees, picking apples from the trees and harvesting squash beneath them, achieving two benefits at once."