"Wealth-Building Brother" from Qian'an, Hebei, Strikes Gold on Barren Hills for 15 Years
Currently, walking into the ten-thousand-mu dry fruit orchard in Beiying Village, Muchangkou Town, Qian'an City, one cannot see the end of the walnut groves and chestnut groves - it is a thoroughly pleasant pastoral scene. Yet 15 years ago, this place was completely barren hills and wild ridges. It was a retired villager named Ge Wenyang who set his mind on the barren hills and worked hard, leading villagers to open up the barren hills and plant fruit trees, step by step turning this place into a ten-thousand-mu dry fruit orchard. Because of this, Ge Wenyang was called "Wealth-Building Brother" by the villagers.
Aiming at the Barren Hills, Drawing Up a Blueprint
Ge Wenyang previously worked at a township finance office, and even before retirement he had the desire to contract barren hills. But at that time, when he discussed the matter with his wife, he could not get her to agree no matter how he tried. It was not for any other reason - his wife simply was not optimistic about his physical condition and worried that he would fail to get the work done and ruin his health in the process. But Old Ge had a stubborn temper: once he set his mind on something, he had to accomplish it.
"I am someone who cannot sit idle. I did not want to stay at home all day after retirement. I wanted to do some work to exercise my body. Seeing so much of the village's mountain land just lying waste, I wanted to contract a piece, develop it, and do something with it, and also set an example for the villagers," Ge Wenyang said. In order to persuade his wife, he talked to her during the day and at night, and also mobilized his sons and daughters to speak with her together. In the end, he "wore her down" until she nodded in agreement.
In 2000, Ge Wenyang finally got his wish and contracted 60 mu of barren hill land. He was so excited that he could not sleep, thinking all day about which patch would be planted with Chinese chestnuts, which patch with walnuts, and how the wild jujubes on the terrace edges could be grafted into large jujubes... His mind kept drawing up the blueprint, and he felt wonderful inside.
Set on the Barren Hills, "Biting" Out Terraced Fields
Old Ge's home was 3 li from the mountain site he contracted, and the whole way was narrow winding paths, making the daily trip up the mountain extremely difficult. At first, he dug the somewhat flatter hillside slopes into planting pits and planted Chinese chestnuts there, but watering became a problem. Finding water on the mountain was not easy, so he hauled water from home. But relying only on hauled water to irrigate the trees was, after all, not a long-term solution, so he decided to dig water cellars to collect rain into ponds.
To dig a large pit on the hillside and dig out and throw away over a hundred cubic meters of earth and stone was by no means easy. When the rocks on the mountain were struck, sparks flew everywhere, and a pickaxe could be worn blunt in just a few days. Ge Wenyang, who had not done much farm work before, developed several blood blisters on his hands after only one or two days. The moment he touched the pickaxe handle, it hurt sharply; his arms swelled up thick, and every day he was so tired that his legs trembled. When he returned home, he collapsed onto the kang and was too weary even to eat. Seeing this, his wife said with distress, "Let's stop. Why suffer like this when you're exhausted to this point!" But Old Ge had made up his mind. He still left early and returned late every day, digging at the mountain without stopping. After several months, he actually dug out two large pits. He brought in cement, bricks, and sand and gravel materials, and a water cellar capable of storing 150 cubic meters of water was finally completed.
The next year, Ge Wenyang again dug the mountain and prepared the land, building layer upon layer of terraced fields from the mountaintop to the foot of the mountain. The blisters on his hands turned into calluses, and his swollen, thick arms grew firm muscles. After a full four years, he finally planted 1000 chestnut trees and 200 walnut trees on the mountain, and a stretch of barren hill became an orchard.
The Once Barren Hills Become a Ten-Thousand-Mu Orchard
When the villagers saw that Ge Wenyang had turned what had been barren hills into a lush orchard and could earn twenty or thirty thousand yuan a year, many could not help but be moved and began competing to contract barren hills as well. Within just a few years, of the village's 708 households, almost every household had barren hill land and planted fruit trees such as walnuts and Chinese chestnuts. Today, the whole village has 4000 mu of walnuts and 5000 mu of chestnut trees, and the former barren hills have been linked into a ten-thousand-mu dry fruit orchard.
After the barren hills were contracted by the villagers, Ge Wenyang became the "Wealth-Building Brother" in everyone's eyes, and people competed to seek his advice. Ge Wenyang also unreservedly passed on his experience to everyone. Through more than ten years of practice and study, Ge Wenyang had long since changed from a layman into an expert in fruit tree planting and care.
Every year after the trees bear fruit, some villagers entrust their fruit to Ge Wenyang to sell on their behalf. In order to sell at a higher price and let the villagers earn more money, in June this year Ge Wenyang advocated the establishment of a fruit tree planting professional cooperative, which has now absorbed more than 90 farming households.
Ge Wenyang said the cooperative is responsible for organizing unified purchasing and unified sales. The means of production it purchases are usually cheaper than market prices, and product sales channels have also become smoother because of large-scale sales, reducing members' production costs and increasing sales income.
"The cooperative will also introduce new technologies and new varieties and carry out related technical training. This year we also cooperated with an e-commerce company to broaden sales channels. In the future we will also provide services such as agricultural product processing, transportation, storage, and packaging, absorb more farming households into the cooperative, and lead more people to prosperity." Speaking of future development prospects, Ge Wenyang was full of confidence.