Peninsula all-media reporter Zhong Yingxue
When laoshan north house is mentioned, people naturally think of the sweet and seductive red cherry. However, the cherries are delicious, and the picking period is only half a month. Nowadays, Beizhai is creating another new business card - Chinese medicine planting, so that saffron, salvia and other medicinal materials can bring a different kind of "red" to Beizhai! Like saffron planted in the first year, although an acre can only produce 600 grams of filigree, it can sell for 40,000 or 50,000 yuan!
The base's display board at the entrance to the community
In May 2021, the Zhougezhuang Traditional Chinese Medicine Planting Base Project was signed and completed, becoming the first saffron planting base in Qingdao. At present, the base has been "one year old", after a whole year, how are the saffron flowers growing in the base, how is the construction of the entire base, and how has the surrounding environment changed? Does this "prescription" for getting rich work well? The reporter takes you on an eye-opening field trip.
More vs less
Yield one or two catties per acre
It's over
Qingdao No. 11 subway line whistles over the Zhougezhuang community, and in order to facilitate pedestrian traffic, a sky bridge is specially installed to facilitate traffic.
On the morning of June 1, the reporter took the subway line 11 to the north house, took the escalator from exit B, a piece of green came into view, from a distance, the neat green plants on the opposite hillside, staggered, ordinary people only think that it is the crops and vegetables grown by local residents, but they do not know that it is a whole Chinese medicine planting base.
About 200 meters walk from the subway entrance, there is a sign showing the saffron planting base, and then walk to the Zhougezhuang community office building, it only takes about 5 minutes, which shows that the transportation of the Zhougezhuang community is extremely convenient.
The base is close to The Esplanade and Metro Line 11
"It's been a good year, more than we expected!" Jiang Yuansen, secretary of the Zhougezhuang Community Party Branch, told reporters with a smile that he had been a community secretary for two terms, a member of the two committees for one term, and the Zhougezhuang Traditional Chinese Medicine Planting Base was a "report card" that made him feel pleased for so many years.
"At that time, we were also considering doing some village-run industries, so as to increase the income of the people, after all, relying on the mountains to eat the mountains, relying on the sea to eat the sea, since relying on the mountains, then make full use of it." Jiang Yuansen stood in the office, pointed out the window, and could see the Zhou Gezhuang Traditional Chinese Medicine Planting Base.
Jiang Yuansen stood at the base to introduce
"Zhou Gezhuang Traditional Chinese Medicine Planting Base Project with a total investment of 60 million yuan, at that time we were planning to build a 210-acre Traditional Chinese Medicine Base, at the end of September last year, the first phase of the base project 110 acres of land completed the circulation and delivery, and now 150 acres of land have been transferred, of which mainly saffron is planted, and now 80 acres of saffron are planted, and the other part is mainly danshen, as well as Eucommia, Astragalus, Huang Cen and other Chinese medicinal materials." Jiang Yuansen skillfully introduced the current situation of the base to reporters, before the establishment of the base, he did not know much about the knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine, and now he can answer a number of traditional Chinese medicine categories and planting characteristics.
Saffron is native to Europe, Persia and the Mediterranean, Asia Minor and Iran. At present, Iran is the main producer, accounting for about 80% of the total global production, saffron is very expensive, known as "soft gold". Nowadays, it is widely used in the mainland, and the demand is growing year by year, mainly importing a large amount from Iran, and a small amount of domestic cultivation is in short supply. In recent years, saffron as a health care product tea drink popular, whether it is medicine, health care or spice dye industry, the demand for saffron is showing a high-speed growth momentum, through a variety of e-commerce software can be queried, domestic saffron economic benefits are huge, per gram according to the difference in quality, starting at tens of dollars.
Base overlooking
In recent years, China's Zhejiang, Anhui and other places began to plant saffron, after testing, the comprehensive quality of domestic saffron indicators is comparable to or even better than the Iranian saffron. The domestic market price of high-quality saffron per kilogram is more than 30,000 yuan, and some even reach more than 100,000 yuan, which is really a "gold industry".
The reporter learned that in the 1980s, Qingdao Medicinal Materials Station participated in the national scientific research project to successfully plant saffron and won the "Spark Project Award", but failed to adhere to the industrialization of planting, but did not stop the pace of continued research.
When the reporter talked about how to think of planting Chinese medicine, Jiang Yuansen laughed, saying that there is a story, in 2018, in order to increase the collective income, Beizhai Street consulted the Qingdao Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Qingdao Academy of Agricultural Sciences relevant experts and technicians on the Zhougezhuang community around the water, soil survey and natural environment research, the results found that Laoshan North House belongs to sandy land, latitude and climate are very suitable for saffron growth, and North House has no heavy pollution factory, the growth environment is better, these environmental characteristics and saffron origin of the country is very similar, and Qingdao Tongrentang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. reached a cooperative trial planting scientific research intention. In May 2019, they tried to plant five acres of land in advance, after five months of waiting, at the end of October of that year, the 5 acres of saffron planted on trial were successful, and each mu of land could produce more than one catty of saffron, which has exceeded their estimated yield, and the quality of the saffron produced is better.
"I was nervous and kept staring at the results." Jiang Yuansen said that under the impetus of many parties, on May 24, 2021, they signed a contract for the Zhougezhuang Traditional Chinese Medicine Planting Base Project, becoming the first saffron planting base in Qingdao, and the first batch of more than 30 mu of saffron planted ushered in the harvest period in November 2021. After professional testing, the quality of saffron produced by the Zhougezhuang community reaches the highest level. According to Jiang Yuansen's estimates, their annual income of one mu of saffron can reach 40,000 to 50,000 yuan, and an acre of saffron planted in the first year produces about 600 grams of filigree, and the second year can produce 1.5 to 2 catties, which can be planted for many years, planting saffron, and can also plant other crops around the ground.
Photos of saffron in full bloom
It is understood that in order to promote the Zhougezhuang Traditional Chinese Medicine Planting Base Project, Beizhai Street adheres to the party building to lead the revitalization of the countryside, completes the Zhougezhuang Community Demonstration Party Organization Building Project, promotes the demonstration belt of the new demonstration rural governance system on Zhoushang Road, and transfers the scattered land of residents from the community to Qingdao Tongrentang Pharmaceutical Company, so as to realize the common benefit of residents, communities and companies.
On June 11, Laoshan District held the Laoshan District Committee Rural Work Conference and the Rural Revitalization Key Work Promotion Conference, proposing to focus on building 1-2 provincial and municipal and even national rural revitalization demonstration area models, and comprehensively launching the "six major battles" - focusing on Yiye Yiju and comprehensively launching the "Beautiful and Strong Foundation" campaign; Focus on transformation and upgrading, and comprehensively launch the "digital innovation" campaign; Focus on endogenous power and comprehensively launch the "reform and wealth increase" campaign; Focus on the rich and prosperous, and comprehensively launch the "industrial empowerment" campaign; Focus on service guarantees and comprehensively launch the "people's livelihood improvement" campaign; Focus on the grass-roots foundation, comprehensively launch the "party building pilot" campaign, and strive to build a city-wide common prosperity pilot zone.
Difficult vs easy
Work for hundreds of days
Income of 20,000 yuan
At 10:30 a.m., when the sun was blazing, the reporter, under the leadership of Jiang Yuansen, walked into the saffron base located in the North House ZhouGezhuang, just entered the main road, the mixer roared continuously, the workers on one side were pulling cement up the mountain, and the workers on the other side were helping to hang stones to build a river channel with the help of excavators.
With less rain this year, they have deliberately arranged for the construction of a pool to store water, which is now under construction. Workers pulled the mixer poured out the cement, increased horsepower, drove a tricycle to climb the hill, because it was the wind, dust, so that the people passing by were all over, the reporter quickly patted the clothes, seeing here, Jiang Yuansen seemed a little embarrassed.
"This main road is all hardened with cement, but the road up the mountain is still a dirt road, and it is planned to be built again this year, after all, some people will come to visit it later, and all the dirt roads are not suitable." Jiang Yuansen continued to lead the reporter to the base,
"We came at less than seven o'clock, it was cool in the morning, we went home to rest after finishing early, mainly at both ends of the time, and then we would do more work in the evening when it was cool." Wang Baoqing told reporters in a thick Laoshan accent about the situation in the field, and after finishing his words, he bent down and threw the weeds that had just been removed out of the ground with his hands. If the weeds are not removed in time, the weeds are extremely vigorous and will grow longer, then for them, this weeding trip is equivalent to "useless work".
Wang Baoqing, a 62-year-old resident of zhougezhuang community, and three other residents around him now mainly weed danshendi.
Wang Baoqing does odd jobs in the base
"This salvia is also called red root, da hongpao, blood ginseng root, if it were not for working here, I would not have understood so much knowledge, before I still recognized a salvia, saffron, I know the north house cherry, north house apricot, now more or less is also a cultured farmer." Like many residents, he worked odd jobs at the base, planting, watering, and picking saffron. Wang Baoqing is very humorous, claiming that he is now a knowledge-based farmer, mastering a lot of traditional Chinese medicine planting methods and nursing skills, and also knows how to eat, such as tea leaves fried with danshen leaves, how many degrees of water flushing is appropriate.
Villagers do odd jobs inside the base
"Although there is no shortage of money to spend in life now, we can still move now, idle at home and not move long meat and get sick, come out to do a job and exercise, and save more money for the children." Resident Ms. Wang introduced that her children are working in the city, she works in the base, neither need to go out, there is work at the doorstep, the old people in the original family opposed the transfer of land, did not expect this Chinese medicine base to be able to do it, and the development momentum exceeded their expectations, while laughing and taking away the weeds around them, continue to bury their heads in work.
"Because of the need for planting land, because there is less collective land in the community, it is necessary to transfer the land from the hands of the community residents, and it is indeed necessary to do a lot of work." Jiang Yuansen recalled to reporters that two years ago, in order to promote the creation of the base, faced with thorny problems such as large circulation costs and backward residents' concepts and traditions, he could not sleep all night, and he and the staff went to the residents' homes to do work in black and white.
Salvia grows better
"Because they are all from peasant backgrounds, many people have lived by farming for generations, especially some elderly people, who feel that how to survive without land is very difficult to do the conceptual work of the residents." Jiang Yuansen said that everyone has at least 2 and a half points of land, because most of the local residents have planted cherry trees in their homes, cherry trees are easier to manage, only the ripe season is available every year, they need to bear the cost of manual picking, other aspects are more worry-free, so many residents are not willing to give up the land, and they are not willing to give up the cherry trees planted for many years, so they go door to door to do work, some middle-aged residents are more open, can accept willing to transfer their own land, after completing the formalities, they will do the ideological work of other elderly people in the community together.
"The land transferred was paid to the residents in one lump sum, and at that time it was 90,000 yuan per mu of land." Jiang Yuansen told reporters that if you plant cherries, you can earn tens of thousands of dollars a year per acre, and you still need to take care of it, and the harvest is uncertain according to the climate.
Since the opening of the No. 11 subway line, the North Railway Station subway station is only a few hundred meters away from the Zhougezhuang community, the young people in the Zhougezhuang community are working outside, commuting to work in the morning and evening by subway or driving, most of the old talents over 60 years old are working in the family farming, the base increases the employment positions, which can solve the problem of the labor required by the base and increase the income of the community residents, since the establishment of the Zhougezhuang Traditional Chinese Medicine Planting Base, the Zhougezhuang community has arranged nearly forty residents to work in the base, responsible for weeding, watering, Different types of work such as flower picking.
Villagers do odd jobs inside the base
"Some elderly people need to pick up their grandchildren, some also need to do their own farm work, and the work in the base is also seasonal." Jiang Yuansen introduced, in order to take care of the residents' free working hours, residents can work in the form of casual work to the base, according to the way of the end of the day, female labor force in 120 yuan a day, male labor force in 180 yuan a day, since the establishment of the base, these 40 residents, a year's wage income is more than 800,000 yuan, the reporter roughly calculated, because it is the form of gig work, which means that everyone only needs to do about 100 days of work a year, you can earn twenty thousand yuan, for the labor force over 60 years old, The burden of these farm tasks is not too large, and the residents are more skilled.
Small vs big
Don't look at the small seed ball
One acre becomes four acres
Salvia, the root of all ginseng, is produced in Shandong, Anhui, Sichuan and other places, excavated in autumn, removing stems and leaves, rinsing the soil, slicing and drying.
Slices of salvia
Because the leaves and shape of the salvia are very similar to the leaf seedlings of potatoes, neatly arranged in the land, if you do not look closely, it is easy to mistakenly think that a large piece of potatoes have been planted, and the reporter saw that due to the careful management of the workers, the danshen grows better, and most of the plots have no weeds.
The reporter carefully observed that basically every salvia plot has a water pipe cover, from the front of the plot to each column of salvia, due to the drought this year, there is little precipitation, so in order to ensure the survival rate of salvia, artificial irrigation is deliberately used.
Bulbs of saffron
"This is a tea leaf fried with salvia flowers, this is a salvia leaf, basically from the root to the flower, we are not wasteful at all." Jiang Yuansen held the danshen tea leaves taken out by the workers to introduce to reporters, these tea water taste bitter, slightly cold, with the effect of activating blood stasis, reducing swelling and relieving difficulties.
Tea leaves stir-fried with salvia flowers
"Laymen look at the bustle, insiders look at the doorway." Now that the bulbs are asleep in the field, you can sow sesame seeds and beans in them and shade them. Jiang Yuansen took the reporter around the saffron field with the danshen, only to see pieces of wild grass withering on the ground, Jiang Yuansen squatted on the ground, and dragged a saffron withered leaf grass with his hand. Introduction Saffron will be dormant in summer, buried deep in the ground, can be temporarily planted with shallow roots such as sesame seeds and beans.
Saffron dormant in the ground
"In the middle of October last year, inside the purple petals of the saffron, it was the yellow flower bud, the three red filaments were very clear, really beautiful, the flowering was very standard, the filament as a whole was relatively thick and long, and finally baked out high-quality filaments." According to the description of the base workers, a pistil of saffron can only extract three filaments, good filigree determines the final quality, the longer and thicker the filament, the better the quality, the better the selling price, the saffron is golden after soaking in water.
"Don't underestimate this kind of ball, one acre can change into four acres!" This year, plant a seed ball, open to fourteen or five flowers, one flower a seed ball, after two years, planed, you can plant four to five acres of land. Jiang Yuansen returned to the temporary tent set up in the base, holding a saffron seed ball and introducing to the reporter, the survival rate of the seed ball is high, and it can be easily broken to open the seed ball, and the reporter observed that the shape of these saffron seed balls is similar to the shape of garlic.
Bulbs of saffron
"Due to the drought this year, there is less precipitation, and considering the planting effect, the base has postponed the sowing time of saffron, and it is expected to delay the sowing of saffron by about a month, and will not be sown until the end of June." Jiang Yuansen introduced that since the end of March this year, the base has done land leveling, deliberately made a clear distinction between the saffron area and the salvia area, and also made a barrier stone, due to the extension of the sowing period, it is expected that the saffron will usher in the harvest period in mid-to-late November, when the saffron blooms, the purple petals hide the shy yellow flower buds, very eye-catching.
Photos of saffron in full bloom
Earth vs Ocean
October flowers are like the sea
Boost sightseeing tours
"This year belongs to the exploration of planting, and the next step will be developed and constructed accordingly." Jiang Yuansen pointed to the slope behind him to introduce.
The reporter observed the location of the base as a whole, and it can be clearly seen that it can be described as a "treasure land". Because the project base has the geographical characteristics of the laoshan mountains in the east and the binhai avenue in the west, the vehicles and metro line 11 can pass through the base, and the appearance of the base can be seen at a glance, so the local government attaches great importance to the combination of traditional Chinese medicine cultivation and landscape effect. In the planning, according to the geography and climate of Laoshan Mountain, the attributes of traditional Chinese medicine production areas, with the planting of certain eucommia, platycodon and dandelion, can make the landscape of the park evergreen in all seasons, flowers bloom continuously, and have better economic effects.
"Major reform and construction is not our original intention, so it belongs to the local theory." Jiang Yuansen told reporters that although it is engaged in planting, but still want to reduce the land leveling, try to ensure that the local primitive landform of the north house, more ecological and more natural, you can also clearly see from the scene, this year, the entire base has not been built, and the location of the base has a slope, both flat land and gentle slope and slope, so that there are different differences in the types of planting.
Water pipes in the salvia field
The reporter can clearly see at the scene that each piece of terrain is different, and the things planted are also different. It can be seen that this year, the base is groping, starting from the growth habits of medicinal materials and the characteristics of the terrain, the planting varieties have a rough distribution, the flat land as the planting area of saffron, the gentle slope as the dandelion, skullcap, astragalus planting area, the slope as the eucommia, platycodon, salvia and other planting areas, now not all varieties are completely planted, but there have been obvious distinctions.
The base is strictly speaking, the planning is a pure planting project, but considering the special process requirements of saffron processing must be picked on the spot and dried on the spot, it is planned to repair and transform the original houses within the scope of the circulating land, retain and build 500 square meters of building plants for production and use, taking into account the needs of cultural tourism and training of agricultural planting talents, and will also build a multimedia tourism and training center in the later stage.
The reporter learned from the base planning plan that through the investigation of the demand and development prospects of the domestic traditional Chinese medicine market, and the integration of Laoshan policies, existing economic formats, soil, climate and other conditions, the base takes the precious medicinal material saffron as the main flat-land planting variety, eucommia is the mountain forest planting variety, and at the same time planting both medicinal and usable platycodon, locally known as "Laoshan ginseng", large-leaf dandelion and other varieties as seasonal adjustment varieties.
Construction is underway next to the salvia ground
"Now the business card has not been fully launched, it takes time, and the North House cherry has also developed year after year." Wang Baoqing, a resident working in the field, sighed to reporters that as a local resident, he did not expect the scale and speed of the development of the base, but now the speed visible to the naked eye is developing.
In the next few years, the planting varieties in the base are based on the characteristics of the unique mountain forest terrace in Laoshan North House, rational planning and design, will be based on plant varieties, seasons from spring to early winter flower effect, and take out part of the plot close to the Binhai Avenue, for the public to watch and play, picking, for the surrounding villagers' homestays, farms to bring considerable flow of people, in Laoshan District newly planned "cultural tourism tourism demonstration belt", from ZhouGezhuang to Muwushi, saffron base will become a beautiful starting point, a new highlight.
Saffron flowers bloom in Laoshan from mid-October to mid-November every year, which can add october 's saffron' flower sea agricultural tourism tourism hotspots for the north house on the basis of the cherry and rural tourism economy in May, and the scale is not large enough, but it is bigger than the year.
Future:
Create a characteristic town for the cultivation of traditional Chinese medicine
"From May last year to today, we have tried in a year, for now, the effect is relatively good, Beizhai Street and Qingdao Tongrentang Pharmaceutical Company are very satisfied, and when our base is completely completed, we will plan to promote the cultivation of traditional Chinese medicine to the residents of the surrounding communities." Jiang Yuansen introduced that they will use the existing system to improve and replicate the planting model, management model, etc., and diffract to the surrounding communities of the North House, such as the Upper Gechang Community, the Lower Gechang Community, Mu Shi and other places, to promote this green ecological enrichment model.
"That cherry picking, can enjoy the scenery, eat the farmer's feast, build a Chinese medicine town can also develop ah, there are industries will come, we can also follow the light." Ms. Wang, a resident of Zhougezhuang, was selling cherry beads and Laoshan red apricots under the base guidance board, and before leaving, she was very interested in the reporter's inquiry about the base.
Her location is exactly under the north house saffron planting base brand, most of the tourists and citizens who come and go to buy things will ask her some questions about the base, especially to ask whether there are tea leaves fried with Chinese medicine leaves for sale, as a local resident, she will warmly invite to walk to the base to take a look at it in person.
"We also went here, saw this brand to know that there is a Chinese medicine base, before it was really not clear, we all think of the most important thing to think of when mentioning the North House is cherries." Ms. Gu, a citizen who is buying Laoshan apricots, and her husband took metro line 2 to line 11 and came to the north house to eat a farmer's banquet.
"It still takes time, to be honest, people's health awareness is very strong now, if there is really such a place that can be both leisure and health, we are indeed very welcome, but it does need to be developed with heart." Ms. Gu's husband said that after he retired, he has been going out with his wife to the suburbs to relax, and has been to many leisure cultural tourism projects in China, but he feels that some of them are in the form, and the slogans when they first opened the park are very loud, after a few years, they will not be able to go, and even some have become wasteland, so he does not want this, from the current appearance of the base, he can see, especially danshen, the growth is better, he is also looking forward to it.
The reporter learned from the previous media release that the Zhougezhuang Traditional Chinese Medicine Planting Base Project is an important project that actively responds to the "strategic northward" policy of Laoshan District, comprehensively opens up the rural revitalization, and promotes the quality and efficiency of the industry with traditional Chinese medicine planting, and in the future, Beizhai Street will also rely on this project to create a nationally renowned traditional Chinese medicine planting characteristic town, and create a new scenic spot for flower viewing, leading the local people to increase their income and become rich, and also drive the surrounding tourism, homestays, and catering to form a comprehensive group development model.
Perhaps, in the next five to ten years, after the official rise of the saffron industry in Beizhai, it will become the "double pillar" and "double engine" of the local economic development with the Beizhai cherry industry, and the entire Chinese medicine base will be based on Laoshan Mountain, which will not only bring income to the local people, but also beautify the scenery of Laoshan Binhai Avenue, and create a new rural revitalization demonstration base in Qingdao.