By chance, 36-year-old Zhang Shifeng formed an indissoluble bond with Yangxincai. He gave up his high salary, quit his job at a central enterprise, and returned to his hometown of Pingyin County, Jinan City, to grow cabbage. The seemingly inconspicuous little wild vegetables carry his ambition to return to rural development, and also bring new hope to Dongtang Village, Rose Town, to "strengthen the village with industry, increase income and get rich".
He resigned from his high-paying job in a central enterprise and returned to the village to plant cabbage
"The scientific name of Yangxin cabbage is Fei Cai, also known as high-calcium cabbage, soil notoginseng, sedum notoginseng, like leeks after a stubble will grow again. After testing, it was found that the nutrients of the cabbage are very rich, especially the calcium content is very high, which is 3 to 4 times that of fresh milk. Speaking of the wild vegetables planted, Zhang Shifeng opened the conversation.
Zhang Shifeng once worked in a central enterprise, with an annual income of more than 30 yuan. During the Spring Festival holiday in 2020, he accidentally found from the "White Paper on Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Health of Young and Middle-aged People in China" that the number of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in mainland China is as high as 290 million, including 270 million patients with hypertension. "The number of patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in the mainland is so high, can we improve our health through a healthy diet or health vegetables?"
"Cabbage is drought-tolerant and cold-tolerant, has few pests and diseases, and is highly resistant to diseases, and still grows vigorously in barren land. For the development of efficient ecological agriculture, it is the best choice for aquamarine that does not require pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Zhang Shifeng said that in order to grow a good cabbage, he visited and investigated a number of cities, and introduced seedlings for trial planting. After several months of practice and exploration, I soon mastered the scientific planting technology and field management methods of Yangxinhua.
Drive the villagers to increase their income and become rich, and stay at the door of the elderly to find employment
It may be easy to have an idea, but it is not easy to put it into practice.
In June 2020, Dongtang Village, Rose Town, which is under construction as a Qilu model village, attracted Zhang Shifeng's attention. After hearing that the village wanted to introduce new projects and create a characteristic industry of "one village, one product", he established Jinan Homeopathic Ecological Agriculture Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd., and planted more than 33,000 square meters of cabbage through the way of cooperatives led by the party branch.
"After planting for more than two months, we harvested the first crop of cabbage. This kind of vegetable can be planted all year round, and can harvest more stubble, to the harvest period, every 0.07 hectares can harvest 15,000-20,000 catties of fresh vegetables. Zhang Shifeng said that the cabbage can be eaten directly, or fried, steamed and fried, no matter which way it is done, it is refreshing and delicious, full of umami. At the same time, the cabbage also has a high ornamental value and medicinal value, which can be potted on the balcony of the living room, and can also be used to decorate flower beds and landscaping.
There is an industry in the village, and the common people also see the hope of getting rich. It is understood that most of the permanent residents of Dongtang Village are left-behind elderly, with an average age of more than 60 years old, and even if they go out to work, it is difficult to find a decent job, and they only rely on their family's fields and have a meager income. Since the introduction of the cabbage planting industry, some villagers have used their land to become shares, and some have increased their income by working weeding, cutting vegetables, watering and other ways.
"I didn't expect that I could still work in my 70s to earn money at the door of my home, and I could earn 180 yuan a day! A villager voiced the thoughts of many left-behind elderly people.
Up to now, the project has provided a number of jobs such as field management and vegetable harvesters, and has driven more than 20 villagers to increase their income. In addition, the cooperative's dividends and land circulation funds have effectively increased the income of every villager.
I failed to invest and lost all my money, but I survived
Although the small cabbage has driven the villagers to get rich, how to make the cabbage industry bigger from small to strong, has become a new topic in front of Zhang Shifeng. He decided to start with simple deep processing, make full use of the health care effects of heart vegetables, and make health care tea.
As a vegetable, the leaves are fresh and tender, more than 90% of them are water, and 20 catties can fry 1 catty of tea, and it is easy to paste. In order to stir-fry delicious heart-nourishing tea, he went to Rizhao to learn the Xi roasting tea process, and obtained the certificates of intermediate tea maker and intermediate tea evaluator.
"A pound of tea leaves needs to be fried repeatedly for more than half an hour before it can be fried. The hottest place in the middle of the bottom of the pot is seven or eight hundred degrees Celsius, and at the end of the frying, hands are often burned red. Behind Zhang Shifeng's understatement is the unknown hard work.
In the process of starting a business, sometimes I am hit by reality. In 2021, Zhang Shifeng invested 2 million yuan to make calcium tablets according to the characteristics of high calcium content of cabbage. "At that time, the capital chain was hovering on the verge of breaking. But they all survived, he recalled, and developed high value-added products such as cabbage chili sauce. At present, the annual output of fresh cabbage can reach 1 million catties, and the sales volume has exceeded 1 million yuan.
In Zhang Shifeng's view, there is no turning back from entrepreneurship, only by keeping moving forward, can we explore unknown surprises, "I am very niche, I take the road that others have not walked, all the way through thorns, see hope in despair." ”
Editor: Liu Jie, Wang Xiuxiu