She had heard many villagers make fun of the educated youth, but this year she hadn't heard anyone say that the educated youth couldn't even grow vegetables well.

"That's right, Auntie, the ground freezes in winter here, so we don't have any fresh vegetables to eat."

"In winter, we only have stored cabbage and radishes to eat, but in summer we can't finish all the vegetables."

"So I thought I'd make more pickled vegetables, salted vegetables, and dried vegetables using the methods we have in the South."

"These things are like the pickles that the aunties make; they can be preserved for a long time, so we can have more vegetables to eat in winter."

Li Guihua was very interested in what Shen Muning was saying. They really didn't have many vegetables to eat in winter, so she hurriedly asked questions.

Are these dishes difficult to make? Can everyone learn to make them?

Shen Muling also knew that for the people of Lingbei who had eaten only cabbage and radishes for dozens of winters, the temptation of being able to eat more vegetables in winter was considerable.

"Making pickles and salted vegetables requires an airtight jar and a lot of salt. As for dried vegetables, it's much simpler."

Shen Mu Ning then explained the steps for drying vegetables. In fact, apart from various wild vegetables, loofah, and eggplant, which can be dried directly, other vegetables can be blanched in water first and then dried.

After hearing Shen Mu Ning's description, Li Guihua was indeed more interested in sun-dried vegetables; she estimated that few households would be willing to make other pickled vegetables or kimchi.

Li Guihua's family also wants to try making dried vegetables this year; they'll just make one jar of the other two.

So in the end, with Li Guihua's help, Shen Mu Ning managed to exchange two large baskets of vegetables at almost every household.

"Xiao Shen, drying vegetables is easy, but I don't know how to make pickled vegetables and salted vegetables. Could you let me watch you make them and learn from you?"

When Shen Mu Ning and the others were discussing buying groceries, they realized that someone in the brigade might also want to do the same.

So she immediately followed the agreement and asked Aunt Guihua to come to the educated youth settlement tomorrow night to learn something.

When people from the brigade come to the educated youth settlement to learn how to make kimchi or something similar, it can help the educated youth get closer to the people in the brigade.

This way, the educated youth could better integrate into Xinshan Brigade, so all of them were happy to do so.