Chapter 134 Warming Up
The ice and snow have melted, and standing in the yard you can hear birdsong from the distant mountains; spring has truly arrived.
Tender green shoots began to sprout from the ground, and the soil was soft and moist everywhere. I couldn't wait to take my four dogs and run up the mountain.
There's not much food on the mountain yet; the first things to appear are wild vegetables.
Dandelions and sow thistles sprouted even before the grass, their tender green leaves unfurling into circles, embedded in the earth.
I took a knife and a willow basket and started digging for wild vegetables on the damp little hillside.
The dandelions haven't grown very big yet; the largest ones are only about the size of a small dumpling wrapper.
Choose larger, tender dandelions. Insert a small knife diagonally into the ground, tilt it slightly, and gently pull the leaves with your hand to lift the whole dandelion.
The weather is pleasant now, the sun is shining warmly, and there's an occasional gentle breeze, so it doesn't feel hot. I spent half a day digging for wild vegetables, but I didn't sweat too much.
Looking at the sun, it was probably noon. Carrying a basket, he called his four dogs home.
We ate these freshly dug wild vegetables for lunch.
Sitting on a small stool, I cleaned the dandelions and bitter lettuce, sorted them, rinsed them several times with water, and started cooking.
Tear the dandelion into small pieces, add flour, chopped green onions, eggs, oil, salt, and thirteen-spice powder, and add plenty of water to make a thick batter.
Place a frying pan on the stove, pour in oil to preheat, and slowly pour in a spoonful of batter.
Gently rotate the pan to spread the batter evenly across the entire surface. Once the batter is fully cooked and has turned into a pancake, flip it over with a wooden spatula and cook for a little longer.
In just a few minutes, one pancake was ready, and then the second one was made.
The freshly cooked pancakes have a beautiful color combination, with golden dough interspersed with green dandelion leaves, making them quite appealing.
It took more than a dozen pancakes to finish using up a whole bowl of flour.
Crack two eggs into a bowl and beat them well. Add more oil to a frying pan, pour in the soybean paste and stir-fry until cooked. Add chopped green onions and the beaten eggs, and stir-fry to make an egg sauce.
A delicious meal is ready.
Dandelion and egg pancakes can be eaten directly. They taste purely of wheat flour and egg flavor, with a piece of dandelion in every bite, allowing you to taste the fresh fragrance of wild vegetables.
Eating it plain can be a bit greasy, so add some egg sauce on the pancake, some crisp dried radish, and a handful of bitter lettuce, then roll it up.
One bite, and the oily aroma of the pancake and egg sauce, paired with the refreshing bitter greens, is a true delicacy.
Bitter lettuce is quite bitter. My maternal grandmother loved to eat it when I was little, but I couldn't eat a single bite. She always persuaded me to eat it, saying it could help reduce internal heat.
Now that I'm eating it myself, although it's slightly bitter, it has a unique flavor.
Three pancakes for one meal, the rest torn up and fed to the dog.
There are still some wild vegetables left in the basin. I'll keep a small portion of the dandelion for breakfast tomorrow morning, and feed the rest to the pigs, chickens, ducks, and rabbits.
The pigs eat the same thing every day; you can't see any difference after adding wild vegetables.
The chickens and ducks, on the other hand, changed a lot. They ran around the pen carrying wild vegetables, and chased after those that didn't get any. It seems they really like to eat them.
This year, we can consider setting aside a territory to let the chickens and ducks roam freely. This way, they can grow fatter and eat more nutritious food.
Needless to say, the rabbits were overjoyed to finally get a bite of tender wild vegetables in early spring after a winter without any fresh grass.
The next morning, I used the remaining dandelion to make a dumpling soup.
Pour oil into a pot, add sliced meat and chopped green onions, stir-fry until fragrant, then add water.
Put some flour in a bowl, add water little by little with one hand, and stir vigorously with chopsticks with the other hand.
When the flour is mostly in a clump-like state, and the water in the pot has boiled, stir the water in the pot and slowly put the clump-like flour lumps into it.
Once the dough balls have boiled in the pot, add a handful of dandelion greens, crack in an egg, and cook for a few more minutes before serving.
The hot dumpling soup, with the aroma of dandelion, is a perfect breakfast to give you the energy to do chores.
The snow in the vegetable garden has completely melted, the soil is damp, and it smells wonderfully of earth – this is the taste of spring.
I took a pickaxe and a shovel to the vegetable garden and turned over the soil. There's no rush to plant now. You shouldn't overdo it, or you'll get blisters on your hands.
For three days in a row, they finally turned over the vegetable garden, loosened the soil with a pickaxe, and tidied up the vegetable plots.
After everything is ready, it's time to plant the first batch of vegetables.
The vegetables I planted were similar to those last year: garland chrysanthemum, bok choy, scallions, green beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Corn was still planted in the more distant areas.
The temperature is neither too hot nor too cold now, and I don't have to get up early to plant vegetables. It's very comfortable to follow a normal routine.
Before the vegetables were even planted, one day, carrying a hoe, I walked towards the vegetable garden in the morning sun and discovered that the willow trees on the hillside had sprouted buds.
Last year was my first time planting, and I was so busy that I completely neglected the willow buds and elm seeds.
This year, having already found a leisurely way to enjoy gardening, I certainly won't miss out on this natural delicacy.
Go home, get a basket, and pluck all the willow buds you can reach from the willow tree. Cover them with a cloth and place them in a shady spot.
After working all morning, when it was time to prepare lunch, I carried my basket home.
After working all morning and sweating profusely, I went to the well, drew some cool water, washed my face, and immediately felt refreshed.
Pour the willow buds into a basin, wash them twice with well water, and drain them.
Light the stove, add water to the iron pot, and once the water boils, pour in all the willow buds to blanch them. When the willow buds turn a darker color and the leaves soften, remove them with a slotted spoon.
After squeezing out the water, divide the mixture into two portions and start cooking.
Add a little salt, a little chicken essence, some oil, and flour to a portion of willow buds, stir well, steam for 10 minutes, and then add some minced garlic and sesame oil. That's a delicious steamed willow bud dish.
Crack two eggs into another portion of willow buds, sprinkle with some salt, stir well, heat oil in a pan, pour in the mixture and fry until the eggs are cooked. The willow bud fried eggs are now ready.
Steamed willow buds and fried eggs with willow buds, served with a bowl of rice, are refreshing and delicious, a springtime delicacy.
When willow buds get old, they turn bitter. Remembering that there were still a few big willow trees down the slope, I took my sickle and went down the slope to cut some willow branches with buds.
After arriving home, I put a willow branch with leaves into the rabbit's burrow. The little rabbit nibbled on the willow buds, looking like it was enjoying its meal.
I had read online before that rabbits like to eat willow leaves, and now it seems that it is indeed true.
After lunch, I took a short nap, and when I woke up, I went back to work in the fields.
A few days later, before the vegetables in the fields were even planted, flowers bloomed all over the mountains and fields.
Red, pink, and white adorns the mountains and forests near and far. As soon as you step out of the door, no matter where you go, an invisible fragrance will waft over.
Smelling the fragrance of these flowers, I suddenly remembered that I haven't planted my own flower seeds yet.
Left with no other choice, they pried up three rows of bricks under the windows of the east and west rooms and used a wheelbarrow to bring back some soil from outside the yard.
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