Chapter 139 Mosquito Repellent
I take the scallions, cabbage, and lettuce that I can eat home and stir-fry or cook in hot pot. The rest that I can't eat, I feed to the rabbits.
There's no need to rush the weeding and seedling pulling; doing it slowly each day will actually keep you busy.
The green cherries and plums grew bigger and bigger, and I began to look forward to the days passing by quickly.
But the more I looked forward to it, the slower the days seemed to pass. I went to the back hill several times to check on the mulberries, but they still weren't ripe.
I couldn't resist and ended up eating the mulberry leaves instead.
Mulberry leaves are also a type of traditional Chinese medicine. I originally planned to harvest more, some to dry for medicinal use and some to eat.
But when I saw the green mulberries on the tree, I couldn't bear to pick them, afraid of killing the mulberry tree.
They carefully selected branches with few fruits and sparsely picked leaves.
So they picked sparingly, but before long they still had a whole basketful.
Carrying a basket of mulberry leaves home, I first went to the well to draw a basin of cool well water to wash my face, which made me feel completely refreshed. Then I drew another basin of water to wash the mulberry leaves.
Wash the mulberry leaves thoroughly, then steam some of them for a few minutes. Take them out, put them in a basket, and dry them in the sun.
Pure natural mulberry leaf tea can not only improve eyesight, but also clear lung heat and nourish the liver and kidneys.
The remaining mulberry leaves are prepared the same way as the willow buds: add flour and a little salt and chicken bouillon for seasoning, shake them apart, and then steam them.
This time, I not only added minced garlic, but also a spoonful of lard, hoping it would be a little more fragrant.
Leave some without minced garlic, add a spoonful of lard, mix well, and then distribute it to the dogs.
As the weather gets warmer, mosquitoes have indeed arrived.
I had just finished weeding this morning when I got several big weeds on my legs. The more I scratched, the itchier they got, and even the cross-shaped seal method didn't work.
When I was stocking up on supplies, I was so focused on the extreme cold that I completely forgot to stock up on floral water and medicated oil.
There's a large patch of mint leaves planted outside the courtyard wall, so we'll have to make do with mint leaves for now.
I picked a bunch of mint leaves, took them home and mashed them into a paste with a new mortar and pestle, then applied it to the bumps. It felt cool and seemed to help reduce the itching.
When I went out at night, I mashed all the remaining mint leaves into a paste and applied it to my legs and arms. Although it reduced the number of mosquito bites, the effect was not very good, and there were still some stubborn mosquitoes sucking my blood.
When I get home, I go in and out of the room quickly, afraid that mosquitoes will come in and bite me so I can't sleep.
Lying on the kang (heated brick bed) at night, I would browse through functional books to learn how to make mosquito repellent.
There are only a few methods, and I can't find all the ingredients for any of them. They either require honeysuckle, rosemary, or other ingredients that are even harder to obtain.
Having no other choice, I simply circled all the materials I could find in the book and mixed them together to try making one myself.
Vitamin B1, mugwort, peppermint, and alcohol are the ingredients I can get my hands on for mosquito repellent.
There is a lot of mugwort on the mountain. Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, my father would take me to the mountain to pick mugwort. We would soak it in water and wash our faces with the mugwort water in the morning and soak our feet in the mugwort water at night, saying that it could clear away viruses.
If it existed on the mountain before, it must still exist now.
I got up early in the morning, put on long sleeves and trousers, and went to the fields to look for mugwort, but I couldn't find any after searching for a long time. I could only try my luck on the back hill, and finally found a layer of mugwort. The mugwort smelled very fragrant, and I heard that mosquitoes are very afraid of this smell.
He put down his basket and cut a lot of mugwort to bring back.
Wash the mugwort and mint leaves thoroughly, put them into a juicer, add a little water, and juice them into a green liquid.
Cover a clean glass jar with a piece of gauze, pour the green juice onto it, filter out the grass residue with the gauze, leaving a pure green liquid.
Grind vitamin B1 into a fine powder with a hard object, pour it into the green juice, and then add an appropriate amount of alcohol and stir well.
One whiff and you're hooked. Looking at this dark green, culinary-looking mosquito repellent, I wonder if it'll drive away the mosquitoes first, or poison me to death.
Regardless of whether it's effective or not, spray mosquito repellent all over your arms and legs and then take a walk in the fields.
I pulled up the weeds by the field and took them to the rabbit pen to feed the rabbits. When I went back to the house to check, I was surprised to find that I hadn't been bitten by any mosquitoes.
I'm a genius.
I happily put the whole bottle of mosquito repellent into the refrigerator to use slowly.
From now on, I will spray myself with mosquito repellent every time I go out. There are mugwort and mint everywhere outside, so I can make as much mosquito repellent as I want, without having to save any.
We picked too many mint leaves; there are still some left on the ground.
Slightly crush the mint leaves to extract the juice, pour it into cool well water, add some white sugar, and stir well.
I didn't throw away the jelly shells I had eaten before. I rummaged through the drawers and cupboards to find the old jelly shells and washed them clean.
Go to the west wing and find some scrap wood to nail together into a tray-shaped wooden box.
Arrange the jelly shells one by one, ten in a row, making four rows in total.
Carefully pour the mint sugar water into the jelly shell, cover it with plastic wrap, and place it securely in the freezer.
With nothing much to do in the afternoon, and having not had fresh fish in a long time, I took my fishing rod and went fishing at the pond.
As soon as you enter the valley, a cool breeze hits you. This valley receives less sunlight, and it always feels cooler than outside.
I was reading a book while fishing, and in about an hour I caught two fat fish.
Put some water in the bucket, then carry the fat fish home.
When I got home, I cleaned the fish, scaled it, gutted and cleaned it, getting it all done in one go.
To make a fish stew, heat oil in a pot, fry the fish until golden brown on both sides, add warm water, Sichuan peppercorns, chicken bouillon, salt, and thirteen-spice seasoning, and simmer slowly.
Remove the head and bones from the other fish, cut it into fillets, add two tablespoons of cornstarch, a little cooking wine, salt, chicken bouillon, and egg white, and mix well by hand.
Heat oil in a wok, add scallions, ginger, garlic, and dried chili peppers and sauté until fragrant. Add fermented broad bean paste, chili powder, pickled chili peppers, and Sichuan peppercorns, and stir-fry until the oil turns red. Then add water.
First, boil some tender green vegetables picked from the garden in water, then take them out and place them at the bottom of an empty large bowl.
Once the broth boils again, add the marinated fish fillets one by one, stirring gently with a spoon. When the fish fillets are cooked, place them in a bowl.
Pour the broth over the fish fillets until it's completely submerged, then add chopped green onions, sesame seeds, and chili pepper pieces.
Heat a spoonful of oil until it's boiling hot, then pour it over the fish fillets with a sizzling sound. The spicy and fragrant boiled fish fillets are ready.
When the boiled fish fillets are done, the broth from the stewed fish has turned milky white, just right for serving.
Pour a small amount of aged vinegar into a bowl, then add a spoonful of the chili oil from the boiled fish and mix it with the aged vinegar.
Boiled fish dipped in homemade sauce not only has a spicy and savory flavor, but also a tangy and refreshing taste, making it incredibly delicious.
The fish soup is also delicious; the freshly killed fish has tender and very fresh meat.
After I finished eating, I removed the fish bones and head from the stewed fish, mixed it with some rice, and fed it to the dog.
After the dogs had eaten their fill, the fish head and bones were put into their bowls. The dogs chewed carefully and finished the fish in no time.
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