Chapter 60 Harvest
It looks like this big bird is going to eat the chicks.
Little Gua noticed them very alertly and, disregarding its own safety, protected them.
I immediately realized what was happening, pushed open the door, went out, and swung the baseball bat at the big bird.
Perhaps seeing the human's large size, the bird wasn't confident it could defeat me, so it quickly fled.
As soon as the big bird flew away and I came out, the little melon immediately put on a smug and obsequious act, wagging its tail wildly.
The feathers on its back were still standing on end, clearly indicating that the large bird had frightened it quite a bit.
I was somewhat moved.
Although I live alone, Xiaogua has protected our family like a little man.
I knelt down, stroked the little melon's head, and encouraged and comforted it.
"It's alright, it's alright, Xiaogua, you're great."
Little Gua clearly enjoyed my sudden closeness; its tail wagging slowed down, and it slowly licked my palm with its tongue.
Although he's usually carefree, he's a really brave and good kid when it matters.
An impulse arose within me, and I resolved not to blame it for harming my own sister in the future.
I stood up and turned to look at the chicken coop.
The mother hen watched outside warily, using her wings to tightly protect her chicks beneath her.
I sighed.
My poor decision-making frightened both the baby hen and the mother hen.
We can no longer leave the chicken coop exposed at night.
So I moved the chicken coop into the windshield.
From now on, when it gets dark, I will take good care of all the little lives in my family.
Drive the chickens from the coop into the henhouse and close the wire mesh.
The mother hen and her chicks were placed inside the windshield.
Little Di, Little Gua, and their puppies can't stay in the yard either; they all have to go back inside to live.
This kind of thing must never happen again.
If a small bird pecks one of my chicks in the eye, or if a bird snatches away a few of my chicks, I can't forgive myself for being so careless.
From that day on, my laziness seemed to lessen a bit.
In their free time, they no longer lie down and sleep all the time, or read novels.
I prefer to repair the chicken coop, tidy up the yard, or reinforce the yard wall.
I always hope that my little family can be more solid and reliable.
A fulfilling and pleasant life passed by day by day.
Summer arrived quickly.
Perhaps it's because we haven't had a summer in so long, but this summer feels especially hot.
There's no shortage of rain, but rainy days don't feel cool; they just feel so stuffy and suffocating.
But there's also good news: some of the vegetables in the field are starting to ripen in large quantities.
Cucumbers of all sizes hung from the vines, and strings of green beans also hung in clusters on the bean trellis.
The eggplants were all bigger than my palm, and the peppers were also very thick.
The tomatoes hadn't fully turned red yet, and the weight of the green persimmons had made the persimmon vines lean slightly.
Besides the vegetables in the vegetable garden, the watermelons in the fruit orchard next door were also growing here and there, but they didn't look ripe yet.
Sweet potato vines are climbing everywhere.
After a period of relative leisure in the summer, the vegetables are now ripening.
I have finally achieved complete freedom in consuming all kinds of vegetables.
I try to cook delicious meals for myself every day.
Green beans can be stir-fried by vigorously stir-frying them in hot oil, then adding plenty of dried chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns. It's very fragrant.
There are also braised pork belly with green beans, and steamed buns with green beans and pork filling, etc.
The first batch of green beans is so fresh and tender, and the yield is huge. I eat it almost every day, and I never get tired of it.
The cucumbers have only recently started growing and are still very tender.
You can eat them like fruit cucumbers; just nibble on a couple whenever you have a spare moment.
It can also be made into refreshing side dishes to accompany rice, such as smashed cucumber, cucumber salad, or even cucumber dumplings.
Shred the cucumber, salt it to draw out the moisture, squeeze it dry, add some oil and thirteen-spice powder, and you have dumpling filling.
Cucumber dumplings have a particularly refreshing aroma and taste fresh and delicious, making them the perfect treat for summer.
There are even more ways to eat eggplant, such as eggplant with minced meat or eggplant with sauce.
After steaming, I simply tossed it with scallions as a cold dish, and also made fried eggplant fritters. It was delicious no matter how I ate it.
Chili peppers are the vegetable I look forward to the most; it's been a long time since I've had fresh chili peppers.
Before it even got spicy, I started eating it when I was very young, just dipping it in sauce and wrapping it in a pancake.
Later, when the spiciness level increased, I started making chopped chili sauce, braised green peppers, and stewed pork with green peppers, which were absolutely amazing.
As soon as a small tomato ripens, I wipe it clean and eat it.
Not satisfied with that, I picked the unripe cherry tomatoes and cooked them directly into tomato and egg soup.
Fry two large pancakes in a frying pan.
Tear the flatbread into pieces and soak it in tomato and egg soup. You can eat and drink at the same time, which is both satisfying and filling.
In the sweltering summer, eating all kinds of refreshing vegetables, and having a wide variety of vegetables to choose from, is truly comforting for both the stomach and the mind.
Since this batch of vegetables ripened, we've been able to cook countless different dishes at home.
In addition to picking the amount I eat each day, I've also started storing vegetables.
My mother once told me that if green beans are left on the vine for too long, it will affect the vine from producing new beans, and the beans will also become older.
So when the green beans were ripe enough, I quickly grabbed a large bucket and picked them all.
After picking them and returning home, I laid burlap sacks directly on the kitchen floor.
Sitting on the cold floor, drinking cola, and cutting green beans into strips.
After cutting the green beans into strips, spread a large plastic sheet on the open ground in the yard and then spread them out to dry.
It's very hot now, and the sun is strong.
They are dried during the day and brought in at night, and can be completely dried in two days.
After drying, they are put directly into burlap sacks to be eaten in winter.
Eggplants are processed in the same way: keep enough eggplants for your daily consumption, and slice the remaining ripe eggplants and dry them in the yard.
We'll also store them to eat in the winter.
The cucumber needs to be cut open and then salted to remove impurities.
The chopped cucumbers are coated with salt, placed in a mesh bag, and weighed down with a large stone.
After pressing them overnight, the cucumbers can be dried in the yard.
These cucumbers, after being soaked in water in winter, can be directly used in cold dishes. They taste similar to dried radish, being fragrant, crisp, and chewy.
The method for drying chili peppers is simple and straightforward: just put them in the sun to dry until they are dry, then they can be stored away.
However, although these vegetables can be stored, there is no need to eat them sparingly.
They produced too many fruit, so they dried them to preserve them because they couldn't eat them all.
Because another crop of vegetables will be planted soon and harvested in late autumn.
Vegetables harvested in late autumn are the real winter food reserves.
When the weather gets cooler, sweet potatoes, potatoes, cabbage, radishes, and the like can be stored directly in the basement and eaten throughout the whole winter.
Now, after the mature seedlings are picked and processed, the immature ones have grown bigger.
So I never lacked vegetables throughout the entire late spring and early summer.
While you might get tired of eating barbecue, hot pot, and fried chicken, you'll never get tired of these everyday vegetables.
I can't figure out why either; I just keep making myself tastier food.
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