Chapter 58 Spring Wild Vegetables
Zhao Xuan originally wanted to stay in that cabin in the mountains alone for a few days and go deeper into the mountains to collect herbs, but Lu An refused. Now there are more and more wild boars in the mountains, and it is also the time when wild boars are pregnant. It would be dangerous if they encountered one.
Lu An said that once the crops were planted, he could accompany her into the mountains for a few days, so Zhao Xuan agreed to just wander around the village.
The humidity in the air increases significantly after the start of spring. It rains lightly every few days, the rain seems to fall silently, comes and goes quickly, but the temperature rises a little with each spring rain. Fortunately, Zhao Xuan's lips have stopped cracking.
Even in the slightly warm and humid winters of the South, Zhao Xuan's face and lips would still become dry. Her skincare products had long expired, so she dared not use them. However, she found a bottle of glycerin and applied some to her cracked skin or chapped lips. The glycerin was sweet and would be rubbed off in no time, so it was better than nothing.
Zhao Xuan is quite satisfied with the current humid climate. On days without rain, the sun shines brightly, and sunbathing makes her feel good. She will choose a sunny day with few clouds to go out. With Lao Dao and Lu An taking care of the spring plowing work, she can spend the whole spring digging for wild vegetables and herbs.
The bamboo shoots have already sprouted and are ready to be dug up and eaten. The pine mushrooms are still growing, and other wild mushrooms are also sprouting one after another.
There are also many wild vegetables, all of which have just sprouted tender green leaves.
In spring, the mountains have more tender colors compared to winter. The trees here mostly don't shed their leaves, and in autumn, they don't turn into a riot of reds and yellows. They are greener in different ways throughout the year.
The mud was mushy after the rain, but luckily she was wearing thick-soled shoes. Carrying a basket on her back and holding a stick, she slowly walked towards the outskirts of the village.
Walking down into the village, past the threshing ground, you'll find several ponds.
There were only a few water hyacinths left in the pond. Her family's four pigs survived the winter thanks to these few ponds of water hyacinths. When they had almost harvested them, they would stop for a few days. These things grow very fast, and in just a few days they could fill the pond again.
Besides water hyacinths, there was another type of duckweed in the pond called "Manjianghong." Zhao Xuan didn't know its scientific name; everyone in the village called it that when she was a child, so she called it that too. Manjianghong can also be used to feed pigs. As the name suggests, it is purplish-red, with small leaves that can cover the entire pond when they grow.
Bubbles occasionally rise from the pond, probably from small fish and shrimp moving around underwater.
Near the pond, large patches of mugwort have grown, their tender color shining brightly, and wild taro has also sprouted new, curled leaves, growing vigorously.
The mugwort hasn't grown to the point where it can be picked yet. It's early spring now, and many herbs need to grow a little longer before they can be picked. So at this time, Zhao Xuan usually goes out to check things out.
She didn't know many herbs. Besides the mugwort growing everywhere, there were also easily recognizable ones like plantain, datura, and motherwort, all of which Sister Lu had taught her to identify. Rural people generally know a little about herbs, though not everything. For example, Zhao Xuan roughly knew that plantain had the effect of reducing swelling and promoting urination. But it didn't matter if she knew little; she mainly collected herbs to sell, and the buyers would naturally understand their effects.
Not every herb can be dug up and used in the spring, so Zhao Xuan brought a small notebook. If she saw a herb but it wasn't time to pick it yet, she would write it down first.
Besides the mugwort growing everywhere around the village, there were also mint, rose hips, and cudweed. Mint can be eaten by pinching off the tips, while rose hips are generally found deeper in the mountains. Zhao Xuan had seen them last year. Rose hips bear fruit in autumn, and the fruit can be used medicinally. In early spring, they bloom with white flowers. This plant is a large, dense shrub with small thorns on its stems, bearing palm-sized white flowers with yellow stamens. The flowers creep closely together in the dark green grass, sometimes hanging down from cliffs, creating a beautiful sight. Rose hips are never stingy with their blooms, so if you see a large patch of white flowers in spring, it's almost certainly rose hips.
Its flowers are edible. Just pick the petals and, like many edible flowers, mix them with flour to make pancakes, or coat them in batter and fry them. The petals have a very faint sweetness, not particularly delicious, but seeing the rosehips covering the entire mountainside, it would be a pity not to pick them.
Zhao Xuan walked across the pond, and beyond that was the main road leading to other villages. Many smaller paths branched off from the main road, each leading into the deep forest. Zhao Xuan chose one and walked for another ten minutes or so until he saw a large expanse of terraced fields nestled in a mountain valley. The terraces were abandoned and overgrown with other plants, among which the rosehips stood out like clusters of white bouquets.
Perhaps because it was so early, a thin mist still lingered around, making everything seem beautiful.
Zhao Xuan carefully walked along the dilapidated ridges of the fields, plucking away the white flowers one by one from the wasteland. She only picked the petals, using a large leaf as a lining in her basket, and tossed the flowers behind her as she picked them.
She stopped picking after filling half a basket. At the top of the terraced fields was a low cliff with many vines and shrubs hanging down. The rosehips bloomed on it like a white waterfall. Zhao Xuan couldn't reach it, and she didn't plan to pick them.
If she had a phone, she would have captured this beautiful scene in a photograph; now she can only watch it quietly.
After picking enough flowers, Zhao Xuan turned to gather some cudweed. This is a small herb that grows near water sources, its leaves covered in white down. Each tiny plant lies sprawled on the damp ground, bearing small, granular yellow flowers. Like mugwort, cudweed likes to grow in large patches, and since it was already flowering, it could generally be found by simply following the stream. After digging it up and drying it, it can be used as medicine or as food.
By this time, the plants in the fields were growing vigorously, and Zhao Xuan was the only one picking them. She felt like a millionaire.
Besides cudweed, water celery also grew by the water source. Zhao Xuan picked some and planned to take them home to cook.
Actually, many wild vegetables grow in damp places, but Zhao Xuan came to find medicinal herbs, so he picked some wild vegetables he saw, but didn't take more.
Her basket was filled with cudweed and plantain, both of which can be eaten as vegetables or used as herbs when young. Rosehip flowers were for eating, and she planned to pick some of the remaining wild vegetables: water celery, shepherd's purse, and some scallions.
There aren't many kinds of vegetables available in winter, and Zhao Xuan mostly eats cabbage, bok choy, and mustard greens. She absolutely hates mustard greens; they're bitter, and the stems are so tough that it's a waste to use them to stir-fry with cured meat. Unfortunately, this vegetable happens to be the best-growing in winter, cold-resistant, and grows very large. One head can last her three days. So, she plans to go out to dig for medicinal herbs and also bring some wild vegetables home to improve her meals.
Wild vegetables share the same origin as many herbs, and many wild vegetables taste refreshing and delicious.
When Zhao Xuan was about to go home, he made a special detour to visit Lao Dao and Lu An in the dry fields. The way there would take him through vast stretches of wasteland. It might not be appropriate to describe the fields in the southern mountainous areas as "vast stretches." In fact, most of the fields are scattered and located in open spaces between mountains. But as far as the eye can see, only these fields are flat and can be described as "strips."
Zhao Xuan really liked these rolling mountains. The mountains brought abundant rain, sheltered them from strong winds, and kept away many strangers who didn't know good from evil.
The fields belonging to Zhao Xuan's family and the Yao family were both located in a large flat area. The good fields along the stream had been planted with lush green rice, while the remaining wasteland was overgrown with scallions and chives, some of which were still growing crops, and others were covered with purple clover.
The milkvetch here isn't purple, but pink. Any flowers that grow in patches are beautiful. These flowers covering the wasteland were probably planted by local farmers a few years ago. After harvesting the grain in winter, they would sow milkvetch seeds. It grows very fast and doesn't need fertilizer. It's good as fodder or fertilizer after spring.
Milk clover is an annual plant, but it has multiplied generation after generation in the fields, and has continued to thrive.
As Zhao Xuan passed through the wasteland of purple clover, he saw a dog. Sheep like to eat this food, and in the spring, the dog would drive the sheep into various wastelands, where the sheep could eat their fill.
Zhao Xuan waved to the dog from a distance, and the dog waved back.
When Zhao Xuan found Lu An and the others, Lu An and Lao Dao were still working hard in the dry field. Zhao Xuan craned her neck and watched them from a distance for a long time, but no one looked up and noticed her.
In the end, Zhao Xuan carried a basket of wild grass on his back and slowly walked home alone.
As long as she sees Lu An, she can feel at ease; whether or not she greets him is not that important.
Back home, Zhao Xuan began cleaning various wild herbs. Those that could be used as medicinal herbs needed to be cleaned and dried. The petals of the rosehip couldn't be kept for too long, so she had to eat them today. Zhao Xuan thought for a moment; she didn't have enough flour to make pancakes, and deep-frying them was too extravagant. How about mixing them into eggs and stir-frying them?
Thinking this, her gaze then drifted to other wild vegetables: shepherd's purse, which can be stir-fried with eggs; water celery, which can be stir-fried with eggs; cudweed, which can be stir-fried with eggs; and scallions, which can also be stir-fried with eggs.
Eggs seem to be able to be used to stir-fry all kinds of wild vegetables.
But she went to great lengths to gather these wild vegetables not to stir-fry them with eggs. What's the difference between eating stir-fried eggs with wild vegetables all spring and eating stir-fried mustard greens all winter?
How about we make something fresh to eat?
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