Chapter 167 White Birch
June 3034
Around the summer solstice, the weather should be gradually getting warmer, but now it is still below zero.
The snow on the meadow had not melted, and at noon the sun in the sky could bring a hint of warmth.
The surface of the snow melted with this slight warmth, but at night, the melted snow formed a layer of ice due to the low temperature.
The cleared road in the yard became particularly difficult to walk on because of ice formed by melted snow.
When Zhao Yeqing got up early and walked into the yard, he had to grip the ground with his toes.
There is not enough firewood at home, so I have to go and chop some today.
There were still two trees in the pine forest that Mu Xi had cut down and had not been transported back, and now they were buried under the snow.
Zhao Yeqing discussed with him, "Why don't we just pick up some dead branches? Digging is a bit slow, and we have to pull the horses over to drag them back after we cut them. There's also snow on the road, so it's hard to walk."
The family now burns firewood for heating every day, which consumes a lot of firewood. Mu Xi nodded, "Then let's not go so far, just go to the forest over there to pick up some. The place where the landslide happened before should be compacted by the snow now."
When picking up small firewood, you don’t have to pull a cart out. You just need to carry a firewood rack, put the picked dead branches on it, bundle them up, and then carry it back.
The firewood rack is like a small chair, with a flat surface that can support the firewood, making it easier to carry the firewood back.
The two walked towards the forest where birch trees had grown before. The few surviving birch trees looked very beautiful in the snow.
The tall white trunks stand in the snow. The birch tree is a deciduous tree. Unlike evergreen trees, it does not have leaves in all seasons. The leaves on its crown have all fallen due to the low temperature, and the branches have been blown down by the wind and snow, leaving only a bare trunk.
Zhao Yeqing picked up a lot of firewood under the tree, which was used for cooking in the kitchen.
The type and size of firewood used in the kitchen stove are not very particular, but the same is true for the firewood burned in the fireplace.
When burning wood in a fireplace, hardwood from broadleaf trees will produce more heat than softwood from evergreen or coniferous trees.
The softwood of coniferous trees includes the pine trees that the two have been using.
The advantage of pine firewood is that it contains oil and is very easy to burn, so the consumption is relatively large.
Oil content is both an advantage and a disadvantage. The degree of creosote accumulation can be analyzed by the length of time the firewood burns. The longer the firewood burns, the less creosote it produces.
After creosote burns, it will coat the inner wall of the fireplace chimney, which is harmful to the human body over a long period of time.
The low temperatures in winter will last longer than expected, so we can't just get by.
If conditions permit, they still want to find better firewood to burn in the fireplace.
Today's goal is not only to collect firewood for cooking in the kitchen, but also to find suitable firewood for the fireplace.
That is hardwood.
Apart from the birch tree in front of them, the only hardwoods they could think of on the mountain were beech, cypress and poplar.
The sloping mountain road was difficult to walk on. The two held hands and walked around but found nothing. They could only cut down the few remaining birch trees in front of them.
After all, hardwood takes a long time to dry, and it can only be burned after it is dry.
Naturally air-dried hardwood can take more than a year to completely dry.
The two planned to leave the tree alone after chopping it down. Today, they would collect enough firewood for cooking, and then come back another day to split the trunk and take it back to dry.
Zhao Yeqing felt a little sad. After all, there were only a few birch trees left after the landslide. Although the trees were not protected, they were still very beautiful in autumn.
She circled around the only remaining birch tree, and suddenly she caught a glimpse of a birch tree with a charcoal-like substance growing on its trunk near the roots.
Zhao Yeqing dug up the snow near the roots, and the black charcoal gradually emerged. It was about half the size of a fist, with an uneven surface and cracked lumps.
She was stunned for a moment, then poked the lump of charcoal and found it was hard.
Mu Xi saw that she was squatting and didn't move. He walked over and was stunned for a moment before he spoke, "Chaga?"
Zhao Yeqing nodded. "This is incredible. How long has it been cold and this thing has already appeared?"
Generally speaking, Chaga strains need to absorb nutrients for a long time before they begin to reproduce, and this thing only grows in the cold regions of Siberia.
It is also found in the northeast of their country, but the winters in the northeast are relatively mild for it, so its nutritional value is not high.
The probability of such a thing growing in the mountains of the south is no less than suddenly winning a lottery of 50 million, and that lottery ticket was picked up.
The Chaga mushroom is obviously not mature yet, but it will probably die before it matures, after all, it is not cold here for a long time.
It is said that if a Chaga mushroom parasitizes on a birch tree for more than ten years, it can suck all the nutrients of the birch tree, and the tree will die.
Zhao Yeqing felt that this tree was both miserable and lucky. It was parasitized but not completely parasitized. After all, when the weather gets hot, the chaga 'baby' will probably die.
She decided not to cut down this tree and replaced it with one next to it.
Just as he was about to chop down with the axe in his hand, he was stopped by Mu Xi.
"If we can't bear to part with this tree, we won't cut it down here. There should be other hardwoods over there where the plum tree was before. We can go check it out another day."
Zhao Yeqing thought about it and realized that there was no rush to take the tree back today, so he put down the axe and concentrated on picking up firewood on the ground.
There was only one rack of firewood. The two of them filled it up, and then Mu Xi squatted down and carried the rack on his back.
Zhao Yeqing was holding a small bundle in his hand. "I can't go back empty-handed. Picking up firewood is also picking up money."
Even though I don't need the money now, this idea is engraved in my bones.
Mu Xi smiled when he heard that, "Okay, money-grubber."
The firewood they picked up was not enough to carry in one trip, so Mu Xi did not let Zhao Yeqing follow her the second time she went out to carry it. She planned to shovel the ice in the yard at home.
The ice is very thin and falls off easily. I'm afraid it will be there again tomorrow morning, so I have to find a way to drain the water.
There was no way to deal with the concrete floor in the middle of the yard, but the road leading to the toilet and bathroom was still muddy.
A small ditch was dug on both sides of the muddy field after the snow was cleared. It is hoped that when the weather gets warmer, the melted snow water will flow along the ditch and not freeze on the road.
When I got up this morning, the temperature was still minus 20 degrees Celsius. Unless winter turns into summer all of a sudden, the hottest days in July, August and September this year will be spent in temperatures below zero.
Zhao Yeqing squatted on the ground and dug the soil with a small shovel. Suddenly, an idea popped into his mind -
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