Chapter 256 Breeding Basement
The original moisture was dried up and the humidity in the air was extremely low. Not to mention smelling the smell, even taking a deep breath made my throat burn.
I wandered around for half an hour, even visiting the place where I had been attacked by hyenas before.
Zhao Yeqing frowned and wiped the sweat from his forehead that rolled into his eyes, enduring the slight stinging pain in his eyes.
She suddenly seemed to realize that something was wrong.
There was no sign of any animal activity in the woods.
Not only were there no traces of the rabbits, snakes, and mice that were common in the past, but even the annoying chirping of insects that were always present in the mountains in summer had disappeared.
The whole forest was eerily silent.
She and Mu Xi looked at each other and saw worry in each other's frowning brows.
The two of them said nothing. They returned to the cave, took out their cell phones, played crosstalk to pass the time, and rested until three o'clock in the afternoon before continuing to work.
It took three days just to dig out the materials, and another two days to move everything back.
Zhao Yeqing did not go there again during the next two days of moving the bricks, but built a new brick kiln at home.
The previous one will not be demolished, and then two brick kilns can be fired at the same time.
The newly built space is very large, three times the size of the previous small brick kiln, and there are two more fire holes at the bottom, which can heat up faster.
The two planned to dig out the basement first.
A basement for raising livestock requires a large number of red bricks. The preliminary statistics made Zhao Yeqing want to slaughter all the cattle and sheep in her family.
Can she not eat this meat?
......
Forget it, we still have to eat meat.
After giving up, he continued to calculate the data honestly.
In addition to the next work to be done, the original work at home should not be forgotten.
After eight o'clock in the evening, Zhao Yeqing observed that the water level in the well was still sufficient, so he fetched a bucket of water to water the grapes.
The dense vines of the grapes helped to block the sunlight on the fish pond, and the flowers were all under the vines, barely maintaining life.
Later, the temperature gradually rose. A few days ago, the two saw that the grapes that were about to mature were getting worse and worse, so they hurriedly cut a part of the large canvas on the yurt and propped it up on the grape rack to provide shade. Only then did they barely slow down the situation.
As for the fish pond, Zhao Yeqing no longer dared to pour water into it. If the temperature showed no signs of falling, he should keep the water to save his life.
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Once all the materials were brought back, the work at home officially began.
Zhao Yeqing was making red bricks under the eaves, while Mu Xi was digging a breeding basement outside the yard, where the planting basement extended.
The basement has to accommodate so many cattle and sheep, and it also has to be divided into sections. The time spent just on firing the red bricks would take months.
Finally, the two decided not to pave the breeding basement with red bricks. Instead, they could dig out the space first. To keep the animal pens clean, the bottom could be paved directly with cement for easier cleaning. The partitions between the animal pens could be built with red bricks, which were more solid.
For other places, including the entire walls of the breeding basement, the soil should be kept for now. If it is difficult to maintain later, the walls inside the animal pens can be plastered with cement.
Although it may look a little rough, it can save a lot of time and energy.
In this case, the place that needs the most red bricks is the periphery of the house extension, which is not a small number, but fortunately there is no rush to use it, so it can be used until winter comes.
It takes a whole day to burn a batch of red bricks in two brick kilns. Zhao Yeqing first burned red bricks for two days, and then built two large brick kilns with the burned red bricks. In this way, four brick kilns could be used to burn at the same time, which would greatly increase the subsequent efficiency.
As the saying goes, sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood.
Every day one person digs the basement, one makes red bricks, and they do daily work at home.
By the time the mung beans planted in the basement were ready for harvest, Mu Xi's breeding basement had been initially dug.
In order to prevent such a large basement from collapsing, the two of them reinforced it with red bricks and cement on all sides and in the middle. Zhao Yeqing didn't feel bad about it, as it wouldn't cost many red bricks to just make the load-bearing columns.
After dividing the areas for cattle, sheep, chickens and horses, you have to first paste the floor with cement. This will take some time to dry, so it has to be done in advance.
There are also disadvantages to doing it in advance, that is, once the cement is laid, it will be difficult for people to walk up before it dries. So Mu Xi built the outer fence first.
I still have to chop some wood.
We have to set out early in the morning before dawn. At four in the morning, we can hear the sound of chainsaw engines coming from the woods. With the tools of modern technology, work has become very efficient.
The trees used to build the fence do not need to be very thick, the size of a bowl is the most suitable, and a whole log will be strong enough to build a fence.
If you cut a large tree into planks, they will easily break, and the cut sections will easily get moldy in stuffy places like basements. Round logs have bark on the outside and are the best choice.
The two men simply removed the red brick wall in the middle and made it all out of logs, which were just as sturdy but had a short lifespan.
Zhao Yeqing thought it was okay. "If it doesn't work later, we can change it. If we need to expand or adjust the size of each animal pen, we can use logs. It's more convenient than red bricks."
The pillars that fix the logs on the left and right are made with slots. The top of the log is cut into a small square and inserted into the slot. When adjustment is required, just take the logs out of the slot one by one.
The only concern is mold.
Mu Xi said, "Then I'll cut a few more tomorrow. Wooden ones are warmer than red brick ones."
That's right. They had wooden boards nailed to the walls of their brick house last year. If it had been made of pure brick walls, it would have been really cold in the winter.
After the fences and feeding troughs of the animal pen were built, the concrete floor was still not completely dry.
After all, it's in the basement, with no sunlight or wind, so it's normal that it dries slowly.
Mu Xi did not close the door of the basement, leaving it open for ventilation.
This basement is not like a basement for planting. The ceiling on top cannot be opened. It is a hole dug out from the ground. It cannot be exposed to the sun for sterilization and odor removal, and the smell is not pleasant.
The only thing we can do is to widen the downward-sloping cellar opening to allow air to circulate for a longer period of time.
Once it’s done, we can drive all the livestock in now without having to wait until winter.
The lambs that were born a while ago were already showing mild signs of heat stroke, but luckily the two had dealt with heat stroke in sheep during their first year here.
No excessive medication is needed, just shower the sheep with cold water and put some salt in their water troughs to replenish electrolytes.
Zhao Yeqing also wanted to soak in cold water for 24 hours a day because it was too hot.
After treating the sheep's heatstroke, we finally waited for the basement floor to dry. The temperature, which had remained at 51 degrees for almost two months, actually went up again!
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