Chapter 280 Daily Life
Mu Xi estimated that it would take three or four days to pick the persimmons by returning along the same route. The round trip would take more than a week, which would be just enough time to harvest the corn stalks.
"Then I'll go into the mountains and pick some persimmons in the next two days."
Zhao Yeqing quickly shook his head.
"Don't go. It's just a persimmon. It doesn't matter whether you eat it or not. It's not a big deal."
Now is the season to forage for food and store fat. If there are wild animals in the mountains, now is the most dangerous time. It is too risky to live in the mountains for a week just for a persimmon.
When I was in Meishan, there were quite a few persimmon trees, so it stands to reason that there should be some here as well.
Mu Xi nodded, "Then I'll go look around the area and pick some more cinnamon and bay leaves."
There are almost no wild animals going down the mountain, except for some small snakes and the monkeys we have seen before.
Wild animals are unlikely to appear within the range of human activities, so searching in this direction is the safest.
Mu Xi went for a walk nearby, but Zhao Yeqing decided not to go as he had many things to deal with at home.
The vegetables that are picked have to be dried for preservation. Vegetables with high water content, such as tomatoes, will lose a lot of flavor and have a much worse taste if dried. Zhao Yeqing plans to can them.
I ate too much canned citrus fruits last time and emptied two large jars. I washed the empty glass jars and used them to store tomatoes.
Zhao Yeqing cleaned the chopping board, scraped the surface of the board with a knife, and then washed it with water before using it to cut tomatoes.
Wash the tomatoes, cut them into small pieces and put them directly into the jar. After filling it, cover the top with boiled and then cooled boiled water. Finally, gently place the lid on top without tightening it.
Pour a little water into the pot, put the glass jar with tomatoes in it, cover it and bring to a boil. After five minutes, open the lid and quickly tighten the bottle caps that are not tightened, then immediately turn the bottles upside down with the bottom facing up to create a vacuum inside.
Canned tomatoes made in this way are better preserved and can last for half a year without any problems.
In order to extend the shelf life, Zhao Yeqing decided to store it in the refrigerator first. If the weather gets too cool after a while, the refrigerator will have to be powered off.
When the time comes, everything inside will have to be moved out.
It’s okay if it’s refrigerated. When the temperature is only a few degrees, it’s almost the same whether you take it out or keep it in.
Frozen meat is a bit troublesome.
The two men still had half of the sheep they had slaughtered some time ago, which weighed nearly 60 kilograms. After removing the wool, internal organs, blood and bones, there was about 80 kilograms of meat left.
Even if two people eat as much as they can, they can only consume about three kilograms a day. And they cannot eat lamb for every meal. They will get sick of it if they eat too much. They should have vegetables and staple foods, and occasionally change their taste with eggs, fish, etc., and the weight will be consumed even slower.
Fortunately, there are four dogs at home, otherwise we would not be able to finish the food by winter.
The good news is that the leeks are gradually blooming. When she makes the leek sauce in a while, she can use up all the tripe and blood sausage.
Even lamb boiled in water goes very well with chive sauce.
In order to promote flowering, Zhao Yeqing found elemental fertilizers such as calcium, magnesium and boron in the fertilizer pile sent by his nephew, and sprayed some on the leaves to speed up growth and flowering.
This kind of elemental fertilizer is relatively safe. Unlike pesticides, it is not harmful to the body. It is beneficial to use it occasionally.
As the weather cooled, the strawberries in the basement began to bloom and bear fruit again.
The PC board on top is now open 24 hours a day. The bees will come over to pollinate the strawberries when they smell the scent, and there is no need for manual operation.
But she still has to pay attention to the condition of the strawberries every day. The fruit is too easy to get sick and infested with insects. Even if there is no problem, she has to occasionally spray something like orange peel essential oil to prevent pests.
In the past, when she ate fruits, one of the fruits she washed most carefully was strawberries. Strawberries are so easy to get sick, and it is impossible to grow them in large quantities without using pesticides.
Any fruit farmer who says that his strawberries never use pesticides or chemical fertilizers, and yet the fruits are red, big and have a high yield, is definitely lying. It's hard and troublesome to take care of the few trees she has now, let alone growing them in large quantities in greenhouses.
Zhao Yeqing squatted in front of the strawberries. Seeing that it was a sunny day today, he took a pair of scissors and cut off the extra leaves of the strawberries.
It is enough to leave a maximum of five leaves on each strawberry plant, and the excess nutrients should be reserved for fruit development.
After cleaning the basement, you have to check the grain field as well.
This batch of sweet potatoes is growing well, probably because of the good weather. The leaves are growing very fast. Half a month ago, they were just small vines of 20 to 30 centimeters, but now they have grown into a large patch.
Zhao Yeqing took a sickle and started working. The leaves grew too lush and affected the growth of the fruits underground, so he cut them all and fed them to the pigs.
This little wild boar has obviously grown bigger in the past few days. When it just came back, it was as big as a large cat when it was picked up. Now it has become a real little pig. It is difficult to even pick it up.
The housework was almost done, so Zhao Yeqing pulled out a long sweet potato vine, moved a chair, sat at the door of the pigpen, threw the sweet potato vine into the pen and started fishing for pigs.
When the little wild boar in the pigpen saw the food, it raised its two front hooves and stood up by grabbing the fence. When Zhao Yeqing saw that the pig was about to get the food, he lifted it up a little.
She remembered that the wild boars sold in the market were always more expensive than ordinary pigs. This wild boar could not be released into the mountains as it would easily run away. She could only "work hard" to help exercise it at home.
A sweet potato vine is a great way to entertain the pigs.
At the end of the game, when the pigs could no longer jump, she finally let go and threw half of the harvested sweet potato vines into the pigpen.
A few wild boars ate with a grunt, and soon they had eaten half of the sweet potato vines.
The weather is good now. Zhao Yeqing is sitting in the yard, leaning back in a chair and taking a nap. A breeze that is neither too cool nor too dry blows occasionally. In his ears are the rustling sound of grass and the grunts of little wild boars eating.
When Mu Xi came back, he saw that Zhao Yeqing was almost asleep on the ground. He put down the basket behind him and hurried over to straighten her head.
"Why did you fall asleep here?"
Zhao Yeqing rubbed his eyes and woke up a little. His voice was still sticky with sleepiness, "You're back."
Mu Xi's eyes softened. After she responded and washed her hands, she went to wash a towel and handed it to her to wipe her face to wake her up.
"Sleeping so soundly?"
After Zhao Yeqing wiped his face, he handed the towel to Mu Xi, stretched himself, and said confidently,
“Spring makes you sleepy, summer makes you tired, winter makes you sleep, and autumn makes you take a nap. All seasons are good times to sleep.”
"Yes, yes, you are right." Mu Xi brought the basket over. "Eat it. I've tasted it. It's sweet and not bitter."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
