Chapter 296 New Year
"It's snowing, do you want to come and see?"
Zhao Yeqing pulled away the blanket that had just covered his legs, "I want to see it!"
She hurriedly put on her shoes, ran to the window and looked out. Unlike last year's heavy snow, the temperature this year was not so sudden. The temperature just reached around zero degrees. The dark clouds that had been accumulating in the sky for several days finally came out, and fine drizzle mixed with snow fell down.
This snow is not goose feather snow, but more like the sandy snow that used to fall under Meishan Mountain, a granular, crystal-clear smoothie.
Zhao Yeqing brushed the sand and snow on the windowsill into her palm, feeling the coolness. Mu Xi closed the window when he saw her turn around.
The ice cream slowly melted in his palms. Zhao Yeqing said, "It will probably freeze outside tomorrow."
The disadvantage of sleet is that the weather will become very cold. The sleet that falls at night will turn into ice in the morning, so you have to be very careful when walking.
Seeing that the snow in her palms had completely melted into water, Mu Xi took a towel and wiped her hands dry. "If the sleet stops tomorrow morning, I'll go clean up the yard so that it's easier to walk."
Zhao Yeqing nodded, "But this year we moved the bathroom and toilet over here, and built a brick wall on the outside, so we won't slip when we go to the toilet."
Even when feeding cattle and sheep, we still have to go to the yard. Although the weather has cooled down now, it is still within the tolerance range of livestock, so there is no need to move underground for the time being.
The crops at home were harvested before the New Year. The cabbages and radishes were put into the cellar. The harvested mustard greens have not been processed yet and are prepared to be made into pickled mustard greens and sauerkraut.
The two chatted about their plans for tomorrow until the countdown to twelve o'clock ended.
As if to mark the end of the year, the sleet outside stopped after less than two hours.
Zhao Yeqing smiled and said, "This year will definitely be a good year with good weather and good harvests."
When it comes to farming, nothing is more important than good weather and good harvests.
It was a good omen at midnight, and Zhao Yeqing was planning what to plant when the weather warmed up while lying in bed.
When it was dawn, Mu Xi went out and saw that the rain from yesterday had indeed frozen into a thin layer of ice on the ground. The original dark clouds had also dissipated a lot, revealing the blue sky again.
Zhao Yeqing took out the prepared feed and walked along the road that Mu Xi had cleared to the cattle and sheep pen. The pig feed had been cooked yesterday, so he just had to heat it up over a fire today and pour it directly into the trough.
Among all livestock and poultry, chickens are relatively the least cold-resistant. Fortunately, the groups are relatively large, and the temperature can be raised when they gather together.
Zhao Yeqing took a handful of straw from the hay and spread it on the bottom of the pigpen and chicken coop.
The hollow part on top of the pigpen has been filled with wood to make it airtight, but the smell is quite strong, so we have to clean it from time to time and open the door to let in some air.
The leftovers from the New Year’s Eve dinner are still the same as usual, and it will take two or three days to finish them.
The two used the leftover soup from the pig-killing meal they made yesterday at noon to cook dumplings. The dumplings were also made yesterday, with pork and cabbage fillings or pork and green onion fillings.
While eating dumplings, Zhao Yeqing felt very much that life is so affluent nowadays. Compared with last year's chicken dumplings and fish dumplings, these pork dumplings are obviously much more delicious.
The dish is rich in fat and not dry or tough, and the soup inside is also very delicious.
Zhao Yeqing ate five or six boiled dumplings, then brushed a thin layer of oil on the pot, put the plump dumplings in, added a thin layer of water to the bottom of the pot and covered it with a lid.
The fried dumplings here do not contain starch water. They are just boiled in a thin layer of water and then fried with a thin layer of oil to create a golden brown layer on the bottom of the dumplings.
When the bottom of the dumplings become crispy and they slide gently when you shake the pan, use chopsticks to turn the dumplings upside down one by one and fry the widest back side as well.
When the dumplings come out of the pot, both sides are golden and crispy, and when you bite them open, the soup will overflow.
Zhao Yeqing could only eat fifteen or sixteen of the finger-long dumplings, but Mu Xi could eat more than twenty.
This is the amount they eat after training. They eat more than before. They can eat several more bowls of rice. But when it comes to pasta, no matter how hard they try, they can't eat as much as the northerners.
After eating, Zhao Yeqing took the mustard greens to the yard and hung them to dry in the sun, taking advantage of the good weather.
Cabbage and mustard greens are harvested at the same time, and the mustard greens that have been hit by frost will become sweet.
She kept some of the mustard greens for making sauerkraut, and took most of them out to the yard and hung them one by one on ropes.
This job is relatively suitable for digesting food after a meal. You don't have to bend down to work, and you can finish the work while standing.
Because the mustard greens used to make pickled mustard greens do not need to be washed when drying in the sun. They can be taken out and washed only when the moisture is about 60% to 70% dry.
According to the current weather, it will probably take a few days to dry it before it can be collected.
Mu Xi's voice came from the intercom hanging on his waist, "Your strawberries are ripe. Do you want to pick them or should I pick them for you?"
The walkie-talkie was found in the equipment of the convoy. The two had tested the distance when they were free before, and the farthest distance has not been measured yet. What is known now is that Mu Xi can communicate with her at home when he reaches the lake.
She pressed the intercom button, "I'm coming, I'm coming."
Hang the last mustard green, pick up the empty sack on the ground, and put it back in the tool room for next use.
He went straight around to the backyard, reached in and took down the basket hanging on the wall when passing by the kitchen window, and then walked towards the planting basement.
The temperature inside the planting basement is still nearly 17 or 18 degrees. It is estimated that in a dozen days or so, the temperature inside will gradually drop due to the influence of the ground temperature.
As the weather turns cooler, not only do the strawberries become more sweet, but the entire basement is filled with the aroma of strawberries.
Mu Xi has already thinned out and transplanted the leafy vegetables that were planted some time ago and have sprouted in the past few days.
After Zhao Yeqing cut the ripe and red strawberries one by one, he put them together with the ripe peppers and tomatoes next to them in a basket and handed it to Mu Xi, asking him to take it first.
Then she took out a small brush, which was originally used for makeup. The animal hair brush is very soft, but now it is no longer used, so she uses it to pollinate strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, etc.
Gently brush over the stamens and the yellow pollen will float away. Brushing between the blooming flowers means pollination is successful.
Now that there are no bees for pollination, every flower has to be pollinated artificially in order to bear fruit successfully.
The two moved the original beehive to the mushroom house. Now there are no mushrooms grown in it, so it is a good place for the bees to avoid the cold. They also put a lot of syrup as a source of nectar.
Before the cold winter this year, houses, food, clothes, heating equipment...
The two believed that they had done most of the preparations they could and felt that they would be able to get through the winter safely.
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