Chapter 414 Scraping
You can just cut the bamboo outside in the backyard. There are so many bamboos outside now that they need to be cleaned up frequently, otherwise they will grow into the vegetable garden.
I would like to get some ramie to make ropes or paper, but according to the patterns of previous years, the wolves appear near the pine forest where the ramie is grown. I don't know if the wolves will appear there again this year with the presence of the elephants.
Mu Xi walked outside and looked at the width of the drainage ditch. He planned to widen it in the middle section, put pebbles or gravel underneath, and create a small puddle.
This drainage ditch is a main drainage ditch that connects the fish pond and the lotus pond, as well as the small drainage ditches around the grain fields. It is used to divert the water from the rice fields, the rainwater, and the overflow from the two pools, and discharges it directly to the outside, leading to the bottom of the charcoal-burning slope outside.
Because of the frequent rainy seasons later, the ditch has been dug wider and wider. It is now half a meter wide. Mu Xi expanded and widened the middle section so that the papermaking materials can be soaked in it. The water is flowing and relatively clean, and there is no waste of water. It is also much closer than taking it to the stream nearby.
Kill two birds with one stone.
Before preparing the papermaking materials, Zhao Yeqing first took out the wheat seeds to be sown and dried them in the sun. In addition to wheat, some rice had to be planted. The two of them did not eat much, but they still had to feed four dogs, and they had to add a scoop of rice to the pig feed from time to time.
The corn planted last season was harvested as silage and had no fruit, so we have to plant another field of corn this season.
In the second half of the year, because there was not much corn left, most of the chickens at home were fed wheat and rice, so they were thinner than when they were fed corn. In the first few months after the corn was harvested, the chickens ate corn every day, and their skin was covered with yellow chicken fat. They couldn't be too fat either.
It is better to mix various feeds together and feed them in moderation. Feeding corn can also ensure the egg production rate of chickens.
After taking out the seeds from the regular grain field and drying them in the sun, the two men went outside the yard to cut bamboo.
The papermaking cycle is long, and more materials need to be processed. More paper needs to be made at a time to ensure that the paper consumption for one year can be supplied.
Of course, the prerequisite is that both of them can do it successfully.
Mu Xi had never done it. He was older than Zhao Yeqing. There was no such extracurricular activity when he was in school. By the time it was available, he was about to enter junior high school. Older children did not have extracurricular activities.
Two bundles of bamboo were cut down, which should be enough for making paper, and it is also a good time to clear out the overgrown bamboo forest.
Mu Xi still had to go to the forest to get the bark of the mulberry tree. Zhao Yeqing stayed at home to process the cut bamboo and keep an eye on the chickens in the backyard.
This group of chickens have no interest in the fruits and vegetables in the greenhouse in the yard, but whenever they hear the sound of plastic cloth in the yard, they become very excited, knowing that grain or crop seeds are being taken out to dry, and they run to the fence separating the front and back yards, eager to try.
Just like cats and dogs hearing the sound of plastic bags.
Zhao Yeqing moved a small stool to the front yard and sat on it, blocking the chickens' view, while he used a hatchet to process the bamboo.
The bamboo must first be split into long strips two to three fingers wide, and then the outer green skin must be peeled off with a knife to reveal the tender yellow part inside. This part is called "second green" in medicine, also called bamboo rutting, and can treat vomiting.
In the past, Mu Xi would scrape off this layer and collect it. He wanted to collect it, but Zhao Yeqing was afraid that the pulping would fail, so he put aside the bamboo with only the skin scraped off.
This kind of bamboo can be used to make paper.
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