After breakfast, Lu Chuan and Xu Han went out with their baskets on their backs. The weather was hot, and the bracken fern was coming out earlier than in previous years, so the two of them took advantage of the day to pick some bracken fern.
I didn't have time to do these things last year, so I definitely can't miss them this year.
Upon reaching a small hillside, Xu Han was greeted by an endless expanse of ferns, which made her eyes light up.
Thinking to myself, this is absolutely fantastic! Today I'll finally get to experience what it's like to pick bracken.
The two put down their baskets and got to work, pinching each other one by one, which was very stress-relieving and they couldn't stop.
In no time, her arms were full. Because the roots of the ferns that she had picked were easy to get old, Xu Han put them directly into her space and continued picking.
Pinching this is so addictive, I just can't stop.
Lu Chuan said he was hungry and wanted to eat first before continuing. Xu Han reluctantly stopped, took out food from her spatial storage, and the two found an open space to sit down and eat.
After lunch, I rested for a bit and then continued picking bracken.
Xu Han and Lu Chuan didn't start walking home until after the sun had set.
When I got home, I first poured the bracken I picked today into a large wooden basin, added a little salt, and let it soak. I'll process it after dinner.
Then Xu Han went to the kitchen to start making dinner. It had been a long time since she had sauerkraut fish. Xu Han took out the processed fish slices from her space and started making sauerkraut fish.
Many of the dishes are readily available, making them easy and quick to prepare.
With the addition of homemade pickled cabbage, the pickled cabbage fish I made today tasted especially delicious.
Once the sauerkraut fish is ready, serve it with rice for a delicious dinner.
After finishing their meal, the two went to the backyard to wash the bracken they had picked earlier that day.
Put it in water and rub it slightly to wash off the surface fuzz, then rinse it several times in clean water.
Lu Chuan stayed in the backyard, lighting torches to wash the bracken, while Xu Han went to the front yard to boil water in the large iron pot in the yard, so she could blanch the bracken later.
After the water boils, put the cleaned bracken into a large iron pot and blanch it over high heat. After about six or seven minutes, it can be taken out.
They are scooped directly into a large water vat filled with cool water and soaked overnight. They can then be taken out and dried the next morning.
It took several blanching sessions to finally finish processing all the bracken for today.
After washing up, the two went to rest and slept soundly through the night...
The next morning, as soon as Lu Chuan and Xu Han got up, they took out the bracken that had been soaking in water the day before and then rinsed it clean with water.
Simply rinse the bracken and spread it out to dry in a leaky bamboo tray.
After finishing everything, the two ate breakfast and then went out again.
Today's target is still bracken fern. Now is the perfect time to eat it. If we don't get more this year, we probably won't be able to eat it for the next two or three years.
So Xu Han and Lu Chuan put all their effort into picking bracken fern, trying to save as much as possible during this time.
The two argued until after sunset in the afternoon before getting up to go home.
After returning home, I first brought the bracken that I had dried in the morning into the house, and then continued to soak the bracken, repeating the process from yesterday.
For four consecutive days, Xu Han and Lu Chuan picked bracken ferns near their home, and only stopped after they had picked all the bracken ferns in the vicinity.
By the fifth day, the yard was full of ferns drying in the sun.
I won't be digging for wild vegetables today. Instead, I'll take advantage of this free time to cultivate the seeds for the vegetables I need to plant in a while.
This year's vegetable seeds were all saved by Xu Han herself last year, so there's no need to buy any.
There are quite a few varieties. Xu Han saved a lot of vegetable seeds, including the vegetable seeds for the disaster relief.
First, scatter the vegetable seeds that were soaked overnight, sort them, and then cover them with a thin layer of fine soil. Finally, cover them with an oilcloth to keep them warm.
Although the weather is relatively warm this year, it can still get a bit chilly at night. Covering the seeds with an oilcloth can better ensure their germination rate.
After finishing everything, the two went to the backyard to till the soil.
Taking advantage of the perfect temperature, the two cleared out the entire vegetable garden in the backyard. This temperature was ideal for growing vegetables and they were less likely to attract pests.
After tilling the soil, simply scatter the vegetable seeds on it, cover them with soil, water them, and wait for them to germinate.
After planting the vegetables, the two went to cultivate sweet potato seedlings in the wasteland outside.
Sweet potatoes are relatively drought-resistant, so you'll almost always get a harvest eventually.
So it's better to have more varieties, at least to supplement the income of the dogs at home.
After cultivating the sweet potato seedlings, it was lunchtime. Xu Han took out food from her spatial storage, and the two of them ate right there in the yard.
Enjoying lunch while basking in the sun is a particularly pleasant experience.
After lunch, Xu Han and Lu Chuan went to the wasteland to plant vegetables.
This time I planted fast-growing bok choy. With enough water and fertilizer, it grew very quickly and can be eaten in about 20 days.
We can plant sweet potatoes right after we pull up the vegetables!
The two turned over the land reserved for planting sweet potatoes. They definitely wouldn't be able to finish planting them this afternoon, since there were several acres to go!
It will take quite a while to plant them all! So I decided not to rush and started doing it slowly.
The wasteland was very close to their home, and Xu Han and Lu Chuan didn't start heading home until it was almost dark.
Once home, Xu Han took out the braised beef she had made some time ago from her spatial storage, sliced it into thin pieces, and placed it on a plate for later use.
Then I started rolling out noodles. Today I plan to make a vegetable noodle dish, topped with a poached egg and braised beef. It's refreshing and delicious.
While eating, Xu Han said, "The vegetables outside should be planted by tomorrow. It's simple, easy to grow, and doesn't take much effort. After that, let's plant potatoes in the remaining land!"
"Okay, let's plant potatoes then! Should we plant some scallion sprouts? I think the scallions we saved before are sprouting quite well now that the weather is warmer," Lu Chuan asked.
“That works too, let’s plant them together tomorrow! We can plant the potatoes later. The wild garlic in the valley is growing really well, let’s take some time to dig some up and pickle it. We only got a little bit last year, and I thought it was pretty good, so let’s get some more this year!” Xu Han replied.
"Okay, let's focus on digging up wild vegetables first, we can't forget about those."
After everything was settled, the two of them took advantage of the fact that they could still gather food on the mountain and started their hamster-like food hoarding mode again.
There's still a long way to go! We need to prepare more, especially since we've added two more people; the previous amount definitely won't be enough.
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