"Is there anything I need to buy?" Lu Chuan asked.
"No, I don't think so! Did you see any prickly pears on your way back? I reckon they should be ripe by now."
"Hmm! They've turned yellow and are ripe. Do you want to pick them?"
"Okay! I'll pick the prickly pears near my house tomorrow! I'll also see if I can pick the walnuts while I'm at it!"
"Okay, if we can pick them, we'll go pick walnuts the day after tomorrow."
After dinner, Lu Chuan continued processing the remaining wild boar, while Xu Han began picking Sichuan peppercorns.
The Sichuan pepper tree is covered with small thorns, which are very prickly. You have to be careful when picking them to avoid getting pricked.
The thorns on the Sichuan pepper tree are very sharp; if you get pricked, you'll definitely bleed.
The next day, Lu Chuan went to the county town to sell wild boar meat, while Xu Han went out to pick prickly pears with a basket on her back.
First, we went to the place where we had found the prickly pear tree before, picked a prickly pear, removed the thorns and seeds, and tasted it. It wasn't very tasty; it wasn't sweet, but rather sour and astringent.
However, prickly pears are particularly rich in vitamin C, which is very beneficial to the human body.
Although it doesn't taste good, we still need to pick more so we can eat it raw to supplement our vitamin C intake during the later drought.
Xu Han put down the basket she was carrying, put on gloves, and began to pick the fruit.
Prickly pear trees come in both tall and short varieties, making them not easy to harvest.
After a while, the picking was finally finished in this area, filling three baskets in total. A good harvest indeed.
Then we continued walking to the next patch of prickly pear trees.
By mid-afternoon, Xu Han had picked all the prickly pears near her home. Now that there wasn't enough time and she couldn't go any further, she had to go home first.
When she got home, it was still early! Xu Han decided to wash the prickly pears first and process all the prickly pears she had picked that day.
After removing the thorns from the prickly pear, put it into a large wooden basin, put on gloves, and prepare to start scrubbing it.
I had just sat down and was about to start washing when Lu Chuan came back.
Seeing that Xu Han was washing things, and it looked like there was quite a lot, I put down my things and went to the backyard to help her wash them.
“I picked all the prickly pears near my house today. Since it’s still early, let’s clean them out. We can slice them or make prickly pear paste after dinner, so they don’t take up space in the storage room,” Xu Han said.
"Okay, let's both wash together, that'll be faster."
"I'll clean the prickly pears first. You're strong, so put the prickly pears into the bag first, but don't fill it too full. Then tie the bag tightly and rub them to remove the thorns. That will make them easier to handle," Xu Han instructed.
"Okay, then I'll rub the thorns." With that, he began to work.
It wasn't until after sunset that the two of them finished washing all the prickly pears.
Xu Han rubbed her lower back and stood up.
"It's a bit too early to have dinner now. Let's make the prickly pear paste first," Xu Han said.
Lu Chuan nodded in agreement. It was indeed a bit early to eat now, so the two of them started making prickly pear paste.
The two of them cut the prickly pear open together, then dug out the seeds inside, and then cut it into smaller pieces, making sure they weren't too big, otherwise it would take too long to cook.
After cutting up a bowl, they stopped. The two of them worked together, and they were still quite fast.
Lu Chuan started cooking the prickly pears, and Xu Han began simmering them. She poured the prickly pears into the pot, then added water and an appropriate amount of rock sugar. She brought it to a boil over high heat, then turned the heat down to low and simmered it slowly.
You need to stir it frequently while cooking, and be careful not to let it burn.
The two ate their dinner while keeping an eye on the pot.
I also chopped up a bowl of prickly pears and started simmering them in another pot. The main goal was to save time.
Once the water in the pot has evaporated and the prickly pear paste has thickened, you can stop heating it.
Let it cool in the pot first, and once it's cooled, just put it directly into a small jar.
There are still many prickly pears that haven't been processed! You can also soak dried prickly pears in water and drink the infusion.
Then the two started slicing the prickly pears, preparing to dry them the next day to make tea.
Remove the stem and bottom of the prickly pear, then start slicing it. Make sure to remove the seeds while slicing.
It wasn't until 10 o'clock that the two of them finished processing all the prickly pears.
All the prickly pears we picked today were processed and made into food. The ones we pick later can be eaten raw or soaked in prickly pear wine.
Xu Han went to the kitchen, put the cooled prickly pears into a jar, and stored them in her space.
There was still a lot of prickly pear paste stuck in the pot, so Xu Han added water to the pot, boiled it, poured it into a bamboo tube, and placed it in her space so she could drink it whenever she wanted.
After they finished, the two of them went to rest.
A good night's sleep...
This morning, the two planned to go to the bamboo forest to cut some bamboo, as they had already used up all the bamboo they had at home.
Lu Chuan planned to weave more bamboo baskets when he had nothing to do in the evenings, so that they would be more convenient for carrying things.
After tidying up the house, the two set off together to cut bamboo.
After arriving at the bamboo forest, Lu Chuan selected several large bamboo stalks, marked them, and then began to cut them down.
Although Xu Han was not strong, she still took a machete and started cutting bamboo.
After the bamboo has been cut, the branches also need to be cut off with a machete, as there is not enough space to fit a whole bamboo stalk, so it needs to be cut into sections.
After cutting down one bamboo, Xu Han stopped cutting and helped process the bamboo that had already been cut.
Don't throw away the cut bamboo branches; they can be dried and used as firewood.
Moreover, the large and small brooms at home are almost worn out, and Lu Chuan will need to make a few more brooms from bamboo branches!
We absolutely cannot lose them; we must take them all home.
An hour later, both of them were panting heavily. Xu Han took out two servings of iced jelly and two glasses of warm water from her spatial storage. They ate and rested at the same time.
After resting for a while, I'll continue chopping. Later, I'll make a bamboo frame to put in the space to display the food.
The shelves inside are now full of food, and there's no place to put rice, steamed buns, and other dishes, so they're just put in baskets and placed on the ground.
They chopped bamboo until noon before heading home. When Xu Han arrived home, she placed the bamboo branches on the open ground outside the courtyard.
Then they went into the yard and found a place to take out the bamboo pole.
Lu Chuan still needs to tidy things up a bit! The tidy bamboo poles need to be put into the woodshed.
There's no firewood left in the woodshed now, and we don't plan to store any more firewood there. This room can also be used to store some commonly used items.
The two had previously agreed to build another woodshed in winter, specifically for storing firewood.
Lu Chuan arranged the bamboo poles, while Xu Han went to tidy up the mugwort that had been piled up in the woodshed. She wanted to organize it so that there would be more space to put the bamboo later.
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