During the peak season for greenhouse vegetables or when the yield of the vegetable garden is high in summer, some beans, eggplants, and gourds can be cut into slices or shreds and air-dried or dried in a specially built drying shed using the hot air from our hot springs!
Made into dried beans, eggplants, gourd strips! Soak in water, stew meat, make dumplings, very fragrant!
This job requires meticulousness and patience, and is especially suitable for aunties and grannies.
In autumn, we pick mushrooms, wood ears, hazelnuts, pine nuts, and wild fruits unique to our mountains, such as hawthorn and rose hips.
Mushrooms and black fungus are sorted and graded, and those with good appearance are packaged separately.
Hazelnuts and pine nuts are fried to make spiced and original flavors.
You can try to make wild fruits into jam or dry them! These mountain products are rare in the city and will be very popular in the future!
This plan once again broadened the horizons of Wang Shun and others.
"Good! Good idea!" Old Sun was the first to applaud. "Every family can make some pickled vegetables and dried vegetables, but if we make them cleaner, tastier, and more, we will definitely sell them! Mountain products that are carefully selected and fried well are more valuable! This is the right way! Less digestion and more labor-intensive work!"
"Everything is ready!" Grandpa Li pointed at the warehouse. "The two warehouses at the east end have good ventilation and are spacious. We can use them as workshops after we clean them up! Tools are also easy to get. The team has large vats, chopping boards, kitchen knives, dustpans, and sieves. If there are any missing, let Lao Gen lead the carpentry team to get them!"
Wang Dagang also nodded: "Okay! Build the pool for pickling vegetables! Set up the racks for the drying shed! This is a delicate job, let the old ladies do it! They are skillful and work carefully!"
"We have to do this well, so that we can sell it in the future."
"market?"
"The sales process will be divided into several steps," Lu Qingyang had a plan in place. "First, we need to meet our own needs. Changing the taste every day is better than just eating pickles! Once we have achieved a certain scale and quality, we can go to the commune supply and marketing cooperative to see if we can get a number, or... contact the canteens of nearby factories and mines. They also need a stable supply of side dishes!"
"It's safe! Let's do it! This thing will work! It will not only increase the collective income, but also give the elderly and weak members work to do and earn work points, and it will also improve our own meals! Killing two birds with one stone!"
Of course, what Lu Qingyang hopes more is that they can be self-sufficient in the future, and at least make Liuxi a prosperous production team.
Lu Qingyang personally selected two aunties who were quick, clean and experienced, as well as two old grandfathers who were handy but very skillful to be responsible for picking mountain products and watching the cooking.
"Aunt Liu, you will be the leader of our 'Xiangyang Production Team's Agricultural and Sideline Products Processing Group' from now on!"
Aunt Liu was so happy that she patted her chest and promised: "Qingyang, don't worry! I will make sure this stall is clean and tidy, and the food is delicious! Whoever works carefully will be the first to agree!"
On the first day of work, the workshop was bustling with activity, and the first batch of products processed were the cabbages and radishes stored in the cellar.
The aunts and grandmothers sat around a clean chopping board, peeling off the old leaves skillfully, cutting the cabbages in half or half, and cutting the radishes into even strips or slices.
After rinsing with clean water several times, sprinkle with coarse salt and rub to kill the water.
On the other side, Aunt Wang strictly followed the "secret recipe" given by Lu Qingyang, directing her daughter to boil the kimchi mother water, adding salt, a small amount of sugar, ginger slices, garlic cloves, and the "secret spice package" provided by Lu Qingyang.
The killed vegetables are stacked layer by layer into cleaned and disinfected large vats and cement pools, poured with cooled mother water, and pressed with clean large stones.
At the same time, the mountain goods group is also busy.
The dried mushrooms and fungus are carefully picked and graded to remove impurities and those of good quality.
The top-notch ones were carefully packed into a small basket covered with oil paper.
The hazelnuts and pine nuts were under the care of another old man. They were slowly stir-fried with warm sand in a large iron pot. The "five-spice powder" provided by Lu Qingyang was sprinkled on them, and the tempting aroma filled the air.
Lu Qingyang shuttled through the workshop, giving instructions from time to time: "Don't throw away the cabbage stalks, even if they are shredded, they can be pickled with Chinese mustard greens!"
"Peel the radish skin and soak it in soy sauce and spices to make crispy pickled radish skin!"
“The key to frying hazelnuts is the timing. They are almost done when you smell the aroma. Don’t burn them!”
This small processing point is not only for making money, but also for providing these "marginal" workers with a stage to shine and allow them to share the dividends of collective development.
In the capital, mother Ding Panyun also received a letter from her son.
Dong Zhong was very excited, and she quickly told her husband and father-in-law about it.
"Dad! Zhong! What a great news! A huge happy news!" Ding Panyun's voice was panting slightly after the excitement as he unfolded the letter.
Mr. Fang He, who was reading a newspaper, frowned and put down the newspaper: "Pan Yun, why are you so out of control?"
He has been in a bad mood recently because of his second son who is too provincial and makes him feel embarrassed.
Fang Zhong also came out from the inner room upon hearing the noise. Seeing his wife's rare loss of composure, he asked, "Panyun, what's wrong? Did Qingyang send a letter? What happened?"
"Good news! Very good news!" Ding Panyun took a deep breath and tried to calm down, but his voice was still trembling, "Chen Mo... is pregnant! And it's... twins!"
"Twins?!" Fang Zhong was stunned at first, then his eyes widened in surprise, "Really? What Qingyang said in the letter?"
"It's absolutely true! It's clearly written in the letter! Lao Bao is a famous traditional Chinese medicine doctor, no doubt about it!" Ding Panyun nodded, "Our Fang family wants to have two grandchildren with one son!"
"Click!" There was a soft sound.
The newspaper in Mr. Fang's hand fell on the ground.
He stood up from the rocking chair suddenly, his movements were so fast that he looked like a man in his seventies. The gloom of many days faded from his wrinkled face in an instant, his cloudy old eyes widened, and his voice was raised:
"You...what did you say? Twins? The girl from the Shen family is pregnant with twins?"
"Good! Good! Great! God bless the Fang family, our ancestors have shown their power! This is such a great blessing! Hahahaha!"
The old man laughed heartily, all the melancholy he had felt in the past few days gone. His back straightened a little, as if he had grown ten years younger.
He slapped his thigh, paced excitedly in the study room for a few steps, then suddenly stopped and looked at his son and daughter-in-law: "Qingyang, this kid! He is so loud and gave us such a big surprise! Good, well done!"
However, after the ecstasy, the old man stroked his beard, frowned habitually, and said with a complaining tone:
"But... you said Qingyang, why did he have to stay in such a remote place? What? He gave up a good job and a good family in Beijing! If he stayed in the city, how good would the conditions be when the child was born? The doctors and hospitals were all the best! But now, in such a remote and poor place... Alas!"
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