Return to the small mountain village in 1983

Chapter 163 Digging sweet potatoes, sweet potato powder and fern root powder

After the meal, Lin Heng's third uncle and aunt were a little drunk, and they were extremely happy eating.

The food at Lin Heng's house was like a dream to them. The food was so delicious that they drank too much wine without noticing.

After dinner, Mother Lin helped them to the old house to rest.

Lin Heng asked his elder brother, Li Shiwei and others to help move the wood.

"Brother, did you ask dad to go out this morning to get these rotten wood?" Lin Yue asked curiously.

Li Shiwei also looked curious: "There's no such rotten wood anywhere, why do you have to pull it from Shimen Village?"

Lin Heng smiled and said: "Speaking of rotten wood, if you can pick up one section by yourself, I will give you one dollar."

"Is this what you said?" Li Shiwei suddenly became energetic.

Lin Heng nodded: "I said so."

"Then I'll give it a try." Li Baiquan also said with a smile, not for money, but for a bet.

When they got down to the road and saw the cross-section of the wood, surprise appeared on their faces: "This is really no ordinary wood."

Father Lin also smiled and said: "Of course, no one can lift this stick."

After dismantling the rope, Li Shiwei wanted to move the wood down alone, but found that he couldn't move it.

He was shocked: "Holy crap, is this wood so heavy?"

Lin Heng laughed and said: "You rookie, you thought this was ordinary wood. It has been buried underground for thousands of years, and its density is not comparable to that of ordinary wood."

"Is this ebony?" Li Baiquan showed a shocked expression.

"Uncle, you still know about ebony." Lin Heng showed a hint of surprise. The dark wood is also called ebony.

Li Baiquan smiled and said: "I heard that ebony can cure diseases, and it is also very valuable to make bench furniture."

"Stop talking, help move it." Lin Heng smiled, walked over and carried the roots of the ancient red chun back with others.

He moved all these things directly into the house and put them upstairs. He wasn't going to sell it either. He would wait and find time to make the wood into a set of furniture.

The root of the red toon tree is of the highest quality. Depending on the situation, it would be good to make it into a tea tray or root carving.

"How much are these pieces of wood worth?" Uncle Lin Heng asked curiously after the move was completed.

Xiulan, who was holding Xiaoxia next to her, was also full of curiosity. What her husband said about making a fortune in the morning was just these few rotten-looking pieces of wood?

Lin Heng glanced at everyone and said with a smile: "I'll tell you since we're all our own people. Just those few pieces of wood can be sold for four to five hundred, and it will become more and more expensive in the future.

As for that tree root, if the inside is also cut into a blood-red color, its price will not be a problem. It will be even more expensive in a few years. "

"Four to five hundred, thousands!!"

"Oh my god... na!"

Everyone couldn't help but gasped. The price was far beyond their imagination, and their eyes were as wide as bells.

"Really?" Li Shiwei didn't believe it.

Lin Heng nodded: "Of course, you can also keep an eye out for it in the future. If you come across one, buy it. I can find a buyer for you."

"I will definitely look for it when I go back." Li Baiquan said immediately.

Li Shiwei even suggested: "How about we go to the river dam to look for it now?"

"can."

Everyone immediately decided to search in the river.

"You go ahead, I won't go. If you find it, it's yours." Lin Heng smiled.

"Well, don't regret it." Li Shiwei said with a smile.

Anyway, there was nothing to do at noon, so everyone went to Heba together.

Lin Heng took the red dates to the horse pen, added grass to feed them, and went home to help clean the ground.

Then I told my wife that I was going to renovate this home next month, paving it with cement and bluestone slabs, and plastering the outside of the house.

"If you add plaster, it would cost more than two hundred yuan. How about forgetting it." Xiulan felt a little worried about money.

Lin Heng waved his hand and said: "Flowers don't matter at home, otherwise I would be annoyed to death if there was mud everywhere when it rained."

He was used to walking on hardened roads everywhere, but this kind of yellow mud ground was really unbearable. When it rained, five or six kilograms of yellow mud could be stained on his feet, and it was so sticky that he couldn't shake it off.

He couldn't harden it everywhere, but at least he had to harden it in his own home and yard.

"Then it's up to you." Xiulan said with a wink.

Lin Heng looked at his wife and smiled and said, "Let's go to the backyard and you can pick out my ears again."

"Okay." Xiulan wiped her hands and went to get an ear pick and paper.

Lin Heng took his daughter to the backyard. It was cloudy today. It was quite comfortable to stay in the backyard at noon, and there were no annoying mosquitoes.

When Xiaoxia arrived in the yard, she looked at the fish in the pond curiously. The salamander was lying in the hole without coming out, the carp was swimming at the bottom, and the black fish was in the water. From time to time, it attacked some stream groupers, one by one, and suddenly it was very loud. .

Xiongba has enjoyed eating fish for the past two days. He is rubbing Xiaoxia next to him. He is now almost as tall as Xiaoxia and is getting more and more powerful.

However, when Xiaoxia throws a small stick, it will still rush out to pick it up. Even if Xiaoxia pulls its ears, it will not be angry, and it understands its status very well.

Xiulan brought an earpick, and Lin Heng lay on the bench in the pavilion, put his head on her lap, and closed his eyes comfortably.

"It's a lie to pick out your ears, but it's true that you want to sleep on my legs." Xiulan looked at him.

Lin Heng closed his eyes and smiled, rubbing his wife's leg.

Xiulan gently picked out his ears for a while and let him sleep for half an hour. Then she woke him up and lay on his lap to rest.

"Sit down and don't move." Xiulan glanced at him and closed her eyes.

Xiaoxia was playing hide-and-seek with Xiong Ba in the backyard, but Xiong Ba could quickly find her no matter where she was hiding.

Lin Heng leaned on the chair and looked at his wife lying on his lap taking a nap, his daughter and the wolf dog playing in the yard, feeling extremely comfortable and enjoying himself.

At two o'clock, Xiulan opened her eyes and climbed up, looked at Lin Heng and said, "It's uphill. I'm going to dig up the sweet potatoes in the afternoon so I can make sweet potato vermicelli in a few days."

"Then let me help you. Hongfeng Mountain doesn't need me for the time being." Lin Heng said with a smile.

Xiulan glanced at him: "It's not that I don't need it, it's just that you are lazy."

Lin Heng grinned: "How can adult things be called laziness? I'm just worried that you will be tired."

"Then let's go, you have to work hard." Xiulan smiled and rolled her eyes at him.

"Okay, I'll go to Hongfeng Mountain first." Lin Heng nodded and said.

After riding to Hongfeng Mountain, everyone just started working. Lin Heng lit a fire and boiled a pot of water.

Although he doesn’t care about food, he definitely has enough tea.

"Li Shiwei, have you gained anything?" Lin Heng set up the fire, walked over and asked with a smile.

Li Shiwei shook his head helplessly: "I found a small tree root. Your dad found it. We carried it back and put it next to the cement."

"I'll go take a look." Lin Heng was a little surprised that he actually found it.

I ran to the cement and took a look. It was a tree root with a light gray appearance, and the surface texture looked a bit rough. After lifting it, it didn't look big but it weighed more than 100 kilograms. It was undoubtedly dark wood, but there was no way to tell what kind of dark wood it was because the opening was not sawn.

If it were the same beautiful blood red as his red toon gloomy tree root, it would be worth a lot of money.

"Dad, you are very lucky. Maybe this is worth a few hundred yuan." Lin Heng walked over and said.

Father Lin grinned: "I found it in the sand. It was buried and only one corner was left. Maybe I can still find it when the water rises."

After chatting for a while, Lin Heng looked at the progress of everyone's work. He estimated that it would take more than ten days to level the remaining two rows of land.

After looking at it twice, he told his father and left.

When we arrived at the sweet potato field at home, our mother and sister-in-law were already digging sweet potatoes. Xiulan was picking sweet potatoes with gloves on, and Xiaoxia and her nephews were playing games on the edge of the field.

"Mom, give it to me, I'll do it." Lin Heng came over and said.

"Okay." Mother Lin nodded, rarely harming Lin Heng.

There is no skill in digging sweet potatoes. I dig out the roots of the sweet potatoes with a hoe. I dug out five or six sweet potatoes with one hoe, adding up to four or five kilograms. The yield is much higher than that of other crops.

"The yield is pretty good. If you want to plant them next year, just plant them all yellow inside and outside. I'll go buy them. These white potatoes don't taste good." Lin Heng said with a smile.

There are many types of sweet potatoes. The kind they grow is a white potato with a red outer skin and a white inside. It tastes very average.

There are also yellow on the outside and yellow on the inside, which is called inside and outside yellow. This kind is the most delicious, and roasted sweet potatoes also taste the most delicious.

They don’t have purple sweet potatoes that are red on the outside and red on the inside.

Mother Lin nodded: "I told your dad to buy some sweet potato seeds that are yellow inside and outside two years ago, but he refused to sell them because they were too expensive."

"That's okay. I'll buy it next year. The dried sweet potatoes won't taste good either." Lin Heng nodded.

His dad skimps on everything he does, and he knows this only too well.

"The sweet potatoes are good this year. I estimate that the yield per mu can reach 1,500 kilograms, and we can make a lot of flour." Liu Juan said with a smile.

Their family has planted sweet potatoes on more than five acres of land. It is estimated that they can harvest 8,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes, grind them into powder, and feed many pigs.

Compared with sweet potatoes, the yield of wheat and rice is much lower. Lin Heng dug hard, and the harvest made people happy.

Mother Lin and the others have been digging sweet potatoes recently, and the two acres here are the last. In one afternoon, the four of them dug more than half an acre and 800 kilograms of sweet potatoes.

Work stopped at Hongfeng Mountain at six o'clock, and Father Lin and the others came over to help carry sweet potatoes.

Lin Heng and Xiulan's original bedroom in the old house is now filled with sweet potatoes. The joy of the harvest makes everyone grin from ear to ear.

"But when I think that so many sweet potatoes are not as good as the few rotten logs you picked up, Lin Heng, I really don't want to talk." Lin Yue shook his head and said with a smile.

Lin Heng smiled and said: "Brother, my wood has been underground for thousands of years, and it is not ordinary wood. But you really can't make much money from growing crops."

Father Lin shook his head and sighed: "Lin Heng, the gloomy tree I picked up should be moved back with you later."

"Okay." Lin Heng didn't refuse. He could just drive it out and sell it to his father for the money.

In the evening, the eldest brother Lin Yue called his third uncle and third aunt to have a meal, and Lin Heng and others naturally followed.

Early the next morning, the two said goodbye and left. Father Lin and others gave them some meat and dried fish to take back.

The two of them had a very happy time here. When they left, they held the hands of Lin Heng and others and repeatedly asked them to go over and play when they had time.

After they left, Father Lin shook his head and said, "Hey, it's not easy for them either. That son and daughter-in-law are not filial."

"Go back." Lin Heng smiled. Ninety percent of people in this world have a hard time.

He just wants to lead his family to rise now, and others are not in the mood to help yet.

The sun was quite bright today. Father Lin and the others continued to go to Hongfeng Mountain to help, while Lin Heng ran to dig sweet potatoes with Xiulan and the others.

After digging for a day, there was still half an acre left to dig, so we dug again all morning on November 3rd.

In the afternoon, Mother Lin and others started washing sweet potatoes and preparing to make sweet potato flour.

Pour the sweet potatoes into a large wooden basin, fill it with water, and pound the bamboo roots vigorously. The small raised roots on the bamboo roots can easily remove the mud. The sweet potatoes will only have skin damage at most.

After pounding once, check out the sweet potatoes and pound again in a new wooden basin. Generally, they will be completely clean.

After the sweet potatoes are washed, they are ground by hand, using the same grinding board used to grind konjac.

This kind of grinding plate is usually made of small holes nailed on the iron plate with iron nails. Use sweet potatoes to protrude on the small holes. The rough side can be ground into powder.

After washing the sweet potatoes, Xiulan and the others began to grind them slowly, grinding them into puree, adding water to wash the pulp, and then filtering it with a cloth bag to obtain a slurry containing sweet potato starch. After precipitation, sweet potato powder was obtained.

However, in general, in order to ensure the purity of sweet potato flour, the sweet potato flour will be blended into water and washed twice, and then precipitated to obtain sweet potato essence powder.

Because there are no machines and it is too troublesome to transport several kilograms of sweet potatoes to the town, they make them all themselves here.

Generally, it takes nearly a month to grind sweet potato flour in this way to finish grinding several kilograms of sweet potatoes. One hundred pounds of sweet potatoes can yield ten to fifteen pounds of sweet potato starch.

The remaining sweet potato residue is cooked and fed to the pigs to fatten the pigs at home before the Chinese New Year.

Lin Heng had no choice. Murakami didn't have electricity and couldn't buy machines and couldn't use them. He could only take his time. This was the case in every household.

But fortunately, it’s not particularly tiring, and it’s good to take your time.

"Xiulan, I want to dig up some fern root powder and make some fern root powder to eat." Lin Heng looked at his wife and said.

Cold fern root powder is one of his favorite delicacies, it tastes so good.

Xiulan nodded and said, "Okay, you can go dig it and make vermicelli together."

There is basically no farm work during this period. Wheat and rapeseed have been planted. All that can be done is odd jobs. The family also has free time to prepare various food.

"Okay, then I'll go digging in the next two days. There are fern roots on the side of Hongfeng Mountain." Lin Heng nodded.

Early the next morning, when he went to work in Hongfeng Mountain, Lin Heng picked up a hoe and dug out fern roots.

Life is moving forward steadily, the weather is cloudy and sunny, and it has not rained for several days. The dried fish at home has been almost dried.

The sausage was also dried, and Xiulan fried some for Lin Heng to eat. This kind of sun-dried sausage was full of meat flavor and chewy. The more you chewed, the more fragrant it became, which made people want to stop eating it.

As time goes by, the autumn wind becomes more and more bleak, and the leaves become more and more yellow. Finally, they cannot bear it and fall off one after another. Even the strong cotinus and red maple are not immune.

The ginkgo in the center of the village also completely fell off in the cold wind overnight, and thousands of square meters nearby were covered in a golden color.

It was like a golden carpet, causing many children to pick it up and scatter it everywhere. Lin Heng also picked some and made them into a ginkgo bouquet and gave them to Xiulan. The flowers made of golden ginkgo were deeply loved by her, and they were dried and placed in front of the bedroom window.

At noon on November 11th, Lin Heng returned home with a basket of fern roots. He estimated that he had dug two to three hundred kilograms of fern roots in the past ten days.

"Honey, how much powder do you think this can make?" Lin Heng asked, pointing to the piles of ferns in the house. He and his wife lived a very comfortable and warm life.

"This thing is not as good as sweet potatoes. I estimate that fifteen or six pounds can produce one pound of flour." Xiulan thought for a while and said.

"Then I have about three hundred kilograms of fern roots to produce twenty kilograms of powder. That's all if I don't dig it." Lin Heng gave up. More than twenty kilograms is enough.

Xiulan blinked and said with a smile: "Then don't do it, wash your hands and eat. I made stir-fried bacon with toon in the morning, and I just finished the last bit of toon."

"Okay, I just said it smells so good, it turns out it's fried bacon with Chinese toon." Lin Heng suddenly became interested, washed his hands and went to scoop up the rice.

Stir-fried bacon with Chinese toon is also one of the best side dishes. Eat it with rice, not to mention how delicious it is.

The family of three was having a great time eating, when suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Lin Heng stood up curiously, carried his rice bowl and walked out.

　My headache got better in the afternoon, but I still managed to finish a chapter. Everyone should pay attention to their health recently. There are many infectious diseases during this period.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)