Good farming at the foot of Changbai Mountain

Chapter 75 Oatmeal Dumplings

The Xu family spent the New Year at Tao's house, and then lived there until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month before returning to Shenchangzi.Of course, Zhixin went back several days in advance and set fire to all the houses. When the old man and the others returned, the house was already very warm.

Since the school started teaching on the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, Wen Han and the others did not return to the mountain.Of the girls, only Jingya remained in the town. Anyway, Jinghui was almost two months old, so it was easier to play around with, and there was no need for Jinghan and others to help take care of her.Jinghan lived in the town for the past few months and felt uncomfortable all over, so she strongly asked to return to the venue.Both Jing Wan and Jing Xian followed Jing Han, wherever Jing Han went, they would follow.

Mrs. Chen also had other ideas for keeping Jingya in the town. Jingya is already 12 years old, and it seems that she should marry her soon.If he had been living on the mountain, it would have delayed the marriage of the child.So Mrs. Chen left Jingya and asked her to help Huixin see and cook.Otherwise, Huixin would be too busy serving Jinghui and Wenhan brothers.

Back at Shenchangzi, the mountain was still covered with heavy snow. At this time, people from the village were about to come to the mountain to cut down.For the ginseng soil of this mallet, if the old forests that have grown for more than 80 to [-] years, all of them will be cut down at one time, and then they can be used to plant ginseng.And it is the ginseng soil that will be used this year, and it will be cut out this year.If some forests were felled in the past two years, that kind will not work. In the words of Shennong, it is called running away.So every year, the village reports the area of ​​the forest to be used this year, and then goes to the mountains to cut wood in the first month.

The reason for choosing the first month is that the snow in the forest is solid after a whole winter at this time.The trees felled in this way are easier to transport out.The good wood in the forest must be handed over to the yamen, and the rest can be kept by the villagers to make sheds and so on.The ginseng soil of two thousand feet is about a little more than two farms, which is converted into mu, which is about 30 mu, less than [-] mu.Almost every family in the village came to work, and those who had livestock would also bring their livestock so that they could pull logs.

The people in the village have been busy for more than ten days before they cut down all the forests that will be used this year, and then transported the wood outside, near the road.After a few days, the yamen will send someone to take away the wood, basically just sell it.

Naturally, Jing Han and the others were not idle, the forest was cut down, the good wood was taken away, and the poor ones were left to the villagers.But there are also some tree heads and branches, which are good things to light a fire.So the children dragged the small sledge and dragged the firewood every day.Of course Zhixin and his brother wanted to be together. They cut the wood with a saw, put it on the sledge, and let the children drag it back.The ox cart at home can't be used, but it can be replaced with a large sledge, which can hold a lot of wood.The children were too young, and Zhixin didn't dare let them drive the ox and sledge, so the old man drove the sledge every day, pulling firewood back and forth.

In fact, everyone knows that these tree heads and branches are good things for lighting fires, but the villagers did not come to get them, because they are too far away and not worth it.There are forests around the village, just get some as you like, who wants to travel so far to suffer?So only the Xu family is pulling firewood here.

Everyone has been busy for more than ten days, and went to collect firewood after breakfast in the morning.When they came back in the afternoon, Zhixin and Zhiming set up a saw frame outside, and then sawed the firewood they picked up into one and a half feet long and short.The thick ones have to be split open, and then they are piled up when they have time, so that they can be used for fire when they dry out in summer.There are several houses on the mountain, and some firewood has to be sent to Qingnian, so I have to save more to avoid not enough.That industrious family can accumulate several piles of firewood piles alone.

Busy and busy, it will be spring in a blink of an eye.Another year of good spring, the trees on the mountain began to turn green, the grass on the ground also spit out new green, and little yellow flowers bloomed quietly.Jinghan led Jingwan, Wenxuan and the others, and started the days of picking wild vegetables in the mountains again.

This year Wen Han, Wen Cheng, and Jing Ya are not on the mountain, and Jing Han is the oldest. Jing Wan and the others are very convinced of Jing Han, so they are very willing to follow Jing Han up the mountain.

In this season, the wild vegetables on the mountain are very rich, such as big-leaf celery, swallow, mountain spinach, mountain broomcorn, and thorn sticks, etc., all over the mountain.The children don't care what they are, they pick them when they see them, and they are delicious anyway.

"Second Sister, we've picked enough, right? If there's more, we won't be able to carry it." Wenxuan looked at the wild vegetables in the carrying basket, and they were almost at the top.

Jinghan took a look and found that several people had packed a lot in their back baskets, really a lot. "Okay, let's go home. Today I'll ask my grandma if I can make some dumplings." The big leaf celery dumplings are delicious. Jinghan has been greedy for two years, and I don't know if I can eat them this year superior.

When the children came home, Jinghan told Chen Shi that she wanted to eat dumplings.When Mrs. Chen heard this, she clapped her hands and laughed, "Okay, what's the problem? It just so happened that your father went to deliver something to Wen Han and the others today, and bought meat on the way back. Let's make dumplings in the afternoon and eat dumplings in the evening. Speaking of which , I haven’t been able to eat Dayeqin’s dumplings for several years. This food is very fresh, and it’s only available at this time of the year. Come on, let’s pick out the vegetables first and see if the ones you get back are enough to make dumplings of."

Everyone poured out all the vegetables in the back baskets, and then separated them one by one.Yan'er can make steamed buns or dip in sauce, wild spinach can be boiled in soup, broomcorn millet can be eaten hot and dipped in sauce, and celery can be eaten in the most ways. It can be fried or boiled and mixed. Of course, the best is Dumplings are made.At this time, the celery is still very tender, only about half a foot high, and even the leaves can be eaten.After a few days, the leaves will be old and cannot be eaten.

Pick a good dish, it happens to be noon.Mrs. Xue and the others cooked the rice first, then put the big leaf celery in a hot pan, took it out and soaked it in cold water.

After lunch, Mrs. Chen asked Jing Han and the others to go to sleep.It is said that spring is sleepy and autumn is tired. In spring, people love to be sleepy the most.Jing Han also felt that her eyelids were fighting, so she led Jing Wan and Jing Xian back to the back room, laying on the kang and really fell asleep.This sleep was really sound, and when Jinghan and the others woke up, it was already too late.Mrs. Xue has already started chopping stuffing and is preparing to make dumplings in a while.

The scalded big leaf celery was soaked in water, Xue Shi rinsed the big leaf celery with water several times, and then squeezed it into balls.The amount of water should be moderate, not too dry, otherwise there will be no moisture in the dumpling filling, and it will not be fresh if it is too dry.Put the watered vegetable balls on the cutting board and start chopping the stuffing.

The cutting boards in Northeast China are actually called Caiduner, which are cut directly from logs.Generally, basswood is better, the wood is soft, does not like to drop wood slag, and has no peculiar smell.The size of the vegetable pier directly depends on the thickness of the trees. Xu's vegetable pier is very large, so it can chop a lot of stuffing without having to divide it into several pieces.

There are two vegetables in the family, so Mrs. Xue chops vegetables and Mrs. Zhu chops meat. After the sisters-in-law and sisters-in-law clink together, the dumpling stuffing is ready.Mrs. Chen had finished making the noodles a long time ago, and everyone started to work together. It didn't take long for the dumplings to be almost finished.

In the evening, of course, I ate dumplings. Jinghan took a bite of the dumplings, revealing the green vegetable filling inside, and her mouth was full of the special fragrance of celery.Jing Han couldn't help feeling a little emotional in her heart, she has been here for two whole years, and finally she ate the big leaf celery dumplings that she had been thinking about day and night.

"Second sister, this wild vegetable dumpling is really delicious, it's so fragrant." Wen Chang said while eating.

When Chen heard this, she felt a little sad.The life of Xu's family has always been tight, so every year they can only make a meal of dumplings during Chinese New Year or festivals.I haven't eaten this dumpling stuffed with celery for many years.Anyway, I saved some money last year, not only to pay back the famine, but also to have some left over.In addition, Zhixin often went to the mountains to hunt some prey, and sometimes he could sell some money back, so this year's money is quite ample.

"If you are willing to eat it, we will make it every year in the future. After a while, we will make leek stuffing. It is only two catties of meat, and our family can afford it now." Chen looked at the children It tastes delicious, so I said.The children were even more happy when they heard this, and couldn't help cheering.

"Grandma, don't worry, our family's life will get better and better, and it will be better if they don't want to eat dumplings when they see them." Jinghan is full of confidence in the future, and the family members are very diligent, so that's it. Slowly develop, their family will be able to live a good life. "By the way, grandma, shouldn't our family raise two pigs? We picked up a lot of acorns last year, just waiting to feed them. Also, can we raise more big geese this year? This thing Stupid, I can’t climb up to the face of the pond, but I can eat the grass in the horse path. Let’s put the big goose in the ginseng field, so as to save food, and make the grass grow less on the horse path. It can also raise eggs and eat more meat. OK."

"Listen all of you, Jinghan of our family can live a good life, and this is the plan. Okay, I have wanted to catch pigs for a long time, and it happens that the Wu family in our village has little piglets. When Jia Jun came that day, I have already told him that I want two piglets. Maybe they can be delivered in a few days, and then, Jinghan, it will be your job to feed the pigs." Chen said jokingly.

"What's the matter, let's feed it. The second sister is leading us, and we can do all kinds of work. When the pigs are raised, we can kill pigs and eat meat." Wenchang thought of killing pigs and eating pigs. , I felt my saliva flow out.

Wen Chang's appearance made everyone laugh. "Okay, this year we raised pigs, and we kept them for our own family to eat, and we didn't sell any of them, and kept them all to feed you greedy cats.

The family finished eating the dumplings talking and laughing, and the children were a little full, so Chen asked them all to go outside for a walk, and they were not allowed to lie on the kang.So, Jinghan led her younger siblings and went out for a walk.

(End of this chapter)