small farmer

Chapter 372 Harvesting and Preserving Gourds
"Hehe, the time for picking gourds is very important. You can't pick them too early, otherwise they will be prone to mold and rot. Therefore, under the condition of ensuring the normal growth of gourds, it is better to pick gourds late than early."

Picking gourds is picked between the cold dew and the frost, just like the song of solar terms, "autumn dew, autumn cold frost", about between October 23th and [-]rd every year. optimal.

"What about Xiaofeng's gourd? Isn't it time already?" Elder Yang asked curiously.

Zhang Feng also turned his ears curiously, ready to listen carefully and learn the knowledge of harvesting and preserving gourds from Mr. Wang.

"Old Yang, are you confused? Of course Xiaofeng's gourds cannot be harvested according to the time mentioned above, but how can we determine its harvest time?"

Finally, Mr. Wang gave a super simple method, that is to observe carefully, as long as the gourd vines or leaves dry naturally, you can pick the fruit at this time.

Gourd vines are very strong, you need to use scissors to cut them, and you need to bring more vines to ensure that the faucet will be trimmed in the future. Then the gourds are blue and white at this time, which is the best time to pick them.

Hearing Mr. Wang's explanation, Zhang Feng suddenly realized that picking gourds has so much care and so many things to pay attention to.

"After the gourd is picked, there are still many points that need to be paid attention to. If it is to be made into a craft gourd, it must be peeled, dried in the shade, and finally created." Wang Laojiang explained these precautions for craft gourds.

Peeling means scraping off the green skin on the outside of the gourd.
Because the freshly picked mature gourd has a layer of skin, which is not as hard as the inner shell, which is almost fleshy and has a lot of water.In order to dry the gourd faster, and for the convenience of subsequent processing and beautiful appearance, the outer skin of the gourd needs to be scraped off before drying.After scraping the skin, in order to avoid the dander sticking to the surface and forming spots when drying, it is best to wash it with water to remove the dander.

"Hehe, if you don't rush to use it and you need to save the seeds, hang the peeled gourds with a rope in a cool, dry and ventilated place at home, avoid direct sunlight, and let them dry for more than half a year." Mr. Wang said. He smiled and continued.

The material of the gourds that are dried in this way is the best.It must be dry and cannot be dried in a humid place, otherwise it is easy to grow mildew.

If you don't keep the seeds, you can saw the mouth of the gourd and take out the flesh and seeds of the gourd, which can dry faster.If the follow-up is to be used as a wide-mouth device, the gourd can be split according to needs, and the flesh and seeds can be hollowed out to dry quickly.

If you are not in a hurry to use it, it is not recommended to open it to dry, which will have a bad effect on the material of the gourd, especially for a wide-mouth gourd that needs a cover. If you cut it before it is dry, it may cause the cover to deform after drying and cannot It's so tightly covered that it can't even go in.

"Grandpa Wang, why not put the gourds in the sun to dry?" Zhang Feng asked curiously. Everyone in the village did this.

"Hehe, of course not. Not only sunlight, but also temperature, humidity, etc. have an impact on the quality of gourds..." Then Mr. Wang began to explain the problems that need to be paid attention to in the preservation of gourds.

Exposure to sunlight has a negative impact on the material of gourds, affecting the quality of artwork and other utensils. It may change the color of gourds in the sun, and even crack them after long-term exposure. However, the sun can dry gourds quickly after all, so we do not pursue extreme quality and When the number of gourds is huge, some people also use the method of drying in the sun.When drying in the sun, if you need to keep the color of the gourds consistent, you must turn the gourds regularly so that each side of the gourds can be evenly exposed to the sun.

Of course, for some special artistic processing needs, the gourds are specially exposed to direct sunlight, and only one side of the gourds is exposed to form different colors or gradient colors.For example, yin-yang gourds are only exposed to the sun on one side, not only can they get different colors, but they can also be dried quickly.

If you need to process a large number of gourds in a hurry, you can also use baking.Saw the mouth of the gourd, hollow out the pulp and seeds, and then place the mouth upwards in the constant temperature baking room, while blowing air from one side to the room and from the other side, the gourd can be dried very quickly. This method is suitable for gourd processing plants.For personal processing, you can use the method of roasting fire or using an oven.Roasting is very particular about temperature and heat, and it is not recommended for ordinary people to use it. Once it is not mastered, it is easy to burn the gourd.

"I see!!"

After listening to the old man's explanation, Zhang Feng finally understood, no wonder his previous gourds were covered with mildew and a little shriveled, they looked ugly, not at all like the craft gourds sold outside. Because of improper picking and storage.

"Xiaofeng, these gourds in your house look really strange. Look at the big ones that are as big as babies, and the small ones are only as small as fists. Why are they so polarized!"

At first, Mr. Wang thought that the gourds had not grown up, but after careful observation, he found that although these gourds were different in size, their appearance color and hardness were similar, so it can be judged that the growth time of these gourds is actually the same. This is very puzzling.

"I don't know..." Zhang Feng shook his head, and he didn't know why his gourds grew so strangely, like two different varieties.

"Isn't that good? There are big ones and small ones, and you can have whatever you want!" The old man said with a smile.

"Hehe, what Lao Liu said is right. There are not many gourds of this size on the market. If they are processed into craft gourds, they are also a good choice to display at home!" Wang Lao looked at the gourds hanging on the vines. Fat Gourd, nodded with a smile.

"If you want me to talk about such a big gourd, it would be even better to hold wine!" Mr. Yang said with a smile.

"You are so rude, you really don't have any artistic talent at all?? Such a good gourd is used to hold wine, it's a waste of money..." Wang Lao shook his head and said disdainfully.

"Why are you reckless again? What's wrong with me using a gourd to hold wine? It's not like you, you pretend to be very educated in one day, but you haven't even graduated from junior high school!" Old Yang snorted coldly, and immediately turned back.

"Hmph, don't you pretend?? If you don't pretend then don't come to me for craft gourds!"

"If you don't want it, who cares if you don't want it!"

…………

Zhang Feng smiled wryly and shook his head, unexpectedly the two old men started bickering again.

"Hehe, don't worry, they have always been like this. They have been arguing since they were seventeen or eighteen years old, and they have been arguing until now..." Mr. Liu watched the two old friends bickering, but felt very warm, as if he had returned to the passion Burning years, back to when we were young.

(End of this chapter)