Good farming at the foot of Changbai Mountain

Chapter 19 Mid-Autumn Festival
Mrs. Xue and the others put all the brushed ginseng into a big basin, and stacked them layer by layer. When the big basin was full, they stopped putting it in.Fill the pot with water, put the big pot on the pot curtain, and put less water in the big pot.Afterwards, cover the whole pot with cowhide, tie it tightly with a rope, and burn the fire under the pot until the water boils, and then burn for another hour and a half before stopping the fire.

Ginseng was steaming in the pot, Mrs. Xue and the others were still brushing the ginseng non-stop. The ginseng in this big pot was about fifty catties, and these at home had to be steamed four times in total. "Mom, let's steam a pot today, and another pot tomorrow morning. This way the kang is not so hot, and it's time to cook later. The children have been on the mountain all day, and they don't want to be like hungry wolves. "

Mrs. Chen nodded, "Okay, we didn't get that many out today, we'll do some more tonight, and we'll make a pot tomorrow morning. Find out all the forks in a while, and put the sticks out of the pot as soon as possible." Go up, or it will rot easily."

The fork, as the locals call it, is a sieve for drying things.A rectangular frame made of wood, with two small wooden squares at the bottom, and then a stick of wormwood on the small wooden squares, this is the fork.Because the bottom is made of artemisia poles, it is ventilated, so it is better to dry things, and it is generally used to dry ginseng.

Mrs. Xue went to the barn to find the forks. The Xu family had a lot of forks. When Zhixin was free, he would make some and keep them for easy use.He carried the fork to the door and left it there.

It was already the end of Shen Shi, so Mrs. Chen asked Mrs. Xue to cook, while she led Jingya and Huixin to continue brushing ginseng.After a while, Chen felt that the time was almost up, so he turned off the fire at the bottom of the steaming ginseng pot.The cowhide on the top of the pot was bulging with heat, and when the fire was stopped, it slowly shrank.Seeing that the cowhide had shrunk, Mrs. Chen untied the rope, and then pulled the cowhide aside to reveal the ginseng inside.

The steamed ginseng becomes a yellowish color, and when it is dried, it will turn red.Of course, that kind of red is not bright red, but a dark red with a bit of orange.The ginseng just out of the pan is still very hot, and it takes a while to put it on the fork.Mrs. Chen brought the fork into the house and put it on the pot table, so it was more convenient to put ginseng on the fork.When placing ginseng, one by one, the ginseng in the lower row presses the ginseng in the upper row, and a fork can be placed about five times.

A large pot of ginseng was finished with three forks. Jingya helped grandma carry the ginseng forks outside.There is a special shelf outside, and the fork is placed on the shelf.At night, the forks have to be stacked up and covered with something to prevent dew from falling.

The big pot of ginseng is ready, and Xue's side has also prepared the rice.Everyone tidy up and take a break to eat.At this time, Wen Han led Wen Cheng and the others back.This afternoon, they still carried the pine cones back twice, and they all landed on the ground outside.Zhixin and the old man also came back from Shendi, and everyone washed their hands before eating.

"Santu will be finished in another three to five days, so don't worry if you're in a rush. Zhixin, you can go get something with Wenhan and the others at home. At this time, it's worth grabbing a little more. It's all money. "The old man is arranging work while eating.

Zhixin nodded, things in autumn are very valuable, so it would be good to get some more money.There are too many places to spend money at home, and earning more can make you more comfortable.The children are working hard to get things home, but after all they are still a little small and their strength is limited.

It took more than two days for the ginseng at home to be brushed and finished. All of them were steamed and dried outside.It is the season of crisp autumn, so the ginseng dries quickly.

This day happened to be the Mid-Autumn Festival, and in the morning Chen gave Wen Han and Wen Cheng money and asked them to go to the town to buy some meat and come back.You have to eat dumplings this holiday, don't you?At the beginning of Sishi, the fourth son Zhide came back with his daughter-in-law, Han Shi, and their children. Seeing that the family was busy, Zhide also wanted to help.

"Okay, let's take a rest, this work is almost done, you don't need to reach out anymore. It's rare to come back, and have a good chat with your father." Chen didn't let his son help.

Zhide had no choice but to go into the house to find the old man.Han's was still the same as before, dressed cleanly and beautifully, and only cared about coaxing the children, and didn't reach out for anything else.

At Sishizhong, Zhiming also came back with his wife and children, Mrs. Zhu was still the same, helping with work when she came back, Jing Wan and Jing Xian also came to help.Looking at the two granddaughters, Mrs. Chen was very happy, "Jing Wan, Jing Xian, stop meddling, go and play with Jing Han, Jing Han didn't go up the mountain today."

Jing Wan and Jing Xian dried their hands, ran to Jing Han's room, and went to find Jing Han.But there was no sign of Jinghan in the house, so she went out to look around, and finally found Jinghan in the garden.

It was rare for Jinghan to spend a day at home, she was restless, so she ran to the garden to pull out the mustard greens.At this time, the mustard greens are growing very well. If you don’t pull them out, you are afraid that one day it will be frosty and it will be bad if it freezes.Today I want to make dumplings, and the dumplings made with mustard greens are very delicious, so Jinghan volunteered to pick the vegetables.

Jing Wan led Jing Xian to find Jing Han, and the three of them worked together.The Xu family planted four rows of mustard greens this year, and they pulled out all of them in a short while.Jinghan went back and took two kitchen knives to cut the tops of the mustard greens.Of the tassels that have been peeled off, one part is reserved for making dumplings, and the rest is reserved for pickled vegetables.This mustard mustard is pickled with pickles, and it is very good to stew potatoes or tofu in winter.

"Sister Jinghan, your hands are really strong, you chopped off the mustard tassels in one fell swoop." Jingxian said enviously while watching the two sisters work.

"What's the matter, when you're older, I promise to be the same as me. Our Jingxian is also very capable, isn't it?" Jinghan still likes these two younger sisters, mainly because they don't have any urbanites at all. Shelf, every time I come back, I can play with myself.Unlike the two children of the fourth uncle's family, they feel a little out of place with this family. "Come back this time and stay for a few more days. It's fun to be on the mountain at this time. Tomorrow I will let you go up the mountain to pick mushrooms and walnuts."

"Ask my father and mother later, we also want to stay at home for a while, but I don't know if they will let us." Jing Wan said while working.

After working for a while, the three of them chopped out the mustard tassels used to make dumplings today.Jinghan found a basket, put the vegetables in the basket, and carried the basket back to the front yard with Jingwan.

When Mrs. Chen saw that they had brought back the dishes, she said happily, "It's still the granddaughter who can do the job. I've made all the dishes right now. Let's make dumplings at noon today, and we will have a reunion dinner together. Jinghan, You and Jingwan pick out the vegetables, and don’t want the old stems, keep the pickled vegetables, only the tender ones.”

Jing Han agreed, and then she and Jing Wan started to choose vegetables.They broke off the old ones on the outside, leaving only the tender ones in the middle. There are a lot of these dishes, and that's enough.

After picking out the vegetables, Mrs. Chen went to boil the water. The mustard mustard must be scalded with boiling water to make dumplings, otherwise it will have the spicy smell of mustard, which is not delicious.After the dishes were cooked, it happened that Wen Han and the others came back from buying meat, so Mrs. Zhu chopped vegetables, Mrs. Chen chopped up meat, and started busy making dumplings.

There are too many people today, so the dumplings can't be filled too little. Xue Shi, Jing Ya and the others just finished brushing the remaining ginseng.I washed my hands again, and then everyone made dumplings together.

There is a big board at home, Zhu Shi and Xue Shi roll out cakes, and Chen Shi leads Hui Xin, Jing Ya, Jing Han to make dumplings.Han still didn't move, just hugged Jinghe and watched from the side.Mrs. Chen is not annoyed either, she has long been used to it, among the four daughters-in-law, counting the eldest and the third daughter-in-law don't worry, the second daughter-in-law is the laziest, and the fourth daughter-in-law looks down on this crop yard.

The women are making dumplings here, while the men are chatting with the old man in another room. "Father, this year's sticks look pretty good. I saw them just now, and they're not too small. Don't sell them all to those dealers this year. I told the manager of the pharmacy to keep our sticks this year. The price is still high." It can be higher." Zhiming came back rarely, and was very happy to see the harvest at home.

"Success, since you said that, that's good. If you sell more money, we will be more affluent. This year your fifth brother went to take part in Qiuwei, and I don't know how he did in the exam? Although our family is poor, we have also confessed two A scholar here, it would be great if Zhixiang could come back from the exam this time. By the way, Zhide, you didn't try this year?" The old man smoked a cigarette and squinted at his fourth son.

"Father, I'm getting older, and I have children and family burdens, so I won't take the exam. It's too expensive. Besides, I may not be able to pass the exam. Why waste all that money? I think the fifth child will come back this time. Find a school to sit in, and earn some money every year." Zhide is not optimistic about the fifth brother, thinking that he may not be able to pass the exam, so he might as well find a way to earn some money.

"The fifth brother is willing to take the exam, so let him take the exam. This is a major event in his life, and he can't leave any regrets. By the way, dad, you take this money first, and save it for the fifth brother. I can earn it now." That's a lot." Zhiming took out ten taels of silver and gave it to the old man.

"Hey, if you have money, save it yourself. The family can't help you. It's not easy for you in the county. Save more money. Jing Wan and the others are getting older, and they have to prepare dowry for the children. The family Fortunately, it's not that difficult." The old man didn't want Zhiming's money.

Zhiming still insisted on stuffing the money into the hands of the old man, "Father, we can take out the money, you keep it, and the younger sister is not married yet, so the place to spend the money is right in front of us. We Jingwan are still young, so we don't need to Then prepare the dowry early."

(End of this chapter)