Reborn under the White Mountain

Chapter 271 Starting with Ginseng

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the crops in the field were almost harvested. Yun Song asked to save the rations of these people in the family, and then left [-] catties of grain in the granary, and the rest was sent to the winery.Several large warehouses have been built over the winery today, just to store food.

After the grain is harvested, it's time to start medicinal materials such as ginseng and Gastrodia elata.This year's ginseng is still not much, only ten feet.Yun Song took Junwei, Fang Shi, and Yuxian to Shendi together, and Liu Yuehan insisted on following, so Yuxian found a set of old clothes for her to change into.

When they arrived at the ginseng field, several people took sickles and cut off all the leaves of ginseng and piled them aside.This ginseng leaf is also a good thing. Washing your hair with water boiled with ginseng leaves will make your hair soft and smooth.Yuxian wanted to tie up all the ginseng leaves to dry in the shade and save them for later use.Yun Song took a handful of three-toothed ginseng, and began to plan the ginseng according to the stubble where the ginseng leaves had been cut.Picking up ginseng is a technical job, if not done well, the three-toothed teeth will stick to the ginseng, and you will be blind.

Yun Song held the three-toothed handle with both hands, and dug into the ground vigorously, then brought the piece of soil up together, and buckled it aside.Yuxian and her mother stepped forward and broke the soil, revealing the ginseng inside.Fang was very happy to see that the ginseng had grown bigger than last year's. "Yuxian, look, this year's ginseng seems to be much bigger than last year's."

Yuxian looked at it, and it was really good, the big one was about to sink. "Mother, it's all thanks to deer dung and soybeans. I didn't dare to make deer dung in the first two years, but now it seems that it's really good."

The Tong family raised a lot of deer. When planting ginseng, Yu Xian asked Yun Song to use fermented deer dung and bean cake residue in the field.This ginseng cannot use pig manure, chicken manure, etc. If it is used, it will directly burn the ginseng to death.But deer dung can be used. In the previous life, there was a factory specializing in the production of ginseng fertilizer, and the main ingredient used was deer dung.Yuxian suddenly remembered this once, so she asked Yun Song to try it too, but the effect was not bad.

This job of picking ginseng is not easy to do, you can't bend over or squat, and you will get tired after a long time, so it is best to kneel on the soil, so Fang and the others are all wearing old clothes. Soil doesn't bother me anymore.While picking up ginseng, Fang said, "Just say that this ginseng is valuable, but you kneel down to it all year round. If it is worthless, it will really die unjustly. Fortunately, the shed above has been withdrawn, otherwise you Dad is not working well."

Yuxian couldn't help laughing after hearing what her mother said.Isn't it?This kind of ginseng planting is really a matter of kneeling down to it all year round.There is a shed above, and I can't do work standing up, or squatting, but kneeling is easy to use.Pulling the weeds, loosening the soil, pinching ginseng flowers, and pinching ginseng seeds, everything needs to be done on knees, even for ginseng now.So this ginseng farming is really bitter and tiring.

Liu Yuehan had never seen people working like this before, she only heard about the hard work of the farmers, but now she saw it with her own eyes. "Recently at my aunt's house, Yuehan finally saw the hard work of the farmers. It was really not easy. We used to pick this and that, but we don't dare anymore."

Yuxian laughed when she heard this, "Sister Yuehan, where is this? A few years ago, when our family was plowing and harvesting in the spring and autumn, we were so tired that we didn't want to eat when we went home. We wished we could just fall asleep. Now at home There are a lot of servants and long-term workers, and it is already much stronger. This means that there are few ginseng plants, and we are not too tired." Yuxian's hands were not idle, and she kept picking ginseng from the soil .

Ten feet of ginseng took a day to finish.Yun Song took a four-toothed planer to plan again, and picked out the ginseng beards that fell from the soil. It was all money.A total of two hundred catties of fresh ginseng were picked up and filled into three sacks.Yun Song, Jun Wei and Li Qiu each carried a bag, Fang and the children followed, and everyone walked home.

When she got home, Yuxian picked out some large ginseng and kept them, and put the remaining ginseng into a jar and soaked it in water.The next morning, the mother and the others led the girls together and started brushing ginseng.

Take the ginseng out of the tank, put it in a basin, put some water in the basin, and then use a brush to clean all the soil on the ginseng.At this time, you have to pay attention, don't break those beards.After the brushed ginseng is rinsed with water, it can be steamed in a pot.

This ginseng can't be kept fresh for long, it has to be processed and dried.You can directly dry the brushed ginseng, which is called raw sun, also called white ginseng.The other is to steam the ginseng in a pot for an hour and a half, take it out, and let it dry outside.When ginseng dries, it will turn red, which is called red ginseng.The tonic power of red ginseng is better than that of white ginseng, so Yuxian will make red ginseng this time.

Put the brushed ginseng in the big copper basin, and stack it layer by layer.Then pour some water into the basin, not too much.Pour water into the pot too, there needs to be more water, or else the pot won’t dry up after an hour?Put a pot curtain in the pot, put a large copper basin on the pot curtain, then cover the pot with a whole piece of cowhide, and tie it tightly with a rope, so as to ensure that there will be no air leakage.Add firewood to the bottom of the pot, boil the water for an hour and a half, and then slowly stop the fire.

After the fire stopped, the cowhide gradually became less bulging, and then the rope was untied, and the cowhide was lifted to reveal the ginseng inside.At this time, the ginseng has been steamed, and the color has turned into a slightly reddish yellow.When the ginseng is slightly cooler, put it on a fork and let it dry outside.A fork is a kind of wooden frame with a bottom made of wormwood poles, which is specially used for drying ginseng and gastrodia elata. The bottom is breathable and easier to dry.

When all the ginseng is put on the fork, there will be some yellow soup in the big copper basin. Add some sugar to these things, boil them vigorously on the fire, and finally it will become a reddish-brown paste, which is called mallet ointment.This thing is used to treat some sores, boils, etc. It is very useful. It can also be used to wash the face or hands, and it will make the skin particularly smooth.

Steamed ginseng will take about five or six days to dry. Yuxian prefers to eat half-dried ginseng, especially the big ginseng that has been dried for more than three days, also called dingxu.Every now and then, three or five sticks would be broken off and stuffed secretly for Yue Han.It tastes sweet, with a unique bitter taste of ginseng, which is very delicious. "Sister Yuehan, hurry up and eat this thing. It's not often available. It's only available for a few days every year. It won't be so delicious when it's all dry. The most inedible thing about this ginseng is the reed head. After eating It can cause nosebleeds, and it is generally only used when dispensing medicine."

Yue Han held two big ginseng whiskers and was reluctant to eat them, "Yuxian, this thing is worth a lot of money, so you just give it to me?"

"Hey, what's the matter? After two years, there will be more and more ginseng in my family, and you won't care about it by then." Yuxian smiled. Some people in the previous life would plant hundreds of feet of ginseng. Qianzhang, it is really not rare to eat.

The ginseng is ready, Yun Song is not idle, and Gastrodia elata should also be started.The Tong family has already done this easily, and it doesn't take too much effort, the girls can do it.Fang Shi is also a person who can't stay idle, and led these people to pick and cook Gastrodia elata again.Yuxian asked Yun Song to keep a lot of fresh Gastrodia this year, and put them in boxes and bury them with soil. She wanted to transport the fresh Gastrodia to the capital, so that her restaurant could have several more dishes.Shredded Gastrodia elata, scrambled eggs with Gastrodia elata, stewed black-bone chicken with Gastrodia elata are all good medicinal meals.

There are also those large ginseng left over, which are also buried with soil and can be preserved for a period of time.This can also be used for cooking when delivered to the capital.Yuxian feels that the ginseng production at home is still a little low, and it will be much better after next year.

When Gastrodia elata is all processed, it's time to plant ginseng and Gastrodia elata.To plant ginseng, it is necessary to pull out the ginseng seeds from the ground, and then pick out several pieces according to their size.When planting, it is also necessary to plant according to the size, one by one.Some ginseng seeds have broken their beards or reed heads during the process of growing them, so they cannot be taken.There are also red spots on them, which are called water rust, and this kind cannot be planted, because the red spots will grow bigger and bigger.Ginseng with rust will turn black when steamed, affecting the quality of ginseng.Even if it is dropped while it is fresh, there will be white skin and other phenomena, so try not to plant that kind.Even if the seeds are picked clean, there will be water rust in some places due to the soil quality, which cannot be completely controlled.

When picking ginseng seeds, you need to get some corn husks and soak them in water. After you pick a handful, use the corn husks to split a small bunch and tie the ginseng seeds, which is easy to store.When it’s time to plant ginseng, just roll down the corn husks. Even if you forget to throw away the corn husks, it’s okay, it will rot.Other things are not good, they are not easy to rot, and the ginseng will be strangled.

Jun Wei has been studying for many years, but he has not planted ginseng too much. This year, when he has time, he went to the ground with Yun Song to plant ginseng together.Tong's family didn't have many ginseng seeds this year, and they could grow more than ten feet, so there was no need for people to do it. Yun Song led Jun Wei to do it.

The ginseng soil was dug by the long-term laborer at home, and the loose ginseng soil was turned up with a shovel to form a sharp ridge.Before planting ginseng, use a three-toothed columbine to flatten the soil.Yunsong and Junwei held Zhizi, which was made of wood, about four feet long, with two small wooden squares six inches long at both ends, and a square wooden plate in the middle.The small wooden squares at both ends are used to measure the distance. The row spacing for planting ginseng is six inches, and the square plate is used to put ginseng seeds.

(End of this chapter)