The daily farming life of the black-bellied young lady

Chapter 43

When Chu Ying returned home, she picked up an ax to chop firewood. There was still one-third of the firewood in the reed house. She wanted to build a fence to enclose her yard first. Insert a ruler and insert it obliquely.You can also sow elm pods or jujubes, and mix them up when they grow to the height of a person.

In this way, after a few years of plant growth, the plants will be tightly packed and staggered, looking like dragons and snakes crouching, birds and beasts galloping, and some ingenious people can make various styles of tea tables along the growth. But Chu Ying didn't have the time to wait for the fence to grow, so she could only surround it with logs one by one.

Chu Ying sharpened one end of the cut branch, inserted it into the soil, and tapped it with the other side of the axe, so that the branch could be inserted deeper.Although the snow has melted, the cold wind is still biting.

Chu Ying moved the branches to the kitchen and cut them first, then piled them outside the door. After cutting almost the branches, Chu Ying came out and inserted them into the soil one by one, because the garden had grown ginger, garlic, mustard and leeks, and the place was a bit big. And in the future, there will be more space for ramie seedlings, so Chu Ying built a big fence.

After the fence was finished, Chu Ying cooked rice, fried medicine, put some wet gloves and cotton shoes by the stove, and baked her hands and feet by the stove, took out the ramie seeds and put them on the shelf, put the wooden Wash the basins with water, then move the medicine jars on the stove over, and put another clay pot behind and add water to heat.

It is very comfortable to soak your feet in hot water in this early spring. I have to go to Mrs. Wang’s house to buy more chickens. Now that the weather is getting warmer, it’s time to add some new members at home, but I have to go outside too. Just build a chicken coop, I don't want to stay with a group of chickens, one hen is enough, and I'm afraid I'll be killed by another group of chickens.

But things often backfired. Chu Ying didn't want to move her feet when she saw the piles of chicken cakes in the backyard of Aunt Wang's house. "Don't dislike the smell of chicken feces, it's all good farmyard manure." Chu Ying watched as Aunt Wang sprinkled plant ash on it and then shoveled it directly into a bamboo basket with a shovel. There was already half a box in the bamboo basket full.

"See what you want. The ones on the far left were born in winter. Now that their fur has grown well, you won't die if you take them." Chu Ying looked at the chicks whose wings had gradually plumped up, like her own. It's better to buy some chickens that are easier to survive, although they are a few pennies more expensive than the newborn ones.

"Then this one, I don't know how to choose, Aunt Wang, please help choose." Aunt Wang took a bamboo basket and pulled out a few chicks from the chicken coop.The chicken wings and feet fluttered wildly, wanting to crawl out of the basket slowly, seeing their fluffy appearance almost melted my heart.

"Do you want to incubate the chickens yourself? If you don't hatch them, you can buy 10 females." Chu Ying saw that Aunt Wang had already caught 10 chicks in a swift manner, but Chu Ying was torn whether to choose a few males.

"Aunt Wang, you'd better catch two males. I'm afraid they will grow up without a brother to protect them. What should I do if they are bullied by other chickens?" There is some sadness on his face, no matter how capable he is, he is still a child.

"Then there are 8 females and 2 males. You hold them well, and bring them back to the basket next time." Chu Ying took the basket carefully, protecting the chicks who were about to run out with her hands.

"Eat some soft rice first, don't freeze it, if one chick gets sick, the others will get sick too." Chu Ying hurried home after giving 80 coins, these 10 chicks are precious.

When Chu Ying returned home, she put the chicks next to the hen first, and the chirping was very lively. Chu Ying used wood to build 4 overhead chicken coops near the wall of the reed house, which could be opened to take the chickens in. Take it out, because there are not many chickens, Chu Ying only made one layer.

After the chicken coop was ready, Chu Ying still didn't bring the chicks there, but let them stay in the kitchen first, where it would be slightly warmer.

Chu Ying drank the medicine, fed the chickens good food, went back to the bedroom, put the bucket in the bathroom, and hung the lock in the back room. The lock looked a bit chilly, and took a nap with the medicine, and when she woke up, her body There was some fine sweat.

Chu Ying shoveled off the soil on the open space to the west of the kitchen first, dug out the finer soil below, added some water, added chopped reed knots, and stirred with a wooden stick until the two were mixed together, picked up some The soil was neither dry nor wet, and it was stuffed into the wooden grid covered with reed curtains. When the wooden grid was filled with mud, Chu Ying picked up the wooden grid that was placed at the beginning. Some didn't work out.

Chu Ying added some soil to it, and poked it with a wooden stick to make the brick more solid.Chu Ying didn't know when to pick it up so that the bricks wouldn't fall apart, so she tried many times before she found the time for the bricks to come out of the mold completely.

Chu Ying waited until the adobe bricks were a little dry, and shoveled the relatively viscous mud into the basket and moved it to the side of the reed house, and pasted the mud on the reed wall with her hands, because the reed wall is a thread, When the mud is pasted, it can still stick, but you can only paste a layer on the bottom now, and then paste it on the bottom when it is slightly dry.

Chu Ying looked at the mud covered in her hands. Although it was cold, she was very relieved. This reed house was built by herself, and every inch was her own painstaking efforts. Now that the mud is pasted on it, it will be stronger and more windproof and rainproof.

On the second day, Chu Ying moved some air-dried earthen bricks into the reed house, and continued to dig the soil, add water, and reed knots to stir. These earthen bricks were extremely time-consuming, and only more than 40 pieces were made a day, and it would take another three days for them to dry completely. .

It’s okay if the weather is fine, but if it’s raining, we can only move them all into the reed house. This reed house is for firewood. It was not very big at first, but now it’s crowded with chicken coop firewood and earth bricks.

Chu Ying went to the woods behind and cut a few longer tree trunks and dragged them outside the yard.Chu Ying didn't plan to build a house as strong as the reed house this time, she just came here to place her adobe bricks for shelter from the rain.

As before, Chu Ying made the frame and spread the reeds, hung the finished reed mats on three sides, and left the other side blank. The bricks are wet.

But her own method of making clay bricks needs to be improved. Chu Ying added straw to the clay bricks. The straw is thinner than the reed knots. Chu Ying took off her shoes and stepped back and forth several times with her feet until the straw was crushed in the mud. Chu Ying only used the mud to make adobe bricks when she was in the house, and the adobe bricks made this way would be stronger.

With such an experiment, Chu Ying even added messy things to it, such as rice washing water or cooking water, and bamboo slices. The clay bricks with bamboo slices are harder, but if you want to add bamboo slices, you need The longer the clay bricks are, the more effective they will be.

"Chu Ying, what are you going to build?" Wang Naiyuan looked at an additional shed on the west side of Chu Ying's house. Inside were piled and scattered earth bricks, and the colors of the earth bricks were somewhat different. See what's added inside.

"I'm making clay bricks."
"It's spring, do you want spring plowing? I'm afraid you can't do it, so come and ask."
Chu Ying forgot to plow in the spring when Wang Naiyuan didn't come. Her ramie seeds had been soaked in water for a day, so she had to take them out and stir them to breathe oxygen. The open space in the yard hadn't started hoeing yet.

"I just need to hoe this part of the yard, there's nothing else important, I'm not busy, but I haven't seen you for a few days, and I didn't see you when I went to your house to buy chickens last time." Chu Sakura poured a cup of hot tea for Wang Naiyuan from a bamboo cup.

Wang Naiyuan saw that there were curtains in the home that had no partitions. There was a low table tied with branches in the hall. The floor was clean and spotless. There were four cloth cushions beside the low table, and a row of bamboo cups and a A clay pot with a lid, it's been a good time not seeing Chu Ying in the past few months.

"I went to transport ice to the lake in the east of the city, and earn some money to subsidize my family." Wang Naiyuan said that Chuying couldn't figure out how to transport ice, but there were no refrigerators in ancient times, and the ice needed was harvested in winter.

(End of this chapter)