Rebirth Farmhouse

Chapter 26

Xiuyao hurriedly asked for advice again. Liu Xu saw that she was so eager to learn, so she explained it to her patiently. Then Xiuyao suddenly realized that she was very curious about these things when she visited museums before, but she thought it was very simple. I thought there were so many doorways in it.

A piece of cloth in this era is naturally not the same concept as a piece of 100 meters in modern times, and the width of the door is not like the modern one meter to 1.4 meters, five or two meters, but is limited by the distance between people's hands. Between one foot and two feet, it will not be very wide.

The so-called four, six, and eight skirts I saw in the museum in the past probably mean this. The width of the cloth is too narrow, and you can only piece it together when making clothes. More so.

Xiuyao was thoughtful, and then asked how much money a piece of cloth can usually earn. Liu Xu smiled and said: "Little girl is so small, but she has the meaning of being in charge. Why do you want to learn? Auntie will teach you. When you grow up, you can buy it." We can weave."

Xiuyao smiled and didn't say much. Through the introduction of her aunt, she found that weaving is also good. If a piece of cloth is good, it can earn a hundred and eighty cash. If it is two or three meters long, one horse can be produced in five or six days, which is better than embroidered insoles.

If the Qin family had a loom, then mother would be able to weave.

Xiuyao knew that her mother could weave. Some people in the village asked her for help when they needed weaving.

"Auntie, why doesn't my mother weave? I think it's more profitable than embroidering insoles." Embroidering insoles is also tiring enough, and the lights are so dark that the mother is still reluctant to light the lamp.

And if weaving, she can also help. When she was in college, she also studied the development of many handmade machines such as textile machines. She also helped the professor with such projects after graduation, so she still knows a lot about these ancient machines. .I also know how to slightly improve the household loom to increase the speed of spinning and weaving.

Liu Xu smiled and said: "Your mother can weave, but you need your mother's permission. How can weaving be such an easy job? Do you have a lot of cotton in your house? How much money do you have besides food?
In addition, this cloth is not so easy to weave. You have to grow cotton, gin cotton, and pop cotton. , tangling tassels, these are enough to keep you busy for a long time.It takes a long time to prepare once on the plane. "

Chen Guihua went on to say: "That's not counting. You still have to run around afterwards, threading and warping. That's a lot of work. Your aunt has finished weaving the cloth with one machine, and you'll have to run again later." Four or five people can't fix it in one day."

Xiuyao was stunned when she heard that, it seems that doing anything is not easy, otherwise weaving can make her family rich, how could someone as shrewd as Mammy not do it.Moreover, it is said that ancient looms are very common. Unless it is a very poor family, there are almost three or five families with one machine, and it is not seen that they all make a fortune from this.Hey, it seems that my idea is too simple.

She glanced at Liu Yun who was on the defensive line, and saw that she was spinning the spinning wheel with one hand, and was holding a cotton sliver back and forth with the other hand, and the cotton thread was wrapped around the tassel with a buzzing sound.

She asked again: "Third sister, how much yarn can you spin in a day?"

Liu Yun smiled and said: "That's not counting, I have to do other things on weekdays, if I don't do anything, I can spend less than five taels of spinning thread all day, but seeing the world spinning is also tiring. Generally, after spinning for more than three or two, the waist will ache and the back will hurt.”

Xiuyao knew that in ancient times it was 16 taels a catty, which meant that she could spin less than one-third of a catty. Sure enough, it was not easy to do anything!Xiuyao had seen this kind of spinning carts in many farmyards before, and they all had only one thread. She asked curiously, "Third Sister, can you spin two or three or four cottons at the same time?"

Liu Yun was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "I've heard from Mammy that someone has spun like this, but it's really skillful. In our village, all I saw were spinning one thread, not three or four threads."

Xiuyao thinks so too, it's not about opening a factory, few people can do that.She looked at the spinning wheel, and it could support several spindles with a little improvement, and in ancient China, three-spindle spinning wheels were common, especially the large hydraulic spinning wheel for spinning hemp yarn with more than [-] spindles, why? No cotton thread?Maybe ordinary people can't spin three or four threads at the same time?Wouldn't it be good to just change the crank type into a pedal type?
She smiled and said: "Third sister, teach me to try spinning."

Seeing that she was willing to learn, Liu Xu asked Liu Yun to teach her. In the farmhouse, if there is a weaving machine at home, girls start learning at a very young age. After all, they can also help adults.

Xiuyao sat down on Liu Yun's small grass mound, and then imitated her posture. When she was a child, she had seen her grandmother spinning, but the memory was too far away, and she was a little unclear.

Liu Yun stuffed the blindfold into her left hand, pulled out a little fiber from the top and pressed it on the spool, and Liu Xu taught her how to turn the handle of the spinning wheel, and told her the tricks of spinning, how to use force, how to cooperate with the left and right hands, and so on.

It looked easy but it was hard to do. Just after two turns, I heard my aunt remind her, "Loosen your left hand, don't be too tight, ah..." The thread broke, Liu Yun hurriedly taught her how to connect it, and then continued to spin.The hand became heavier and lighter, the shaking became faster and slower, the thread became thicker and thinner, and it broke...

After a while of busy work, Xiuyao slowly found the feeling, and Liu Yun said in surprise: "Sister, our Yaoyao is really good, I learned it in such a short time, I think it took me a long time to learn to spin by myself, it took me a long time. It’s still spinning unevenly.”

The three of them stared at Xiuyao, and saw that she was sitting there as a little girl, she spun yarn in a good way, she didn't look like a six or seven year old girl at all.

Xiuyao is also secretly happy that her control over this body is very suitable, there is no violation at all, she is an adult with strong comprehension, and Yaoyao's body is soft and light, which can be regarded as a kind of dexterity, hand-brain coordination There is a tacit understanding, so she learns very quickly.

Xiuyao watched the white threads gradually increasing on the spindle, and was very happy in her heart. It seems that working on the farm is still beneficial. I have never eaten pork, but I have seen pigs run away.

Seeing her meeting, Chen Guihua said to Liu Xu: "Yaoyao is so young, she is really capable, but now she is a guest, so don't work, have a good rest, and sleep after playing for a while."

Liu Xu smiled and said: "That's right, this girl has no time at home all day long, and her mother is afraid that she will eat free food all day long." After saying that, she told Xiuyao not to do it, Xiuyao let go of the spinning wheel obediently, Standing up and stretching her arms, she was small and couldn't reach the handle, and her shoulders were sore right now.Those who spin all day must be even more tired.

She also said that she was going to see the mill, and Liu Xu patted her on the head lightly, "You girl, you are so desperate. If your third sister comes, you can just eat and drink without doing anything."

In addition to the mill in front, there is also a barn. For the convenience of grinding, Lao Liu's family raised two donkeys, and they worked almost day and night to make money.

"Auntie, our family only raises donkeys. What about that kind of land? Do you also rent the official's cattle like our family?" Donkeys are not as strong as cattle.

Liu Xu said: "We are in partnership with some of your grandparents. Our family does not have cattle but we have farm tools. We also send livestock and grass on weekdays. We use livestock together when planting crops."

This is a good idea. If every family raises their own cattle, there is indeed not so much food to eat.

Hey, who told us that there is no such high-yield coarse grains as corn and sweet potatoes here? Wheat, sorghum, millet, millet, beans and the like are indeed not enough to feed livestock.Since there is not enough to eat, why do they raise pigs? The two pigs also eat a lot this year. Is it just to save pen fat?

The second aunt just drove the donkey to finish pushing the mill, and the youngest son Liu Fei helped her unload the mill, and then led the donkey to feed it.

On the other side, the uncle and the second uncle were still busy. The donkey was blindfolded and turned around, and the big mill made a creaking sound, crushing the wheat on the plate, and the uncle was sweeping it with a small broom for millet seedlings. While pulling with a small wooden rake.

The second uncle sifted on the side.

Xiuyao knew that it was necessary to determine the thickness of the flour according to the thickness of the flour required by others. If you want to produce fine and white flour, you must use fine flour, which will produce less flour. If you want more flour, you must use coarse flour. Luo, and you have to press it several times.

Generally speaking, the flour for the second pass is the best, and it starts to turn black after the third pass, and after the fourth pass, it becomes rough noodles mixed with bran, which is really thick and black.

Generally, the best thin noodles in farmhouses are reserved for the occasions of Chinese New Year worship to ancestors and important weddings and weddings, and they are basically thick noodles eaten on weekdays.

The old Qin's family ate the thickest flour, while the thin noodle rolls that Xiuyao ate at Grandpa's at night were the second-class flour, that is, the flour that was ground for the first time.

The ecological farm where Xiuyao works also has stone mills for flour, but to save energy, they also use electric machines. The stone mills are all placed there, specially for visiting. The real ones are electric stone mills, which are similar to the mills I saw when I was a child. Tofu is almost the same, just a little bigger.

"Auntie, there are mill houses and rollers in the village. Would they still spend money to grind?" Xiuyao was a little curious. She was supposed to be so poor, since there were free rollers to use, why would they still spend money?

The old Qin's family used to pick and wash the wheat and then go to the millhouse in the village to grind it. If there is no donkey, they use people.Of course, sometimes the nanny is asked to come to the grandmother's house for a while, without giving money at all.

The eldest cousin Liu Qi heard it, laughed and said: "It doesn't cost money, as long as there is food, it will be enough."

Liu Xu explained: "If you are willing to give money, you can give it. If you don't have money, you can use food. Anyway, our family needs food. Even if there is a mill in the village, every household can push it. If you don't have animals, you can't do it. A Male laborers would be exhausted in the morning with such a push method, and they would not be able to grind much wheat. Moreover, in such a big village, there are thousands of households, and there are only one or two grinding houses, and the numbering is several days. How can there be It’s convenient to come to our house, as soon as we put the wheat in, we’ll grind it neatly for him, bran is bran, flour is flour, if you want fine flour, you can choose fine flour, if you want coarse flour, you can use coarse flour.”

Xiuyao bent down to look, and there were indeed three kinds of noodles in the big basket on the ground, but some people wanted one kind.

She squeezed it with her hands, and even the thinnest one is much thicker than the modern ones, but the concept of green and healthy food is very popular among modern people.

So their rural stone-milled flour made a very resounding brand back then.

But she has another doubt, "Uncle, there is nothing secret about the mill, so will others compete with us for business?"

(End of this chapter)