Who knows! As soon as I returned to the mountains to farm, I encountered a natural disaster.

The hole was about two fists wide, and Zhao Yeqing didn't find any footprints inside.

Or maybe it came yesterday, and the footprints on the surface were covered by layers of snow and ice that had melted slightly and then solidified.

When Mu Xi came back, she took the full basket and poured all the snow red inside into the basin before talking.

Mu Xi: "Now that there has been such a heavy snowfall, it stands to reason that foxes are less likely to come out, and digging holes to get in is not something that foxes would do."

The two of them guessed for a long time but couldn't determine what kind of animal it was, so they didn't take it to heart anymore.

After all, small animals won't cause any harm to people, they just steal some food.

Xuelihong must be washed and dried before pickling.

Pour water into the basin, wash the Xuelihong, and dry all the water before drying.

I didn't dare to take it outside, so I only dried it in the shade through a sunny window, otherwise it would freeze hard and break into pieces if I gently broke it with my hands.

The only good thing about the hot weather before was that everything dried very quickly.

If the temperature was more than 40 degrees before, this Xuelihong could be collected and marinated in half an hour. With the current weather, it took two full days to dry.

The dried Xuelihong leaves were already a little wilted. Zhao Yeqing took off all the Xuelihong leaves and cut them into small sections, about half the length of a knuckle.

Put the chopped xuelihong into a basin, sprinkle with salt and continue to marinate.

It's ready when the xuelihong has shrunk slightly after being pickled, and the bottom of the basin is filled with pickled green vegetable juice.

Hold the xuelihong in the basin tightly with your hands, squeeze out all the vegetable juice, and then put it into a water-free and oil-free pickle jar.

Every two handfuls are put in, and they have to be compacted before continuing. A pot of Xuelihong is compacted just enough to fill a jar. There is still about ten centimeters of space at the mouth of the jar, so pour the marinated vegetable juice into it. .

There is a lot of salt in the vegetable juice, so there is no need to add any more salt. Sealing the vegetable juice with concentrated salt water will not only prevent it from freezing, but also block harmful bacteria.

Zhao Yeqing placed the jar in a corner away from light and waited for about twenty days before eating.

There was movement outside, and Zhao Yeqing walked out of the kitchen and saw Mu Xi dragging a sled cart of grass back.

Recently, I go out every few days to bring back several carts of grass, which can feed the cattle for two or three days, and occasionally give some to the ewes who are about to give birth.

The ewe is expected to give birth soon, and a charcoal basin will be placed in the sheep pen when the temperature is low at night.

Most of the charcoal was consumed, and the two trees in the pine forest that had been cut down before were also used and had to be chopped back to burn charcoal.

During the first half of the snowstorm, the temperature was as low as minus 30. After the snow stopped, it dropped to minus 20, with no sign of rising again.

The two spent another two days cutting back a pine tree and three days burning the second batch of charcoal. The temperature still didn't change at all.

Zhao Yeqing originally wanted to say that if the temperature rises a little, he can spread salt to melt the snow. When it gets hotter, most of the snow will melt and he can go fishing in the lake.

I've been talking about boiled fish for more than a month and haven't eaten it yet.

After the temperature rises, the lambs will not catch cold easily when they are born.

But from June to early July, the temperature was always minus 20, and it was so stuck that it didn't move at all.

Just after dinner at noon, I heard the first ewe in the sheepfold start.

Maybe it's the same as humans, it hurts when giving birth, and every time the ewe exerts herself, she makes a loud 'bah' sound.

This was the first time that Zhao Yeqing watched a sheep give birth. The ewe lay on the ground and screamed, its belly heaving with force, and the lamb wrapped in its afterbirth was gradually squeezed out.

When the lamb is not fully born, it seems to be wrapped in a balloon filled with water. When it is about to be born, the membrane of the water balloon will be broken and it will fall to the ground.

After the female goat gave birth to two lambs in succession, she slowly stood up and turned her head to lick the baby's afterbirth and amniotic fluid clean.

This lamb is not like a rabbit. When a rabbit is born, it is bare and red, like a newborn mouse.

The lamb was born with white down. After being licked clean by the mother, the lamb became more energetic and struggled to stand up.

Mu Xi quickly lit the fire in the charcoal basin. Although it was not so cold at noon, the newly born lamb was still a little unbearable.

Zhao Yeqing had not yet recovered from the surprise of watching the birth process of a sheep for the first time. The two ewes next to him were not sure if they were stimulated by the cry of the ewe giving birth, and they also showed signs of starting.

One sheep is standing and the other is lying down.

Zhao Yeqing looked a little frightened, fearing that the lamb that was being delivered while standing would fall and fall.

Fortunately, both sheep gave birth relatively smoothly, and each ewe gave birth to two lambs.

The last one was still standing still, not looking like it was about to give birth.

The two of them cleaned the sheepfold again. When the ewe gave birth to the lamb, it would inevitably make some dirt on the sheepfold. The lamb was still unsteady and fell to the ground after taking two steps. The floor had to be cleaned and some straw padded. .

Please also clean up the afterbirth that falls on the ground in time to prevent the sheep from accidentally ingesting the afterbirth.

The body of a ewe that has just given birth still needs to be cleaned.

Mu Xi wiped off all the dirt on the ewe's body with a wet towel. Zhao Yeqing returned to the kitchen and boiled a pot of brown sugar water to supplement the nutrition of each ewe after giving birth.

The ewes were very weak after giving birth. After Zhao Yeqing fed each one with brown sugar water, he stretched out his hand to gently rub their neinei so that they could release milk quickly.

There were only some hard lumps on the neine of one ewe. Zhao Yeqing was worried about whether there was inflammation, so he marked the sheep. If there were still lumps tomorrow, he would need to take medicine.

In addition to hand-kneading, the ewe also needs food supplements to give milk.

The recipe looks similar to what humans eat. Boiled eggs with brown sugar or sesame seeds can also produce milk.

Eggs are not scarce at home now. Although chickens don’t lay many eggs in winter, their refrigerator is full of meat, and the eggs they have saved are enough to feed the sheep.

When the two boiled the brown sugar eggs and brought them into the sheep pen, they saw that the only one that had not given birth was already lying on the ground.

This sheep seemed to be in a little pain, panting and panting, and the birth canal was wide open, but the lamb still didn't show its head.

The two of them waited a little anxiously and kept flipping through their notes, fearing that they would miss any knowledge points that could help it.

There were some shrill 'bleeping' sounds constantly in the sheepfold, and the ewes had no energy to cry out, and then the first lamb gradually emerged.

Maybe it's because the lambs were born for too long, unlike the previous ones that gave birth quickly. When they were born, the lambs were still wrapped in the afterbirth water balloon.

As soon as this lamb showed its figure, it kicked the afterbirth at the entrance of the ewe's birth canal!

The two of them suddenly looked at each other, their hearts trembling -

Could this be a dystocia?