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

She rubbed her eyes and went downstairs, dazedly and hugged someone she hadn't seen for several days.

"Why are you back so early?"

The weather was warm. Last night, Mu Xi thought he would go to the stream and take a bath when he came back tonight. He would smell the fragrance of soap.

Mu Xi washed his hands as soon as he entered the room, hugged the person in his arms, and after a while lowered his head and kissed her on the forehead, "I brought you something good."

"You've got the loom back, haven't you?"

How can such a heavy person get back? Not even if you have an electric car.

Zhao Yeqing followed him to the yard. In the yard there was only a backpack and a black plastic bag. He didn't know what was in the bag. It was very light.

Mu Xi took out a small box from the back of his backpack and handed it to Zhao Yeqing.

When she took it and opened it, it was filled with dense black dots.

"Are these silkworm eggs?" Zhao Yeqing opened his eyes wide.

Mu Xi nodded: "That family raises silkworms themselves, so they must have planted mulberry leaves. I looked around and saw a mulberry leaf field with wild silkworms in it. I was lucky enough to find these silkworm eggs."

Zhao Yeqing was a little at a loss, "But we don't know how to raise them. Even if we do, we won't be able to reel them in."

"Reeling silk is more difficult, but what about making silk quilts?"

Zhao Yeqing suddenly realized, "You mean to open the cotton directly?"

Reeling involves drawing silk, but opening cotton is not that troublesome. You only need to soak the cocoons in hot water, take out the silkworms inside, and then forcefully open the tight and round cocoons.

Silk quilts are indeed fine, and the requirements for silk cocoons are not that high.

Zhao Yeqing thought this was a good idea, "But what about the feed? The silkworms might eat it."

To raise silkworms, you must plant mulberry. In the early stage, it is fine, but in the later stage, the silkworms become big eaters.

Mu Xi took the box containing silkworms and counted the silkworm eggs inside:

"The number here is not large. To make silk quilts, a lot of silkworms are needed. I remember that one kilogram of silk quilts requires nearly 600 cocoons. The initial consumption of mulberry leaves is not much. We can plant them first and we will be able to make them next year. It’s been mass-cultured.”

Zhao Yeqing...it's too late to give up now.

But then I thought about it, it’s really hard not to find something new for myself in the mountains, so I’d better take care of it first, otherwise I won’t take care of it if it causes trouble later.

Mu Xi also had the same idea: "If it doesn't work, just keep it for fun."

The silkworms were raised in the breeding basement, and the loom was placed on the first floor of the brick house. Since the two moved the room to the second floor, the first floor has been vacant. Now there is finally something to fill it. .

"The loom and spinning wheel are all ready, but I don't know how to use them, and I don't have the materials to experiment with them. Let's wait until we move them back and install them in two days. We also need to get the sewing machine back. That thing It’s a bit heavy and can’t be dismantled.”

When he went to the village this time, Mu Xi brought gasoline. After filling up the small three-wheeler in the village, he found that it could start. The original electric car was no longer needed. This time he rode back. You can keep it in the trunk of your car and wait to ride it next time you go to the woods.

There is no problem in transporting the sewing machine with a three-wheeler filled with gasoline, but the three devices together are too heavy, so it is estimated that it will have to be transported three times.

The most troublesome thing is how to transport them up from the bottom of the slope.

The original lifting device used to pull gasoline barrels was fixed on the edge of the cliff. It had expansion screws and could not be disassembled and used here. The wooden device and metal nails only need to be disassembled and assembled once, and they will be more or less awkward in the future. The gap shakes.

What Zhao Yeqing wanted was to load it on a cart with wheels along the smooth path washed out by the water before, and then tie it with a rope, one person pushing it and the other pulling it.

The bottom of the slope is solid, and the two of them have checked that it will not collapse just because there is a heavy object on it.

Mu Xi said: "Whenever you are free, take a pickaxe and carve out a row of stairs on the slope. It will be wide enough for one person to pass. With the stairs, you will not be afraid of sliding down the slope."

While talking, he moved the bamboo that had been cut down for use in the yard to the middle of the yard.

First, we need to make several shelves for raising silkworms, as well as containers for holding silkworms.

In the silkworm house in the village, there are two ways to raise silkworms on the shelf. One is to lay the mulberry leaves directly on the shelf. The shelf is divided into three layers. The partitions on each layer are not solid, but mesh-like. of.

Zhao Yeqing didn't know what the benefits were of raising silkworms like this. Maybe it was for ventilation? Or is it to facilitate the cleaning of silkworm feces?

There are also round dustpans placed on a shelf. The mulberry leaves are spread in the dustpans, and the silkworms are placed on top.

Zhao Yeqing didn't know how to raise silkworms, so she could only learn what her family did. She would learn from her own experience before making a choice. After all, they were professionals and they must have their reasons.

(Pictures here)

Two methods left and right

The dustpans for raising silkworms are not that good. Zhao Yeqing kept the new dustpans that he had knitted for daily use. He took a few old ones that were used before and put them on the shelf to raise silkworms.

Generally, silkworm eggs will hatch in more than a week, and they should not be exposed to water during this period. She still knows this, but that's all she knows. When she was in elementary school, one of her extracurricular activities was raising silkworms, which is the same as making paper. There aren't many parts that I can remember, so I can only explore slowly.

The shelf made of spliced ​​bamboo poles is easy to make. Mu Xi can make a large shelf in an hour. Making clusters is more troublesome.

The clusters are generally square clusters, which are small grids about the size of mahjong put together to form a board. When the silkworms are mature and ready to spin cocoons, they will crawl into each grid to spin cocoons.

(Pictures here)

square cluster

This thing is also available in the silkworm house in the village. The material used for the square clusters made by that family is kraft cardboard. There is no such material now, so the two can only spend more time splitting the bamboo into thinner bamboo strips before they can be put together. Together.

There was no rush to make the cluster. They had to make the hollow partition in the middle of the big shelf first. Considering the size of the cluster, the two of them had to hang it on the silkworm seat. The silkworm seat is the partition of the shelf where silkworms usually live. , if there is enough space to hang the grid cluster on the shelf, it can only be made into two layers.

The length of each floor is six meters long, which is not long according to the scale of sericulture, but it is enough for the two of them in the experimental stage now. The space in the basement is sufficient, but the height is average, not as high as a village silkworm house. It's so high that we can only reduce one shelf. If we grow it successfully, we can make another shelf.

The original plan was to slaughter sheep and cows after Mu Xi came back, but the silkworm eggs disrupted the plan. It took three days to make shelves, dustpan clusters, etc.

As soon as the things were ready, the two of them hurriedly made another trip to the village. This time they went not to move things in a hurry, but to dig mulberry trees.