Defeat natural disasters with farming

After a rain, the pasture seeds planted on the lake beach gradually began to germinate, showing their heads tremblingly. At the same time, the transplanted turf also firmly grasped the new soil, forming a green grassland here. , Looking down from the top, the wide lake and green grass seem to be the pearl in the desert, which is very beautiful.

But Ye Yu is still not satisfied with the current appearance of the lake beach. In his opinion, this lake will become the best place for their village to raise fish and shrimp in the future. Because the lake has a large area, it can be mixed with herring, Grass carp, silver carp, bighead carp and other large fish, if nothing else, can also be accompanied by cultured shrimp and crab.

The pasture by the lake is also a good place to raise livestock. Whether it is cattle, sheep, pigs, or even free-range chickens and ducks, they can move freely on the grass during the day. Peck grass seeds and bugs to fill their stomachs, and at night, they can be driven back to the village to rest. The nutritional value of the livestock raised in this way is not low.

Of course, the current pastures have not yet reached a large scale, and there is no way to provide enough forage for livestock, because under normal circumstances, a sheep must eat at least four catties of grass every day, so 24 sheep will eat nearly one hundred catties of forage a day. It is not a small amount, and for nutritional considerations, it must be fed with concentrated feed such as bran, soybean meal, and rapeseed cake.

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Ye Yu now has to go to the paddy fields and lakes every morning after getting up, and make sure that there is nothing wrong with them before going home to eat with peace of mind.

And because it was too hot during this period, the whole village was reluctant to go out, and he was usually the only one on the way.

Today was an exception. On the way home, he happened to meet Master Wu and Master Yue leading their apprentices and village soldiers for training. Ye Hai and Ye He were also among them. They gathered on a spacious sandy field in the village, supporting a In the shed, there are two groups in the shed, beating each other, and some without wheels will stand in a circle and watch.

Ye He was one of the onlookers. He raised his eyes and saw Ye Yu's curious expression, so he waved to him and said, "Come here and have a look. Big brother is competing with brother Mingde."

Ye Yu became more curious when he heard this. Relying on his flexibility, he squeezed to Ye He's side in a few moments, and then looked in through the gap in the crowd.

I saw two people standing in the middle, namely Ye Hai and Ye Mingde. They didn't use any moves, most of them were the simplest grabbing or boxing techniques. Even so, Ye Yu still enjoyed watching them. But it works.

In the end, Ye Hai was slightly better, he captured Ye Mingde to the ground.Seeing this, those who supported Ye Hai among the onlookers applauded repeatedly, while those who supported Ye Mingde were not angry, but just punched him on the shoulder with their fists to cheer him up.

As for Ye Hai and Ye Mingde, they walked aside wiping off their sweat and began to exchange ideas.

After the two of them left, other people quickly took the place of the sparring, and the lively fight broke out again. Ye Yu stopped to watch for a while before turning and going home.

As soon as he got home, he saw Mrs. Ye was scooping water to wash the mushrooms. The mushrooms in the basket were not of the same species. There were hazel mushrooms with round heads and round brains. The chicken stewed mushrooms used hazel mushrooms, which were extremely delicious; Hericium erinaceus, shaped like a monkey head, often grows on oak trees at the turn of summer and autumn: there are also bright yellow yellow mushrooms, which are most suitable for chopping and making dumpling stuffing or stuffing...

When Mrs. Ye saw him coming back, she said, "It rained a while ago, and a lot of mushrooms grew on the slope. I didn't finish picking a basket. Your auntie and the others are still on the slope."

Ye Yu went over to help her wash the mushrooms, "Grandma, chop up the yellow mushrooms and make buns to eat."

"Sure, I'll make buns stuffed with yellow mushroom and eggs for you later." Mrs. Ye responded bluntly, "Stop washing them, and go and see if the walnuts buried in the ground are ripe?"

The basket of walnuts they picked from the walnut tree on the mountain still had green skins, so Mrs. Ye buried those walnuts in the soil by the wall. Ye Yu counted the days in his heart, and two or three days had passed. It's about time.

He wiped the water off his hands with toilet paper, walked to the wall with the basket in the direction he remembered, took out the shovel from the basket, and dug down the uneven soil, about the length of a finger. In the depth, you can see the walnuts wrapped in straw paper in the soil.

After taking it out, the green skin on the outside of the walnut has become soft and rotten, and the color has also turned black. It only needs to be gently broken, and the green skin will fall off from the walnut.

It's just that the walnuts were still very dirty. Seeing this, Ye Yu shook a bucket of water from the well, washed the dark brown walnuts one by one, and then put them into baskets to dry in the sun.

Just ripe walnut kernels are white and tender, with some unique bitterness of walnuts, but the kernels of walnuts that have matured for a period of time will turn yellowish brown in color, crispy and rich in oil, Ye Yu's favorite He likes to eat crispy walnut kernels that are just ripe, and he can eat a big bowl by himself.

After packing up the walnuts, Ye Yu saw Mother Ye returning with a basket on her back.

After unloading the wicker basket, she greeted Ye Yu and said, "Bring a wooden basin."

Upon hearing this, Ye Yu quickly brought over the cleaned tub, and then poked her head curiously. Mother Ye glanced at him and moved the basket to his direction to make sure he could see it clearly.

There was a big leaf in the wicker basket, which was tied tightly with dogtail grass. After untying the dogtail grass, Ye Yu discovered that the leaf was wrapped with fresh blueberries, especially the dewy blue fruit. Together, it looks very refreshing.

Of course, here this kind of fruit is not called blueberry, but persimmon, and some people call it dushi, but most people don't pay much attention to it, and just call it wild fruit.

Mother Ye put it into the warm well water and washed it, and said while washing: "There are a lot of fruits growing in the bushes. I guess we will not be able to eat them all, so we simply make them into jam." Keep it with the canned food, when the weather is cold, it will be very sweet to drink with a spoonful of jam and sweet water."

Ye Yu made a suggestion: "Dried fruits can also be dried." Anyway, whether it is dried fruits or jams, they can comfort them in the winter when there is no fresh fruits and vegetables to eat.

"It's okay." Mother Ye picked out one with bumpy skin and stuffed it into Ye Yu's mouth, and the sweet and sour juice burst out in an instant.

Just at this moment, Mrs. Ye and Mrs. Ye came in with peach blossoms, lotuses, and Pandi. The wicker baskets on their backs were also full. In addition to various mushrooms, fungus and white fungus, there were also blueberries, raspberries, sorghum fruits, etc. wild fruit.

Fresh fungus cannot be eaten directly, and the harmful substances in it must be exposed to the sun. Although mushrooms and white fungus do not have such problems, they can be preserved for a longer period of time after drying. Therefore, Mrs. Ye cleaned them and smoothed them Put it flat on the straw in the front yard to dry. Given the intensity of the current sun, it will take about two or three days to dry.

The remaining wild fruit is taken over by the mother of the leaf, and mixed with the syrup made from beets according to the proportion. The mixture is boiled in a pot until it becomes thick. If you can’t master the thickness, you can drop a drop of jam into the water , if the jam sinks to the bottom of the bowl and does not disperse, it proves that the consistency is just right, otherwise it means that it needs to continue stirring and cooking.

The utensils used to hold the jam are ceramic jars. Ye Yu found out that the jars were not enough after filling half of them. The ceramic jars at home were all bought in the county. Over the years, some of them were broken, some contained miso pickles, and the rest The number is actually not many.

Having said that, they can start firing pottery, as long as they find the soil suitable for firing pottery, and then build the kiln, it is simple and easy, but difficult to say.

When Ye Yu was thinking about cooking pottery, Mrs. Ye had already made up the yellow mushroom egg stuffing and was about to start making buns. As soon as she rolled up her sleeves, she saw Ye Hai coming in sweaty and asked: "Where did your brother go to play again, and he hasn't seen him for a long time."

Ye Hai wiped his face when he heard the question and replied: "He's competing with his senior brother in the square."

As soon as Mrs. Ye heard that it was a serious matter, she told Ye Jing to take a basket of wild fruits to the square, and by the way, let his brother remember to go home to eat steamed stuffed buns at noon.

Ye Jing responded, and then happily ran out with a basket.

"Brother Bao, go in and eat some fruit. Let us do the job of making the buns." It was Taohua who was speaking, and she pushed Ye Yu into the room, "Look, your face is blushing, go in and take a rest."

Ye Yu touched his flushed cheeks. He deeply suspected that he was allergic to ultraviolet rays, but he forgot to wear a straw hat when he went out today, and there were quite a few red rashes on his face.

Mother Ye nodded his forehead, "Let's see if you dare to forget to wear the straw hat next time."

Ye Yu felt somewhat guilty when he heard the words. He shrank his neck and carried a pot of wild fruits into the house, washed his face with the water and mugwort soap in the house, and then applied a thick layer of ointment. He breathed a sigh of relief.

The wild fruits in the pot are all sweet and sour, the difference lies in the degree of acidity.

He only ate one-third of it, otherwise he wouldn't be able to eat lunch after a while. Fortunately, these are high-acid fruits, which taste more appetizing, and seven or eight grains are just right.

On the other side, Ye Jing ran to the square with a basket and distributed wild fruits to everyone in the field. Although the quantity was not large, it was enough for each person to eat one or two to taste.

While eating, Ye He suddenly said: "Why don't we try to grow some fruits on the lake beach, any apricot tree, peach tree, or wild fruit bushes are fine. It's good if we can grow them, but it's okay if we can't. It’s just a bit of effort.”

The rest of the people nodded in agreement when they heard this. Sometimes they are really boring, and there are things to do to pass the time.

"Let's keep the seeds and plant them on the lake beach when we have time later."

Ye He doesn't know if it can be planted, anyway, he is doing his best to obey the destiny.

Therefore, he carefully collected the seeds of all kinds of wild fruits, and even wrapped the seeds that Ye Yu spit out after returning home.

Ye Yu was a little curious, so he asked Ye He what he thought. After listening to the answer, he said thoughtfully, "Building an orchard is really a good idea."

It would be even better if we could plant different fruits according to different seasons to ensure that there are fresh fruits to eat all year round, but this is not suitable for planting on the lake beach, and it is more suitable to find a wide place to form a large scale.

For example, the valley behind their village is a good choice. The altitude is low, and there is a stream flowing through it, which is warm and humid, which is very suitable for the growth of fruit trees.

Thinking of this, Ye Yu couldn't help sighing. The more I thought about it, the more things I could do. I could only do one item at a time. Anyway, there is still more time. If I can't finish this year, I will do it next year. One day I will finish all of them.

Fruit tree seeds can be collected first or transplanted directly, starting with plum trees and peach trees that are easy to feed.

He planned this in his heart, even when he was eating, he was a little absent-minded.

However, as soon as the buns stuffed with yellow mushroom and eggs came into his mouth, he brought back his wandering consciousness. At this time, the first word that appeared in his mind was "fresh". It was obviously just two common ingredients mixed together, but it was very Delicious, soft bun skin sets off the rich juice of yellow mushrooms and the salty aroma of eggs.

Steamed stuffed buns are the best when they are just out of the pan, so the Ye family are all eating hard, no one talks, and the side dishes of cucumber and dried radish are very refreshing.A basket of more than a dozen steamed buns was basically eaten by them in one meal.

Before taking a break after eating, Mrs. Ye ordered the Ye He brothers to send the buns and wild fruits to Chu Xufeng and Aunt Ye.

When the two of them came back, they were holding a piece of fish and a piece of pork in their hands, which was regarded as an exchange of courtesy between the two families.

Mrs. Ye took a look at the pork and said with a smile, "It's pork belly. Do you want braised pork or something else?"

Braised pork has to be eaten with rice, but there is no rice at home. Ye Yu always felt that it would be inferior to other staple foods, so he suggested: "Bring it to stew with sauerkraut vermicelli, and you can eat it again at night." Ton buns."

"Okay, you still want to eat steamed buns, don't you? I'll pack some more for you later on."

Mrs. Ye thought in her heart that she had a lot of wheat flour and yellow mushrooms at home, and now she has beet syrup, and even sugar triangles can be made, plus dried walnut kernels, pine nuts and hazelnuts, and then crushed to make it The sugar buns are no worse than others.

The sun outside is getting brighter. At this time, the dried goods and fruits in the yard are greedily absorbing the sunlight. They are gradually dried out, and the skin shrinks. It doesn’t look good, but it’s sweet enough and delicious to eat. .

After two days, these things were all dried, and the Ye family began to get busy. Because these things needed to be stored separately, they finally filled six large wooden boxes, and they moved them into the cellar. They should be able to store them for a long time.

Ye Yu was very satisfied when he saw the cellar full of grain. This feeling was like playing a survival game. After a lot of hard work, he piled up all the grain in the warehouse, which resulted in a sense of satisfaction.

Especially the large amount of food, such as wheat flour, sorghum rice, corn, potatoes, etc., add up to tens of thousands of catties, which is enough for their family to eat for several years.