Defeat natural disasters with farming

It was a dreamless night at night, Ye Yu slept soundly, probably due to his sudden relaxation, when he woke up the next day, his whole body was sore and his head was in a daze, when he got up and got out of bed, his feet went limp, and he was almost connected. The thin quilts fell to the ground together.

He had a hearty breakfast, but Ye Yu still had no appetite. He would be full after drinking a bowl of gnocchi with pickles, and the gnocchi they made was not a salty soup like noodle soup, but a kind of Made with sticky batter, it only has the aroma of wheat. It is a staple food similar to rice porridge. It has no oil or salt, and the taste is relatively simple. It is delicious when paired with pickled vegetables.

Seeing that he didn't eat much, Mrs. Ye and Mother Ye frowned worriedly and asked him, "What do you want for lunch? Shall I make you braised pork?"

Ye Yu lost his appetite when he thought of greasy meat, so he replied: "Let's make a vegetarian dish, something lighter, with more vinegar and chili."

But Ye He and Ye Jing nodded repeatedly, "Grandma, I want to eat braised pork."

"Eat, eat, eat, I'll make it for you at noon." After finishing speaking, Mrs. Ye thought secretly in her heart. She had cabbage and potatoes at home, so she might as well make a dish of vinegared cabbage, a dish of hot and sour potato shreds, and a dish of braised pork .

Ye Yu doesn't know what to eat for lunch. He only knows that it is time to prepare the salt. The first thing before drying the salt is to dig an evaporation pond. The area is slightly larger but not too deep. It took almost two hours to dig.

But at this time, the evaporation pool is flat and flat, but the inside is full of soil. When the salt is dried, the soil is easily mixed into the salt, resulting in the salt that is not pure enough.

So Ye Yu thought about it, and asked Ye's father to send a few people to the Poshang cement factory to make cement, enough to cover the five sides of the evaporation pool.

Although this matter temporarily hindered their pace of spreading salt, it did not prevent them from being high-spirited. Anyway, good things take time.

There is not only a cement factory on the slope, but also a paper mill and a sugar factory, but the sugar factory is at the back. Ye Yu has an ambition in his heart, and he hopes that there will be more factories here in the future.

As the cement factory fired vigorously, smoke came out of the thick exhaust pipe above. Ye Yu stood on the slope and observed how they made cement for a while, and then turned and went home for dinner when he saw that it was getting late.

Even though there is no white rice for lunch, sorghum rice paired with sweet and soft sweet potatoes is also delicious, especially if the sweet potatoes are cut into pieces and steamed on the sorghum rice, at this time the sweetness of the sweet potatoes permeates the sorghum rice. Sorghum rice has a slightly sweet taste.

There are red and green peppers and yellow potato shreds in the hot and sour potato shreds. Not spicy, more sour.

The very refreshing meal made the family like it very much, so except for the two brothers Ye He and Ye Jing, almost no one touched the plate of braised pork, and it was rare to have one third left.

Ye He didn't understand this, "Why don't you eat meat so delicious?"

Ye Yu glanced at him enviously, "Don't you think you can't eat meat in such a hot day?"

"Where can't I eat?" Ye He also didn't understand why they lost their appetite, especially because he was already hungry after so much physical work recently, and he could eat a big bowl of rice every day at noon.

Mother Ye was listening to their chat with a smile, but now she interjected, "I'm relieved if you have half the appetite of Brother He."

Ye Yu sighed, "I'm envious too." He felt that Ye He had a big heart, and he would never keep his worries in his heart, and he almost forgot about them after sleeping. This character is really good sometimes.

"Okay, you two hurry up and pack up and eat fruit." Mrs. Ye drove them away, "I'm still busy, the hawthorn you picked must be made into jam sooner, or it will go bad if you can't finish it."

In addition to making jam, hawthorn can also be made into hawthorn rolls, hawthorn slices, hawthorn cakes, and hawthorn snowballs.

Ye Yu likes to eat hawthorn snowballs, so he asked for some hawthorns. They were all cleaned and there was no trace of moisture on them. He removed the hawthorn pedicles, and then poked them from the root to the top with a chopstick, so that the seeds inside It also fell out, and a hawthorn was placed in the basin cleanly.

The next step is to boil the sugar. The syrup melts in the pot and needs to be stirred while cooking. Ye Yu pours some white vinegar into it to speed up the formation of frosting. Strictly speaking, the first batch of hawthorn snowballs failed to make, because Didn't get the icing on it.

Ye Yu thought about it for a while, and felt that he was too anxious and the syrup was not thick enough, so he waited patiently for the second time when the syrup started to bubble, and then poured in the hawthorn. After stirring, The surface of the hawthorn is finally covered with icing sugar, just like its name, like little snowballs.

It tastes sour and sweet, and it quickly became a new favorite in the family.

However, the few jars of hawthorn jam made by Mrs. Ye were ignored. She said, "If I knew it earlier, I should have asked you to make more hawthorn snowballs."

"It's better to put this stuff in jam." Ye Yu said.

"Hey, look at the speed at which they are eaten at home, I guess they will be eaten before they go bad." Mrs. Ye joked with a smile, "It's like a hungry tiger rushing to eat."

At this time, old man Ye poured cold water on them, "Hawthorn is cool, it's better to eat less."

"Giving one point to each family, there is not much left, let the children satisfy their hunger." Mrs. Ye had a different opinion.

Old man Ye still couldn't say no to his daughter-in-law, so he quickly shut his mouth, but not long after, he couldn't hold back his greed, and picked up a hawthorn snowball from the table and put it in his mouth. It was sour at first, There is sweetness in the back, which is delicious.

Mrs. Ye pretended she didn't see his movements, and kept working hard. She wrapped a few packs of hawthorn snowballs and told Ye He and Ye Jing to send them to their sister-in-law. The Qin family father and son were helping the villagers to make furniture recently. Brothers Mu Wen and Qin Muwu also followed them, and the furniture they used to practice their hands was also well-made.

Because it takes a long time to make cement and then apply it on the evaporation pool, taking advantage of this free time, Ye Yu processed the lotus seeds. He led Nan`feng and Ye's family to cut a hole in the depression of all the harvested lotus seeds. Take a small mouth, and then soak it in water. After soaking for about three to seven days, the lotus seeds will germinate.

When cutting the lotus seeds, Taohua asked suspiciously, "Why do you want to cut a hole on it?"

Ye Yu replied while cutting: "Because the seed coat of lotus seeds is relatively thick, if you don't cut it, it will not be able to germinate smoothly."

When Mrs. Ye heard this, she couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "Brother Bao has read a lot of books and knows a lot. If there is still an imperial examination, no matter what, he will have to go for the No. [-] Scholar exam."

Ye Yu waved his hand, "No, no." I still have to thank the god who sent him here for the golden finger space. He learned all this knowledge from the book inside.

The cut lotus seeds were placed in a broken bowl filled with water. Ye Yu changed the water every morning and evening these days. To be honest, it was a bit troublesome. Fortunately, it only took three days for the lotus seeds to germinate. The delicacy, he has unlimited power.

They buried the germinated lotus seeds into the mud at the bottom of the lake. Ye Yu didn't know if they could grow successfully, but he had already done what he could do, and the rest could only be left to fate.

-

The cement made by the cement factory was immediately smeared on the evaporation pond by the villagers. After the cement gradually solidified, it exuded an iron-gray luster under the sunlight.

The next step is very simple, first use a large iron pot to melt the rock salt crystals brought back by Ye Yu and the others, then pour the melted brine mixture into the evaporation pool, and finally, after being exposed to the sun, the brine mixture will be ready Salt is gradually precipitated.

What is obtained by this method is common coarse salt. If you want to further purify it, the required process is something that they can't do for the time being. Simply coarse salt can already be imported, which is not as pure as the salt they originally bought from the government. almost.

The dried large grains of coarse salt are spread all over the bottom of the evaporation pool, and can be collected with a simple sweep. The villagers are delighted to see this scene, which means that they will never be short of salt again.

Someone asked in disbelief: "Is this salt?"

Ye Yu nodded and said as a matter of course: "Of course it is salt, you can taste it."

The man twisted some coarse salt and put it into his mouth. The salty taste made his eyes shine, and he was reluctant to spit it out, "I never thought that making salt is such a simple thing."

"It's not difficult at all, such as papermaking, salt making and sugar extraction, as long as you know the principles, it is not difficult if you have raw materials."

After finishing speaking, Ye Yu thought to himself, if it is really difficult, it is because of the invention of various technologies, such as power generation, steam engine and other technologies, it is really difficult to reproduce, the technology that existed in ancient times It is relatively simple in comparison.

"Yeah."

The person who said this was the former village head. He was in poor health and hadn’t been out for a long time, but once he knew the success of drying the salt, he ignored the obstacles and stood by the evaporation pool even with a cane. Looking at the sacks of salt, even the lips are trembling.

"I chose you to take over as the village head, and I really chose the right one."

Father Ye was by his side, "Brother Bao read it from the book, it's not my fault."

"It's all the same." The former village head said happily.

He stayed here until he saw that all the salt was packed into three large sacks before leaving.

These salts can be exchanged for points, and they are not expensive.

After the crisis of salt shortage in the village passed safely, the village couldn’t be idle, because the crops gradually matured. Harvesting crops is certainly a happy thing, but it is also very tiring. During this period, the village was full It was very quiet, and even the women who had been discussing family affairs under the tree at the entrance of the village all the year round didn't have the strength to come out again. If they had that time to talk, they might as well lie on the bed and sleep.

Although Ye Yu doesn't need to harvest crops, don't forget that the village also planted two acres of rice for experimentation, which is what he is most concerned about.

He immediately took people to the paddy field to cut the rice with a sickle. It took only a short time for the two acres of land. After the rice was cut, Ye Yu rubbed the ears of rice and was relieved to see that the rice was full of rice.

However, after husking the rice, it was reported that 150 jin of brown rice was harvested on two acres of land, which was completely inferior to the output in the south, but it was finally harvested. In the future, if the planting method is improved, there may be a chance to harvest more.

Ye Yu left some unhulled rice as seeds, and decided to plant more rice next year.

After the rice was harvested, it was the turn of other food crops. It took Ye Yu and his family seven or eight days to harvest all the crops. In the end, everyone was so tired that they lay on the kang for several days before recovering.

I don't know if it was because of being too tired, but Mrs. Ye's back problem happened again. This time it was different from the past, it was obviously a bit more serious, and the pain made her unable to straighten her waist.

Seeing this, Father Ye rushed to invite Dr. Hao.

After a while, Dr. Hao rushed over with the medicine box. He put his fingers on the old lady Ye's wrist, and said in silence for a while: "It's still an old problem. The pain caused by blood stasis in the waist is difficult to cure. I will prescribe a prescription first." Take it easy."

"There are two prescriptions, one needs to be taken internally, and the other is to wrap it in a cloth after decoction and apply hot compress to the affected area. This way, the effect should be better if you work together."

Nowadays, the medicinal materials used by Dr. Hao are all picked in the mountains, and there are not many types, but fortunately, there are some commonly used ones, and the medicinal effects are particularly good.

While prescribing the medicine, he warned, "In the future, the old lady must not be too tired, and she will not do the work that bends too much."

The Ye family members nodded when they heard the words.

When Dr. Hao left and only his family was left at home, Boss Ye complained, "Mom, you have heard what Dr. Hao said this time. Don't be brave in the future. Just leave the food collection to us."

Mrs. Ye's ears were warmed up, but she also admitted her problem. She drooped her eyebrows and said, "I can't be free."

"You can teach Xinghua how to do needlework." Sister-in-law Ye suggested, "Xinghua's craftsmanship is still a bit poor."

Xinghua responded when she heard her name, "Then grandma, teach me how to cook again."

"Okay, I'll teach you when I get better." Mrs. Ye turned her head and said.

The medicinal materials for external application had a stench after being boiled, so Taohua wrapped it in a cloth and applied it on Granny Ye's waist.

"Milk, is it hot?"

"It's okay." Mrs. Ye said with restraint: "It's a little hot, but it can cover the pain."

After the most uncomfortable period, her expression gradually calmed down, and she sighed: "This prescription really works, and my waist feels much more comfortable."

The two of them were discussing prescriptions in the room, while others outside the room were also discussing Mrs. Ye's waist.

Father Ye discussed with them: "I remember that Dr. Chen from Huichun Hall is also very good at acupuncture, why don't I go to Heihe Village and invite Dr. Chen over here."

Heihe Village is the village where Shen Fu lives. Because most of them are from Heihe County, they continue to use the name of Heihe.

As soon as Ye Laoer heard this idea, he couldn't wait to say: "I think it's okay, mother's back pain seems to be more serious this year."

The others had no objection, they all agreed and decided to leave tomorrow.