Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

Mrs. Xue and the others put the brushed ginseng into a big basin, layer by layer. When the big basin was full, they stopped putting it in. Add water to the pot, place the big basin on top of the pot curtain, and then put a little less water in the big basin. Then cover the entire pot with cowhide and tie it tightly with rope. Heat the fire under the pot until the water boils. It will take another hour and a half to stop the fire.

The ginseng was steaming in the pot, and Xue and the others kept brushing the ginseng. This large pot of ginseng weighed about fifty kilograms. They had to be steamed four times in total at home. "Mom, let's steam one pot today, and another pot tomorrow morning. This way the kang won't be so hot. It's time to cook later. The children have been up the mountain for a day, so they don't have to act like hungry wolves. "

Ms. Chen nodded, "Okay, we didn't produce that much today. We'll do some more in the evening and steam it in a pot early tomorrow morning. I'll find all the forks in a while and put the mallets out of the pot quickly." Otherwise, it won’t rot easily.”

Fork, as the locals call it, is a sieve for drying things. A rectangular frame made of wood, with two small wooden squares at the bottom, and then a mugwort pole is placed on the small wooden square. This is the fork. Because the bottom is made of mugwort poles and is ventilated, it is better for drying things. It is generally used for drying ginseng.

Xue went to the warehouse and found a fork. The Xu family had a lot of forks. When Zhixin was free, he would make some and keep them for easy use. He carried the fork to the door and put it there.

It was already the end of Shenshi, so Mrs. Chen asked Mrs. Xue to cook, while she led Jingya and Huixin to continue brushing ginseng. After a while, Mrs. Chen felt that the time was almost up, so she turned off the heat in the pot for steaming ginseng. The cowhide on the pot was bulging from the heat, and slowly deflated as soon as the fire stopped. When Mrs. Chen saw that the cowhide was deflated, she untied the rope, then lifted the cowhide aside to reveal the ginseng inside.

Steamed ginseng turns a yellow color, and when dried, it will turn red. Of course that kind of red is not bright red, but a dark red with a bit of orange. The freshly cooked ginseng is still very hot and needs to dry for a while before placing it on the fork. Mrs. Chen brought the fork into the room and put it on the pot stand. This made it easier to put ginseng on the fork. When the ginseng is placed, one by one, the ginseng at the bottom presses the ginseng seeds at the top. A fork can be placed about five times.

A large pot of ginseng was ready with three forks. Jingya helped grandma carry the ginseng forks outside. There is a special shelf set up outside, and the forks are placed on the shelf. At night, the forks should be stacked up and covered with something to prevent dew from falling on them.

The big pot of ginseng is ready, and Xue's side has also prepared the rice. Everyone, please clean up and take a break so you can eat. At this time Wenhan led Wencheng and the others back. This afternoon, they carried the pine cone back twice, and all of them were on the ground outside. Zhixin and the old man also came back from Shendi. Everyone washed their hands and then ate.

"The ginseng soil will be turned over in three to five days. If you have time to go there, don't worry. Zhixin, just go home and get some things with Wenhan and the others. At this time, it's better to grab more. It's all money. "The old man was eating and arranging work.

Zhixin nodded, these autumn things are very valuable, it would be good to get more and sell them. There are too many places to spend money at home, and if you earn more, you can be more comfortable. The children are all working hard to get things home, but after all, they are still a little small and their strength is limited.

It took more than two days to clean all the ginseng at home. All was steamed and dried outside. It is the time of autumn when the air is crisp, so the ginseng dries quickly.

This day happened to be the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the morning, Mrs. Chen gave Wenhan and Wencheng money and asked them to go to the town to buy some meat. You have to eat dumplings during this festival, right? At the beginning of the year, the fourth child, Zhide, came back with his daughter-in-law, Han, and their children. When he saw that the family was busy, Zhide wanted to help.

"Okay, let's take a rest. This work is almost done. You don't need to reach out anymore. It's a rare time to come back and have a good chat with your father." Mrs. Chen refused to let her son help.

Zhide had no choice but to go into the house to look for the old man. Mrs. Han was still as usual, dressed cleanly and beautifully, and she only cared about her children and didn't do anything else.

At noon, Zhiming also came back with his wife and children. Zhu was still the same, helping with the work when he came back. Jingwan and Jingxian also came to help. Mrs. Chen looked at her two granddaughters and was extremely happy, "Jingwan, Jingxian, please stop trying to interfere. Go and play with Jinghan. Jinghan didn't go up the mountain today."

Jingwan and Jingxian wiped their hands and ran to Jinghan's house to find Jinghan. But there was no sign of Jinghan in the house. I went out to look around and finally found Jinghan in the garden.

It was a rare day for Jinghan to have free time at home. She couldn't stand idle, so she ran to the garden and pulled out the mustard greens. At this time, the mustard greens are growing very well. If they don't pull them out, they are afraid of frost one day, which will be bad. Today we are going to make dumplings. The mustard greens used to make dumplings are very delicious, so Jinghan volunteered to make dumplings.

Jingwan led Jingxian to find Jinghan, and the three of them worked together. The Xu family planted four ridges of mustard this year, and they all pulled them out in a short time. Jinghan went back and got two kitchen knives to peel off the tops of mustard greens. Cut off the tassel, keep one part for making dumplings, and keep the rest for pickles. These mustard tassels are pickled with pickles. In winter, they are great for stewing potatoes or tofu.

"Sister Jinghan, your hands are so strong, you cut off the mustard tassels in one go." Jingxian said with envy while watching her two sisters working.

"What's the point? When you get older, I guarantee that our Jingxian will be as capable as me, right?" Jinghan still likes these two sisters, mainly because they don't look like city dwellers at all. Shelf, every time I come back, I can play with myself. Unlike the two children in my fourth uncle's family, they feel a little out of place in this family. "Come back and stay a few more days this time. The mountains are fun now. I'll ask you to go up the mountains tomorrow to pick mushrooms and walnuts."

"I'll ask my father and mother later. We also want to stay at home for a while, but I don't know if they will let me." Jingwan said while working.

The three of them worked for a while and chopped out the mustard tassels used to make dumplings today. Jinghan found a basket, put the vegetables in the basket, and carried the basket back to the front yard with Jingwan.

As soon as Mrs. Chen saw that they had brought the dishes back, she said happily: "It's my granddaughter who worked hard. She has prepared all the dishes now. Let's make dumplings at noon today and have a reunion dinner together. Jinghan, You and Jingwan pick out the vegetables, discard the ones that are too old and keep the pickled ones, only the tender ones."

Jinghan agreed, and then she and Jingwan started picking vegetables. They broke off the old ones on the outside and kept only the tender ones in the middle. There were a lot of these dishes, so that was enough.

After picking the vegetables, Mrs. Chen went to boil water. The mustard tassels need to be blanched in boiling water before making dumplings, otherwise they will have the spiciness of mustard greens and not taste good. After the vegetables were cooked, Wen Han and the others happened to be back from buying meat, so Zhu chopped vegetables, Chen chopped meat, and started to make dumplings.

There were so many people today, so we couldn't make too few dumplings. Xue, Jingya and the others just happened to finish brushing the remaining ginseng. We washed our hands again, and then we all made dumplings together.

There is a big board at home, where Mrs. Zhu and Mrs. Xue roll out cakes, and Mrs. Chen leads Huixin, Jingya and Jinghan to make dumplings. Han still didn't move, just holding Jinghe and watching. Mrs. Chen is not annoyed, she has long been used to it. The eldest and the third daughter-in-law are the four daughters-in-law. The second daughter-in-law is the laziest, and the fourth daughter-in-law looks down on the farm.

The women are making dumplings here, while the men are chatting with the old man in another room. "Dad, this year's sticks are looking good. I just saw them and they are quite big. Don't sell them all to those dealers this year. I told the drugstore manager that we will keep our sticks this year, so the price is still there. It can be higher." Zhiming came back rarely and was very happy to see a good harvest at home.

"Okay, since you said so, that's fine. If we sell more money, we will be richer. Your fifth brother went to take the Qiu Wei exam this year, and I don't know how he did in the exam? Although our family is poor, we have provided two Here comes the scholar, it would be great if Zhixiang can pass the exam this time. By the way, Zhide, you didn't try this year?" The old man smoked and squinted at his fourth son.

"Dad, I'm getting older now, and I have children and family burdens, so I won't take the exam. It's too expensive. Besides, you may not be able to pass the exam. Why waste that money? I think Lao Wu will come back this time. You can just find a school and earn some money every year." Zhide was not optimistic about the fifth brother and felt that he might not be able to pass the exam, so he might as well find a way to earn some money.

"If the fifth brother is willing to take the exam, let him take the exam. This is a lifetime event and we can't let him have any regrets. By the way, Dad, you can take this money first and keep it for the fifth brother. I can earn it now." That's quite a lot." Zhiming took out ten taels of silver and gave it to the old man.

"Well, if you have money, you can save it yourself. There is nothing your family can do to help you. It's not easy for you in the county. Save more money. As Jingwan and the others grow older, they have to prepare dowries for their children. The family will provide dowry for the children. Fortunately, it’s not that difficult. “The old man doesn’t want Zhiming’s money.

Zhiming still insisted on putting the money into the old man's hand, "Dad, we can take out this money, you can keep it. There is still a little sister who is not married, so the place to spend money is right in front of us. We Jingwan are still young, so there is no need Prepare the dowry so early.”