An orphan girl from a farming family: Everyday farming in the mountains during natural disasters

Although stones are small in size, their power should not be underestimated. Similar to them are grass leaves and paper sheets, which seem thin and weak and easily overlooked, but if used properly, they can be as powerful as blades.

"Let's go, Heihei."

Xia Qingyue went to the camellia garden and picked two baskets of camellia flowers, and also picked half a basket of mountain pepper.

I went to the stream, collected the fish cages, and pulled up more than ten pounds of watercress by the roots and took it back to plant.

She looked up at the mountains in front of her, which were layered and lush, shrouded in the afterglow of the setting sun, and there was a hint of nostalgia in her eyes.

“I don’t know when I will be able to see such a beautiful scenery again.”

After saying that, she turned and returned to the tiankeng.

This time, she was more careful than ever, checking every spot on the road to see if there were any traces left, and if there were any, she would wipe them off and cover them up.

Returning to the tiankeng and looking at the familiar environment, she breathed a sigh of relief and suddenly felt extremely relaxed. She first went to put the captured chickens and ducks into the pen.

Then wash the camellia, put it in a basket to drain the water and set aside.

It was still early, so she took two pieces of cured pork belly and horse meat, soaked them in warm water, and washed them together later. If she couldn't finish them in one meal, she could eat them tomorrow.

I also found some dried bamboo shoots and soaked them in water.

She washed her hands, folded the straw mat and spread it on the bed, then picked up the palm-leaf fan from the bedside table and fanned herself with air. It was the hottest at noon and in the afternoon.

Living in the cave was still relatively cool, but it started to feel hot in recent days, and summer has arrived.

The watercress has not been planted yet, and she can't wait in this weather, so she hurried to the canal to plant it.

After planting them all, there is a large area now. The ones planted previously have been harvested and new ones have sprouted.

The cucumbers in the vegetable garden are growing very fast. Some of them are as long as a palm and are very tender.

This kind of cucumber was the same local cucumber as in her previous life, the short and thick type, unlike the long and dark-colored cucumbers on the market.

She personally thinks local cucumbers are more fragrant and have a better taste.

In the vegetable garden, cucumber vines are all over the racks, with cucumbers of varying sizes hanging between them. At first glance, there are quite a few of them.

A few rows over there are planted with cowpeas. The flowers have faded and thin green cowpeas have grown out, but they are not fully grown yet, so we have to wait a little longer.

The eggplants are slightly larger than her fist and can be eaten in the next two days.

The loofahs, gourds and pumpkins on the slope were planted a little later and are still in bloom. They will wither and bear fruit in a while.

She picked three cucumbers and wanted to make a cold dish. As she had no appetite due to the weather, eating cold dishes would help to whet her appetite.

Now that she had arrived at the field, she weeded the weeds and threw them aside. They would die in the sun tomorrow.

As it was getting dark, her stomach was growling with hunger, so she went back to cook dinner.

Cook the rice first, and take some time to scrub the bacon and horse meat with loofah.

After washing, put the bacon in the pot and cook it, then prepare the vegetables, smash the cucumber with a knife and cut it into sections, sprinkle some salt to remove some of the astringency, and put it aside.

Cut dried bamboo shoots into long sections.

The pork belly that has been cooked for more than half an hour is cut a little thicker, about two fingers wide in thickness. The meat is shiny and oily, the fat part is crystal clear, and the lean meat is dark red.

Put the pork belly into the pan and stir-fry until the oil comes out, add a few dried green peppercorns to enhance the flavor, then add water and stew.

After stewing for about half an hour, open the lid of the pot. Amid the smoke, the soup in the pot is milky white. Pour in a bowl of dried bamboo shoots and add a little fresh matsutake mushroom.

The cured pork belly is salty, so there is no need to add salt. Even seasonings such as ginger and garlic are not needed, it is already very fragrant.

The cucumber released a lot of water, which was all poured out. Then a little salt was added again. The salt just added had been diluted by the water and poured out.

Vinegar is indispensable for cold dishes, but there was none, so she scooped some sour water from pickled bamboo shoots, poured it on the cucumber and mixed it evenly. She took a bite and it was sour and crispy, especially delicious, with the taste of childhood!

After eating the mixed cucumber to whet her appetite, she felt even hungrier.

Add the bamboo shoots and stew for more than ten minutes. When the soup is almost reduced, stir-fry twice and bring the pot to the table.

She got her meal and sat at the table, picking up cucumbers with her chopsticks one after another and eating them. They were crispy, refreshing and delicious.

After stewing for a long time, the pork belly has become soft but not mushy. It is soft and bouncy when picked up with chopsticks, especially the pig skin.

When you take a bite, it’s soft, salty and fragrant, the fat bursts in your mouth, and the glutinous pork skin is where the soul is.

The bamboo shoots still have a crispy texture after being cooked for such a long time. They have absorbed the salty flavor of the bacon and are very tasty.

She had been thinking about this dish for a long time, and finally had time to make it tonight. It was just as delicious as she had imagined.

She finished a bowl of rice with the dishes, and the cucumber was the first to be cleared away, and the remaining sour water was drunk up completely.

She cooked the dish of pork belly stewed with bamboo shoots just right. If she cooked too much, it wouldn't be able to be kept until tomorrow morning.

After a delicious meal, she hummed happily while washing the dishes, cleaning the kitchen, scrubbing the wooden cabinets and tables inside and out, and sorting out the food on them.

Since returning from the mountain after purchasing supplies, the largest amount of food consumed was brown rice, which I ate nearly two dou.

I don't eat much millet or white flour.

"I was too busy to make pasta before, but now I can make dumplings, noodles, and pancakes anytime I want!"

She has already thought about what to eat tomorrow morning: millet porridge with pickled mustard greens and cured horse meat pancakes, and deer ears, leeks and egg pancakes!

After cleaning the kitchen inside and out, she looked back and felt refreshed and filled with a sense of accomplishment.

Drain the water from the camellia, take a clean and odorless ceramic pot, put the camellia in, more than half full, put a bowl inside, cover the pot with the lid upside down, and cook it on the fire.

After boiling, the boiling floral water will release steam and gather on the handle in the middle of the lid, which is the handle of the pot. They will drip into the bowl below.

That's the pure dew.

After cooking for twenty minutes, the first pot of pure soup came out, leaving only a shallow layer at the bottom of the bowl.

Then cook the second pot and follow the same procedure.

She poured the cooled hydrosol into a small ceramic jar. This method of storage was inappropriate as it was easy to evaporate, but there was no better container for it at the moment, so she thought of making a small batch first, enough for this month's use.

After boiling three pots, I got some pure hydrosol with a light floral scent.

She stuffed all the remaining camellia flowers into a ceramic pot, poured in camellia oil, and boiled it over a fire.

After boiling for another ten minutes, the floral fragrance filled the air, cleansing Xia Qingyue's tired body and mind.

Put the cooked camellia oil in a cool place and soak it overnight.

That night, she fell asleep smelling the fragrance of flowers.

A dreamless night.

In the morning, Xia Qingyue was awakened by her biological clock. She looked through the window and saw that it was getting slightly brighter outside. She turned over and continued to sleep.

On the first day of lying down, she didn't want to get up so early.

After taking a nap, she got up at noon, feeling refreshed. When she was getting dressed, she felt something was wrong.

She looked at the straw mat in panic, fortunately it was clean.

As soon as I exhaled, a warm current surged from below.

With a bitter face, she clamped her buttocks together, found clean pants, underwear, a sanitary belt, and a stack of pre-cut and washed strips of cloth, and ran to the toilet.

More than twenty minutes later, Xia Qingyue came out with a look of despair, her steps unsteady, and a wrinkled, blood-stained cloth in her hand.

After walking a few steps, she looked up at the sky and said, "Oh my god, this is so hard to get used to. Paper towels, sanitary napkins, you are the greatest invention in the world!"