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

After a short pause, Tan Xiaozhu pursed his lips and sneered, his eyes gleaming with brilliance, "There are hidden places on the mountain that I don't know about. Haha, it's really interesting, interesting."

In a moment, her face suddenly became sinister, and she whispered: "Xia Qingyue, that hidden place belongs to me!"

Tiankeng.

Hache——

Hache——

Xia Qingyue was taking a walk to digest her food after dinner when she suddenly sneezed twice. She touched her nose, worried that she might have caught a cold.

She didn't sleep well that night and had a nightmare.

When she woke up, she felt physically and mentally exhausted. She had no recollection of what she dreamed about at night and she felt completely exhausted.

It was still dark, and she lay in bed, taking a nap that was quite peaceful for more than an hour.

She didn't get enough rest and had a poor appetite. Early in the morning, she cooked some millet porridge and took out some soaked sour cowpeas and eggplants from the jar to eat with the rice.

The sour cowpea is crunchy.

The skin of the sour eggplant is a bit crispy, and the flesh inside is soft.

It's all well-seasoned, sour, salty and slightly spicy, and is a perfect match with porridge.

After breakfast, the sun was not so strong, so Xia Qingyue put on a straw hat and dug the pond.

Seeing that the digging was almost done, she didn't want to stop there and wanted to finish it all at once.

After digging for more than half an hour, the sun came out. Through the layer of cloth of the clothes, the sun made my skin hot and painful.

She did not try to be brave, so she stopped digging and went to the vegetable garden.

There was a bumper harvest of cowpeas, eggplants, pumpkins, gourds and loofahs in the fields. Some of them were soaked in jars, some were used to cook and eat, and some were fed to chickens and ducks.

Even so, I still can't eat enough of them. For example, the cowpeas are so thin and long that they hang all over the branches. If I don't pick them, they will get old.

Pick them while they are still fresh and tender, dry them in the sun, make them into dried beans, and store them for eating in winter.

Most of the picked vegetables will continue to grow, and during this period, you need to trim off the excess branches to prevent them from absorbing nutrients and maintain the fertility and moisture of the soil.

Except for the pumpkins that were not picked, they were kept as old pumpkins, and the peppers were kept for eating and seeding.

The rest of the vegetables, like cowpea, eggplant, gourd, loofah, cucumber, etc., were picked only when they were fully grown, and those that were not fully grown were left on the branches to continue growing.

Boil hot water in a pot, put the washed and insect-free cowpeas in and blanch them for a short time. When you see their color turn darker, take them out and spread them flat on bamboo rafts to dry in the sun.

Choose fleshy eggplants, cut them into even pieces, and sprinkle some salt to remove excess moisture.

After marinating for half an hour, hold the eggplants tightly with both hands, squeeze out the water inside, and then spread them flat in a large round winnowing basket to dry.

Peel the gourd and loofah and cut them thicker. They will shrink a lot when dried. If you cut them smaller, they will only be a little bit after drying.

It’s more enjoyable if you cut it thicker.

Spread the cut gourd and loofah slices flat on a bamboo raft and dry them in the sun.

Dried loofah is called loofah, which can be eaten and used to make tea, and has the effect of clearing away heat and detoxifying.

Cut the washed cucumbers into thick round slices, sprinkle with salt and marinate them, put them into a cloth bag, put a basin of water on it, and use a heavy object to press out the water.

After pressing for about an hour, the original cucumber has shrunk greatly and is only one third of its original size.

Looking at the tiny cucumber, Xia Qingyue shook her head helplessly.

Isn't this just like those companies I worked for in my previous life that made big promises? They said a lot of great things and sounded extremely good, but in reality, the final salary was just a tiny bit, and that was only a tiny bit after the company did everything they could to cut corners here and there.

Although pickled cucumbers cause great losses, the dried cucumbers made from them are particularly delicious and are perfect whether for cold dishes or stews with meat.

Cucumbers are also placed on bamboo rafts to dry.

Fortunately, she made a few more bamboo rafts last time, otherwise they would not be enough.

The open space at the bottom of the sinkhole is filled with things drying in the sun. With such a scorching sun, most of the things can be dried in just one day.

During the process, she turned them over frequently to ensure that they were evenly dried, otherwise they would easily deteriorate and become moldy.

The job seems simple and easy, but after doing it, my neck and hands are sore.

At noon, it's time to make lunch.

There was some porridge left over from the morning, and she smelled it and found it was not bad.

It was hot and she had no appetite, but there was one thing she had been thinking about for a long time, and that was kangbing.

Just thinking about her makes me hungry.

It’s better to do it today than to wait for a better day. I’m going to make kangbing for noon today. I wanted to eat it before my period last time, but I was delayed that time.

"I want to eat preserved vegetables and bacon, deer ears, leeks, eggs and dried shrimps!"

She doesn't want to make a choice between the two, she just wants to eat whatever she wants!

Thinking that she would soon be able to eat the food she had been craving for, she felt particularly happy and relaxed. She hummed an unknown tune and kneaded the dough swiftly with her hands. She kneaded it until it was smooth and put it aside to rise.

While waiting, I cut a piece of cured horse meat, washed it and cooked it, and also soaked the pickled mustard greens and dried shrimps.

She wore a straw hat and went to the field to pick leeks. The round trip took about seven or eight minutes. When she came back, she was sweating and her face was flushed.

"It's hot, why is it so hot?" She picked up the palm-leaf fan and waved it, and the wind was hot.

“I really hope winter comes soon.”

The cooked horse meat and soaked dried shrimps are cut into cubes, and the pickled mustard greens are put into the pan and stir-fried until there is no moisture left. The two are mixed together, and a little soy sauce and matsutake mushrooms are added, and a handful of chopped green onions are added to enhance the flavor.

The deer ear leek filling is even simpler. Wash the deer ear leek and cut it into small pieces. Fry the eggs and let them cool, then add seasonings and mix well.

Roll the dough into long strips by hand and cut into even-sized pieces, one of which is a pancake.

There were five dough balls in total. She rolled them out one by one and filled them with stuffing, three with pickled mustard greens and meat, and two with deer ear and leek. She wanted to eat more meat.

Wrap the filling, knead the dough well, and then roll it out slowly, making sure that the filling does not come out and that the thickness of the crust is even.

After rolling out five pancakes, she was so hot that sweat was dripping down her face like raindrops, one drop after another.

Put a thin layer of oil in the pot to grease it, put the pancakes on it, and cover it with a small fire.

When the cake is almost done, turn it over, and turn it over frequently until both sides are golden brown.

After more than ten minutes of heating, the kang was done.

The porridge was very hot when it came out of the pot. She first scooped a bowl of porridge for Heihei, plus two duck eggs.

Afraid that she would feel sick of eating the pancake alone, she smashed two cucumbers and mixed them with mountain pepper sauce, which was very fragrant.

The porridge had been sitting there all morning and was cool. She took a big sip first. It was so cool.

Then eat the baked pancakes. When you take a bite, you can smell the crispy aroma. The thin pancake crust is crispy from the baking process, and the inside is filled with pickled mustard greens and bacon.

In my previous life, when I ate takeout food with stuffing, like steamed buns or pancakes, most of the time I would eat the skin as the first bite, and sometimes I might have to take a few bites before I could get to the filling.

But the kangbing she made herself was different. You could taste the salty and fragrant filling at the first bite.

The pickled mustard greens are soft, the cured horse meat is dried and fragrant, and they are meaty enough. A hint of onion enriches the flavor of the entire filling.

She ate without stopping and quickly finished a pancake, then slurped a few mouthfuls of porridge and ate some crispy mixed cucumber.

She ate another deer ear and leek pancake, finished the remaining porridge and a little mixed cucumber in the bowl, and burped.

"I'm full, it's another beautiful day."

It is said that people feel sleepy in spring, lazy in summer, tired in autumn and hibernate in winter. After lunch, she sat at the table, supporting her head with one hand. When she was drowsy, she saw with half-open eyes that Heihei had run across the paddy field and was about to reach the vegetable field.