Daily life of farming and supporting a family on the ancient Loess Plateau

Because kelp pills contain kelp and sheep thyroid glands, they are very effective in preventing goiter caused by iodine deficiency and endemic cretinism.

Although the effects of kelp pills may not be visible in the short term, if women with iodine deficiency consume them in the later stages of pregnancy, it can effectively prevent the birth of a child with iodine deficiency, which is more important than preventing goiter.

After finishing her work, Ji Yongling was preparing to visit villages around Ningping County to roughly assess the iodine deficiency situation. However, just as she was about to set off, a question suddenly popped into her mind—why are there no goiter patients in Niujiazhuang Village, while so many people in Guazi Village suffer from the disease, even though both are located in the Loess Plateau region?

This question made her stop and start thinking carefully. She decided to start by comparing Niujiazhuang and Guazicun to find the differences. After some investigation and analysis, she finally discovered a key point: persimmons.

Niujiazhuang's life has only gradually improved in the last two years thanks to a good harvest of grain and the sale of medicinal herbs, castor beans, hemp rope, and garlic. Before that, life was very difficult, and many families had to rely on borrowing grain to survive; it wasn't much better than Guazi Village.

Starting last year, Ji Yongling led the villagers to gradually graft wild persimmon and wild apple trees in the ditch. Now, less than four years later, they are ready to bear fruit, but the wild persimmon trees that have not yet been grafted are still bearing a lot of green persimmons.

Although persimmons are very unripe and unpalatable, in the difficult days of food shortages in the past, people would always try their best to make them edible. For example, some people would warm unripe persimmons on the kang (a heated brick bed) to make them ripen early, and then mix them with millet flour to eat. This not only saved food but also provided a strong feeling of fullness. Others would slice the persimmons, dry them, grind them into powder, and mix them into flour to make food.

Drawing on her knowledge acquired in later generations, Ji Yongling immediately realized that fresh persimmons, especially fresh astringent ones, might also be a food rich in iodine. She speculated that the absence of goiter patients in Niujiazhuang was likely related to the villagers' frequent consumption of persimmons. In other words, fresh astringent persimmons could prevent goiter caused by iodine deficiency.

This discovery thrilled her.

While other tree species are difficult to cultivate in the Northwest, persimmon trees are relatively easy to grow. Persimmon trees require relatively little water. According to Mr. Ji, even in years of severe drought and famine, when many trees and crops wither and die, persimmon trees still bear abundant fruit.

It seems that we can encourage Guazi Village and other villages in the mountains to plant more persimmon trees, and then teach them persimmon grafting techniques to turn astringent persimmons into sweet ones.

Persimmons, dried persimmons, candied persimmons... Besides serving as a natural "iodine reservoir," Guazi Village can also earn a little money from persimmons. Truly, everything goes smoothly!

This year, Niaoli has changed quite a bit. In addition to the Ji Mancang and Ji Mantun families who built houses here, several other families have also moved in one after another. Although some families only built a few small rooms on one side of the courtyard at first, they moved in quickly.

Today, six or seven households have settled around the pond. With a well and a pond in Niaoli, drinking water and other water use are very convenient. People live closer together, making it easier for them to move around.

The Ji Mancang and Ji Mantun families moved here after the wheat harvest. The Ji Mancang family rents a house in the county, and the gate to the yard is usually locked. The key was given to Ji Manchuan, who asked him and Ji Manqing to keep an eye on it from time to time.

The Ji family usually consists of only Zhao Yunxia and Ji Yongfei.

Ji Yongfei's personality has changed a lot, and she no longer likes to be calculating and competitive as before. During the day, she likes to come to Ji Yongling's house whenever she has nothing to do, either to draw flower patterns on Ji Yongling's paper or to do needlework with Jia Ronghua and Hu Xirong. On the contrary, she doesn't spend much time at her own home.

Zhao Yunxia had a lot of complaints about this, and several times when she was chatting by the well, she would say sourly, "Yongling's mother, my Yongfei is almost becoming a woman in your house now. She's never home and just loves to stay in your house."

Jia Ronghua smiled and said, "Kids love playing with other kids. My courtyard is lively, so let Yongfei play a lot! Girls only stay at their parents' home for a few years. In a couple of years, when Yongfei and the others get married, they won't be so carefree!"

Jia Ronghua herself had been through it all. In her opinion, even after marriage, no matter how good the parents-in-law were, it was never as carefree as when she was a girl. Therefore, she always advocated that girls should be more relaxed at their parents' home.

But Zhao Yunxia didn't think so. She felt that Ji Yongfei should follow the path she had taken. Girls should be sensible early on, learn to manage a household early, and help with chores at their parents' home so that their parents could have an easier time, instead of playing outside all day.

.....

Ordinary days are lived without haste or rush.

That day, Ji Manqing did something big—he actually bought a horse.

Originally, he and Ji Manchuan accompanied Grandpa Ji to buy cattle, but Grandpa Ji didn't like the cattle he wanted to buy, but he took a fancy to an old horse.

He argued vehemently, "An old horse knows the way, and an old horse is easier to use than an ox for plowing!" This angered Old Master Ji so much that he turned and left. Later, after Ji Manchuan's repeated persuasion, Old Master Ji reluctantly nodded in agreement.

In fact, Ji Manqing just loves horses and especially admires the generals who ride horses at breakneck speed in the stories told by storytellers. Now his wish has finally come true.

Although it was an old horse, it was still a tall and imposing one, quite majestic compared to a mule.

It was Ji Manqing's first time mounting a horse, and lacking experience, he first extended his right foot, but after a long time, he couldn't get on. Later, with the guidance of Ji Yongling and a bunch of "strategists," he realized he had extended the wrong foot. After switching feet, he finally managed to get onto the horse's back with great effort, only to fall off on the other side and land on a pile of fresh horse manure.

Seeing Ji Manqing, who had gotten up with both hands covered in horse manure and an innocent look on his face, Ji Manchuan burst into laughter like a pig being slaughtered.

Despite this, he struggled to climb back onto the horse. Alas, getting on was difficult, but getting off was quick! Even the horse seemed to shake its head helplessly at Ji Manqing.

Since they got the horse, plowing and hoeing were no longer possible, but it did bring great benefits to Ji Yongling and Ji Yongning. Whenever they had free time, they would go to feed the horse and walk it, which basically meant riding it. Gradually, the children all developed excellent horsemanship skills and rode quite well.

Ji Yongling, a woman from a later generation, dreamed of becoming a general and longed to have the money and time to learn horseback riding and archery on the grasslands. Although she didn't achieve her dream back then, she can now often ride a horse, traversing the plateaus and valleys, feeling the strong north wind of the Loess Plateau whistling past her ears, her heart filled with freedom and joy.