Go back to the past to plant trees

Zheng Erqiang and Zhao Jinshui stayed at the camp for a week before going back. Mainly, Zhao Jinshui kept saying he wanted to go back, and Zheng Erqiang also felt it was time to go back. In addition, there had been a light snowfall in the past two days, and he was afraid that a sudden heavy snowfall would trap them here. His grandmother lived alone, and if he were trapped here, there would be no one to take care of her this winter.

After Zhao Jinquan and Zheng Erqiang left, the camp immediately returned to quiet, and Zhao Jinquan did not go to collect firewood again.

Over the past few days, the three of them have cleared away the weeds and thorns in the vicinity, resulting in an abundant supply of firewood for the camp.

After Zhao Jinshui returned, Feng Cheng and Zhao Jinquan harvested all the vegetables from the garden. The day before yesterday, a severe freeze hit the dam area, and the vegetables in the garden could not be kept. Feng Cheng thought of bringing them back, since the weather was not suitable for drying vegetables. They had also made a lot of sauerkraut, so these green vegetables were kept in the kitchen to be eaten in the winter.

"Brother Feng, let's have a couple of drinks tonight!"

After bringing the vegetables back from the garden, Zhao Jinquan took the opportunity to make a suggestion to Feng Cheng.

He's been going out to collect firewood every day lately, and he's exhausted. Now that he has some free time, he's thinking of having a couple of drinks to relax.

"Sure! But there's not much food. Hmm, there are a few pieces of cured pork in the house, so I'll cut them in half and make some braised soybeans too!"

Feng Cheng also wanted to have a couple of drinks, not because he was addicted to alcohol, but simply because he was bored.

Zhao Jinquan said, "Let's keep the soybeans to make tofu! We still have some peanuts, so we can stir-fry half a plate of peanuts, which will do the same thing."

These few pounds of soybeans were hard-earned by Zhao Jinquan, and he didn't want to use them for stir-frying. Besides, when making tofu, one pound of soybeans can make four or five pounds of tofu. If you just stir-fry them directly, half a pound is only enough for one dish, which isn't even enough for two people.

"Sure, you're the chef, you can do it."

After bringing the vegetables back from the garden, Feng Cheng threw some of the older, rotten leaves into the chicken coop to feed the chickens.

Six chickens, each weighing about two pounds, were quite small. Compared to chickens in later generations that could grow four or five pounds in a month, these chickens were growing very, very slowly.

The breed wasn't good, and they weren't fed much feed, just vegetable leaves, small potatoes, and rotten sweet potatoes. It's quite unexpected that they've grown so big and none of them have died.

In this area of ​​Bashang, Feng Cheng dared not let the chickens out at all. There were foxes, weasels, and wolves around, and if they were released, they would most likely be eaten.

There is another chicken coop with ten chicks inside. Zhao Jinquan bought them some time ago. He specially enlarged and widened the coop so that there would be enough room for the chicks to move around.

Feng Cheng will probably eat all six of the big ones this winter. If he eats the rest, he'll need to make up for it with other meat so that he can have meat to eat every now and then.

While Zhao Jinquan was cooking, Feng Cheng wondered if he should make some sweet potato noodles or potato noodles these days. In his later years, Feng Cheng rarely ate these two types of noodles, but in this era, sweet potato noodles and potato noodles were the easiest for ordinary people to obtain, so they were often added to dishes in various regions.

For example, there are pickled cabbage and glass noodles, cabbage and glass noodles, pork stew with glass noodles, and even stir-fried glass noodles.

There were still quite a few sweet potatoes left in the camp. Although some were used to make maltose, the sweet potato yield was high, and there were still a couple hundred pounds left in the camp.

Moreover, winter is long, and unlike later times when markets are open and you can buy things by courier, it is very difficult to obtain supplies in winter. This applies not only to individuals but also to organizations. For example, many organizations may want to give their employees New Year's goods, but they struggle to find enough supplies and end up just making do with whatever they can find.

On the dam, the hardship level was another notch. Feng Cheng and Zhao Jinquan could only eat what they had stored up during this period, and that was all.

Feng Cheng was also thinking of making some sweet potato starch while the weather wasn't too cold, so that he would have more things to eat during the winter.

Feng Cheng had this idea a few days ago, but Zhao Jinshui was there at the time, so Feng Cheng thought he would wait until he went back to do it, since there weren't many things in the camp and he couldn't give them away.

If I had a personal space with a few acres of land inside, which could accelerate the growth time of crops, I wouldn't need to be so meticulous about budgeting. I could just deliver three to five kilograms of sweet potato flour to each person.

Unfortunately, Feng Cheng isn't like the protagonists in those novels who have special abilities, so he can only live a frugal life like an ordinary citizen, keeping good things to himself and not letting others see them.

That evening, while Zhao Jinquan was cooking, Feng Cheng helped tend the fire and casually mentioned the matter.

“If we make sweet potato starch, we’ll have to use up all the sweet potatoes. Won’t that mean we won’t have enough food?” Zhao Jinquan expressed his concern.

Those who have never experienced hunger cannot understand that feeling. During the most difficult time last year, Zhao Jinquan experienced the kind of hunger that kept him awake at night, and he even wanted to tear off pieces of grass and stuff them into his stomach.

Of course, the most difficult period was only that time. After that, things got much better. At least Zhao Jinquan could eat three or five parts full. But that experience was deeply etched in Zhao Jinquan's mind, so he is now very afraid of experiencing that situation again.

The worst thing about spending the winter in Bashang is this situation. The mountains are high and the roads are long, and it's especially difficult to go out when it snows, let alone find food. This is Zhao Jinquan's first time spending the winter in Bashang, so he is very afraid of food shortages. If that happens, the two of them will really be doomed, since there isn't even grass available this season.

"It should be enough. The supplies the bureau gives us are rationed, enough to last us until next spring. Plus the harvest from the vegetable garden, it's a bit of an exaggeration to say we can eat as much as we want, but we can definitely guarantee we won't go hungry."

With several hundred kilograms of vegetables, several hundred kilograms of pumpkin and winter melon, plus the six or seven hundred kilograms of grain provided by the bureau, the two of them wouldn't have to worry about going hungry as long as they didn't waste any.

During the winter, there is no need to work, so the consumption is not high. They eat two meals a day, and even if each meal is two pounds, two people only need eight pounds of food a day, and in half a year, it will only be less than 1500 pounds.

This is under the condition of eating freely. If one were to be more careful with their spending, a thousand catties would be enough. Last year, the original owner spent the winter strictly following the ration.

This only includes grains, not snacks like candied winter melon, candied pumpkin, maltose, and dried sweet potatoes. Although these are just snacks, they can fill your stomach. If you eat a lot of these things, you naturally won't need to eat as much grain.

Why did many people in later generations not farm but still have enough food? It's because there were more miscellaneous things to eat, and people had more things to put in their mouths, so food consumption naturally decreased. Unlike now, when there's not much to eat, people can easily finish two pounds of rice in one meal.

"We still have about 100 pounds of sweet potatoes left. We won't cook too much, just half of them. We can cook the other half later if we can't finish them."

Sweet potatoes have many uses. They can be used to make sugar, sweet potato starch, and can be eaten directly or used to make porridge. However, most people don't like eating them directly, especially if they eat them every day. It's okay to occasionally make a sweet soup, steam them, or bake them, but eating them every day would be unbearable.