Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

In the following days, Jinghan and the others went to see the bugs every morning. Sometimes, Jinghan would use big scissors to cut off the branches where insects were gathering too densely, and then move them to other trees. In this way, they will not die without food due to being too dense.

Jingwan always stayed far away, a little afraid of these insects. But Jingxian was not afraid. Together with Jinghan, they dared to cut branches and other things. After seeing these insects, Jinghan and the others went to dig up Gastrodia elata. There was really a lot of Gastrodia elata in this forest, and they could dig twenty or thirty kilograms of it every day.

They did not go to that forest that day, but went to the old forest in the south. As she was walking, Jinghan saw some very bright mushrooms growing on the fallen wood next to her. This mushroom is light pink in color and grows into large pieces. It looks very beautiful. "Oh, it's a tree chicken mushroom. I encountered something good today." Jinghan shouted.

Generally, the brighter the color, the more poisonous the mushroom is, but this tree mushroom is different. This tree mushroom looks very bright, but it is edible and tastes very delicious. This thing grows very fast. When you see it today, it is just a little bigger than a fingernail, but tomorrow it can grow bigger than an adult's palm. Therefore, it must be picked in time, otherwise it will become old. Once this thing gets old, it will become as hard as wood and cannot be eaten.

Jinghan quickly stepped forward to take a look and pinched it with her hands. She found that the main body of the mushroom was still quite tender. He quickly broke off the mushroom and put it in the basket. There were several pieces of tree mushroom growing on this fallen tree, and Jinghan broke them all off. "Today at noon, let's eat fried leeks with tree chicken mushrooms. It just so happens that we also have leeks this year." This fried chicken with tree chicken mushrooms and leeks is extremely delicious, and it is also a special delicacy in the Changbai Mountain area.

Wen Xuan and the others have never seen this tree mushroom, but they believe Jinghan. As long as Jinghan says it can be eaten, it means it can be eaten. Everyone continued to move forward, looking for Gastrodia elata.

At noon, the children returned to the venue. "Grandma, we encountered tree chicken mushrooms today. Can we fry tree chicken mushrooms today?" Jinghan took out the mushrooms she picked and asked Chen.

"Hey, this is something rare to come across. Okay, I'll go cut some leeks, and I'll have fried leeks with tangerine mushrooms for lunch." Of course Mrs. Chen knew this kind of mushroom, so she quickly took a sickle and went to cut leeks in the vegetable field. .

Jinghan removed the leaves and branches from the mushrooms, washed them with water and gave them to Xue. Xue cut the mushrooms into strips, blanched them in hot water and took them out. Here, Jingwan and Chen picked out the leeks and washed them. Xue also cut them and saved them for cooking later.

This Stir-fried Chives with Chicken Mushrooms is very simple. You just need to put two vegetables into the pot and stir-fry. However, the heat and other factors need to be mastered by those who often cook. Xue is an expert at cooking, so this matter is naturally not a problem for her. After frying the vegetables for a few seconds, a fragrance wafts out of the kitchen. Jinghan sniffed, and sure enough, it smelled like this, so fragrant.

Lunch consists of pancakes and rice porridge. Of course, the vegetables are freshly fried chicken, mushrooms, leeks, cabbage, cucumbers, etc. Add a bowl of miso and it's a complete meal.

Zhixin and the others had gone to the ginseng field to gather grass, and they all came back now. Mrs. Chen quickly asked them to wash their hands and eat. Everyone sat at the table. The old man saw the food on the table and said, "Oh, there are some good things here. Come to Zhixin, let's eat quickly. There is also this tree chicken mushroom at noon today. Let's all try it. Taste, it's rare to find the right one." The old man picked up a chopstick and put it into his mouth. "Well, it tastes good. It tastes really fresh."

Everyone used their chopsticks to try the mushroom. Fortunately, there are quite a lot of tree mushrooms today, so this is enough to eat. The children loved to eat. When Xue and Zhu saw it, they ate only two chopsticks and left it to the children.

"It would be great if we could have this tree mushroom more often." Wenchang said while eating.

The old man laughed when he heard this, "Wenchang, you can't get this thing very often. There are quite a few on the mountain, but this thing grows very fast. Today you see it growing small, but you can go and see it tomorrow." Maybe they will grow old. You are really lucky to meet such tree chicken mushrooms that have not aged yet." The old man told the children about tree chicken mushrooms. "Speaking of which, there are indeed a lot of delicious mushrooms in our mountains, such as elm mushrooms, tree chicken mushrooms, and hericium mushrooms. There are quite a lot of them. This elm mushroom is even more delicious. , but it cannot be dried in the sun. A small handful can be dried in a large basket, which is good, and the taste is not good once it is dried. Hericium mushrooms can be dried in the sun, but there are too few. You can only get a few in a year. Not to mention the tree mushrooms, which are short-lived and become like wood when they get old and cannot be eaten. It would be great if there were more of these mushrooms," the old man sighed.

When Jinghan heard this, her heart moved, yes, how could she forget this? In the previous life, weren't there people who cultivated mushrooms artificially? Now that they are in the mountains, there is no shortage of wood. As long as they can get the bacteria and plant them on the wood, wouldn't it be the same as the wild ones? By the way, she should think about this. These mushrooms are delicious and nutritious, and are rare good things. People here usually use it to give away things, and it is very popular. If it can be grown, it should be very popular, right? Jinghan felt that she had found a good way.

Don't be too hasty about this, you have to do it bit by bit, and you have to cultivate the bacteria first. Jinghan had a plan in mind and began to slowly think about how to grow this mushroom.

Although she has her heart set on cultivating mushrooms artificially, it cannot be done in a hurry, so Jinghan still does whatever she has to do every day. I still go to see the bugs in the morning, and then go to the forest to collect medicinal materials during the day. Wenchang went to the town with Zhiming every morning to sell fish and crickets. Sometimes, they would also pick up wild animals in traps. In the summer, they would spoil if they couldn't eat them, so they usually took them to the town to sell them.

There is endless work in the ginseng field. This year Zhixin and the old man have discussed that they will need thirty feet of ginseng soil. In this way, all the ginseng seeds harvested last year can be sprinkled on the field. As time goes by, a lot of sticks can be planted. This ginseng seed does not sprout directly by being sown in the ground, but it needs to be fermented before it can open. Only open ginseng seeds can sprout after being sown in the ground.

This process of fermenting ginseng seeds in advance to make them open is called hair ginseng seeds. Ginseng seeds are divided into dry seeds and water seeds. Dry seeds are usually produced in June. Find a place in the ground, tamp the bottom with loess, then spread a thin layer of cloth, and then spread a mixture of sand and black soil on top, and mix in the ginseng seeds. The ginseng seeds were naturally those dried in the sun last year. They were slightly soaked in water, mixed into the sand, and then covered with a layer of soil. Finally, a shed must be built on the land to prevent rainwater from falling in and causing the ginseng seeds to rot.

The ginseng seeds are basically the same. The only difference is that the ginseng seeds are harvested that year, mixed with soil for fermentation, and then scattered in the autumn. Compared with water seeds, dry seeds have a better germination rate and the seedlings emerge uniformly. Water seeds are prone to mildew, and seedlings are prone to uneven emergence, with many appearing only in the third year after sowing the seeds. Therefore, if ordinary people are not in a hurry to use ginseng seeds, they will dry them in the sun, hang them on the beams, and wait until the seeds are dried the next year.

The Xu family got a lot of ginseng seeds last year, and this year they had to use fifteen feet of ginseng soil just to spread the seeds. Therefore, the area where ginseng seeds are distributed this year is much larger than in previous years. A wooden shed has been built on top, and it is covered with grass to prevent rainwater from falling in.

Village chief Zhou had already divided the ginseng soil with the villagers, and now Zhixin and Zhiming were busy digging the ginseng soil. Since Zhiming still has to go to town every day, and he has gained an extra ten feet this year, the digging of the ginseng soil has been slower. Fortunately, with that kind of wide pickaxe head, the ground can be stronger than in previous years. The work of digging soil was tiring, so Chen asked Zhiming and the others to buy some meat from time to time, which was good for their meals.

In the beginning of spring this year, Mr. Chen caught two piglets, which are now half grown. Every day, Jinghan and the others were responsible for bringing back some pigweed, mixing it with some corn navels, soybean hairs, acorns and other things, and eating it happily. The number of geese at home has also increased to more than fifty. Chen has a special skill, which is that he can hatch chicks and goslings on the kang. This year she deliberately left about sixty goose eggs, and fifty of them hatched out, which was not bad. Now these goslings have just hatched, and they are waddling so much fun. As a result, the children had another task, which was to pick some endive and lettuce every day, and then chop them into pieces and feed them to the goslings. These two things are also medicinal materials, which can be used to remove fire and sterilize. They are very good for goslings to eat.

The days passed in such busyness, and the bugs Jinghan had been looking forward to actually formed cocoons. Looking at the rolled leaves on the oak tree, Jinghan felt so happy. This tussah silkworm spends the winter as a pupa, so Jinghan cut off all the cocoons and leaves together with scissors, and then placed them in a cool place. As long as the temperature is not enough, these cocoons will not move and will remain like this until next spring.

Jinghan carefully stored the cocoons, and her family naturally saw it. When they asked what it was, Jinghan told them that it was a silkworm that could pull out silk. Just like the mulberry silkworms raised in the south, only this kind of silkworms eat oak tree leaves and are raised in the wild. Of course, Jinghan couldn't say that she knew him personally, so she could only say that she heard someone tell her when she went to town once.

After hearing what Jinghan said, the family members didn't believe it, but no one poured cold water on it. Over the past year or so, everyone has seen what Jinghan is capable of. This little girl is full of evil ideas. If Jinghan really makes this kind of silkworm, even if the silk cannot be sold, he can still use it for his own home, right?