Traveling through the famine, I stockpiled supplies like crazy

Chapter 139 Winter Daily 1

Hang the cooked vermicelli directly on bamboo poles to dry in the sun. There is no need to collect them at night. After the temperature drops and freezes at night, use a stick to knock on the vermicelli tomorrow and the ice will fall off, and the vermicelli will dry quickly.

After finishing everything and cleaning up the yard, the two of them lay down on a recliner, too tired to move.

"Why do I feel like this is more tiring than digging yams in the mountains!" said Xu Han.

"I also think that it may be because we are too busy and have been nervous all the time!" Lu Chuan added.

At night, Xu Han was so tired that she didn't even want to eat, so she took out some sweet potato porridge from the space to drink.

In the middle of the night, the two of them woke up hungry, had another meal, and then went back to sleep.

The next day, when Xu Han woke up, Lu Chuan was still not awake. It seemed that he was very tired yesterday.

When Lu Chuan heard Xu Han getting up, he got up too.

After getting up and having breakfast, I started beating the vermicelli and using a wooden stick to knock off the ice on the vermicelli so that they could dry quickly when hung out to dry.

The two of them worked together and finished it quickly, and everything was done by lunch.

Some vermicelli crumbs fell off, so Xu Han took out a dustpan and put the vermicelli crumbs in it to dry.

The vermicelli I ordered this time is enough to last for a long time, and there is still some sweet potato starch left in the space! These are specially reserved for cooking.

After the two finished lunch together, Lu Chuan went to the backyard to slaughter the rooster and duck that they had raised at home.

The rooster and the duck did not lay eggs. After feeding them for a year, they ate better and grew quite big. There was no point in keeping them, so I only kept two of them. The others that did not lay eggs were slaughtered.

Now that the weather is cold, there is not much food for chickens and ducks to eat. Instead of feeding them with grain, it is better to kill them now! This way, some food can be left.

Recently, we went digging in the mountains, and the dogs hunted a lot of pheasants and rabbits, which were all stored in Xu Han's space and have not been processed yet!

Just in time this afternoon, they did it together. Lu Chuan was responsible for skinning the rabbit, and Xu Han was responsible for plucking the chicken feathers.

In this way, he was busy for another afternoon. When it was time for dinner, Lu Chuan said

"There's nothing too heavy to do at home. I'm going to start digging a reservoir tomorrow!"

"Okay, you dig the reservoir and I'll process the meat. Make some bacon, sausages, or something like that."

"Okay, the sausage is delicious, make more!" Lu Chuan said flatteringly.

"I got it. I'll make you lots of sausages and give them to you three times a day. You'll eat so much that you'll want to vomit when you see it." Xu Han teased.

"Of course not, the sausages are so delicious! My wife makes them even better, how can I possibly eat enough of them!" Lu Chuan said unconvinced.

When Lu Chuan lived alone before, he didn’t know how to air-dry meat or make sausages. He would just sprinkle some salt on the prey he hunted and marinate it. He didn’t think it tasted that bad.

But after eating the dried chicken made by Xu Han, I realized what I had made before! It was a complete waste of so much meat.

In fact, meat marinated with salt alone is also very delicious, but Lu Chuan’s way of eating it is wrong, so it tastes fishy.

The next morning, Lu Chuan began digging a large hole in the space he had cleared in the backyard.

Use wood ash to mark the location and shape that needs to be dug, then start with a shovel.

There are no special skills when you first start digging. Just dig bigger and deeper. After it becomes bigger, you can follow the drawn lines to adjust the shape until it becomes a square with the same length and width.

The excavated soil is directly piled into the vegetable field next to it, which makes it easier to fill the pit later.

The biggest difficulty in digging a reservoir is to make it waterproof and water-proof. Otherwise, the stored water will flow away, and it would be a waste of effort.

Because digging a reservoir has always been an idea, the family has already prepared the materials needed for waterproofing.

After the pool is dug, a certain proportion of brown sugar is added to eggs, glutinous rice porridge, red clay scallop ash, and tung oil to mix into the ancient building five-in-one soil.

These materials mixed together can not only achieve a waterproof effect, but also be extremely hard and difficult to be damaged by humans.

In this day and age, this kind of building material is generally only purchased by wealthy families, and they are all precious things. Ordinary people are reluctant to spend money to buy them.

If it wasn't for waterproofing, Xu Han wouldn't have been willing to use it.

When they bought these things, Lu Chuan and Xu Han didn't have that much money! At first, they didn't buy a lot, but later when they had more money, they bought some more to keep as a backup.

Using mortar to waterproof the water reservoir is a huge project and requires digging two large water reservoirs, one in the yard and another as a backup next to the stream behind the house.

Just these two pools are enough to keep Lu Chuan busy for the entire winter. The main reason is that there are many steps to take. Not only does he have to dig the pits, but he also has to waterproof the pools. After completing all the steps, it will probably be after the New Year.

This was left to Lu Chuan himself, while Xu Han was responsible for taking care of the housework and preparing meals in advance.

While Lu Chuan was digging a pond in the backyard, Xu Han was making bacon and sausages in the front yard.

I have already eaten half of the dried meat I made last time, so I will prepare some more this time.

First, wash all the necessary things and dry them in the sun to drain the surface moisture, then Xu Han went to prepare the seasoning.

The main task today is to pickle the chickens, ducks, rabbits, fish and the like. This time we pickled much more than last time.

Xu Han also marinated some beef and steak. I have never eaten beef before, so I made some to see if it tastes good.

After being pickled and dried, just hang it in the warehouse or woodshed. When you want to eat it, you can just take it down and eat it. It is very convenient.

Because there was so much meat and it had to be washed and marinated, Xu Han spent a whole day to process all of it.

What I made today are all air-dried, and tomorrow I will make some smoked ones. Try different flavors of pickled meat, and don’t make them all the same. If you eat too much, it will not taste good. It will taste better if you change the flavor frequently.

A lot of meat was pickled, and all the big wooden basins in the house were used. After pickling, Xu Han put the meat in the main room and kept it there temporarily until it was dried before putting it in the warehouse.

Seeing that it was not yet dark, Xu Han went to the backyard again to see the progress.

Lu Chuan has already dug a very deep hole, and is using the space to transport the soil to the vegetable garden next to it. It's great to have piles of soil in there, and when spring comes, he can flatten it and plant vegetables in it!

After dinner in the evening, Xu Han took out the ox head that had not been processed before and started to stew it. After a few days, it would be braised and eaten.

The next day, Lu Chuan continued to dig the reservoir, and Xu Han began to prepare to pickle bacon.