Chapter 314 Water Shortage Summer
As soon as Lin Heng walked down, he saw his father feeding the cattle and sheep, and he also walked over to help.
“Dingle bell!”
“Eating grass!!”
With the sound of bells and people shouting, all the cattle and sheep lying on the ground stood up He stood up and looked at the two people at the door.
Now they have become accustomed to it. When they hear the bells and shouts, they know there is food.
While feeding the grass, Father Lin turned around and asked: "Do you feel a lot fatter?"
< br>"It's grown a bit." Lin Heng looked at these black goats scrambling to eat grass. They looked a little cute and they were all a lot bigger.
There are three male goats that are obviously larger than the other goats. As expected, the future leader goat will be born from among them.
Thanks to good ventilation, as well as regular cleaning of feces and splashing of disinfectant lime, these sheep have no physical problems for the time being.
Lin's father said: "I feel like I have to go out for a run, otherwise I won't be healthy enough. This circle is too small."
"In a few days, we can release it on a small scale and try it first." Lin Heng said that letting them out for a walk is indeed good for your health.
After feeding the cattle and sheep, Lin Heng first went to see the little lamb whose leg was broken. He could no longer use his hind legs and now walked on three legs.
“You can eat or kill me if you want.” Father Lin said with a smile beside him.
Lin Heng stood up and said: "Let's talk, don't worry, maybe I can catch a muntjac on the mountain."
Taking a bundle of fresh grass down, Lin Heng went to the forest musk deer enclosure to take a look.
“Yo yo!”
As soon as he opened the door, the forest musk deer screamed in terror and jumped towards the corner inside.
"It's okay to live as long as it doesn't matter." Lin Heng breathed a sigh of relief when he saw its condition, threw the fodder in, and drove back to the village.
After entering the yard, Fengshou made a friendly sound. Lin Heng glanced at it and said, "I'll get you some food soon."
He went into the house and got some minced meat to cook with the leftover rice, and then walked around the house.
Seeing Xiulan's repackaged Panax notoginseng, he took it out and weighed it. After drying, it weighed 13 pounds and 6 taels, and as he expected, it was all special grade and could be sold for about 700.
He prepared six pounds of Panax notoginseng and made them into powder for his family to drink. It is very beneficial to the human body, especially those suffering from ischemia.
However, because the shelf life of this thing cannot be as long as that of ginseng, it will go bad in two or three years, so Lin Heng plans to sell the remaining ten kilograms.
Not counting the money from the buying station and the 20,000 yuan saved in the house, he only had 500 yuan in his card. It could be said that he was very short of money.
We have to buy shrimp feed soon, which is another expense. The 20,000 yuan must be used to buy a factory and a house, and cannot be used for other purposes.
The only income, fresh shrimps, will not come in until October.
However, Lin Heng is not in a hurry. He will move forward step by step according to his own pace of life, and will not be so eager for quick success.
After shoveling the feed and feeding the chickens and ducks in the back mountain, Lin Heng let them out and ate grass outside during the day.
While Lin Heng was feeding the chickens, his sister-in-law Liu Juan was milking the cows. Suddenly she realized that she couldn't squeeze out any milk today, so she hurriedly came over to find Lin Heng.
"Lin Heng, why can't the cow produce milk? Is she sick?" Liu Juan was a little anxious. She was used to drinking milk.
Lin Heng was stunned for a moment, then explained: "Then it should be the drying period. After two months of calving, milk production will start again."
This one The belly of the cow has been getting bigger and bigger recently. The calf will be born in October, which is only more than two months old.
Usually the two months before giving birth are the dry period and no milk will be produced. The amount of milk has been declining recently, and what he didn't expect was that it stopped today.
"That's it, okay then." Liu Juan said a little disappointed, and she became a little anxious when she thought about not having milk to drink in the next two months.
With this cow, both herself and the three children look much better than before, and they are no longer uncomfortable now.
Lin Heng walked over and took a closer look, confirming that the drying period had arrived. He thought he would last for a while, but he didn't expect it to be here so soon.
There is nothing you can do about it. During this time, the cow's body has to prepare for the newborn calf, so it will not produce milk.
But you have to feed better and keep the cows in good shape, so that they can produce more milk in the future.
After pouring some green grains to feed the cows, Lin Heng turned around and went home. Just because the cows stop producing milk does not mean that there is no milk to drink. The unfinished milk used to be consumed when the milk production was extremely high has been made into milk powder, and now it is just right to take it out and enjoy it.
After taking out the milk powder he made before, Lin Heng looked at the fermented milk that was poured into the tank five or six days ago.
When he opened it, he saw that there was already a thick layer of butter on the surface. This was the raw material for making butter. He scooped it up and put it into a basin, preparing to take it to Hongfeng Mountain for making.
The yogurt under the cream after scooping it is naturally useful, but it cannot be eaten directly because there are too many bacteria in this yogurt.
Lin Heng poured them all into the bucket and prepared to take them all back to Hongfeng Mountain.
After these were done, he fed the harvest and picked some vegetables and fruits. There was a bit too much watermelon, so he cut one open and fed it to the chickens and ducks.
I gave one to my neighbor who was usually pretty good, and took three more to Tian Yan and asked her to share them with the children at school.
Lin Heng came to Hongfeng Mountain, and his third father and cousin Lin Hai also came.
"What are you getting, milk?" Mother Lin asked looking at what he was carrying.
"This is previously fermented yogurt and cream. It cannot be eaten directly. The milk has been weaned, and there has been no fresh milk in the past two months."
Lin Heng explained to his mother.
"That's right, let's just drink milk powder. Feed the cows well these days." Mother Lin nodded.
"I know." Lin Heng nodded, said hello to Third Dad and the others, and then carried his things up the mountain.
On the mountain, Xiulan was boiling eggs. She saw Lin Heng coming up with milk powder and asked curiously: "Why did you bring the milk powder?"
"Because the cows are weaned." Lin Heng Explained again.
“That’s right, milk powder tastes good too.” Xiulan nodded.
After the eggs were cooked, Xiulan went to make the milk powder and mix the cold dishes, while Lin Heng poured the cream into the pot and boiled it.
Stirring constantly during the making process, by the time they finished their breakfast, the originally white cream had turned into translucent yellow and turned into oil.
“Milk actually contains so much oil.” Xiulan was a little surprised.
“Yes, this thing solidifies like lard when it’s cold, but it’s called butter.” Lin Heng explained while filtering it with gauze.
When Xiulan came over to help, she was a little curious: "How do you eat this thing? Can it be stir-fried?"
Lin Heng said with a smile, "It's possible but not recommended, because it has a milky aroma and is good for making soups, steamed buns, popcorn, and frying steaks."
Pour the butter into a glass bottle and let it sit. After letting it cool, Lin Heng began to pour the yogurt in the bucket into the pot to cook.
It won’t take long for yogurt to become like tofu pudding, with the milk flakes and whey separated.
Strain the whey, and the rest is cheese. Knead it into small balls and flatten it, then bake it slowly on a charcoal fire, and finally it becomes a delicious cheese cake. "You watch carefully, I went over to work." After the cheese cake was ready, Lin Heng looked at Xiulan and said.
"You go ahead." Xiulan nodded in agreement.
As soon as Lin Heng walked to the place where the dam was being built, Caiyun came up with a book. Lin Heng said hello to her and went down the mountain to pull materials.
Today’s work is the same as yesterday, which is to expand the two sides of the dam and clean the stones inside.
Time flew by while working, and it was already noon in a blink of an eye. Lin Heng went back to rest, and Xiulan brought him cheese pancakes: "It's already baked, and it tastes very good. You are quite skillful. "
"That's natural." Lin Heng smiled and ate one. It was delicious and had a rich milky flavor.
"It's a pity that there is no milk now, otherwise I would try it too." Xiulan said regretfully.
"There will be plenty of opportunities in the future." Lin Heng said, and then said, "Let's go down to eat quickly, or mom will call someone again."
Xiulan looked at him and said : "I think we can all eat here from tomorrow on. I'll do it. It's much cooler up here than down below."
Caiyun pulled Xiaoxia to the side and agreed: "Yes, I also suggest It’s too cool here. You’ll be sweating when you eat down there, and it’s hard for my sister-in-law to go up and down because she’s pregnant.”
“We’ll tell mom about it later,” Lin Heng said. nod.
When Lin Heng went down to eat, he told his mother, and she agreed on the spot. She would eat there at noon from now on, but she would do it.
Lin Heng naturally had no objection to this. After lunch, he continued his previous work in the afternoon.
While working, Lin Yue looked at him and asked: "Brother, are you going to see the clamps and nooses tomorrow morning?"
"You must go, otherwise it will be in vain." Lin Heng nodded.
"Then we should go after five o'clock?" Lin Yue asked again.
Lin Heng agreed: "Okay, come to Hongfeng Mountain to find me when the time comes."
"No problem." Lin Yue said with a smile.
After finishing his work in the afternoon, Lin Heng went to check on the male forest musk deer again. He found that it had removed the gauze from its feet, and asked someone to hold it down for inspection.
"It is indeed infected." Lin Heng shook his head and got some iodine for disinfection.
There was no bandage this time because it was not easy to heal by covering it up. He decided to disinfect it two or three times a day.
Early the next morning, Lin Heng got up early and set out with his elder brother to see traps and hunt.
We set off at five o'clock and came back around ten o'clock. Only Lin Heng shot a red squirrel, but nothing else.
The next days are mainly about continuing to build the dam, checking the traps every morning, and usually accompanying Xiulan Xiaoxia.
August comes quietly in the busy and happy life. The last month of summer is very hot and muggy. There is little rain this summer, and many crops on the hillside have yellow leaves. The harvest is destined not to be very good.
The Lin Heng family is relatively lucky. The land on the mountain has been planted with saplings, which have deep roots and are less likely to die.
Because there is not much rain and there are fewer fungi than in previous years, the flow of water in the creek in Hongfeng Mountain is also much smaller. In addition to the water used by the breeding base, watering the pasture, etc., there is basically no water flowing into the Shiban River. .
At this time, the advantage of building a small dam emerges. Even in the dry season, water can still be used.
Xiulan's belly is getting bigger day by day. It is now very obvious and she needs more and more care. Being pregnant with twins is a blessing, but it is also very difficult.
Fortunately, not only Lin Heng but also Caiyun help take care of it, so the situation is relatively good.
Unknowingly, they have been building the dam for ten days. Both sides have been completely widened, with an average width of six meters and a length of thirty meters. This area has basically been cleaned up. In the future, the dam outside will be built. The average water depth can reach three meters.
After finishing his work in the afternoon, Lin Hai asked: "Will you continue tomorrow?"
Lin Heng looked at the sky and said, "Let's rest for a few days. It feels like it's going to rain. Let's wait until it stops raining before starting."
The weather has become cloudy these days, so there is no need to rush. What's more, he has to go to town again to buy feed for the shrimps.
"That's just right, I also have some farm work to do." Third father Lin Xutao nodded.
"Let's go eat first. They should have made it." Father Lin said while looking at everyone.
Lin Heng and his eldest brother are not very good at hunting these days. The best harvest is a pheasant, and many times they return empty-handed.
On the contrary, he arranged some ground hooks on the edge of the soybean field, successfully hooked two pheasants that were stealing the soybeans, stewed one for Xiulan, and stir-fried one for everyone to eat.
While eating, Lin Yue asked with a smile: "Brother, wild boars have been causing rampant damage to corn and soybeans recently. How about we try it someday?"
"In a few days, wait. After buying the feed, I want to go up to Sanchagou." Lin Heng smiled at his elder brother. Although there was not much meat at home, he still wanted to go find ginseng first.
Lin Yue understood that he wanted to find ginseng, and immediately nodded and said: "That's okay."
You can also go there to find ginseng and hunt at the same time.
Mother Lin looked at the two of them and said, "Your uncle is coming down in two days, and he seems to be planning to ask you to hunt black bears in Changping County."
She went there with Caiyun two days ago. Once, the eldest brother Lu Honghai came to his home and found out about his plan.
"Then I probably won't be able to leave for a while." Lin Heng said, spreading his hands.
Lin Mu said: "He said he would help you build the dam first, and then talk about it."
"Let's talk about it then." Lin Heng is also very interested in hunting black bears. Black bears are full of treasures and can be sold for two to three thousand yuan, which is incomparable to ordinary prey.
It was cool in the woods, and everyone chatted while eating. It was already eight o'clock when everyone left after eating. The sun had already set by this time, and there was still the last remaining ray of light on the ridge to the west.
Xiulan leaned on the wicker chair and watched, lighting mugwort incense beside her.
"Go back to the house quickly, and come out after dark after washing up." Lin Heng looked at her and said, there were too many mosquitoes at the moment, even with incense, they couldn't stop them.
Xiulan took his hand and stood up and said, "Just go back to the house and sleep. It's not hot in the house. Don't you have to go to the city tomorrow?"
"That's fine. It won't affect anything if I go to town tomorrow." Lin Heng nodded and pulled her and Xiaoxia into the house.
"Dad, are you all going tomorrow?" Xiaoxia said immediately when she heard about entering the city.
"Mom won't go, but dad will come back soon." Lin Heng said with a smile.
"Then you have to come back soon!" Xiaoxia said reluctantly.
“You must be a good baby.” Lin Heng said with a smile.
After serving Xiulan and Xiaoxia, the three of them went to bed to rest. Lin Heng read a story to Xiaoxia with a flashlight, and soon she fell asleep in his arms.
Lin Heng turned off the flashlight, and Xiulan leaned against him and the two of them gradually fell asleep.
"Hey, hubby, is there something outside?" Suddenly Xiulan leaned into Lin Heng's ear and said.
"I heard it too, on the roof." Lin Heng nodded, sat up and got dressed, ready to go out and take a look.
(End of this chapter)