Chapter 5 Lay the Foundation

Today's task was to dig through the water channel, making it convenient for subsequent watering, and then thoroughly plow the land. This land must be turned over at least three to five times; once is not enough. It is necessary to ensure the soil is loose to facilitate seed germination.

If the soil is compacted into clumps, it will not be conducive to seed germination and the seeds might suffocate.

Xue Dong and the other two worked beautifully, turning over large patches of soil very nicely, pulling out grass roots and stones and tossing them to the side. Following her earlier plan, she divided the land, lumping up ridges and leaving water inlets.

They dug a good length of the water channel in the morning and decided which plots would be used for vegetables. The vegetable seeds could be sown first; rice planting could wait a few days longer.

They didn't go back at noon. The food they brought in the basket early in the morning was enough to eat right by the ridges—running back and forth would delay the work.

They ate two buns and stir-fried green peppers with wild chicken eggs, sauerkraut, and salty preserved mustard greens, washing it down with Stevia sweetened water.

After eating and resting for a few minutes, they continued working, hoping to finish digging the water channel today, so that they could plow the land tomorrow, further deepening and lightly turning the soil to level it.

They dug until the afternoon before returning to light the stove and boil some water. Tonight, they'd drink cornmeal porridge and make flatbread.

After washing her hands, she mixed a basin of dough, and took out some highland barley flour, adding a bit of flour to ferment it for a while before making the flatbread.

The highland barley she used was raw; whereas, zanba is made from cooked highland barley. To cook the raw highland barley, it must be roasted in a pottery jar with coarse sand to ensure even heating. Without sand, it's difficult to roast properly as the highland barley can easily burn. The sand helps control the temperature and prevent burning.

After heating the pottery jar, she shook and stirred it constantly until the scent of highland barley emerged, indicating it was nearly cooked. When the roasted highland barley was ground into flour, it could be made into zanba.

Raw highland barley flour can be steamed, used in flatbread, or fried in oil, and it tastes wonderfully solid and substantial.

Li Pan mixed highland barley flour with raw flour for fermentation, giving it a softer texture to eat.

Tomorrow, she needed to wake up early to steam buns, as they generally ate lunch in the fields.

While digging the water channel today, she had craved a bite of chive pockets. She enjoyed eating leavened food since it was easy to digest.

Using an iron pan was quick; they'd be ready in no time.

She checked the several earthen basins she had, which included both large and small ones.

The large basins were rectangular boxes, suitable for growing vegetables, while the small basins were used for seasoning plants like chili peppers, green onions, and garlic.

She consecutively transferred her superpower to the plants in the soil basins, satisfied that they were all growing lushly. She also transferred her superpower to the cut potato pieces, hoping they would sprout sooner. She nodded in satisfaction only after she had busied herself with this task.

She then mixed yesterday's red clay with water and mud, preparing to make green bricks.

Both green and red bricks are made from heating clay, but green bricks use clay mixed with water, whereas red bricks require the addition of substances into the clay, like coal cinder or sand, none of which she had.

She only had the viscous clay dug up from the farm and planned to try making green bricks out of it.

After mixing the clay, she ran to the neighboring house to get wooden molds. These were molds used previously for making red bricks, used to fix the shape of the bricks.

She had four molds, and since she was alone, she figured she'd work slowly and see if she could be successful.

In the past, when she worked odd jobs during the idle winter months when there wasn't much activity in the farm's base, she had time to spare, enabling her to work elsewhere.

She had done all kinds of jobs and learned a bit from each, including brick-making, which she had done while working for others.

Red bricks are widely used for building houses and poultry pens, and they are much simpler to make than green bricks. She went to help others, mixing clay and shaping bricks.

A day's work could earn her twenty yuan and three contribution points.

However, she had never made bricks herself before. An experienced master needed to oversee the firing process as it required some skill to control the temperature properly. Too hot and the bricks would all break; too cool and the bricks would fail to fire correctly.

She had made the brick mold herself from scrap wood, thinking that it's always good to have more skills, and now it came in handy.

After mixing the clay, it had to sit for a while, though she wasn't exactly sure why. Probably it needed to meld together. This was her first attempt at firing, so she wasn't expecting success straight off the bat. She needed to gather some experience first. After all, the clay came from her own land and was free, so she might as well make as much as she could.

Sitting by the fire, Li Pan took out a pen and a small notebook to make records.

They had previously agreed that the southern slope was flat and at the right height for building houses.

Besides the two-story building for living, the breeding area needed to be further away, preferably near the vegetable garden, making it easy to transport manure without it being too far, and providing space for composting as well.

In front of the small building, a granary was also needed to store grain. The building had a yard that could be used for drying grain before moving it directly into the granary, making for a reasonable workflow without the need to carry it over long distances.

In addition, a cellar was needed in front of the small building, ideally on both sides, reserving one for storing vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cabbage.

If she could successfully fire the green bricks, she could realize her dream of owning a quadrangle courtyard, saving a lot on cement and sand, which she had to buy.

After sketching out the blueprint and marking the locations, she planned to dig two cellars. If later they proved inadequate, she could always choose another place to dig more.

This area was specifically a clay zone, perfect for digging a cellar since the excavated earth could be used to fire green bricks without causing any delay.

She intended to dig the simplest kind of earthen cellar, which didn't need to be too big. With the additional storage for grain, a cellar about five to six square meters would suffice, and two cellars should be basically enough.

Once the house was built, this shack wouldn't go to waste either. She could find another place for it, using it for living quarters or as an additional storage space.

She had gone over these plans in her mind several times before, choosing the most suitable methods to avoid redundancy or waste.

When the water boiled, she filled the empty thermos and got the griddle ready to make flatbread. The leavened barley flour was also ready. She greased the griddle, washed her hands clean, grabbed a piece of dough, kneaded it, flattened it on her palm, and placed it on the griddle to cook until both sides were golden brown.

The meal today was sweet; she had added a bit of sugar syrup to the dough. She had some stevia-sweetened sugar cubes at hand, which she kept in small chunks in a bag to enjoy at her leisure.

She bit into a piece of the flatbread. It was sweet, fragrant, filled with the rich flavor of barley, and had a pleasant sweetness. Li Pan squinted her eyes contentedly as she ate, feeling fortunate for the self-sufficient life she led, unthinkable in other circumstances.

She ate a piece of flatbread by the stove, munching while she worked. She made enough flatbreads for her meal since there was no refrigerator to store extra, and she didn't dare make too much as the weather was starting to warm up. Given the temperature, it was time to start sowing seeds in the vegetable garden.

After drinking a bowl of slippery cornmeal porridge, feeling full and satisfied, she went to make green brick embryos.

She worked until all the clay had been shaped into brick embryos, intentionally placing them on the open ground to the left of the shack. Later, she could build a kiln there to fire the green bricks, which wasn't far from the house, saving her the trouble of going back and forth.

She heated some water for a wash and prepared to rest; it was already past midnight. She would wake up at five in the morning to start making vegetable buns.

After a day's hard work, she was finally able to lie down. Farming life was relentless, always with endless chores. Slacking off wasn't an option; the more work piled up, the more it ended up being one's own load to bear.

Tomorrow she would need to take out the plow to get ready for plowing the land.