Springtime Farming: A Happy Wife At Home

Qiao Xuan and others used wooden sticks to push away the fallen leaves and weeds, and picked up the shiny black and purple chestnuts, placing them into the basket.

Those chestnuts that were still wrapped in thorn bags were broken open with stones, and the chestnuts inside were taken out.

There was a big patch here, and many of them had fallen. They only needed to pick up the ones on the ground.

There were also many trees, and the branches were covered with dark green and light green thorns. They simply needed to climb up the tree and shake the branches, and the fruits would fall down.

There could be no one standing under the tree, or they would get bumps all over the head, which might cause some hurt.

Yang Xiaoni and Shao Sanlang were foodies. They kept crushing the shells, picking the fruits and stuffing them into their mouths.

The black and purple hard shell of the fresh chestnuts was peeled off, and then the inner layer of skin that was close to the nuts was taken off as well. When the light yellow chestnuts were eaten into the mouth, the juice was rich. It was crunchy and sweet, and the more they chewed, the more delicious it felt.

They did not move an inch ever since they found this place.

In the end, they harvested a lot of things.

They had four packages which weighed nearly as much as 100 kgs.

Each of them carried some home smoothly.

“There are many trees, and we can come again in a week or so. We must take all of them home. There are so many of them!”

“Yes, we can come again next time!”

They wondered what they could do with the chestnuts.

Of course there were many delicious things which could be made. Qiao Xuan counted them one by one with a smile on her fingers. “Needless to say, fresh chestnuts, stir-fried vegetables, stews, boiled or steamed are delicious. There are also fried chestnuts with sugar, which are very appealing. After they are dried, they have another taste which is equally good. Other dishes like stewed chicken with chestnuts, roasted pork ribs with chestnuts, stewed lamb with chestnuts, braised pork with chestnuts, can also be made. We can also cook porridge, make dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival, and grind chestnuts into powder, make chestnut cakes and chestnut buns. Anyways, chestnuts are a good thing!’

Everyone looked forward to all of these.

“We can try every one of them, I feel like eating all of them!”

“Me too!”

“Fifth Sister-in-law, tell us what to do, we can work hard so you won’t be tired!”

“True!”

Qiao Xuan smiled. “Sure, we can fry fresh chestnuts with yams, steam them or something. We can start with that for tonight!”

Everyone smiled and nodded.

Shao Xiaoqi said regretfully, “But it is getting late, and we won’t possibly run into some wild animals to fry with the chestnuts.”

Qiao Xuan smiled. “Don’t need to be anxious. We can dry chestnuts for an even better taste, and we can cook such dishes in the future!”

Back at home, they poured chestnuts into the basket, which was kept in the vacant room for sun drying.

It was very broad and clean in the yard, very handy for sun drying.

They picked some chestnuts, boiled them briefly, peeled off the shells, and the aroma of chestnuts wafted into everyone’s nostrils. They took a bite of the flour and glutinous, which was delicate and sweet. Everyone liked it very much.

Ms. Fang peeled the chestnuts for her grandchildren. She smiled brightly. “You are so lucky to have found so many things which no one else could find. So many chestnuts, How can we finish them all?”

Yang Xiaoni smiled. “Mom, we can finish them. The Fifth Sister-in-law said that we can make many delicious dishes, add them to vegetables, or porridge, ground into pastry etc..”