But when they really saw a dozen bison and reindeer lying in the bullpen, squinting and chewing on the dead grass in their mouths, chewing on their mouths, they believed that all this was true, and that the bones of the bison in front of the bullpen were long gone, as if this had never happened in this world.

As you know, this is the wild man who just helped out, although it is strange, but it is not strange.

When the cattle in the cattle pen returned, life in the whole valley returned to its original state, and everyone's hearts were quiet.

The father didn't want the uncle to worry about them, so he asked the children over there to go back the next day, told them about the situation here, and also told them that after they went back, they would often learn to read and write together, and not forget it, and come over if there was something.

According to the usual idea, generally in winter to take a few families out to hunt, one to be familiar with the surrounding environment, encounter something good to be prepared, the other is to exercise everyone's ability to survive in the wild and the spirit of hardship, even if the mountain is troubled, everyone can live well here.

But this year is not good, in the past few years, I have encountered several things in a row, I dare not go hunting in the mountains again, there seem to be many, many little secrets here, these secrets are not far away, just around everyone, maybe a hunting will bring these secrets out, some things do not know better, and some things, knowing is likely to bring a disaster.

It's really based on this consideration, the eldest son wants to not go out hunting this winter, so everyone will clean up the house, and rest for a winter by the way. It is enough to take care of the place near the house, with food to eat, clothes to wear, and food to eat.

Of course, in winter cats are at home. It's not that you don't do anything, as a farmer, even if you stay at home and don't go far away, there are things you can't do, such as burning charcoal, chopping wood, digging sand, plowing the fields, spinning and weaving. You can weave baskets and dustpans, make tables, chairs and benches, repair the courtyard dam wall, pick up manure and silt fields, prepare foot fertilizer for spring ploughing in the coming year, and herd cattle, mow grass, and feed pigs.

These things make my scalp tingle when I think about them, and as long as the peasants are there, they can't have a day of idleness. It's impossible to let go of a day and be willing to work hard for pure fun.

In the farmhouse, just open your eyes. There is endless work, but one job may not be the same as the other work.

In the words of the old lady, it is "only when people close their eyes do they let go." ”

And what my mother-in-law often says is, "It's really a past life!"

It's all about the things that the farmer can't finish and the work that can't be done.

When I was in my hometown, there was no spring water at home. The water in the well is much lower than that in the yard, so we can only fetch water every day, and the family of three or five people, plus people drink water, eat vegetables, wash their faces, bathe, wash their clothes, and drink water from pigs, cows, sheep and other livestock. At least six loads of water are carried every day, and families with many people and livestock still need more water, and the matter of just carrying water and drinking water every day is a big and laborious thing, not to mention anything else.

Therefore, the eldest son arranged not to go out hunting, not to let everyone rest at home, but to let everyone do things at home, because some things have been delayed greatly, such as dustpans and baskets are rotten, and these things are not only used usually, but they are used more after the beginning of spring, and then there are manure dustpans and urine buckets that are also several years ago, and they are often not enough when they are busy, and everyone has shouted many times, but they often don't have time to get them, so you can borrow this time to make up for these jobs.

The eldest son still remembers that there were not enough plows at home, and the iron ploughs were worn out badly, and if everyone was at home, they would have to make a few plows, or the work of plowing the fields in the spring of the next year would be difficult.

My father said that the cow cable vine used at home was also found several years ago, and some of the ropes were rotten, so I didn't dare to work hard when I used them, and I also needed to find a few new pairs.

To put it simply, the work of the whole winter has been piled up, and if you want to do it well, not make a mess, or basically complete it, you still need to make good arrangements.

Not to mention that I don't know, I'm really shocked when I think about it, I can't imagine that there are so many things to do at home.

After dinner that day, the eldest son called everyone together and searched for the things that needed to be done at home throughout the winter, which ones were urgent, which ones could be slowed down, which ones could be done again next year, which ones were more time-consuming and labor-intensive, and which ones were easier to do.

In this way, there are nearly 20 things that need to be done throughout the winter, specifically:

1. Burn four kilns of charcoal, this is a basic amount in winter, if it is not enough, you may have to burn one or two kilns.

2. This item is done by the father, uncle, and cousin, one person chops firewood, two people dig the kiln, after digging the kiln, one person watches the fire, and two people chops firewood, goes out of the kiln, and bears charcoal.

It takes about five days to burn a kiln of charcoal, and it may take twenty days to get down to it.

2. Chop five piles of firewood, burn the fire every day at home for cooking, cook pigweed, and stand guard at night to burn the fire, all need a lot of firewood.

My cousin and father were in charge of using the remaining scraps of firewood from the charcoal burning, and there was no need for special people to prepare it, but only to take the chopped firewood out of the time and bring it home in a car.

If you are really too busy, the full sister and cousin can also go home to pull firewood.

3. Dig all the more than a dozen hills of sand, and the purpose of turning over is to turn out the insects hidden in the mud in the summer and autumn, and expose them to freezing to death in the cold winter, so that the next year will not harm the dealer.

This thing is a bit interesting, the older generation insists on digging sand with hoes, and young people like to use ox plows, the sand as a field plow, so fast and deep, the sand of the ox plow, than the sand dug out with a hoe can be twice as deep, the yield in the sand after digging deep is high, and it can save time, not to mention that the cattle have nothing to do in this season of digging sand, and they are idle and idle, it is better to let them do some work.

The older generation also had this idea when they were young, but as they grew older, they refused to use oxen to plow, and still inherited the hard work of the older generation with hoe by hoe.

At first, the older generation refused to say why this was happening, and waited until they were in a hurry. He scolded: "If you tire out the cow, see you eat mud next year!" It turns out that the older generation cherishes the cow's power and is afraid of exhausting the cow.

After all, cattle work very hard in the spring, and people can work in shifts, but cattle can't. When I was busy, I didn't even have time to sleep except for grazing, and I worked for half a day and night, otherwise I would plow the field when the water in the field was dry, and everything would be in vain.

Since the spring rains, farmers have to go out in the middle of the night to block the water outlets and build the feet of the fields. Before dawn, you have to lead the oxen to plow the field, because there is no plough to open the soft soil, and there are cracks everywhere that are dried in autumn and winter.

If people are having a hard time, and several families share a cow, then the cow will be even harder. Even eating grass can only be carried by the plow, while eating a few bites. The old cow is often used to this, knowing that it will pass if he insists on it, if the calf cub can't stand this fatigue at all, and meets the offspring who doesn't know how to cherish the cow's strength, it's strange if it's not tired.

Generally speaking, spring paddy fields start when the first spring rains fall. To soak the field, cushion fertilizer, deep ploughing, and then to the first time before planting, you have to plow four times, you say that the ox is not tired. After the spring ploughing, the cattle can rest in the summer. In the fall, it is necessary to plow the Akita again, but this time it only needs to be ploughed once, and some lazy people do not want to plow even once.

What's more, using an ox to pull a cart on a flat road is not the same thing as plowing a field, pulling a cart on flat land, an ox can pull a load of one or twenty heavy things; and ploughing the field, it is an ox standing in the soft soil, using the plow mouth to plow the soil layer that has been hardened and hardened, and completely turn it over, the strength required is completely different, and when you meet the descendants who have just begun to learn to plow the field, if the plow mouth is raised too high, the plow mouth may be inserted very deeply, so that it is necessary to plow a deeper soil layer, at this time it is possible to pull a good thigh thick plow wheel hard, you think how much strength it takes。 If it is a cart, unless the wheels are stuck in the ditch, it is generally rare for the ox to pull off the wheel.

This is not the most important, the most important thing is that plowing paddy fields is more laborious than plowing dry fields, one is plowing dry fields, such as Akita ploughing fields, although the ox stands in the soft soil, but these soil layers are basically harder, and relatively flat, the cow leg will not sink into the mud, and the soil layer of the dry field is relatively brittle, good plow, ploughing the paddy field is different, the four legs of the ox are completely standing in the water, not into the mud, stepping on it to prevent slipping, pulling out the legs to take a lot of effort.

If it is a paddy field after the first spring rain, the mud will not soak very softly, and it will not be too deep when stepping on it, but if it is a second, third, or fourth plough, it will be more difficult each time.

In fact, there is a kind of ridge field, this is a relatively flat valley in the paddy field, also called the winter paddy field, because the terrain is low, so even the driest winter all year round, are soaked in water, timely waterproof can not be put dry, then such a field, is all the field in the ox plough up the most troublesome and most laborious, the mud in the ridge field is soaked in water all year round, are rotten, forming a black mud, people step on it, the mud can often not reach the thighs of the person here, meet a short person, do not dare to do this work at all.

If it's a cow, sometimes half of its belly can't reach the mud, let alone the legs.

Do you think that if you plough a field like an ox, then the effort of the oxen and the fatigue of the oxen can not only be explained clearly in words? Here, because the fields in the valley are clearly layered, layer by layer, although there is no defeat in the muddy fields, it is not a trivial matter to plow the paddy fields several times.

After being scolded several times by his father and uncle, the young man slowly accepted the recognition of his fathers.

Yes, the peasants have no oxen, who will plow the fields in the spring?

If you don't plough the fields, what do you eat?

Therefore, it is better to let the cattle rest and not do anything, than to tire them out, and the hard work of next year is still waiting for them.

Because of this, these sandy areas have to be dug out little by little with hoes, which is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and boring.

People who have never dug sand, even if they are farmers, can make people tired and sore their backs and swollen arms on the first day of digging, and it will take five or six days to go away.

The young man had the strength, but he couldn't hold on, so the eldest son was given to his father, his uncle, his mother, and himself. You have to wait until everything else is almost busy digging to dig because as long as it doesn't rain, even if it's windy, snowy, or cold.

The hoe was raised, the shoulders were rounded, and the shouts were shouted, but it couldn't get cold at all, and after digging five or six hoes, the storage was a sweat, and it was absolutely cold.

Digging sand is the most time-consuming, and there is an old saying in my hometown, called "a load of potato sticks, a day's work." ”

In other words, it takes a whole day to dig up a piece of sand the size of a load of potato cobs. The whole family has to collect thirty or fifty loads of potato sticks every year, and this work cannot be cleared.

4. Ploughing more than 20 dry fields is similar to digging up the sand, just to freeze the worms in the mud.

This matter is completely done by the eldest son and the second son, and they should have reached the age of learning to plow the field, and then the father, uncle, and old man are not young, and the legs and feet are not very dexterous, when plowing the field last year, because the father could not pull out one foot in the mud, and the ox did not know, continued to pull the plough forward, and the father was forced to be pulled down in the paddy field, and the plow was crossed from the arm and crossed the finger so deep, so wide a hole, and it took two months to be neat.

A field of five or six loads of millet takes a day to plow once, and it takes a month to complete this work.

5. Put more than a dozen hills of paddy fields to dry, mainly because the paddy fields have been soaked in water for many years, and it is easy to breed some insects and diseases.

This matter is simple, and the eldest son arranges for his cousin to do it.

If it is fast, it will be finished in one morning, but when the water is released, it is necessary to repair the water to prevent the water from washing away the road at the edge of the field.

When releasing water, there is one more thing to do, and the old people often carry a basket at the same time.

Maybe everyone is a little strange, put the water and release the water, what is the use of the back basket, do you still have to carry something? I guessed it right, the back basket is really used to carry things. However, it is not used to carry food and water for work, nor is it used to carry tools.

It's not if you remember, as we said earlier, in addition to a special pond for raising lotus and lotus roots, my father had to raise some fish every year in the rice field. (To be continued.) )