Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 350: Trees of the Year

The main point is to preserve these perennial tree treasures as much as possible. You know, the saying "it takes ten years to grow a tree, and a hundred years to cultivate a person" is not just a casual saying. It is not easy for these hawthorn trees and persimmon trees to grow from seedlings to the present and bear fruit. At least their vitality is very strong.

The flower buds always maintain their respect for these powerful vitality. Well, it is a compliment to themselves. As for these trees that can continue to create wealth for them, they must make good use of them and let them continue to shine for themselves.

While wandering in Beishan, Hualei also collected a lot of seeds of the Chinese tallow tree. Many people may not know the orthodox scientific name of this Chinese tallow tree.

But Hualei had learned an ancient poem in his previous life. The Jiangfeng in "The moon sets, the crows cry, and the sky is full of frost. The maple trees on the river bank and the fishing fires are opposite me, making me sleepy" is another name for this Sapium wilfordii tree. Of course, it can also be called the Lazi tree or the Tung tree.

The root bark, bark and leaves of the Chinese tallow tree can be used as medicine. The root bark and bark can be harvested in all seasons and sliced ​​and dried for use; the leaves can also be used as black dye. The seeds of the Chinese tallow tree can also be used to make candles, soaps and cleaning oils.

The reason why Hualei knows so much about the Chinese tallow tree is that when he was dyeing his own wool yarn before, he flipped through many books in order to find materials for dyeing. He saw a detailed introduction to the Chinese tallow tree in the books, so Hualei was also very impressed.

At that time, I also picked the leaves of this Chinese tallow tree and took them home to make dyes. However, the leaves were picked in spring and summer, and the Chinese tallow tree had not yet produced seeds, so Huabud forgot about it for a while.

Unexpectedly, in his own barren mountain, he saw the Tung oil tree that had already borne fruit, so Hualei immediately remembered that the Tung oil tree seeds could be used to make candles.

At this time, most of the fruits on the tree have completely cracked, revealing the seeds inside. This is the best time to pick the Chinese tallow tree seeds. Because if the fruits of the Chinese tallow tree have not cracked, the seeds have not yet fully matured, and they cannot be made into candles even if they are collected.

If we harvest too late, birds will eat the seeds and we won't be able to collect them, so now is the right time. So taking advantage of the good weather these days, Hualei asked people to help him collect the seeds of the Chinese tallow tree.

In late autumn, the leaves of the Chinese tallow tree fall off, and the black seeds are in three-petal shape, bursting open, and the branches are full of white Chinese tallow seeds. These Chinese tallow seeds are used to make soap, clean oil, and candles. The flower buds collect these white Chinese tallow seeds, which have a layer of white wax on the surface.

Put the Chinese tallow tree seeds and water into a pot and boil over high heat. Cook until the white wax on the outside becomes soft, so that it is easier to peel off. Use a bamboo fence to scoop the Chinese tallow tree seeds out of the boiling water and let them cool. Then gently rub the Chinese tallow tree seeds on the outside of the bamboo fence. The wax on the surface of the Chinese tallow tree seeds will all be attached to the bamboo fence. Put it into the boiling water and continue to boil.

Keep boiling until a layer of wax oil appears on the surface. This layer of wax oil is the material for making candles. Use a large spoon to carefully scoop this layer of wax oil out of the pot, filter it with fine white gauze to remove impurities. Put it in a wooden basin and leave it overnight. When the upper layer of wax oil solidifies, it becomes a white wax block.

Put the white wax block into the pottery pot and melt it on the fire. Then, Hualei asked Uncle Zhao to prepare a few smaller bamboo tubes for her, one end with a bamboo joint and the other end open, and then make a small hole at the bottom of the bamboo tube and pass a cotton thread of appropriate thickness through it to make the candle wick.

Use a small bamboo stick to stick the cotton thread at the bottom of the bamboo tube, and then put the melted wax in it. Then place it in a cool and dry place. After the wax cools and solidifies naturally, split the bamboo tube in half and it will become a candle. Hualei took it home and tried it. It is very easy to use and convenient to carry.

But the candle itself is white, and it doesn't look good if sold directly. So Hualei wrapped the candle with a layer of red paper, which made it look better. These tung oil candles not only met the needs of the family. Later, when there were too many, Hualei put them in the Hua Qianbian shop for sale.

Of course, Hualei took advantage of the fact that it was the seed-bearing season for the Chinese tallow tree, and asked people to go to the mountain to pick up a lot of Chinese tallow seeds. He continued to make Chinese tallow seed candles. The Chinese tallow tree on the barren mountain was carefully maintained by Hualei again. He just waited for the Chinese tallow tree to continue to bloom and bear seeds next year.

In this way, Hualei is very busy every day, making full use of what can be used and getting rid of what cannot be used.

Many annual plants also follow this principle. Those with useful value, such as flower buds, are picked and collected. Those without value are all killed and uprooted, and then dried to keep the trees warm. If they cannot even be used to keep the trees warm, then they can be used to make steamed buns and turned into wood ash.

Because of the appearance of the vineyard and kudzu root, Hualei assigned three teams to help in two places, so the speed of digging the pond was much slower, but there was nothing we could do about it.

Moreover, Hualei also asked Uncle Fu to lead a group of pioneers to an uninhabited mountain in the west to pull bamboos, so the number of people was even smaller.

Fortunately, the people who helped build the wooden houses at the foot of the mountain have already completed the construction of more than a dozen wooden houses, and have now joined the team digging the pond.

Hualei put the pond on the top of the East Mountain in the first place, because the next winter will be the rainy and snowy season in Shangjing City, and if this pond is dug well, it can collect the rain and snow water to the maximum extent.

Therefore, at least two teams of pioneers are still digging the pond on the top of the mountain every day. One team has been drawn out from the two teams that were originally mowing weeds to start turning the soil on the southeast slope of Dongshan.

Hua Lei felt that land reclamation could not be done all at once but had to be done step by step. So after she found that all the weeds on the southeast slope of Dongshan had been cut, she assigned a group of people to start turning the soil. Because it had never been cultivated before, the land was extremely barren and hardened, and there were many roots of bushes underground, so even oxen could not pull the plow.

Therefore, the first round of tilling the land still depended on the pioneers. Even if the pioneers used the sharpest shovels and rakes, it took a lot of effort to turn over a few acres of land.

After a few days in the hot sun, the dead roots of bushes, weeds, and small stones were cleared out, and the large clumps of soil were broken down into smaller pieces.