Chapter 319 Burning pottery, what to do with quail?
Hearing Su Bai's words, Zhao Xinqing hesitated and said:
“Shouldn’t food be prepared last?”
"If you are ready now, but cannot leave tomorrow, wouldn't it mean that the food storage time is shortened out of thin air?"
Su Bai nodded and smiled:
"That's right."
"However, we are preparing some dried fish this time and need to dry them."
"Although there are more processes and it takes longer, the storage time and portability will be improved accordingly."
The two of them had smoked the fish in large chunks before, and did not cut it into small pieces and process it carefully.
On the one hand, except for the cold wave, there was no pressure on the two of them to obtain food, and it was not difficult to accept wasting some.
On the other hand, the ability of the two people to smoke fish is limited. Every time they obtain a large amount of fish, they cannot smoke all the fish in large pieces in time. If they are cut into small pieces, the smoking efficiency will be further reduced.
Of course, dried fish that has been dried and smoked in small pieces will further slow down the rate of decay due to the loss of moisture, but the taste will also be lost along with it, making it very unpalatable. This is why Su Bai has always chosen to smoke in large pieces.
But now we need to prepare food rations for a long journey, and dried small fish is naturally the best choice.
After hearing Su Bai's explanation, Zhao Xinqing nodded suddenly.
The two of them took action and used bamboo spears to spear out several big fat fish from the fish pond.
The fish was killed with a bamboo blade, and the fish meat was cut into one-centimeter slices. It was first smoked, and then left to dry and dehydrate in the sun.
This operation takes some time to settle, so Su Bai will do it in advance.
The sun is shining brightly at this time, so it is a good time to dry fish.
After drying all the dried fish, Su Bai clapped his hands and took Zhao Xinqing to the shallows of the river again.
Scratching back and forth on the shoal with their hands, Su Bai and Zhao Xinqing found a lot of gray-white clay within a short time.
Zhao Xinqing hesitated and said:
"Do you still need a lot of cement?"
Su Bai shook his head and said:
"We don't need cement for now. Use this clay to make a clay pot."
"Bamboo tubes are not resistant to burning, not to mention the bamboo tubes we brought with us are all useful."
"The turtle shell is too thick and almost broken, so it is not suitable for taking away."
"Just make a clay pot and boil water to make soup."
Zhao Xinqing's beautiful eyes lit up, she nodded and said:
“Great idea!”
"I took an elective course in pottery making when I was in college! I'll do it!"
Su Bai looked at Zhao Xinqing's eagerness to try, shook his head and smiled, handed her all the clay, and went to arrange the charcoal in the earthen kiln.
The temperature requirements for making pottery are quite high, and it is almost impossible to make pottery out of thin air.
The thermal insulation function of the earthen kiln is very important for firing pottery.
Su Bai adjusted the upper and lower vents of the clay kiln. It was expected that the air flowing through would be enough to meet the requirements for making pottery without causing any harm to the clay.
Then we returned to camp. At this time, Zhao Xinqing had basically made the basic prototype of a clay pot and was fine-tuning the surface.
When the earthen jar was ready, Su Bai and Zhao Xinqing carefully put a layer of floating soil on a wooden board and placed the entire soft earthen jar into the earthen kiln.
Su Bai lit the charcoal in the earthen kiln, then observed the fire of the charcoal inside, adjusted the ventilation opening of the earthen kiln, and then returned to camp with Zhao Xinqing.
The snow leopard had appeared in the camp of the two of them at some unknown time, squatting beside the fish pond, its pair of dark green leopard eyes staring closely at the fish swimming in the pond.
With the capture of snow leopards and cats, and the forking out of a few fish to make dried fish, the fish pond has gradually become less crowded.
Zhao Xinqing smiled happily when she saw that the snow leopard had learned to catch fish from the fish pond and didn't have to worry about it.
Leaving the camp this time, what Zhao Xinqing was most worried about was the snow leopard cub that she had never met but had been raising indirectly for a long time.
If time permits, Zhao Xinqing will never choose to leave at this time.
She was too afraid that if she left, she would find something unexpected happened to the Snow Leopard family when she came back.
However, the threat of hyponatremia is already imminent. If it is not solved immediately, it will have a great impact on the next actions of the two people.
After having lunch with Su Bai, Zhao Xinqing immediately greeted Su Bai and started processing mugwort.
There is no technical difficulty in processing mugwort, but it is quite cumbersome.
All mugwort needs to be chopped into "moxa velvet".
This process, completed with a bamboo blade, seems a bit sluggish.
Chop the wormwood and place it in the sun to dry.
Zhao Xinqing and Su Bai ground some charcoal into charcoal powder and set it aside for later use.
"After the moxa is dried, mix it with charcoal powder, and when needed, coil it on a stone slab to form a spiral shape of mosquito coils."
"After it is lit, it can follow the spiral structure and burn for a long time, helping us drive away mosquitoes at night."
After the mugwort started to dry out, the time quickly came to the end of the day.
Zhao Xinqing looked at the quail cages in the camp and felt worried for a moment.
If Su Bai hadn't reminded her before going to bed a few days ago, Zhao Xinqing would have almost forgotten that she needed to settle the nest of quails before leaving.
The presence of this brood of quail in the camp has always been very low.
Quails don't eat much, and the eggs they lay are also small.
Although the number of the first batch of hatched quails is good, they are still in the process of growing and will not be able to lay eggs in a short time.
But this is definitely not a reason to give up on this brood of quail.
Only when the first batch of quails mature and start laying an egg every day can the nest of quails truly show its value and begin to repay Su Bai and Zhao Xinqing's initial investment.
Poultry eggs are a safe and nutritious source of protein, which can provide a more balanced food structure for two people.
This brood of quail is very worry-free and has the potential to continue to grow.
Once the number of quail eggs that can be obtained daily exceeds 20, and paired with fish, the two of them can be almost self-sufficient in obtaining fat and protein.
If the amount of quail eggs obtained exceeds 70, even the protein obtained by snow leopards can be covered.
Therefore, it is best to keep this nest of quails.
But it is impossible to carry a huge quail cage on a long trip into the wilderness.
Therefore, we must find ways to create an environment for quails to live in for a long time.
Facing Zhao Xinqing's slightly troubled expression, Su Bai shrugged:
"I don't have any good ideas..."
"It has to be done by Dr. Zhao himself..."
Zhao Xinqing thought for a while and asked:
"What would you do if you were alone?"
Su Bai pondered for a moment and said:
"If I were alone, I probably wouldn't have chosen to raise this group of quails in the first place."
"Even if you raise it, your choice now is probably to eat it and then go on the road."
"But now that you are here, we can consider more long-term solutions..."