At forty-four years old, Wen Qian felt like she had entered a retired lifestyle prematurely. She wandered between four rooms, with things to do all year round.
At this time, the farthest place she would go was the village in the distance. If no one was there to collect goods, she probably wouldn't even go.
The brick oven outside the courtyard had been refurbished by Wen Qian, and she still grew vegetables among the paved bricks in the yard.
On the side of the forest, a ring of thorny seedlings had been planted, forming a dense, impenetrable living wall.
Outside, traps were still set up. The wall protected the crops inside from being raided by wild boars and other animals, while the hawthorn berries and wolfberries growing on the thorns were starting to be harvested.
The wolfberries were made into dried fruits, which could be used for brewing tea or stewing soup. More importantly, some merchants would buy them, so they could be exchanged for money.
Hawthorn berries were not as popular yet, so Wen Qian made juice out of them to drink.
Wen Qian had developed all the original farmland in the forest area, but she couldn't plant everything, so some parts were left fallow, and others were used as experimental fields.
For example, she tried growing sugarcane here, which she had the impression should be grown in the deep south.
Back in her hometown in An Province, she had seen people growing sugarcane at their doorsteps, with green skins.
Fruit stores also used to sell sugarcane with dark purple skins, but she didn't like eating sugarcane because she thought it was too chewy, and there were many other tasty things to choose from.
She had seen videos about growing sugarcane before. The sugarcane from her space was cut into sections and laid horizontally on the soil, and the buds on the nodes would sprout.
Along with sugarcane, she also grew some sweet stems, which she treated like snacks.
Last year, she had grown a small amount, and they had survived. Besides eating them herself, she had also given some to her neighbors.
Her neighbors often risked stealing honey, which they could later exchange for sugar and honey at the village grocery store.
But at this time, sugar and honey were not so easy to obtain. Wen Qian could trade honey with them since honey was not so common.
So her neighbors quite liked the sugarcane and sweet stems she gave them.
Now, whenever she had free time, she liked to experiment with growing strange things. If they survived, she gained new experience. If they didn't, it didn't matter.
At this time, she thought of a plant with economic value similar to sugarcane - sugar beets.
Among the seeds she had bought initially, there were also sugar beet seeds. So, in addition to growing crops, she tried growing some sugar beets as well.
With the raw materials available, Wen Qian also had to start learning the process of making sugar from sugar beets.
The lotus roots she had planted downstream were still alive and expanding in area.
Wen Qian and her neighbors had all dug them up to eat, and Wen Qian had even made lotus root powder herself. Big Jin had also exchanged lotus roots with others at the market.
Over the years, she had gradually transplanted the fruit seedlings around her home to the open spaces within her own area.
The grapevines in her courtyard were growing well, and every year, she could exchange grapes with others at the market.
Big Jin's two children really enjoyed the environment at Wen Qian's house. They also tried growing flowers around their own home, learning from Wen Qian's style of decorating and cleaning. They had even set up trellises for grapes.
Wen Qian would take her extra grapes or smoked meat to exchange for other people's chickens, ducks, geese, and their eggs.
However, Wen Qian didn't want to raise these small animals herself. Back in her hometown in An Province, when people in rural areas raised them, they were basically fed with grains.
For raising chickens, if the family grew rice, people would eat rice, and the chickens would get a scoop of rice grains morning and evening.
If the family grew corn, people would eat fresh corn or corn porridge, and the chickens would get a scoop of corn kernels morning and evening.
Moreover, these chickens were raised from a young age, and except for returning to roost at night before dark, they would spend the rest of their time scratching for insects in the fields in front of the house.
Although rural free-range chickens tasted quite fragrant, they consumed a lot of grain. Selling them was almost like losing money, so most people kept them for themselves and their families to eat.
For Wen Qian, living in the mountains, if she let them roam freely within the walls, she wouldn't be able to grow vegetables, as the ground would be covered in chicken droppings. It would also attract outside predators like yellow mongoose.
After considering it, she decided it would be too much trouble, so in the end, she could only exchange with others to eat them.
Actually, she could have raised chickens in an iron cage or a wooden coop, but she found it too troublesome and only raised rabbits instead.
Whenever she went to the market, she could exchange for quite a lot of things because she didn't have to worry about them spoiling due to the heat when stored in her space.
Big Jin's family had originally planned to raise chickens, but later, Big Ning discovered that the eggs they got from the market were not fertilized, so there was no way to hatch them into chicks.
So in the spring, Big Ning stole some newly hatched ducklings from the grass by the river and raised them at home. They would go out to the river in the morning and return home in the evening, and he successfully raised them.
Big Jin's family could raise many things because they had enough people, so the workload was manageable when divided among them.
Wen Qian couldn't possibly take on everything by herself, so she had to make choices among these options.
Little Jin was already a half-grown boy and quite tall and sturdy, able to go hunting with his father.
The old grandmother was still in good health and took care of household chores, while Little Ning was mainly responsible for raising the ducks.
Perhaps advised by their family, or perhaps because the two children really liked Aunt Wen Qian, they would occasionally chat with her and bring her things.
In the distance, Ni Sha had already learned to make various pottery and crude glazed products.
She and her husband would take these items to the market to exchange with others. While others might make small pieces themselves, she was quite skilled at making larger items.
Sand pots, jars, crocks, and water jars were Ni Sha's most frequently exchanged items.
Because every household needed a lot of jars and crocks to store things, which were more durable than containers made of wood or leather.
They had also made tight-fitting lids, so they didn't have to worry about rats and insects ruining their stored goods.
Although there weren't many people in this area, quite a few of them made repeat purchases from Ni Sha, and she acquired a lot of goods and money through exchanges.
This year's sugar beet harvest was quite good. Wen Qian stored them in her space and only brought out a basket to keep outside.
She planned to make a small batch first to see how it went, as although the process was clear, Wen Qian felt she couldn't possibly succeed the first time on the most crucial part.
So she needed to experiment to ensure she could successfully produce larger batches later.
