Salt in the dumplings will make them fall apart. Boil till done. Experiment with the first few of them to see how long your size dumplings take to cook. Serve with butter, or meat grease. To make wood ashes lye take any kind of container with holes in the bottom.
Pottery works best.
Fill the container with hard wood ashes. Pour water into the ashes and let the water soak through them ashes and out the holes in the bottom. This is hard wood lye. Lye is strong stuff like an acid and should be handled with care. Avoid getting in on your skin or in your eyes.