Recently, I read the poem "Square Melon" by the poet Mr. Luke. You call it pumpkin, that's your business/I just call it square melon/you call it wheat melon, pumpkin, Japanese melon, golden melon, fugua, rice melon and wogua/that's your business, I just call it square melon/square melon, and it's my hometown. In my hometown, pumpkins are really called square melons. In fact, the square melon is long, flat and round, but it is not square, but the villagers named it square melon. Perhaps this is country humor.

Before and after the annual fright, the spring thunder thundered. On the land of my hometown, the villagers dug holes and filled the soil in front of the door and behind the house, and prepared nests for the square melon seedlings in advance. Sow seeds in your own garden and seal them with film. When the seedlings grow into two small feet, choose a morning after the rain and use it. Dig a nest and plant the square melon seedlings in it.

With the spring breeze blowing and the spring rain moistening, a few loaves of soil and miscellaneous fertilizers were cultivated, and the square melon seedlings grew wildly, and within ten days and a half, they showed momentum.

Then, the villagers are ready to put on airs for the square melon. They connected those crooked trees and shrubs along the furrows and ridges, and the square melons and vines went up along the shelves like human nature, spreading more and more, and the rows became longer and longer. Inadvertently, big yellow morning glory bloomed all the way, attracting bees to collect powder. Inadvertently, where the flowers withered, a small blue gourd grew.

According to the old people, an acre is two acres long. Square melon likes fat and newly cultivated land. All these conditions are met, so it swings happily on the shelf, and there are several knots. After the dog days, the squashes mature and their leaves turn yellow, so they don't have to hide anymore. There are many melons sleeping under a squab vine, and all of them are stupid and drunk. If you pick it, it seems to be ticklish and roll away if you are not careful.

The square melon is powdered and red, and the knife can't cut it. Chop a piece, put wheat kernels in a big pot and cook it in a big bowl. It's sweet! Now some food stores like to steam the square melon, dig out the pulp and mash it, and knead it with flour to steam steamed bread, which sells well. Some people in the city beat fresh square melons into juice and directly cooked porridge with pumpkin juice. I'm still a farmer's belly. I like to cook and eat directly. Picking up a piece is like eating sweet potatoes. It's enjoyable. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that square melon is sweet and warm in nature, belongs to spleen and stomach meridian, and has the functions of invigorating the middle energizer, clearing away heat and toxic materials, and is suitable for spleen deficiency, malnutrition, lung abscess and fire and water burns. "Compendium of Materia Medica" states that it "supplements the middle energizer". Square melon is also known as "a good product for lowering blood sugar and lipid". People with diabetes often take square melon as a meal, which can not only satisfy their stomachs, but also reduce blood sugar and lipid, which can be described as killing several birds with one stone.

In my impression, every household in the countryside planted several square melons in the corner of the yard, which became a scenery with fireworks. Believe it or not, in many works of art, most of them will draw a few square melons with the theme of Chunhua Qiushi. Wanderers in the city go home at this time and open the trunk of the car. There must be a few yellow square melons, which are so strong that they can't turn away their affection and nostalgia. A few days ago, I went back to my hometown, drove to Yiyuan service area to refuel, and opened the trunk to reveal square melons of different sizes. The young lady who refueled repeatedly exclaimed, so many melons are so beautiful. I think she really likes it, so I gave her a clap and jump happily.

In my hometown, there is a village in Yujiaguzi. In recent years, this village is close to the Shili Apricot Corridor behind the village. In spring, it enjoys flowers and eats apricots in summer. Rural tourism has become the first choice for travelers to punch cards outdoors. Speaking of it, this small mountain village with a population of less than 100 people has an interesting story of becoming attached to square melons. It is said that Lv Biao Zang's family in Zhucheng was the richest man in Fiona Fang Baili, so you may not know who Zang's family is. Say the ancestors of Cang Kejia, a famous modern poet, and you will understand. This place, Yujia Ganzi, was once the mountain farm of Zang's family, and the name of the ranger was Su Tang.

One year, Su Tang's mother died. Su Tang found Master Zang and asked him to buy the piece of land before going down the mountain to bury his mother. Master Zang laughed and said, "Su Tang, you have been watching the mountains in my house for years, and you are loyal to your master. Now you want to buy land to bury your mother. This is both loyalty and filial piety. That piece of land is the size of a square melon seedling, and you can't get much food." Su Tang mumbled, "I appreciate your great kindness, but the grave is a century-old project, so I have to spend money to buy it anyway, so it can be used properly!" "

Master Zang saw that Su Tang was right, so he said, Well, at noon, you ask Sun Xiucai to write a document, and this matter will be settled. Su Tang hurried home to play half a catty of loose wine, and asked his wife to cook a big pumpkin, cut it and put it on the plate. At this time, Master Zang and Sun Xiucai also went into the house. Master Zang sat cross-legged on the kang and said to Sun Xiucai, "I invited you to have a drink today so that you can be a witness and write a title deed by the way. I have sold the land in front of the mountain to Su Tang, and we have exchanged things for things. " Sun Xiucai quickly spread out the red paper, and Master Zang pointed to the pot of wine and a few square melons on the dining table and said, The Cowherd has a hollow under his roof and sold it to the forest protection family of Su Tang. Loyalty and filial piety moved heaven and earth, and a square melon replaced it. Since then, the descendants of the Su family in this place have multiplied here. But now there is another family named Zang in the village, who is also my classmate from elementary school to high school. Zang is the highest educated among our classmates and currently works in Shanghai. Of course, this is another story, so I won't go into details here.

There is a saying in the world that "thirty years in Hedong, thirty years in Hexi". It's perfect for square melons. In previous years, villagers ate square melons every day, eating noodles like square melons. City people don't eat, they eat white rice and flour. Now, people in the countryside don't eat square melons, but people in the city follow suit, such as square melon porridge, square melon cake, square melon soup and so on.

When the article is written here, I can't help but think of Mr. Luke's poem, Fanggua Fanggua, which is my hometown.

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