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Persimmon is red in the year.

After the Lunar Mid-Autumn Festival, persimmons on persimmon trees in my hometown began to swell. A few days ago, little persimmon, which was originally green, suddenly changed from green to yellow, from small to large, and then turned into agate like a red lantern, hanging between dark green persimmon leaves, watery, bright and mouth-watering. With the autumn wind, the smell of My Sweetie came to my nose, as if the air in the whole field was sweet at this time.

? One: pick persimmons.

I spent my childhood and adolescence under persimmon trees. Persimmon trees and persimmons are the lingering complex and homesickness of our generation.

My hometown lies between the Yellow River and the lonely mountain. Although the Yellow River flows under your feet, "low hydrolysis is not thirsty" has been sighing at this river for generations. In addition, after ten years and nine droughts, the crops were not harvested, and the livelihood was not guaranteed. In order to have a bowl of rice to eat, the clever and hardworking ancestors planted persimmon trees that were particularly drought-tolerant, and they subsidized their lives by selling persimmon cakes every year. No one can tell which dynasty the old persimmon tree in our village was planted. When I was a child, I heard an uncle say a proverb: Cooper asked Gu Huai for a thousand years, and Gu Huai said that he had my persimmon big brother. Visible persimmon tree has a long history. As far as I can remember, the old persimmon trees in the northern persimmon garden in the village are as old as a dodder. Although the trunk of these persimmon trees can only be enclosed by two people, the canopy of persimmon trees is covered with dark clouds to protect the sun and rain, but most of them are hollow. Some persimmon trees can even get into our children's bodies. Nevertheless, these empty persimmon trees are still flourishing, with high yield every year, and one tree can unload 1000 kilograms of persimmons every year! In the years when there was no rain for a long time, other crops died of drought, but persimmon trees were still full of fruits, but persimmons were small. It can be seen how strong the vitality of persimmon trees is.

"The predecessors planted trees, and the descendants enjoyed the cool." I thought, did the old ancestors think so about their descendants at that time?

? The top and bottom of persimmon trees are full of stories about our childhood.

? The area of persimmon trees in the old persimmon orchard is about 1000 mu or more. I know persimmon trees began when I was six or seven years old. Picking persimmons to eat is the fun for children to play and satisfy their desire. At that time, non-staple food was extremely scarce, and picking soft persimmons to eat was one of our greatest hobbies. In August and September of the lunar calendar, persimmons are red and big. Persimmons grow up with insufficient water and nutrients, and some will inevitably become soft. Soft persimmons are brighter than ordinary persimmons and can be seen at a glance. On Sunday, we ran to the persimmon garden in droves, climbed the tree and picked soft persimmons to eat. The trunk of persimmon trees is generally more than two meters high, but the crown is about ten meters, and the branches are open and evenly distributed. Although it is so high, it can't beat us at all. At that time, we were light and agile, climbing trees and branches like monkeys. Soft persimmons are usually on the treetops, but no matter how tall and thin the branches are, we can still pick them in our hands. When picking soft persimmons, you usually see them. One person goes up the tree to pick it, and others guide it from a distance under the tree. After picking the soft persimmon, put it under the tree. When people under the tree pick it up with their hands, their arms need to be slightly put into their arms to reduce the air pressure on the persimmon and ensure that the soft persimmon will not be broken. Persimmon orchards in our village are mostly orange persimmons, commonly known as little persimmon. Small persimmon is the main persimmon of spinning persimmon. Although the fruit is not big, it is sweet, easy to store and easy to frost. Selling at the end of the year is an income for farmers. Besides little persimmon, there are other persimmons, such as Banshi, Zhu Shi, Niuxin and Yan Guohong. These persimmons don't rotate persimmons. When it's ripe, pick it and store it at home. When it's naturally soft, eat it. We choose persimmons, the first choice is persimmons, because they are big. If you can't pick soft persimmons, you will only pick persimmons such as little persimmon. Later, we also made our own net, tied the net to a long pole, pulled the soft persimmon, and the soft persimmon fell into the net cover, which was much simpler than climbing a tree.

Two: pick up persimmons.

? Picking persimmons is mainly for adults. At that time, every family kept one or two big pigs. In that era of lack of clothes and food, people didn't have enough food to eat, and there was no feed for pigs. The best they can do is sprinkle some bran on pig food to coax pigs to eat more. Pigs are raised on grass and grass powder. In summer and early autumn, grass is everywhere, so people take the time to cut grass and feed it to pigs. Grass is scarce in winter and spring, and pigs eat grass powder. The grass is ok, but the grass powder pig is not delicious. In late autumn, many people began to feed pigs with grass powder. Fortunately, old persimmons always lose a lot of soft persimmons at night at this time. Hard-working people, with flashlights or lanterns, carry straws or iron drums before dawn and pick persimmons under persimmon trees. Why do you get up so early to pick persimmons? Because every family raises pigs, many people want to pick persimmons. If they go late, they can't pick them up. Pick up the persimmon, knead it into a paste by hand, add some water and mix it in the grass powder, so that the pig can eat it. In autumn and winter, when sweet potatoes have not been unearthed, soft persimmons are auxiliary materials for feeding pigs with grass powder. When the sweet potatoes came down in October of the lunar calendar, there were no soft persimmons, and the accessories for feeding pigs were all ripe sweet potatoes. The persimmon garden in our village is more than two kilometers away from the village. Next to the persimmon garden is a cemetery, which has been planned since the 1970s. There are many graves. Rural people are superstitious, so some people make up some ghost stories to scare everyone in order to pick up more persimmons themselves. For example, he went to pick persimmons early one morning and saw dead people picking them in our village. He also said that once he went before dawn and heard ghosts telling jokes at the grave, and so on. These ghost stories are creepy and insensitive. As a result, timid people dare not go early. So people who make up ghost stories can pick up more persimmons. In that poor era, people who were really hard-working had a better life than anyone else. They picked persimmons early in the morning, mowed the grass before and after work, and raised more pigs and sheep at home, which not only accumulated livestock manure, earned work points, but also exchanged some cash. Persimmon pickers often work one more day than others. When they came back from picking persimmons with dew, the bells of the production team jingled, put down the persimmons and hurried to work. It is a common saying: life is a thin piece of paper, and diligence can make up for it. As far as I can remember, uncles and aunts who can often pick persimmons at dawn, come back from work at sunset and mow grass quickly are all family members. 12 and 13, we also went to pick persimmons, only at noon. At this time, persimmon trees that have been dried for a long time will also drop some soft persimmons.

Three: Persimmon

People in our village call picking persimmons unloading persimmons. The difference between words shows the seriousness of picking persimmons. Before 1980s, persimmon tree was the economic forest in our village and another leading industry besides wheat and cotton. There are more than 400 households in the village, and each household can get two or three persimmon trees every year when unloading persimmons. Unloading persimmons is the biggest thing in the village. According to traditional customs, the ninth day of the ninth lunar month is the day to unload persimmons. Why are you sure about this day? It is said that firstly, after the first frost, persimmon stopped expanding, persimmon leaves began to turn yellow, and persimmon stopped growing. Second, wheat planting is basically over, and people have made time. Persimmon unloading is organized and planned by the production team and distributed to all households. Before, the production team invited several people with vision and experience to evaluate the production. Evaluate the yield of each persimmon tree, and then mark the serial number on the tree with a brush. In order to be fair and just, the day before persimmon unloading, the production team adopted the method of drawing lots for each household member. Then go to the field to recognize trees and prepare to unload persimmons the next day. It is clearly stipulated that no one is allowed to unload persimmons without authorization, and must wait until the loudspeaker of the brigade broadcasts a notice the next day. This is for fear of personal instability and stealing other people's persimmons. As soon as the horn of the brigade was broadcast early the next morning, a huge crowd appeared on the whole road leading to the north of the village. Men, women and children from every household rushed out, pushing bicycles, pulling carts, carrying buckets and long hooks, and people crowded into the persimmon garden. On their own trees, young and strong people shake persimmons on the trees, women and old people pick persimmons under the trees, and children hold scattered persimmons on the treetops that have not been shaken down by long hooks. After landing, persimmons are divided into three types. One is persimmon with good hardness, which is used to spin persimmons, accounting for more than 80%. Second, semi-hard and semi-soft persimmons are called soft persimmons. These persimmons are hung on a piece of foil made of sorghum stalks when they go back, and they will be eaten after they are completely soft, because the soft persimmons can't be put on the spinning wheel. Then there are broken persimmons and soft persimmons, which will be made into persimmon vinegar when they go back. It can be said that persimmons are all treasures, which can be spun into persimmons, eaten with steamed bread as the guide, and drenched with authentic persimmon vinegar. So people cherish it very much. On the day of persimmon unloading in our village, we were busy from early morning until dark. Persimmon is also the only thing that villagers can get their own income in the era of large collective planned economy! Such a sea of people unloading persimmons did not gradually subside until the 1990s.

? Four: spin persimmons.

After the persimmon was unloaded, people began to spin the persimmon in full swing. Before this, the villagers made foil for drying persimmons. In the 1970s, although the "three-self and one-package" was criticized, according to the strong demands of the masses and the actual situation, the production team distributed some private plots to farmers. People plant some sorghum in the fields of private plots, so that they can weave the foil of drying persimmons with sorghum stalks. On the night when the persimmon was unloaded, every household heard the creaking and twisting of the car. Throughout the night, the whole village was brightly lit, and the villagers seized the time to work overtime all night. Most families basically finish spinning all night, and a few people finish spinning the next day. At that time, the yard of every household in the village was covered with layers of persimmon. After seven or eight days in the sun, the color of persimmon changed from light red to deep red, and it had a certain hardness. At this time, you can "cover". Cover it for about ten days, then let it dry for one day, and you can officially put it in storage. During the drying of persimmon, it sometimes rains and people have to cover it with plastic sheets. But if it rains for a long time, the new persimmons will rot before seeing the sun. If this happens, one year's persimmon harvest will be finished. Persimmons dried and stored will frost in November of the lunar calendar, and white persimmons from My Sweetie in December can be sold. When I was a child, whenever I spun persimmons, I remember that my grandmother was always willing to say this: Everyone loved me when I was a child, and peeled me and basked in the sun when I grew up. God saw my pity and dressed me in a white dress. This is persimmon and dried persimmon. In the freshman and sophomore years, persimmons were a big income for farmers in our village. The money for children to go to school, buy new year's goods and sell persimmons helped a lot and solved the difficulties. After the land was decentralized, persimmon trees were distributed to households, and people spun persimmons for several years. But after entering the 1990s, it was easy to go out and earn money, and the money from selling persimmons could be earned back in one month. People began to give up their concern about old persimmon trees, and many families were unwilling to try to spin persimmons. Later, scale insects appeared on persimmon trees, which spread widely year after year. Scale insects suck up the nutrients of persimmon trees, and its branches begin to die until persimmon trees no longer bear persimmons. Later, people who burned charcoal in some places often drove secretly to our village on winter nights and sawed off the main branches of persimmon trees. The old persimmon tree stood there alone like a stake and finally died.

Five: New persimmon tree

The soil in my hometown is suitable for planting persimmon trees. Persimmons of the same variety are all produced in our country, which are not only large in fruit but also high in sweetness. This is a valuable experience that our ancestors have summarized and handed down for thousands of years. Although those old persimmon trees are gone forever, in the past ten years, new persimmon trees have flourished. After entering the new century, newly planted orange persimmon trees began to appear in the fields. After careful management, these persimmons, known as "young trees", began to repay people. However, the traditional spinning persimmon scene is gone, and people begin to sell fresh persimmons. In recent years, a new variety of cupping persimmon has appeared, with large fruit and bright color. Persimmons are resistant to transportation after peeling. Those young persimmon trees and these cup-shaped persimmons have become a new industry for persimmon farmers to transform and develop. The farmland is covered with lush and robust persimmon trees. Every year after the Mid-Autumn Festival, businessmen from the south or northeast gather here to buy fresh persimmons. It is said that some businessmen are descendants of people who came here to buy dried persimmons. Other persimmon farmers use e-commerce channels to sell persimmons at a good price. Because of the abundant water and fertilizer, it is common for these persimmon trees in the village to unload four or five hundred kilograms of persimmons. Fifty cents a catty, a tree earns seven or eight hundred. Planting more than 20 persimmon trees on an acre of land can earn about 15 thousand yuan. Indeed, selling fresh persimmons not only saves labor and time than selling persimmons, but also earns a high income!

As the saying goes, relying on mountains to eat mountains, relying on water to draft. One side of the soil and water support one side. Persimmon is not only a traditional industry, but also a characteristic road of fruit and vegetable agriculture in arid plateau. Persimmon trees, like the tenacious and brave Chinese nation, have thrived from generation to generation, always hanging like a string of beautiful red lanterns on the endless buildings on both sides of the Yellow River, benefiting the people in their hometown.

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