Spring has come and the weather is getting warmer. After a rain, the land became soft. Blink of an eye, you can see the river, the ditch, the slope, the roadside and the ridge, all covered with tender, juicy and crisp weeds. These grasses are the desserts and favorites of cattle and sheep, just like bread and milk that people eat. When they eat, their necks are stretched and their eyes are focused. With the sound of "salad salad", milky white or dark green grass juice overflows their mouths, so the weight gain of cattle and sheep begins from this season.
There are many kinds of weeds in rural areas, most of which are unknown. Weeds are interwoven into a net on both sides of the dirt road leading to the outside of the village. Their small green leaves and long green stems reinforce the subgrade. On rainy days, people walk on the grass, their feet are soft and they will not step on the mud. The center of the dirt road, crushed by people, livestock and cars, has become flat and solid, and nothing grows. The premise of long grass is that the ground grass seeds can sprout and take root in the soil. In summer, the sunshine extends from the entrance of the village to the road outside the village. Walking on both sides of the road, weeds will sweep the Buddha's feet from time to time, which is very itchy and comfortable. Cattle, sheep, horses and mules are like naughty children who don't concentrate on walking. When the owner is unprepared, bow to the left and right, so that the weeds on both sides of the subgrade will continue to grow and always maintain the same level.
When we mow the grass, we don't mow the weeds on both sides of the road. We think this is too little. Strangely, cattle and sheep are becoming more and more expensive at this time. Other animals eat grass, they don't like it very much, so we have to go to the wild to cut fresh and good grass. Every morning when the sun is still cold, we start shouting, carrying a sickle box, eating half a cornbread and running to the wild.
It is necessary to mow cattle and sheep for one day. Sheep don't eat much, but cows eat a lot. They are naturally filled with straw, just like a small blender. When eating, they were in a hurry, pulling out a lot of cow dung, which stinks, while the sheep ate gracefully, sipped with their mouths and chewed slowly. But eating more cows can help the family do farm work and support two laborers.
Seeing that the sun is about to rise, the edge covered by clouds is red, and thousands of golden lights are instantly emitted. At this time, the fog in the field is still heavy, the weeds are covered with a layer of shiny dew, and the dew at the tip of the grass is still dreaming sweetly in a deep sleep. Suddenly, a gentle morning breeze blew, which soon shook it up and fell into the soil with a click. The soil under the weeds was soaked.
When mowing the grass, we don't feel tired, or kneel, squat or bow, holding wet weeds in one hand and cutting at the roots quickly with a sickle in the other. Dew accompanied by soil, combined with grass leaves, flowers and fresh grass seeds, rudely approached the trouser legs and sleeves. Sometimes I stand up and free my wet hands to sip the hair hanging from my forehead. In the long run, my head and body are covered with wet leaves, petals and bright green grass seeds. In addition to the uncomfortable feeling of being wet by dew, I was also infected by the fragrance of wild flowers and plants. Unknown flying insects are attracted to hover around us and overhead, but I dare not approach them. Sometimes we will stop mowing, stand up straight and take turns to scrape the wet mud off the bottom of sandals with a sickle. Sandals are wool cut at Maikou and sold to the purchasing station. Parents bought it as a reward for mowing the grass. They are very soft and comfortable, but not all partners have them, so we cherish them.
It's a busy time in the morning, and it's usually a beautiful day for cattle, sheep and other hay omnivores. We will carry the cut weeds to the pond at the entrance of the village to wash away the soil, and the weeds will become green and crisp, exposing the roots of the white bearded people. It is really a good thing to think that cattle and sheep eat this clean weed and give birth to white milk for young cattle and sheep to drink.
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Girls have been diligent since childhood. Therefore, the adults went to the wild to mow the grass early in the morning. Most of them are girls. They not only have to cut grass and collect firewood, but also go to the Woods to collect fallen leaves and branches. They also help their parents spread the leftover straw of cattle and sheep in the sun as firewood. Everything in farmers' life is precious and useless.
Of course, boys are not idle. They follow a long life and help their parents do some manual work, such as plowing and harrowing fields, picking manure and unloading cars. Parents will be delighted and proud of the strength made by this "newborn calf". In the village, if there are two little boys working, there is nothing to say, but the appetite is too big, and there is an exaggeration that the little boy eats Lao Zi to death. The growing young people are awesome, and it is rare for parents to see them in their eyes and feel pain in their hearts. When girls grow up, they don't have so much joy in the past. Girls in rural areas are mostly unknown, docile and kind, just like this weed that has been baptized by dew, frost and snow, and grows naturally.
There are many kinds of weeds in rural areas. Even experienced old farmers can't name the weeds all day long when they deal with the land. Generally, we only know about 20 kinds. Some weeds have great influence and function in the life of rural people. Our hometown is located in the plain, and we usually see some terrestrial weeds, such as wheat dregs (similar to shepherd's purse), Leymus chinensis, grass grasping the ground, grass saving, cowtongue tree, morning glory, miserable vegetables, mother-in-law, wormwood, scratching dogs, water defeated children, daisies ... Most of these weeds are named after local dialects and herbal books. Moreover, many weeds have their edible, medicinal and medicinal values, and some can also be used to play, reluctant to part with.
For example, wheat seeds have green serrated leaves. After spring, the wheat field has grown a lot, especially fresh and tender. My friends and I usually dig it out for my mother. Mothers wash them with skillful hands, mix them with flour and steam them in a pot. When the pot cover is cooked, it will have the fragrance of wild vegetables, and it is very enjoyable to eat with seasoning. The wheat jiaozi is soft and sticky, which is far more delicious than the hard and rough steamed bread. Steamed dumplings paste egg drop soup, green, white and yellow, attractive color, not to mention, it is not smooth enough to drink. In February and March, Ding Gang's mother-in-law dug up the soil, and the fresh yellow-green shoots were washed and eaten raw. It tastes a little bitter, but it tastes special when she eats it with soy sauce. As soon as the crunchy feeling passed through her throat, it was like eating it all spring. The long-paved losers (similar to sunflower) copy with boiling water and pour garlic and sesame oil, which is cool and moist. My father likes to eat the dishes made from these weeds. He likes to drink a little wine. When he is happy, he hums two operas to tease the baby, and he can't tell whether it is the mellow wine or the refreshing food.
Such as sad vegetables, old ladies, reed roots, mint, arborvitae leaves and plantain are all commonly used herbs in rural areas. When mowing grass with friends in the wild, it is common to cut your fingers. Seeing blood flowing, soon, they pinched some serrated tender leaves of sad vegetables, rubbed them on the wound, and said loudly: Go back to blood and shut the door at home. With this effort, the dark green sad vegetable juice really stopped the bleeding wound and remained after a false alarm.
One year, my gums were on fire and my cheeks were swollen. My father took me to see an old Chinese doctor. He didn't prescribe any medicine, so he asked him to find some women in the wild. In addition, the leaves of Platycladus orientalis were mashed with egg white and attached to the swollen cheeks. Strangely, half of the face was cold and comfortable, and the swelling went down after three times of pasting. Reed root, scallion, white radish, plantain, etc. Drink it with boiled water, and you can sweat and relieve exterior syndrome. Children in rural areas are not shy, and their parents treat us like this when they have a headache and a fever. Drink it.
Folium Artemisiae Argyi is blooming in the warm wind in May, and putting some when cooking eggs during the Dragon Boat Festival will make the eggs more fragrant. Folium Artemisiae Argyi also has a good mosquito repellent effect. In summer, there are many mosquitoes in the yard. Parents will grab a handful of dried mugwort leaves and burn them inside and outside. The mosquitoes in the smoke will be smoked away and they can sleep at night. Some people also use the method of drying in the sun after harvest to make medicines and burn moxibustion to treat diseases.
Leymus chinensis grows on river slopes or gullies, and the slender green leaves are vaguely covered with a fine layer of fluff. Spring is cold and warm, and there are weeds in the soil all winter. Breaking ground first is the most impatient thing. The newly grown leaves of Leymus chinensis have not grown up yet, and they are light yellow and light green, with a sharp middle and a cone shape, which is edible. It tastes fresh and sweet, and it is really delicious. In our childhood when we couldn't eat candy, this natural thing can be regarded as a way to solve our gluttony. As the leaves of Leymus chinensis gradually turn green, the middle part of the pointed cone grows into a green stalk, and the top part is a stamen, which will bloom in the future. When mowing grass in the wild, I saw glistening grass in Maoyangli, full of river slopes and gullies. We like it very much. We are simple-minded and don't think about things. We rushed to lie on it and looked at the white clouds overhead, and soon fell asleep. As time goes by, the sound of the wind and the fragrance of the land are forgotten. Leymus chinensis is very soft. In addition to feeding cattle and sheep, it can also help parents twist straw ropes to tie things when they are half dry.
Even rarer is the rhizome of imperata rhizome growing under the grass. Leymus chinensis is a rhizomatous plant, which looks like a large thatch. With years of growth, the roots below it have formed a network interwoven in the underground soil. If you want to dig it, you must wait until the earth is clear in autumn. At that time, there was no more grass to cut in the wild, so we took it? Head to dig cogongrass rhizome. This is a physical activity, and we must go all out. When we hold our heads down and lift the clods, it's like hearing hundreds of broken ribs. The sound stimulated us even more, and we all dug harder and happily, as if we were digging gold bars and silver bars instead of thatch. We grabbed the nodular white cogongrass rhizome in the turned-up soil, picked up the whitest and fattest mud and put it in our mouths. It's so sweet that we can't get tired of eating it, let alone cattle and sheep see how to eat it. Imperata rhizome has the effect of promoting fluid production and quenching thirst, and is a good medicine for treating diabetes.
Setaria viridis is the most common and vigorous weed in river slopes, ditches and fields. It's similar to Xiaomi but smaller, and it's also the hardest thing to give to children. Mowing grass to help adults do farm work is tired, so have fun when you have a rest. Weaving all kinds of lifelike furry animals and playing with each other, the feeling of fatigue suddenly disappears.
There is a weed called fenugreek, which has long green leaves and stems. The stem is surrounded by countless beige or white flowers. We don't care much about whether flowers have a faint fragrance. The important thing is to pick the green stalks, fold them into finger-length pieces, and when you sit around and play together, grab them and scatter them on the ground, and then stir them up one by one. Otherwise, you can't touch other roots when picking, or you will lose money. Compared with all kinds of toys that children play now, it is not inferior. In addition, you can take it to school when you do arithmetic problems. This natural learning tool is really good, and it can be folded into a new one after use. There are many in the wild.
I didn't know until many years later that what we usually call rural women is dandelion. Among all kinds of weeds, dandelion is one of the best gifts given to us by the land. Its early buds can not only be eaten raw, but also used as medicine. It produces yellow or white flowers, which are fragrant and turn into white fluffy balls, becoming our favorite plaything. A few dandelions fly around, how many rural children's dreams have to be realized! Like a happy material element that no one has ever used, children wake up to find that everything is different and everything becomes alive. Watching countless children blowing dandelions with childish smiles and fresh lips is not like the picture.
In rural areas, no game can make children enjoy playing for so long. We knelt on the ground, carefully, afraid of falling from a happy dream, broke off the white dandelion ball and put it on our lips to blow gently. For dandelion balls alone, this is a mighty wind. Dandelion fluff loaded with seeds is blown all over the sky, like countless small parachutes that have been reduced by thousands of times, slowly drifting into the distance. The seeds of dandelion shaped like an umbrella fall on strange land, and then take root and sprout there, growing more dandelions. What a magical flying dream! The more I think about it, the more intoxicated I am in the game. Many years ago, my friends and I blew dandelions in the field in the afternoon. I will never forget it.
Weeds grow everywhere. Where there is a little dust, there are weeds. Not to mention the weeds on river slopes, ditches, fields and ends, even vegetable fields and farmland are overgrown with weeds. Sometimes there are too many weeds in the field, which will "eat" crops, which is a great offense and infringement to the growth of crops. It is not easy for farmers to grow crops, so they must dig them out and pull them out, and some of them need to dig deep roots to get rid of their grievances. These weeds are either thrown into mud pits to accumulate fertilizer or collected and taken home to feed cattle and sheep. Cattle and sheep are transported to the ground after eating. The seeds of weeds will not die, and more lush weeds will grow in the coming year.
There is a saying that people are smarter than the sky. In the field, you can't see the growth of weeds, so there is a "herbicide" pesticide. "Herbicide", also called "paraquat", is a necessary thing to deal with weeds in farmland. As long as weeds stop growing and die, crops will not be hurt.
Nowadays, we can't see many kinds of weeds with lush leaves in rural areas, which have all been eliminated by paraquat, but I sometimes wonder: Will the grain harvested in the fields sprayed with paraquat cause some harm to human body? This is another question worthy of our deep thought, and we are willing to discuss it with our friends.