Ba Zong's rural life [farming]

Before sowing millet, soak it in warm water for a few days, and wait for the husk to crack and sprout roots before sowing the grain into the seedling bed—that is, the seedling ground.

Occasionally in early spring, it will be cold for a few days, and the temperature will drop suddenly, which will freeze the seedlings. Therefore, after sowing, the seedlings should be covered with plastic film to keep the seedlings warm.

Taking advantage of the time to distribute the seeds, Ruan Xishi took a rope chopping knife and went to the bamboo forest in the back mountain to cut bamboo.

After hearing Ruan Xishi's plan, Lu Ze followed him to Zhushan.

Zhushan is located at the end of the village. It is a small mound with a low slope, and it is full of bamboos. According to legend, it was planted by the ancestors of the village. Bamboos have been passed down from generation to generation. Continuously, in the famine years, generations of people were fed. The older generation often said: "Mountains of gold and silver are not as good as the bamboo mountains in my hometown."

Bamboo is everywhere on the mountain, and there are several varieties. The sweet bamboo is planted at the foot of the slope, the cartong bamboo is planted at the top, and the single bamboo is planted at the top of the slope.April is the time for bamboo shoots to break through the soil. The soil at the roots of the bamboo is slightly arched, revealing a pointed head, which is the spring bamboo shoots that just broke out of the ground.

Bamboo shoots grow early and late, the early ones are already half the height of a person, with bamboo knots formed at the bottom, the late ones just show a sharp point, and some are neither long nor short, short and fat. It looks simple and honest.

Ruan Xishi led Lu Ze through a sweet bamboo forest and saw many bamboo shoots that were only a few inches long. Ruan Xi stopped from time to time to look at it, as if she had some plans.

Lu Ze asked puzzledly, "Xiao Ruan, what are you going to do?"

Ruan Xishi turned her head and said with a smile: "I was wondering if this bamboo shoot can be chopped and eaten. It looks a bit short. I think it will be a good time to eat bamboo shoots after a while."

Lu Ze had eaten bamboo shoots, but this was the first time he had heard of picking them. He looked at the unremarkable mounds half buried in the soil, and couldn't imagine that they could turn into white, fat bamboo shoots.

Ruan Xishi looked towards the mountainside, and said: "But it doesn't have to wait for a while, the sweet bamboo grows slowly, and the cartong bamboo on the mountainside should be able to be dug and eaten. We will go up and see later, if there are bamboo shoots , just dig a few and go home to cook and eat, and I’ll make fried pork with bamboo shoots for you.”

As soon as he heard "stir-fried pork with bamboo shoots", Lu Ze had already imagined its appearance, and even imagined its taste. Fresh wild bamboo shoots must taste delicious.

What Ruan Xishi wants to cut is single bamboo. Single bamboo is very versatile. It is the best bamboo for making bamboo rafts. It is suitable for all kinds of weaving works. Ruan Xishi plans to cut a few for home. Circle the duck shed, and the rest can be used as a fence for melon seedlings and bean seedlings to climb.

After Ruan Xishi was optimistic about a suitable bamboo, he put on his gloves, supported the bamboo with one hand, and chopped at the root of the bamboo with a hatchet in the other.It was also his first time chopping bamboo, so he was a bit novice and couldn't find the tricks, so he seemed to be struggling.

Seeing that his little arms and legs looked weak, Lu Ze went up to support the bamboo and said to him, "Let me do it."

The moment his hand touched the bamboo, Ruan Xishi exclaimed: "Brother Lu Ze, let go of your hand quickly, these bamboos have hairs on them, they will itch when touched!"

Hearing this, Lu Ze hurriedly withdrew his hand back, Ruan Xishi was worried about him, and nervously went up to look at his hand, but fortunately, he reacted in time, Lu Ze didn't touch many white hairs, even so, Ruan Xishi worriedly blew into his palm Blowing, trying to blow off the sticky white hair.

Ruan Xishi was afraid that Lu Ze would accidentally touch the bamboo again, so she asked him to sit in the open space and wait for him. Lu Ze saw his small and thin figure busy in the bamboo forest, while he was tall and burly but sitting dryly. Then, Yu couldn't bear to say to Ruan Xishi: "Xiao Ruan, otherwise I'll cut the bamboo, and you can rest for a while."

Ruan Xishi cut off the branches of the chopped bamboo bit by bit, leaving only a bare bamboo pole, which was piled on the rope horizontally on the ground, so that he could tie it up and take it down the mountain without lifting his head. He said to Lu Ze, "No need, I'll get it done."

He cut seven or eight bamboos, tied the two ends with ropes, held the bamboos together, and pushed them along the slope, and the smooth bamboos slid all the way down.

People in the village have lived in this natural condition for a long time. Although they have not changed the nature, they have adapted to it and know how to use various natural conditions for their own benefit. A ditch is dug straight down the slope. After cutting the bamboo from the mountain, you only need to put the bamboo into the ditch, and with a little effort, the bamboo will slide down the slope, which can save a lot of manpower.

When going down the mountain, Ruan Xishi heard someone's voice in the bamboo grove, he stopped to identify it carefully, the voice was still familiar, it should be that other people from the village also went up the mountain to cut bamboo.

Sure enough, not long after he had walked, he met two uncles in the village. The uncles were about to walk up the mountain with a cigarette in one hand and a chopping knife and iron pick in the other.

Ruan Xishi saw them, greeted them, and asked, "Uncle, are you going up the mountain to cut bamboo too?"

Seeing him, the two middle-aged men responded with a smile: "No, today we are not here to cut bamboo, we are here to dig bamboo shoots."

Ruan Xishi smiled and said: "Digging bamboo shoots is such a big battle, do you need two people? Is it going to be sold in the town?"

The middle-aged man smiled and waved his hands: "Hey, how much are these things worth? The money to transport them to the town and sell them is not enough to pay for gas."

Another man explained: "It's your uncle's son who is going to get married, so we went to the mountain to dig bamboo shoots and take them back to dry. We will have a banquet for cooking."

Ruan Xishi seemed to remember it now, and suddenly realized: "Brother Zhao is getting married this year? So soon, didn't he fall in love last year?"

"He is 20 years old, it's time to get married, and the woman doesn't agree with dating for more than a year, and she is afraid of gossiping with the villagers, so your Uncle Zhao asked your husband to check the date at the beginning of this year. The wedding date is set on the eighth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar. , when the time comes, Shizi, you will also come to drink the wedding wine."

Ruan Xishi responded straightforwardly: "Okay, I will definitely go when the time comes."

After bidding farewell to fellow villagers who went up the mountain to pick bamboo shoots, Ruan Xishi said to Lu Ze: "When fourth brother Zhao gets married, I will take you to a wedding banquet and let you see what the flowing water banquet in the village looks like."

Lu Ze replied with a smile, "Okay."

Ruan Xishi stopped when he passed by a bamboo shoot. He squatted at the root of the bamboo, dug the soil of the bamboo root with a machete, and pushed away the dead leaves and soil around the bamboo shoot, revealing the white and tender part buried underneath. Tender bamboo shoots.

Ruan Xishi turned her head and said to Lu Ze, "This bamboo shoot can be dug up and eaten."

Chetong bamboo is different from sweet bamboo. Its bamboo shoots grow very quickly, almost taking on the characteristics of bamboo soon after the soil is broken. The flesh of the bamboo shoots becomes old and hard, and is no longer suitable for consumption. Therefore, the bamboo shoots of Chetong bamboo are the best. The best time to harvest is when it has just broken the ground.

Ruan Xishi did what he said. He dug up the soil around the bamboo shoot, exposing the whole bamboo shoot, and then cut it off from the root with a knife. A piece of bamboo shoot was taken off like this.

He dug up three bamboo shoots, tied them with straw and vines and carried them in his hands. Because of the rich harvest, he was very happy, and it can be said that he returned with a full reward.

When he got home, he threw the bamboo to the open space in front of his house. The freshly cut bamboo still had a lot of moisture. If it was made into bamboo strips like this, it would be very fragile and not durable. Yes, let the water evaporate and then make bamboo strips.

The most urgent thing is to cook the bamboo shoots first.

Ruan Xishi peeled off the bamboo shoots layer by layer, exposing the white and tender meat inside, and then threw them into the vegetable sink to wash them. The older parts of the roots were cut into shredded bamboo shoots, and soaked in a small earthenware pot. Change the water several times a day, soak for two days to get rid of the bitterness, and then you can fry it and eat it.

As for the tenderest part of the bamboo shoots, Ruan Xishi cut them into thin slices, boiled a pot of water, put them in and cook for a few minutes, when the bamboo shoots turn from white to yellow, it proves that the bitterness has been removed , can be cooked and eaten directly.

Cooked bamboo shoots can’t just be fried in a pan like this, and the water must be dried, so that the cooked bamboo shoots will be crisp and tough, otherwise they will be soft and chewy.

After the wok was heated up, Ruan Xishi put the drained bamboo shoots into the wok and stir-fried them, adding appropriate amount of salt, until the water evaporated completely, and then put them up for later use.

There was half a plate of pork left yesterday, Ruan Xishi took it out, picked the fat meat and fry it in a hot pan, and when the lard overflowed, poured the bamboo shoots that had been processed before and fried them together, letting the lard Infiltrated into the bamboo shoots, it will not taste dry and tasteless.

After the bamboo shoots were cooked through, Ruan Xishi poured the remaining pork into the pot and stir-fried them together. The aroma of fried pork with bamboo shoots soon permeated the kitchen. Lu Ze, who was cooking for Ruan Xishi, couldn't bear the temptation. .

The fried pork with bamboo shoots that Lu Ze used to eat was eaten in a high-end private restaurant. The dishes there pay attention to health preservation. Although the food is nutritious and fresh, the taste is obviously insufficient. It is said to be "stir-fried", but it is actually "cooked". Whether it is pork The bamboo shoots are still soft, not chewy, and the taste is not strong enough.

But the fried meat with bamboo shoots that he ate now is different, because it is cooked with fire, the dishes inevitably smell of oily smoke, lard is obviously very greasy, but it was absorbed by the fried bamboo shoots Almost, a dish looks oily and greasy, but it actually doesn't taste greasy.

Lu Ze ate and drank well at Ruan Xishi's house every day, and he couldn't think of it anymore. Sometimes he even wanted to completely treat himself as a person with amnesia, so that he didn't have to return to the modern society and be a complicated person.

In the evening, Ruan Xishi handled bamboo with a woodcutter. He cut a piece of bamboo into two pieces that were about the same length. Stick, after the stick is heavy, the bamboo is split into several bamboo strips.

Of course, to make bamboo strips, you need to peel off the bamboo meat inside the bamboo. It only takes a lot of patience, and you must also pay attention not to let the knife cut yourself.

Lu Ze didn't touch the knife very often, so Ruan Xishi didn't let him do it. He cut out the bamboo strips by himself, and took out a few sticks for rice seedlings.

Ruan Xishi used the rest to weave nets and build duck sheds. He placed several bamboo strips of the same length on the ground, took a bamboo strip in his hand, and weaved it up and down on the bamboo strips on the ground. .

After about an hour, Ruan Xishi finally made a bamboo net. He stood up and showed it to Lu Ze: "I plan to use it to trap the ducklings."

Lu Ze watched the bamboos turn into bamboo slivers, and the bamboo slivers turned into weaves. He couldn't think of anything else to say except that he lamented Ruan Xishi's ingenuity.