In the world of childhood, after school, the most important thing is to dig wild vegetables and cut pig grass.
When it comes to wild vegetables, the first thing I think of is ponytail. I didn't know the scientific name of the dish when I was a child. I just call it Ma Cai by adults, and I don't know if it's written like this. Reading is probably the name of ant food.
In spring, around the village, especially vegetable fields, because vegetables are usually planted, the land is idle at this time, and after a spring rain, it is born one after another. Children, you call me, I call you. Everyone is carrying a small basket. You run after me and I run after you. Some even learned a few ancient poems by heart. Wildfire can't burn it out, but the spring breeze can revive it. The vegetable field in my village is just to the south of the village, where there is a wheat field with piles of wheat stalks. A stone mill for grinding wheat and grain is made of bluestone. We just went to the scene first, a few people pushed, and some were still standing on the stone roller. When we push, he will roll along the stone, which requires learning to balance. After a while, I saw a dragonfly fly by and drove it away. Tired of playing, they ran to the vegetable field and took out a small iron hoe. A group of children scattered like smallpox, looking for weeds in the field.
I like purslane vegetables. In spring, they begin to be tender green. Undaria pinnatifida, oblate leaves, grow bigger as they grow, with a big circle above and a small circle below, like a string of pearls. The reddish stems, when pulled out, are tender and fluffy, like hair. This kind of dish is everywhere and easy to recognize.
Dig it back, if mom has time, choose the vegetables first, remove the roots and soil. Then, wash, add corn flour or white flour, and add water. Raw pointed cake, soft and white, with a clear broken ponytail inside. Pointed cakes are built layer by layer and put in a cake basket. When it's time to eat, a few pairs of small hands, you robbed me, my father saw it and smiled, and a group of hungry ghosts gathered around.
Even now, in the field, the first thing that the eyes find is several kinds of wild vegetables that I knew when I was a child. When people reach middle age, they dig wild vegetables, and sometimes they dig up childhood, childlike interest and missing.
The children have all gone to school, and the home has become a world of two people. Sometimes, learn from it. Both husband and wife pick vegetables. My wife digs in front and I pick them up in the back. However, what I see is mostly the scenery, the tree, the cloud, the clear water and the rape blossoms. My wife always says that I am lazy, with lazy hands and searching eyes. It's just that my wife is looking for the real thing, and I'm looking for the scenery.
My wife will also learn from my mother to make pointed cakes. The difference is that only one person tastes it slowly. No one comes to grab it for himself, and the fun of eating is gone. Eat slowly, and you will taste the taste of childhood.
dandelion
Among wild vegetables, dandelion's feeling is poetic first.
I remember there is a poem about dandelion in the primary school textbook. I can't remember the content of the textbook clearly, but the pictures in the textbook are still a little memorable. This round, furry ball was blown in all directions by the wind. Blow there, take root there, and have strong vitality. Maybe it's that poem. In my heart, I think dandelion is heroic, lofty and poetic.
I'm not good at identifying weeds. When I go to the wild, I only know people who have small yellow flowers.
When I was a child, I also learned what it looked like in textbooks, autumn. When you go to fields and hills, dandelions will grow into fluffy balls, which will be blown by the autumn wind in rows, giving you a swaying beauty. Look out, get close. Pick a few and blow them in front of your companions, and the fluffy ones will fly in the sky with a foggy feeling.
Sometimes, I dig some. When you get home, clean it and eat it as a dish, or maybe as a cold companion.
Spring is coming again. I used to go hiking with my friends. On the way down the mountain, I saw a field full of clusters of small yellow flowers. Take a closer look, it's dandelion. This is so beautiful. A group of women who climb mountains, including a male mountaineering friend and a person at home, also like to dig wild vegetables at home to make a living. I am an idle person, looking at the surrounding scenery. Peach blossoms and apricot blossoms are far away. I stand by and watch an apricot flower. I can smell the bees flying in the stamen. Seeing the potherb digger, I suddenly had an idea. I heard a friend say that the dandelion dug out was dried and mailed to my lover who was far away.
Because dandelion is a Chinese herbal medicine, it can kill bacteria and eliminate fire. The wife washed it, dried it and gave it to her mother. As soon as the old man felt angry, he drank several cups of dandelion water. When my wife talked about it, I smiled. A small dandelion is so useful.
I wrote a little poem.
Spring is coming
Dandelion wakes up from sleep.
My friend and I
Like a scattered magpie
Scattered on the hillside
By the stream
In combat
Next to the wheat field
seek
Pick tender dandelions.
go home
wash
Dry in the sun
Make a cup of dandelion water
Bright yellow flowers
Gradually open
Smile gently at yourself.
Have a swig.
It's like drinking all spring.
There is a warm spring in my heart.
My friend's wife is in Shenzhen.
Dandelion is packed.
By train.
Boarded the plane
Fly south in spring.
Open mail
Fly out of the faint fragrance of flowers
Fly out of deep homesickness
Fly out of deep thoughts
Dandelion is a new kind of red bean.
Bloom in the south
shepherd's purse
There is a wild vegetable that we picked the most when we were young. I spent most of my childhood in the fields. After school, there are weekends. At that time, there was not much homework, and the main task was to help the family. Children can't do heavy work, and the pig's main food at home depends on digging pig grass. At that time, the pig was the bank of the whole family, and the work points were worthless. The expenses of the whole family for one year, such as making clothes for the New Year and buying books for school.
Buy a pig in spring, this is a reminder, that little tapir, eat all day. We have to dig pig grass somewhere. There are many shepherd's purse, which are in front of the village, behind the village, by the roadside, in the old courtyard, by the field and on the farm. At that time, as soon as the harvest season arrived, a team began to protect the autumn and prevented the children from going to the fields. At that time, we would dig wild vegetables in the fields and on the roadside. The first choice can only be shepherd's purse
In my memory, I think shepherd's purse is a kind of beauty Young leaves and shepherd's purse grow clusters of small stems with small white flowers. Dig a bunch of shepherd's purse, make a grass wreath and wear it on your head. There are small white flowers on both sides of the wreath, and you can smell the fragrance. Put on a wreath, go to war, and play.
The tenacious vitality of shepherd's purse can be seen everywhere in the village. Shepherd's purse is in the spring plain, and the crow falls in the newly plowed rain. The ancients also used poetry to describe it. In my hometown, there is "March 3, shepherd's purse flowers, boiled eggs."
Speaking of eating, shepherd's purse can be eaten in a variety of ways, such as stewing, boiling, frying and stuffing. Jiaozi with egg stuffing or tofu stuffing is popular. It's delicious.
As soon as Tomb-Sweeping Day passed, it became warm. Sometimes my wife will pick some shepherd's purse back. Neighbors will come and wash together when they see it. A group of women, one tall and one low in the yard, later said, let's eat from the same pot. That's it. Buy some tofu for stuffing. Under my grape trellis, some people make bags and some people make fires. I am a bystander. I was tired of studying, so I came out to watch them work.
After school, a group of children gathered around the cauldron and served a plate at the back end. A group of children, you and me, compete with each other, and one person is not as popular as others. I watch, and finally, I will serve a bowl and try the jiaozi made of this wild vegetable.
When I closed my eyes to write this article, I felt Shan Ye's shepherd's purse greetings. It's almost March 3, and kites are flying all over the sky.