A few days ago, the author was in the depths of a canyon in western Henan, communicating with Uncle Liu who lived in the deep mountains, and the uncle's words about family education benefited the author a lot. After returning, he wrote that Uncle Shenshan had not entered the city for 70 years, opened holes in the rock cracks to make sheepfolds, lived alone in the canyon and became a tall man, and recorded the uncle's different life. Some netizens left a message: "This is a reclusive life, living freely, tea and light rice, accompanied by mountains, neighborly with wind and frost, brothers take care of each other, rely on sheep, grow some coarse grains, a few chickens and dogs." Not controlled by man, regardless of others, managing him sunrise and sunset, the moon rising and the moon sinking. The Son is like me, leaving money to do even more, the Son is not as good as me, leaving money to harm; penetrating life, it is really the spirit of the world. "There are also people who contact the author, hoping to know more about Uncle Liu's story.
Located in Sishang Village, Song County, Henan Province, there are two canyons in the back mountain, one side is called the big gorge, the other is called the small gorge, and the difference in size comes from the depth of the canyon and the width and narrowness of the canyon mouth.
In the past, there was a villager group living in the small gorge, and there were 3 villager groups living in the big gorge, but with the development of rural areas and the implementation of relevant policies, there were actually no households in the canyon. Even Uncle Liu, who is still in the depths of the canyon, the children and their old partners have moved upstairs at the entrance of the village. Uncle Liu and his brother, who have been cultivating in the mountains all their lives, have raised more than 100 sheep, and the depths of the uninhabited canyon are undoubtedly natural pastures.
For our hasty visit, Uncle Liu, who was mowing grass on the mountain, put down his work and took us to his home. Uncle Liu said that usually there are two people in the ditch, and there is no one on the hillside, so it is difficult to see an individual and talk.
Perhaps because no outsiders have come to the mountains for too long, the uncle lives a comfortable life that is absolutely "the road is not left behind, and the night is not closed". Even if you go to the mountain more than a mile away to mow the grass, the door of the house does not have to be locked. When asked, the uncle looked back and smiled: "What is there to be afraid of?" Now the security is good, besides, in addition to a handful of rice and a handful of noodles, a few sheep, what valuable things do they have to worry about? ”
There are also 5 or 6 abandoned houses in the valley, and Uncle Liu's yard is on a high hill on the half slope, with a stone wall on the outside and a hillside behind the yard. The uncle told the author: In the past, the people in the mountains regarded the land as the root of life, and the flat places were reclaimed for farming, and the houses were generally built on the slopes of the hills, and they were reluctant to occupy the cultivated land. Now the time has changed, the flat land in the city has been built into a building, and the cultivated land in the mountains has basically been abandoned...
Uncle Liu's yard consists of 7 tile houses and three grass houses, the upper room is where the younger brother lives, and he lives in the "Xiazi" on the side.
Because it was snowy and sunny, the yard was muddy with lambs and chickens. Uncle Liu raised about 30 chickens, and there was no chicken pen, and he ate near the yard during the day, and at night, he flew to the canopy at the door and rested on the tree. My brother went to the mountain to herd sheep, and we didn't see them, and there were still a few ewes and lambs in the yard.
Uncle Liu has more than 50 years of experience in sheep herding, in the summer, the hillside wasteland is full of grass, they can also grow some corn and other crops in front of their homes, and in the winter, because the forage outside the mountain cannot be transported in, they can only go to different places every day to herd sheep.
Uncle Liu did not stick to the meat when he was young, and developed the habit of eating only two meals in winter, making a pot of corn rice in the morning, eating some for people, leaving some for the dog, covering a bowl in the pot, and when he came back in the evening, a hot meal would be another meal.
When we arrived, it was already about 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and the uncle's pot was warming a bowl of corn rice. The enthusiastic Uncle Liu was ready to dig out the corn rice and brush the pot to cook, but was stopped by the author. "There are eggs, there are noodles, you don't look at me living in this place, but there is no shortage of food..."
After not letting Uncle Liu cook, Uncle Liu took out two bowls, scooped clean water, wiped them clean with a rag, and said, "If you don't want to cook, then you will sit here and wait for me for a while..."
After saying that, he got up and walked to the other room.
Turning on the flashlight of the mobile phone and climbing up the shed, Uncle Liu opened a water tank cover and said, "I still have some good things here, give you a taste." ”
Uncle Liu's treasured good thing on the shed is honey, which has been more than 5 years, crystallized into a viscous form like lard, and when digging, it needs to be turned with a shovel to break the pulled filamentous honey. They used to give honey called bee sugar.
Most of the old people in the mountains like to keep bees, and their beekeeping is purely to play, adhere to nature, and artificially do not intervene too much. A few beehives were nailed with wooden planks, placed under the eaves, or thrown directly on the hillside of the stone cliff shelter, there were bees, harvested once a year in the spring, there were no bees in the box, and they were not in a hurry.
When I entered the mountain, I had already seen beehives in many caves. Uncle Liu told the author: "In the past, we were all the same here as me, the hive was put on the slope, and the bee was put back. Now there are more beekeepers, all of them are strictly guarded, and there are no wild bees on the slopes. What can be collected is still divided by our bee swarm. Coupled with the fact that the weather has not been normal in the past two years, there is less flower, and there is no sugar. I haven't cut sugar in 2 years..."
Three years ago, Uncle Liu also harvested more than 50 kilograms of honey, handed it to his son who worked in the county town, and sold it for thousands of yuan. Uncle Liu told the author that there are also several kinds of bee candy in the mountains, he is busy, basically does not manage, only provides "houses" for the bee colony, and the rest depends on the development of the bee colony itself. Others often smoke with wormwood, clean hives, feed antibiotics, and rapidly expand the colony. Others buy dozens of boxes of bees from other places and put them on the slopes of the ditch, and when the nectar is not enough, they increase the yield by feeding white sugar...
Even the treatment of honey is divided into raw honey and cooked honey. The uncle introduced: "Raw bee sugar is just cut off the sugar, even after the sugar with wax is mixed, it is hung up with gauze, and the bee sugar that is controlled does not contain slag, and the warm water can be drunk with a flush." Bee sugar is old viscous, not clean, there is a person who will be controlled by the bee scum heated and then filtered, that is called cooked sugar ..." Rural people think that cooked sugar does not cure the disease, the best is raw bee sugar, like Uncle Liu, this pure natural honey without artificial intervention, can sell 120 to 150 pounds.
Watching the author drinking honey water, Uncle Liu was very happy, saying: "I don't sell much, if I have it, I will store it in the tank, many people know what the quality of our bee sugar is, no need to publicize, it will be gone after cutting." ”
Uncle Liu told the author: 10 years ago, when he returned from herding sheep, he met a group of donkey friends, camped in a tent in the valley, and burned water in the ditch to drink. The uncle said that the water in the ditch was not clean, so he went home and took a bucket of honey water for washing beehives and gave them. After drinking half a bucket of boiling water containing honey, the group still wanted to drink, which was difficult for Uncle Liu, so he had to dig out a bowl of honey and re-boil a pot of boiling water to provide to them.
"All these years, they call every year, and as soon as there is bee candy, they come. Last year to this year, our family did not, they called and said to ask me to find some more, I said that other people's sugar we do not support the bottom [do not understand], if you do not get a good hold, not blame sorry people, did not get ..."
"These years are not like in previous years, when the big collectives were low in crop yields, eating was not wide, afraid of people coming to eat at home, and now they are not afraid to eat, that is, they do not plant land, and there is something to eat at home." My family, from my father's life is a rest shop, the people who come in from the outer ditch to collect firewood are all coming to our house to rest their feet and drink tea, and the people in Longtangou on the other side of the mountain come over and also stop at our house. If I come again in the future, as long as I don't die, I will always live here and come to sit at home..."
Although Uncle Liu is more than 70 years old, his body is still relatively healthy, except for the tired waist when he was young, there is no cardiovascular and cerebrovascular problems. Uncle Liu said that every month he had to go to the village clinic to check his body, measure his blood pressure, eat and drink what he could eat, and did not want to go out of the mountain to live with the children. Elderly people and young people have different living habits, can not eat a pot of rice, rather than making children embarrassed, it is better to take advantage of the time to move, stay in the mountains and do some work within their capabilities. When it is really time to dry up, dozens of sheep are bought, and it is enough to see a doctor and spend the elderly.
Although several children are not very good, they have all settled down, Uncle Liu said that he knows very well that no matter how much he leaves for the children, it is not as good as their own labor and creation, but as a peasant father, the money from the annual sale of sheep is saved, and in the end, it will still be left to several sons...