Distant grain hoards (prose)
Text/Wang Yishang
Grain hoarding (utensils for holding grain) was indispensable for farmers in the last century. In my memory, every family has a hoard of grain. It was first a grain hoard woven with wooden branches, and later replaced a striped grain hoard with a tank made of cement or a large urn fired from clay. They are all about a meter tall, like big-bellied arhats, standing in corners or inconspicuous places all year round.
In the 1960s and 1970s, agricultural production based on production teams was still relatively backward, because the grain output was very low (about 200 catties per mu), in a period of economic difficulties, sweet potatoes were the life-saving things that sustained the lives of farmers in southwest Lu, and most of the village teams planted sweet potatoes (sweet potatoes) as the main grain, and distributed them to each household after harvesting in the autumn. I remember that my family had 3 grain hoards at that time, and every year they were filled with dried sweet potatoes, which was used as a ration for the whole family. At that time, every winter and spring, three meals a day were sung by the sweet potato family. In the morning and evening, the pot is full of sweet potato leaves and dried sweet potato noodles boiled porridge, and at noon is the black nest head of the sweet potato steamed with the crushed sweet potato noodles, holding the sticky hand to eat the sticky teeth, and it is always not enough to eat throughout the year.
In the 1980s, the production responsibility system was introduced, grain production increased significantly, especially wheat and corn production increased year after year, and the original grain hoards in the family were replaced by grain tanks and urns. The grain tank is made of cement, and the large urn is purchased from out-of-town vendors, and a large urn can hold 500 catties of wheat. The lid was originally made of rectangular wooden planks, because the wooden cover was easy to drill into insects, and later it was changed to a mold to break off into a semi-circular cement board, and after solidification and drying, the two plates were sealed tightly to the cylinder mouth (or urn mouth).
Every late summer and early autumn weather is hot and humid, we must choose a sunny day to lay the grain (wheat) in the yard to dry for half a day, the hot afternoon grain is hot, quickly pile up into a pile to clean up the impurities inside, while the hot air is not scattered into the prepared tank and urn, in order to prevent anti-damp mold, a layer of plastic bags are added in advance, and after pouring grain, tighten the mouth of the plastic bag, and without much effort, all the harvest of the season will be loaded into the grain hoard. As the saying goes, "If you have grain in your hoard, you don't panic in your heart." But at that time, it was generally a large population, producing less grain, and nearly half of the rations were missing throughout the year, and the only way to fill the gap was to fill the gap with sweet potato noodles and wild vegetables. To be honest, at that time, except for the Spring Festival, it was difficult to eat a white-noodle steamed bun, even if there was cornmeal, it was rare to eat three or two.
In the 21st century, agricultural production technology has developed rapidly, mechanization has spread, and most of the wheat (corn) yields per mu have exceeded 1,000 catties, and it is far from enough to use urns as grain hoards. However, drying grain is time-consuming and laborious, and farmers have also begun to change their thinking, selling the harvested wheat directly to grain stores or grain sellers who buy grain, which is convenient and fast to reduce mildew, and avoids insects eating rats, and enjoys the joy after the harvest.
The change of the sun and the moon, the change of the world, as people's memory of the grain hoard has become history, and now has faded out of people's vision, most families have long ceased to have it, and people's lives are gradually drifting away. I remember a poet who wrote, "Years from now, you will still be the most tender lover in the world, but she is far away, and no matter what you are doing, she will not know." Knowing that, she won't look back. "Why, because it regrets that in that difficult and difficult time, it was an empty object for people to decorate their facades, but they were helpless in the face of hunger, and they could not bless all sentient beings like bodhisattvas.
【About the author】:Wang Yishang (pen name Cordyceps sinensis), born in 1957, is a government employee and a member of the Communist Party of China. He was once employed as the deputy editor-in-chief of the editorial department of the "Reporter's Cradle" newspaper of Shandong Heze Journalism Institute. Since 1979, he has published works in the army, and has published more than 3,000 works. His works have been published in Heze Daily, Dazhong Daily, Peony Literature, Writers and Readers, Modern Writers Literature, Times Literature, Essence of Writing, World Poetry and Literature, Great Northwest Poets, Northern Lights, Literature, Selected Contemporary Chinese Masters, Selected Contemporary Literature, Ginseng Flowers, and Oriental Collections. Gold List Famous Articles- Selected Works of Cultural and Creative Achievements in the Past Forty Years", "Literature of Great Love in the New Century. There are nearly 100 literary websites such as newspapers and magazines such as "Selected Works of Chinese Rural Poetry" and "Selected Chinese Rural Poems", and have won more than 80 commendations and awards at the provincial and municipal levels. His works have been selected for the "Qilu Literary Works Annual Exhibition" for many times, the essay "Spring to crescent bay", and in August 2021, he was selected as a fourth-grade Chinese reading textbook. He is a member of the Shandong Provincial Writers Association, the Shandong Prose Literature Association, the Heze Writers Association, the China Writers Network, the Blue V Poets of the China Poetry Network, the contracted writers of the Jiangshan Literature Network, and the director of the Dingtao District Writers Association.
Image editing originates from the Internet
One point cordyceps