Nostalgia essay: There was a mulberry forest behind the village

Nostalgia essay: There was a mulberry forest behind the village

Text: Zhang Zonglong

When I was a child, most of the poplar trees and plane trees in our hometown, in front of and behind the village, liked to plant poplar trees and plane trees, because these two kinds of trees grew fast, and they could both hit the furniture and sell for money. Other fruit trees such as peaches, apricots, walnuts, and persimmons are also sporadically grown, but not many. As for the mulberry tree, I have the impression that there is no planting in the village, maybe "mulberry" sounds the same as "mourning", the people in the village have some taboos, we pay attention to a lot there, so it is very rare for us to see a mulberry tree there, let alone eat mulberry.

Fast forward to the early 1980s, when the spring breeze of reform and opening up blew through our large village, which was completely based on farming, and some people engaged in diversified operations, one of which was sericulture. At that time, no one in our village had ever been to the south, but we knew that "there is heaven on the top and Suzhou and Hangzhou on the bottom", and we also know that in addition to growing rice and tea, the area around Suzhou and Hangzhou is more about planting mulberry silkworms, and most of the silk satin worn by the rich man in "Dream of the Red Chamber" is produced there. Is it feasible to raise silkworms in the north? The people in the village were sweating.

The most important raw material for raising silkworms is mulberry leaves, at that time I just went to junior high school in other places, the specific situation is not clear, I just remember which one took the lead, and then the family followed the family to learn, and planted a large mulberry tree in the field near the hillside behind the village. I remember the land behind the village, which is closer to MaShan Mountain, belongs to the typical slope, but it is often flooded, and there are few drainage ditches dug in the fields, which are often called the north slope by the villagers. The north slope of the land is relatively small, can not grow wheat corn, can only grow some sweet potatoes, millet, cotton and other crops, when we were children we often went to the north slope to dig seven seven buds, grass roots, as Chinese herbal medicines sold to the town's purchase station. By the time I learned that someone had planted mulberry trees on the north slope, the mulberry trees had grown into a dense mulberry forest.

The mulberry forest is eye-catching, the spring is clear green, the summer is dark green, and when it is poured by the rain, it shines with black oil and oil, and it looks vibrant. Because it is a newly planted seedling, the trunk is not strong, the canopy is not large, only the leaves are thick, and the breeze blows and rustles, which is more endearing than other crops. At that time, this was news in the villages near us, before which our ancestors knew that planting wheat in the field in the winter and corn in the summer could harvest two seasons a year; in the small fields near the hillside and the river, millet, sorghum, sweet potatoes and other miscellaneous grains could only be planted in the spring, and it was harvested in the autumn, and it was harvested one season a year. And these crops are only planted to fill the stomach, they are all life-saving rations, who would have thought that the field could grow money? Planting mulberry trees and raising silkworms can be sold on the spot, and the villagers were very red in the mulberry forest at that time. It just so happened that our family also had more than an acre of land there, and we also planted mulberry trees with others.

Raising silkworms is not a good livelihood, it is much more tiring than planting crops. When the mulberry forest became a climate and became dense, the village began to raise silkworms. In the spring, the family bought a few huge dustpans and silkworm eggs, specially vacated an earthen house, and began a new life of silkworm farming, and picking mulberry leaves became a matter for our children. The mulberry leaves in early spring are thick green and fresh and fat, which looks very attractive, we picked them carefully, and rubbed them carefully, so that the silkworm babies can eat clean mulberry leaves. As the silkworm babies continue to grow up, their meals become larger and larger, and the rustle of eating mulberry leaves sometimes sounds so kind and sometimes very annoying, because the more they eat, the greater the amount of labor we have, and the more times we pick mulberry leaves. At first, we just felt that picking mulberry leaves was fun, picking one or two baskets a day was enough, and later, a dozen baskets a day were not enough for silkworm babies to eat, especially when spitting silk, it was impossible to "cut off food" for a moment. My mother often said, "Silkworms are spitting out silk and breaking mulberry leaves", which is the same as "when the book is used, there is less hatred", and silkworms are regrets for people.

In order not to let the silkworm babies go hungry, we can only increase the amount of labor, get up in the morning, the first thing to do when we come home from school is to run to the mulberry forest to pick mulberry leaves, although it is very tired, we are happy to do it, because we know that the more silkworm babies eat, the more silk will be vomited, and the more money they will sell in the future. In particular, we have learned the ancient poem "Spring Silkworm to the End of the Dead Silk", know their meaning, and have a deep affection for the silkworm, and their spirit of sacrifice and dedication makes us awe-inspired and makes us have a deeper understanding of the meaning of life. And these cute little guys, we actually fed them with a piece of mulberry leaves, and we were more proud, thinking that it was worth it to pick mulberry leaves no matter how tired we were.

Behind any bitterness there will be happiness, when we pick the mulberry leaves, we are surprised to find that the small mulberry suddenly grew, and when it gradually changed from tender green to dark red, it will send us a wave of surprises. When we were young, we had nowhere to buy fruit, and occasionally a few in the village planted fruit trees, and most of them could only eat fruit in the autumn, while mulberries could be eaten in late spring and early summer. It is sweet and sour, the juice is rich and thick, and it is particularly enjoyable to eat in the mouth, the most important thing is to eat it freshly, fresh and full, and it is much better than the current market with plastic boxes. We often eat small mouths with wooden hair and bright red lips. Whenever the mulberry is ripe, the adults after a while of toiling, also like to drill into the mulberry forest to rest their feet, pick a few mulberries to quench their thirst, whenever this time, the thick green mulberry forest will be lively, and the hearty laughter spreads among the mulberry trees, drifting far away.

Even if we don't pick mulberry leaves, this mulberry forest is a paradise for our children. In the summer, it is most pleasant to go into the dense woods to cool off, sometimes we play hide-and-seek in it, run and play, and when there are many mulberries, we even pick it, take it to the set to sell, and exchange it for three cents and two cents to buy popsicles. Mulberry Grove has brought us a lot of fun and spent several years with us.

But in the end, it is because the water and soil are not satisfied, or it is too troublesome to plant mulberry trees to raise silkworms, or it has always been a matter of people in the south, in short, within a few years, the mulberry forest behind the village was cut down, and no one raised silkworms anymore. The village is now all planted with greenhouse potatoes, harvesting crops three seasons a year, busy and enjoyable income. Now back in my hometown, I walked around in front of the village and behind the village, and even a mulberry tree was gone. But the mulberry forest behind the village does bring us a different life, let us experience a different happiness, I occasionally think of that mulberry forest, think of a piece of mulberry leaves, pick mulberry friends.

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