Firewood
(Gao Pengwei)
In the countryside, people call all the branches, straws, etc. that can be used for cooking on fire as firewood, the branches and sticks that are resistant to burning are called "hard firewood", and the straws and thatch that are not resistant to burning are called "firewood", which is used to ignite fires.
Every day before dawn, the countrymen start their day in the smell of fireworks burning from the firewood, carrying a hoe in the evening and draping themselves in the sunset, and then returning to the countryside shrouded in cooking smoke. To make each meal is to first hold a bundle of firewood on the stove, put a fire to light, slowly add firewood to cook, firewood is related to the family's three meals a day, so people whether they work or walk, as long as they see what can be burned, they must bring back what they can bring back, and when they come back from the ground, they either pick up a branch or grab an artemisia pole. In front of and behind each house, in the garden or in the aisle outside the gate, there will always be bundles of neatly cut dry firewood, stacked layer by layer, and the large and small firewood stacks have become a unique scenery of the countryside. Whoever has a lot of firewood shows that the family is industrious and will attract the envy and praise of passers-by or door-to-door visitors.
In the past, wood was very precious, trees could not be cut randomly, adults could only cut some thorny bushes to find firewood, if they found a dead thick branch, it was like seeing a treasure, and if they couldn't eat, they had to quickly take the saw axe to get it back, only to twist their faces and be taken away by others. Some also push trolleys, carry shovels, axes, drills, hammers, etc. to "split knots", that is, the large stumps left by others after they come out of the tree. The soil and stones around the stump should be cut off little by little, forming a large pit, showing the middle stump, and then splitting it down little by little and pushing it back with a small cart. Tree knots are the "pieces of wood" that are chopped down and are the most resistant to burning, but a big tree knot, no few days of kung fu is not complete, and some even take ten days and a half months. Splitting knots is a force work, but also a skill work, will be split according to the grain of the wood, piece by piece of zero. The light that does not split is so hard that the arm is sore and numb, it is not moving, either the tool collapses, or it is wedged into the stump and cannot go down, and some are in a hurry to fight together and do not split, who wants who wants.
The straw after the busy farming can also be used to burn fires, but the wheat straw and corn stalks are all firewood, which can only be used for ignition, and the gaskets and cattle feeding must also be used. The corn stubble left after the corn harvest should also be shaved up with the head, smashed off the soil on it, and taken home to dry it as firewood, and the children often fought for a few corn stubbles, and someone needed to divide the ridges according to the sections and then plan. Sesame stalks and soybean stalks are relatively good, but they are not hard firewood. In contrast, the cotton stalk commonly known as "flower firewood" is considered good firewood, and it is good to take back the home stack, and when it is burned, the branches and branches are broken by hand and sent into the hearth.
Children often carry a basket in the name of collecting firewood after school or on Sundays, and the big and small ones call a big pile, led by an older one, shouting all the way to the mountain. When you get to the mountain, throw the basket, climb the tree, dig the bird's nest, hide and seek, catch the grasshopper, find wild fruits, pick wild flowers, have fun in the heat, see if it is not early in the day, hurry up with the grass with sticks, the big help is small, deliberately fold the branches longer, bend in the middle of the basket, cover some dried leaves, it looks like each basket is full, talk and laugh and go back, go home when the adults don't see it, hurry to the firewood stack and drum up a bunch of empty baskets. The adults found a few reprimands and forgot to clean up as soon as they turned around.
The rice made by the firewood is delicious, probably because the stove is large, the whole bottom of the pot is licked by the flames, the rice is cooked to remove the firewood, the pot is still bubbling and bubbling, and the hard-to-cook food has lost its temper in front of the firewood. Later there was coal, but many people still burned wood to cook. Nowadays, new energy sources such as electricity and gas have entered thousands of households, there are fewer and fewer people burning firewood, fewer and few people have picked up firewood on the mountain, even the whole dead tree that fell on the side of the road has not been moved, and the path that was previously stepped on the mountain is now covered by weeds and shrubs. There are no stoves in the village yards, no firewood stacks, and there are few cooking smokes. Perhaps in a few years, people can only understand the years of collecting firewood and burning firewood from the story, and imagine the taste of firewood and rice.
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About the Author:
Gao Pengwei is a native of Yuankang Town, Linzhou City, a member of the Linzhou Writers Association, and a member of the Linzhou Citizens' Association. He likes literature and folk history and culture, and his works are scattered in various media and literary network platforms.
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