In late autumn, you will see persimmon red again
◎ Sun Yingshan
Mountainous countryside, unique geographical conditions, all year round, peach plum melon jujube, all kinds of fruits, everything. Born in The countryside of Si and raised in Si, near the water tower platform first to get the moon, has a first-look for beauty of the eyes, the first taste of the fresh mouth blessing.
In addition to the big cherry is the first village in Xiejiazhuang Subdistrict, the reputation of Daba Pear (called "Yang Pear" by the elderly villagers) is also famous around the fifth district of Yantai. In addition, the reputation of persimmons is also well known. Guishan Mountain, calcareous soil, brown soil planted persimmons, it is not only a large number, long tree age, yield, large size, and the fruit quality is superior, the taste is delicious and sweet, the hand is at the touch of a finger. You see, Guishan, Jingshan, full of hills, next to the baoya ditch, on the edge of the ground, everywhere, the whole mountain can be said to be the world of persimmons.
Behind my family's old house, there used to be a persimmon forest, but later due to the construction of roads and lines in the village, affecting the sight and safety, most of them were cut down. No, there is still one tree left behind the south house of the road. This ancient persimmon tree is about one hundred and fifty years old, and the tree is thick, tall, straight, and tall, and tall. The tree grows very vigorously, with lush branches and fruits, and can harvest about 500 catties of persimmons every year, and never stops branches, and harvests abundantly year after year.
The persimmon trees in our village are left behind by the elders, and there are two varieties of oval persimmons and cake persimmons. One color astringent persimmon, no sweet persimmon. Persimmon tree grafting is made of soft jujube seedlings to make rootstock, every year before and after the Qingming began to graft, split the buds, it is easy to survive, but the growth is very slow, how many years the tree grows this week can not increase a few centimeters, my family's current persimmon tree, from I remember, is so thick, more than 60 years, has not seen the tree thickened. And this persimmon tree in my family, you say it is not strange, there is no stubble trace around the tree, and even the saplings from the roots are not soft jujube seedlings, but persimmon seedlings. Therefore, in order to develop rapidly and for the sake of convenience, the villagers have come to me to ask for seedlings to plant, in order to save time and effort and produce early results.
In the spring of March, the spring rain is long, and the persimmon tree that has bred a winter wakes up from hibernation, greedily sucks the spring rain dew ganlin, bathes in the warm sunshine, and begins to germinate. From the bare branches, tender buds and leaves gradually emerge, and the branches grow thicker and thicker day by day, and the bean-like bones are drilled out between the leaf axils. The bones are long, long! One thing a day. In late May, the persimmon tree blooms, it is not as fiery as the March peach blossoms, nor is it as white as the April pear blossoms. It is not comparable to the hundred flowers of Zi Yan, I blossom, I am fragrant, I am self-pleasing. The flowers are square-shaped, like the delicate small square flower hats worn by the Uyghur people in Xinjiang, with yellow in white, buckled on the small persimmons the size of the top of the fingers, very delicate, beautiful and warm. The good flowers are not red for ten days, and after eight or nine days, the flowers gradually shrink and become brown. The persimmon begins to take off its hat (i.e., Xie Hua), and the Xie Hua reveals a small dark green persimmon with a fingernail size, which is square in shape and has a small black navel in the middle of the flat shape. In order for the persimmon tree not to fall fruit, during this period, you have to peel it (the old people call it persimmon), every year, do not miss the opportunity. First, use a hand saw to circle the tree at a meter above the ground from the trunk, cut 1.5 cm wide upper and lower saws, deep between the xylem and the phloem, and use a knife to dig out the skin in a circle to cut off the moisture to facilitate the fruit and prevent the fruit from falling. The management of persimmon trees is very simple, persimmon leaves are very thick, rarely attract insects, generally do not need to spray, in order to prevent the invasion of tie insects, you can use snakeskin bags to bundle around the ring peeling of persimmon trees, at the root with several stone slabs false cover (help worms are lying under the stone slabs, easy to catch), check the insects in time every morning to prevent insects from climbing up and harming trees and fruits.
A leaf knows autumn. Spring, summer, autumn and winter, the cycle of the four seasons is the unchanging law of nature. Whenever the little dark green persimmon in the memory is still swinging in the shade of the green, it is free and easy, and it grows quietly one by one day. The green leaves quietly turn red, and the autumn breeze is faint, but it is even more beautiful because of this. One by one, the persimmons quietly revealed a golden smile, like small lanterns dotted between the green trees and red leaves, and the persimmons on the trees were next to each other, one by one, one by one, one by one, bending the branches, full, small, ruddy and plump, very tempting. Some persimmons, as if some are afraid of people and beasts, lie under the leaves, do not show the true face of Lushan Mountain, do not rush to see people mature, people are red to the top, it is still a green face. The persimmons on the persimmons on the top of the treetops, especially the persimmons on the side of the rising sun, are yellow and red, bright in the red, changing in the light and shade under the sun, beautiful and colorful, making autumn more colorful and colorful, interpreting the colors of life.
Grapes are purple, dates are red, and lanterns are hung from persimmon trees. Autumn is the season when persimmons ripen, and it is very pleasant to see the red persimmons hanging from the branches of the mountains, just like the rows hanging in the festival, one by one, small red lanterns, very beautiful, very gratifying. "July walnuts August pears, September persimmons rush to the market". It's almost frost and it's time to harvest persimmons. Harvesting persimmons is time-limited, easy to rot when late, opening, attracting insects, landing on the ground, and preventing crows from chewing. Cake persimmon harvest early, oval persimmon harvest late, but be sure to finish before the frost falls, otherwise it will be all soft, edgy, fall. Because after the frost falls, the persimmons are crisp and hard, after a dozen frosts, the astringency is gone, all red, all soft, all eddread, can't hold back, and fall to the ground every day. Harvesting persimmons has a special tool called "clamp rod", which is made of a 6-meter-long, thick hand-necked, lightweight sycamore wood, with a 1.5-foot-long soft date wood as a clip, the middle of the soft date wood with sawn cut (front wide and back narrow), removing wood chips, using wire to tie the rod and the clip together. Sandwiching persimmons also has a certain skill, whether it is a single one, or a beep, a string of strings, you just need to follow the branches, clamp the persimmon branches with the clamp rod, gently push forward a top, twist to the side, just listen to the "click bar" a sound, the persimmon will be clipped down, and one will not fall to the ground. The old farmers have a proverb that says, "Persimmons should be clamped hard, and soft dates should be beaten hard." That is to say, these two fruits are just this base bone, the more they are beaten, the stronger they are, the more they bear, the bigger they are, because they are the result of the new branches and shoots of the next year. You see, this year, some cotton buds were issued on the trees less than 2 meters above the ground, and there were persimmons that year, and some mutations also produced some persimmons. When it comes to planting persimmons, managing persimmons, picking persimmons, and persimmons, I am the most vocal and experienced, and for more than half a century, the garden of more than twenty persimmons behind the original old house was my exclusive management experimental site. Persimmon trees do not need to be fed, no watering, no pruning, no medicine, simple management, persimmon trees are not resistant to flooding, drought-tolerant, can not be cultivated up, let it grow unrestrained, free.
I remember the scene in the early years when my mother led the three of us sisters to sandwich persimmons, just like it happened yesterday, and I still remember it vividly. In late autumn, after the persimmons are collected several times, they are to be boiled out. Use a large mud tank or a large mud pot, put it on the kang head, cover it with a net bag on the outside, and keep warm the soft grass such as corn leaves and straw grass inside the net bag. Boiling water in the pot, the water temperature is about 20 degrees (at that time there was no temperature meter, relying on experience to estimate the water temperature), use the pot to scoop warm boiling water into the tank, pour mild water on the one hand, mix with cold water, try it with your hands and try it not to be hot. At this time, put the persimmons one by one in the jar, turn up and down with both hands in time, do not make the persimmons hot and ripe, foam and blacken, and then cover the lid of sorghum straw, cover it with sacks, quilts, two days a night, in the middle of the situation sometimes to change the water, the astringency is gone, fish out of the tank can eat, can be sold.
After the persimmon is boiled, it is to be given away, the grandmother and aunt, the seven aunts and eight aunts, the brother-in-law and uncle carry the placket, and all relatives have a share. In the past, the persimmons that went out did not need to be weighed, on the number, six persimmons were "one punch", one hand grabbed the servant, two hands grabbed six, just for one punch. Twenty punches are "one", and one persimmon is 120. As many relatives as far and near as possible, just punch by punch, one by one, just count. The old mother began to count, one punch, two punches, three punches, the mother who did not enter the school door, counted over and counted, is not the right number, I am afraid that this is more, that part is less, give the wrong. My sister mischievously chanted, "One pound, two pounds, three pounds single." My sister and I covered our mouths and did not dare to laugh out loud, for fear of criticism from our mother, and in the end it was my sister who counted.
After the persimmons are received, in addition to sending them to relatives and friends, the rest are taken to the market to sell. Finally, each family left some frost up, with small foil and small basket flattened up, put on the gate tower, courtyard wall (there was no platform in the past), left in winter or New Year to eat, the old people said that eating frost persimmons can cure tracheitis, asthma, my mother has been suffering from tracheitis asthma for many years, and it is particularly heavy in winter, so every year my mother leaves some, and cures cough in winter. At that time, persimmons were not worth a few dollars, so every household in our village had frosted persimmons in winter.
The ancients praised persimmons: "Color is better than gold clothes, and sweet is more than jade liquid." Persimmons are golden in color, sweet and seductive, and quite nutritious. Persimmons contain a large number of caribrin, vitamins, glucose and calcium, phosphorus, iron and other minerals, enjoying the reputation of "the holy product of the fruit". Persimmon also has high medicinal value, with the effect of clearing heat and moisturizing the lungs, suppressing cough and sputum, lowering blood pressure and stopping bleeding. Both persimmon stems and persimmon leaves can be used as home remedies for treating diseases. In addition, persimmons can be processed into persimmon cakes, persimmon cream, etc. Persimmons are incorruptibility, pure natural green fruits, of all fruits, only persimmons do not medicate. Although it is rich in nutrients, delicious and delicious, suitable for all ages, but the beauty should not be used more. There is a proverb among the croppers: "Peaches warm people, persimmons are full, and dead people are buried under plum trees." Although persimmons can be eaten as rice, because they contain tannin, pectin, and stomach acid, they are easy to deposit to form persimmon stomach stones. In addition, it should be noted that persimmons should not be eaten on an empty stomach, cannot drink alcohol after eating persimmons, and persimmons cannot be eaten with crabs. Prevents abdominal pain, vomiting, leading to intoxication.
Persimmon tree, born in barren land, grows in the rocks, does not seek fertile soil, does not need fertilizer, grows silently, and asks very little from people, but it offers a lot to mankind. This is the noble quality of the persimmon tree, this is the dedication of the persimmon tree. It is the golden season of persimmon ripening, friends, if you have Yaxing want to eat sweet, delicious, soft and mellow persimmons, hurry to our hometown, I will serve you with the best and sweetest persimmons.
【About the Author】
Sun Yingshan, Xiejiazhuang Subdistrict, Laishan District, born in July 1948, retired teacher of Xiejiazhuang Central Primary School, senior teacher of primary school, has won the honorary title of excellent teacher of Muping County and advanced teacher of Laishan District. He is a member of the Yantai Prose Literature Association and the Laishan District Writers Association, and has published more than a dozen papers in newspapers such as China Education News, Shandong Education, Fujian Education, and Primary School Students Reading and Writing Newspaper during his tenure. Around the 1990s, he published articles in "Rural Public" and "Yantai Evening News", and since 2011, he has published more than 100 articles in "Yantai Daily", "Yantai Evening News", "6 o'clock this morning", "Qilu Evening News", "Laishan Today" and other newspapers and "Jiaodong Online", "Jiaodong Cultural Circle", "Yantai Stroll", "Yantai Prose Micro-Blade" platform. In December 2015, he won the third prize in the theme essay contest of "Red Story Around Me" in Laishan District. In May 2016, the first "Zilin Cup" was held in the "Yantai Literary Circle at 6 o'clock this morning". He won the first prize in the "Tea Life" essay contest, and on October 15, 2016, he won the third prize in the "Yantai Prose Literature Society" "Mid-Autumn Festival, Celebrating National Day" essay contest. Like to write some vernacular texts, folk customs, anecdotes, folklore, worldly allusions, essays and other articles.
One point number Yantai prose
News clue reporting channel: The application market downloads the "Qilu One Point" APP, or search for the WeChat Mini Program "Qilu One Point", and 600 reporters in the province are waiting for you to report online!