Not long ago, two trees were planted, a pomegranate and a fig.
Living in the city for a long time, there is no land, however, like grass and trees, try to plant some trees at home, some flowers, and spend pale and dull days with those beautiful plants.
The saplings of these two trees are purchased online and are very suitable for indoor potting. As soon as the sapling arrived, the family happily opened the package. The leaves on the pomegranate tree were already somewhat leafy, and the fig had two or three small, immature figs on it.
Presumably, these two trees passed through the mountains and the water, and came from the coast of the sea to the Loess Plateau, to accompany us, and to form a fate in the darkness. We found a large pot and planted these two trees, and our hearts were filled with the expectation of flourishing and flowering.
I didn't think that for only two or three days, the leaves of the two trees and the fruits of the figs had fallen off, bare, and the branches were not as flexible and wet as before, but had become hard and dry, and Zhang Jun took a large pair of scissors to cut off some of the dried branches one by one. "Click, click," the branches trembled, and I thought they must have been in pain. As if they had a serious illness, for the next half a month or so, the two trees were sick and lifeless, and every time they went to the flower room, they couldn't bear to look at them directly.
"I'm afraid these two trees won't work, right?"
"Dead wood will also meet spring again!" Zhang Jun disagreed.
In the days that followed, he still watered and fertilized the two trees...
One day, inadvertently, I found two or three young buds growing on the trunk of the pomegranate tree, moist and furry, curled like the eyelashes of a young child, so soft, so soft; and as light and thin as the feathers of a bird.
Potted pomegranate tree
The blue bird of memory carried me back to my childhood.
There are two large willow trees on the left and one on the right in front of the yard of my grandmother's house, and the willow tree on the left side is a sweet core apricot, and there are several poplars in the yard, a bitter core apricot, a peach tree, and a thorn rose (edible rose)... There are elm trees, locust trees and so on behind the yard. Grandma said that these trees were planted one after another after Grandpa built this house. Every spring, when the peach is red and the willows are green, my grandmother always asks me to fold a few apricot blossoms or peach blossoms and insert them in a vase on the Eight Immortals table, where ancestral tablets are enshrined. From time to time, I would also secretly pick a few apricot blossoms and peach blossoms wrapped in handkerchiefs and play quietly, unscrupulously abusing the flowers, and Grandma would reprimand, and Grandma said that every flower was a fruit.
In the days to come, I often stare at the apricot trees and peach trees, and often I can't help but eat them just after they are formed, and the sour and astringent makes people cry... In this way, from the sour and astringent green fruit, eat until the fruit is ripe.
Occasionally, Grandma will eat flowers, and when the locust blossoms bloom, you can eat locust flower wheat rice. When the thorn rose blooms, in addition to eating the thorn rose mixed soup (knotty soup), the most important thing is to pick the flower petals, part of which is pickled into the thorn rose sauce, and some of which is dried into dried flowers. When steaming flower rolls and branding "oil rolls", some dried petals are put on them, which is really a mouthful.
When steaming mooncakes on August 15, prickly rose sauce is an indispensable highlight. Grandma rolled the noodles into a flatbread, smeared with sesame oil, sprinkled with a layer of bitter beans; stacked a sheet of pancakes, smeared with a layer of prickly rose sauce; stacked another layer, smeared with turmeric; the next layer is red yeast... So layered, finally, with a dough covered on the top, and on the skin decorated with small butterflies and flowers, inlaid with large red dates, because of the number of layers also known as mille-feuille cake. After steaming, take a piece and taste it, the fragrance of bitter beans, the richness of turmeric, the brilliance of red yeast, the fragrance of prickly roses... It is a glimpse into the depths of dietary memory.
Now that I think about it, Grandma's flower-in-law is neither romantic nor elegant, but the wisdom of life obtained from a hard life.
Steamed mooncakes from my hometown
Steamed mooncakes after cutting
The originator of the flower into the food is probably Qu Yuan, he wrote in the "Departure from the Troubles", "Towards the fall of the mulan dew, the sunset of the autumn chrysanthemum." From these two verses, we can imagine the custom of eating flowers at that time.
The splendid beauty of the flowers makes people emphasize more spiritual pleasure and elegant feelings in the food that is eaten with flowers. In terms of taste, the wild, fresh, fragrant and various nutritional elements of the flowers are integrated, coupled with the fragrance and fragrance, delicious and long. This is so elegant for the literati and inkers, who chase the flowers of the four hours, make all kinds of nectar, flower dew, and flower candy with flowers, and record them in the form of words. Before the Tang Dynasty, the notation of flowers and delicacies was mostly found in Materia Medica, dietetics and literary books, and until the beginning of the Song Dynasty, it was a special category of genealogy. For example, in the Song Dynasty, Lin Hong's "Mountain Family Qing Offering" contains fifteen kinds of flowers and dishes, the Ming Dynasty Dai Xi's "Order to Raise Yu Yue" contains sixteen kinds of flowers and food, and the close friend Xu Ke's "Qing Barnyard Banknotes" contains fourteen kinds of flowers and dishes.
After thousands of years of flowering, it was only in the Ming and Qing dynasties that it truly became exquisite.
Dong Xiaowan created the original "Dong Sugar", that is, white and yellowish candy made of white noodles, pure caramel, peeled sesame seeds, peanut kernels, pepper salt, roses, osmanthus flowers, etc., which is easy to enter, fragrant in the mouth, and has a long aftertaste after eating.
In addition, Dong Xiaowan is best at picking various flowers with salt and sour plums. She created begonia dew, which is said to be mellow and matchless, but unfortunately the method of making it is not mentioned. Originally, the begonias were not fragrant, and Mao Peijiang described "this single dew condensed fragrant hair" in the "YingMei An Memoirs", which was "delicious and unique crowned flowers", followed by plum blossoms, followed by osmanthus flowers, chamomile, roses and the like. There are also fresh mash made of oranges, bayberry, bergamot and citron, which are served in white porcelain pots and are mixed with five colors to quench wine and quench thirst. Don't say it's eating, just looking at it makes people happy. It seems that Miss Dong is not only a talented person, but also a master chef, and is deeply loved by the great talents who venture out of the frontier.
In "Dream of the Red Chamber", it is also written about the fragrance of two kinds of flowers, "Muxi Qinglu" (Osmanthus Fragrance Dew) and "Rose Qinglu". After Jia Baoyu was beaten violently by his father Jia Zheng, he shouted that he wanted to eat sour plum soup, but the attackers were afraid of serious injuries and did not allow it, so they ran to tell Lady Wang. Madame Wang then said that she had a few bottles of clear dew there, and summoned the lady to take it... Baoyu was beaten, his liver qi was suppressed, and his chest was depressed, so he should drink this dew to loosen up, so he felt "fragrant and abnormal" after taking it. The same method of production is not mentioned, but according to the "Yang XiaoLu" compiled by Gu Zhong in the Qing Dynasty, "imitate shochu tin and wooden barrels, reduce the sample, make a body, and steam the incense lotion." All flowers and leaves can be steamed. Into the soup instead of tea, all kinds of beneficial. Add wine to enhance flavor, mix juice and make bait, everything is appropriate. ”
Stills from the 87th edition of "Dream of the Red Chamber"
Nowadays, the custom of eating flowers is still prosperous in the north and south, but the southerners have a richer flower diet. Kunming has four seasons like spring, people there eat all kinds of flower cakes all year round, the year I went, tasted roses (edible roses) as the main filling, in fact, and our local thorn roses are the same species.
Flower cake (rose filling)
In the countryside as a child, the villagers were neighbors with trees and walked peacefully through the four seasons. There are flowers to eat in spring, shade to cover in summer, fruits to pick in autumn, and firewood to burn in winter. It depends on her to make farm tools, it depends on her to build furniture, and it is impossible to build a house without her...
Trees are truly unkind.
I remember that it was a distant summer afternoon, a girl with a pigtail swung under a big willow tree, she stood on the swing, the little friend pushed hard behind her back, she took advantage of the momentum to pedal harder, the swing swung up, and the swing was higher and higher, like a wing flying in the air, the wind on her face whistled, the swing seemed to touch the highest part of the willow tree, and the clouds in the sky also shook... It was a wonderful feeling.
The swing was made by Grandpa, a bench-sized plank, chiseled to the left and right, and two equally thick hemp ropes, tied firmly to a horizontal branch.
The trees of my grandmother's house have accompanied me through my childhood, and there are long vacations, with my memories, and I am a witness and giver of the warm life of my grandmother and my family. Later, as the aunts and brothers-in-law were employed in the city, and the grandfather and grandmother died one after another, the old courtyard was entrusted to the care of the uncle. Later, the uncle's family also moved to the city, and the old courtyard was left unguarded. Now the old houses are in ruins, the wild grass has grown tall, and those old trees have fallen and died, which is a pity. That little village became my hometown that I couldn't go back to.
Visited the ancient trees of Mizukawa Gu Jiashan.
They swayed calmly in the long time, accompanying the villagers through the four seasons of the years. Although these old trees have been through vicissitudes, they are still leafy, they are the soul of this village, witnessing the history of this village for hundreds of years, gu family good people are enviable, even if one day leave the homeland, hike other places, these ancient trees still stand there, with a pulse, become the home of the wanderer when he looks at the hometown.
The big willow tree in Gujiashan Village
People in the city also like trees, government units, office buildings, parks, residential areas, green belts next to the road are planted with various trees, willow trees, elms, locust trees, begonias, pine trees, ginkgo biloba...
And, of course, fruit trees.
Fruit trees are always pleasing, they follow the laws of nature to bud, flower, bear fruit, and in the harvest season, they are bound to be picked. During the harvest season, the growers are tired and happy. A fruit that has only been touched by a rough and warm hand has embarked on a different journey of life: either on the grower's own kang table; or in the fruit plate of the city's people; or carrying various means of transportation to the far side, farther and farther...
In cities, however, the fate of most fruit trees is very different. If you pay attention, in some private fences of some communities, there will also be a few apricot trees, pear trees and so on. It's just that most of the fruits they bear will rot on the branches, and no one will care about them or pick them. Even in the winter wind and snow, you will still see many rotten fruits hanging from the trees. Even in winter, there are lonely fruits hanging on the branches, which makes people feel very unhappy.
Whenever he looked at these ripe unfortunate fruits, Zhang Jun couldn't help but say, "Such a good fruit, why has no one picked it?" What a shame! I said, "If I were the owner of these trees, I would have picked the fruit and delivered it to my neighbors from house to house." ”
I've been wondering why those people in the city don't pick it?
Perhaps in their busy lives, they do not care about the existence of those fruits; perhaps they are accustomed to using money to buy all kinds of food, since supermarkets and wet markets can buy all kinds of fruits, who cares about those fruits that appear to be worthless because they have no price; perhaps the best fruit trees in their eyes are just used to decorate the scenery of life.
Since it is a landscape, it is blind to some people's eyes. Therefore, they ignore the gifts of nature and let the fruits outside the window go from summer to autumn, from autumn to winter, Gu Ying is self-pitying and self-destructive. It is no wonder that Thoreau lamented in his Walden that people, just because of ignorance and error, full of imaginary worries, busy with rough work, cannot collect the fruits of life.
The story of the saihanba people in Hebei province planting trees deeply infected me. Fifty-five years of cold and summer, generations of Saihanba people have worked hard to create the world's largest plantation forest in the extremely harsh ecological environment. The Saihan Dam displayed in front of people is picturesque: the forest sea is green, the grass is green, the wildflowers are full of flowers... Who would have thought that more than half a century ago, this place would still be a desolate and bitter place where "yellow sand shades the sky and birds have no perch trees"?
Saihanba Scenic Area
If the largest plantation forest can be created in Saihan Dam, then we will certainly be able to sow more green and build our city into a forest city.
Suddenly I remembered a novel written by the French writer Jean Zionor, "The Shepherd Who Planted Trees". The protagonist shepherd has been in a deserted area for decades, and every time he lowers a tree, he feels that he has another relative in the human world. His career is comparable to god's. Filled with a strong desire to transform the real world and an extreme love for trees, this shepherd gradually discovered the interdependent relationship between man and the land, man and nature in practice, and he deeply realized that the value of life lies in the benefit of others and future generations.
Yes, life is full of busyness, but we can still choose to live poetically on the earth. When spring comes, let us go to the vast land and plant trees, let us be neighbors with trees, it must be a very happy thing.
(Published in Chinese Civilization Herald on October 26, 2017)