Learn to plant seedlings
Time flies so fast, and it's another year of spring plowing. Around the "May Day" International Labor Day is the early rice planting season of the year, and the first production team of the Qingsheng Brigade generally takes more than ten days to plant seedlings because of the relatively large paddy field area.
During the early rice planting period, as an ordinary member, there are only two things, one is to pull the seedlings, the other is to plant the seedlings, and during the period, there are also picking the seedlings from the rice field to the field. These two agricultural tasks, "plucking" and "inserting", are repetitive and simple, and it is precisely because of repetition and simplicity that they appear to be more arduous and tiring.
Like the carpenter's apprentice planer, eye punch, sawmill head, the simple work of doing one action a day or even a few days must be particularly hard. Pulling seedlings and planting seedlings because of repeating a certain kind of monotonous labor all day long and suffering from back pain, fortunately, the temperature before and after the summer is still suitable, and there is no feeling that it cannot be done for a few days.
At about four o'clock, before dawn, the call of the production team rang out in front of the house and behind the house, and I woke up as soon as the first cry was blown, and immediately woke up the eldest brother: "Get up!" ”
Because the younger brother is still studying, he only participates in the rice cutting labor when he is "double robbed". So I won't call him.
The eldest brother was awakened by the light to heavy call, rubbed his sleepy eyes, reluctantly slipped out of the patched mosquito net, and walked slowly to the hut behind the house to solve the urine in the middle of the night.
I don't want to eat anything, but my mother's nagging voice is still useful: "Come and drink a bowl of porridge, last night stayed up all night and tasted good, I don't want to eat it and have to drink it." ”
After drinking the thin porridge that their mother had simmered in the fire pot field the night before, the brothers hurried to the "gate of the big wall", only to hear the captain Huang Xingfu say: "Go, in the morning, go to the door to pull out the seedlings in the field!" ”
Some of the members carried empty straw burdens, some held one-legged stools, and staggered toward the rice fields.
The sky was dark, the horse lamp and glass lamp could only be used for road lighting, I had already used the flashlight, at this time, Huang Shizhong, who was about the same age as me and was usually very good, squeezed to my side, and with the faint light of my flashlight, quietly asked me as I walked: "Are you tired of pulling up seedlings and planting fields every day?"
What's the problem? I can't answer at once, tired--being told that you are a pampered young man; not tired--the real feeling is not only tired but also quite tired. So I said perfunctorily: "It's okay, the first few days, it's normal to be a little tired." ”
"I'm almost exhausted, my mom cooked me two sugar eggs last night, and this morning it's a little better." He said a few steps and asked, "What about you?" Did your mother cook it? ”
"Cooked, my mom secretly cooked one for me." I answered quietly.
"Then why doesn't your brother have to eat?" Shi Zhong asked softly, "Our eldest brother is already married, my brother Jin Hai is still young, and my mother will take care of me alone." ”
"I don't know, maybe my mother looks at me small." In fact, I know that I am stingy, so I can only give me a person to eat, the eldest brother will not be able to turn, because in the heart of my parents, the eldest brother is strong and strong, and does not need any supplements. Besides, there are not many eggs at home, and you have to leave a few to the supply and marketing cooperatives to change some oil, salt and vinegar.
Speaking to the rice field, everyone under the leadership of the production captain all took off their shoes and rolled their pants legs and went down to the field.
Xiao Shanzhong, a barefoot electrician who relies entirely on the production team, prepared two four- or five-meter-long bamboo drying poles the night before, wrapped wires and lamp heads, and then hooked a hooked wire on top, and hooked on the two shirtless low-pressure lines that crossed the sky above, and 100 light or 200 light bulbs were inserted into the lamp head, illuminating the silver light of the whole rice field.
Cool in the morning, it is a good time to pluck seedlings. The fresh air was mixed with the fragrance of earth, and the grass on the mound was trampled on or stretched out and struggled to grow up. The dewdrops at the tip of the seedlings in the rice fields are crystal clear, like tiny pearls shining in the light.
Dozens of people from the whole production team surrounded a large piece of rice field and surrounded and suppressed it toward the center of the rice field.
The whole field was surrounded by people, most of the men, not many women, children younger than me, and several elderly people in their sixties who were also hunched over and pulling out the seedlings together. From time to time, the sound of chattering, giggling and grinning sounds in the rice fields constitutes a "May Day Labor Day" farmland symphony.
A small handful of neatly prepared straw the night before was placed on the tip of the dense seedling leaf, which was combed out of the early straw hidden at home, because the early straw was soft, and the evening straw could not be used as a straw.
Some of the members of the society bent over, some bent over, some simply sat on a one-legged stool, and with two hands they pulled the seedlings out of the field in small handfuls and small bunches, put them together into two small bunches, put them in the paddy fields on both sides of the river to wash away the soil at the root of the seedlings, put the two small bundles of seedlings into a bunch, and then drew a stick of grass from the tip of the leaves in front of the seedlings, simply and skillfully tied a live knot, and casually tied up the whole bunch of seedlings and threw them behind them, and then stretched out their hands to dig up the seedlings in the mud.
After a while, there were more and more emerald green straw handles behind them, one by one, like "little soldiers with rotten eyes", standing majestically and angrily in the rice fields, fluttering in the morning wind.
The rice fields must have sufficient water sources, and the first production team of the Qingsheng Brigade, whose farmland water conservancy is not yet developed, the rice fields are near the village or next to the channel. But the damp shade is also a paradise for mosquitoes and ants.
Mosquitoes bite through the dug places especially attract ants, this ant does not feel anything when it sucks blood, and when it is found when it is full of blood, it will fall into the paddy field on its own. The blood-fed ants further improved their reproductive capacity, and a large number of small ants soon grew up and attacked the peasants in droves.
I was often very itchy to find that there was an ant on my leg again, so I dug it down with my hands, sometimes it took a long time to pull it apart from my legs, and I was angry about the ant many times.
"Hahaha!" It took a burst of laughter to get me out of the ants' troubles.
Because many people are not lonely together, some people tell stories, some people talk about mountains, some people talk about folklore, and some people talk about jokes. The most interesting thing is the yellow paragraph, also called "Tiantou Chaos", which from time to time causes everyone to laugh heartily.
I learned a lot of various customs and customs in the countryside among the members of the society, heard a lot of "field talk", and a lot of knowledge had a long-term impact on my life.
At nine o'clock, the captain ordered lunch, and the members of the club rushed home with a hula. Shi Zhong, Zhongliang, Bang Long and a bunch of other young people did not know where to go, only the captain Wang Xingfu was hunched over and a bunch of older men were behind, I seemed to be young and old, walking slowly behind, because I felt that I was really too tired to squat.
After lunch, the young people quickly gathered at the door of the big wall, and only listened to the captain's command: "Victory, you read a report on the 'Ninth National Congress' to everyone." ”
"Oh!" I answered and picked up a prepared newspaper front page headline and read it with great care. In that era of "political command," the study of central documents was a compulsory course for every production team, and there were often meetings to study them during the agricultural leisure season, and when the peasants were busy, they also had to take time to read a few paragraphs. In fact, you read and recite, there are a few people listening to it, just go through a program to cope with the scene.
About half an hour later, after the captain had finished sending his work, everyone set off separately. Most people still carry empty seedlings to the seedlings to pick up the early rice seedlings that have been pulled up. Everyone hurried to the rice field, carried the bushes soaked in the paddy field to the tall soil basket they had brought, filled it up, and picked it up and left.
After a long time, I picked up the field that had been ploughed and raked, and then picked up the bushes one by one and threw them evenly like grenades to the paddy field.
A few members who did not pick seedlings stood at both ends of the field to pull palm or plastic ropes, and pulled a rope according to the planting density, and the general interval was based on the ability to plant two or three people to plant six rice seedlings each, as the basis for planting seedlings. Otherwise, it will be planted crookedly and obliquely, which is not conducive to the ventilation and light transmission environment of the entire early rice growth period and future farmland management.
Then the planting of seedlings began, and the members of the community went down to the field almost at the same time, butts in the direction of the advance, towards the other side of the field. Usually in front of me are good farmers, and only those like me and my brother who are poor in technology and slow hands and feet are lagging behind the public.
Today, the captain Huang Xingfu went down to the field with him at the same time, he planted a few lines to see the skill and speed of my planting, and patiently said to me: "You must first adjust your posture, you can't bend your legs straight, you have to squat a little, otherwise it will be very difficult." ”
"Okay." My eldest brother and I obediently tried to squat according to the captain's words, and sure enough, it would save some effort than bending over, and then I asked the captain, "Why do I plant so slowly?" See how they all grow so fast? ”
The captain stood up, looked at my gesture for planting seedlings for a while, and said: "Your movements are slow in the seedling division technique, and the seedling division is to use the left thumb and index finger of the left hand to separate the seedlings, and then the right hand can be planted through the seedlings." ”
I learned to divide the seedlings with my left hand like a captain, but I couldn't divide it well, because I had always used my right hand to work, and the force was also my right hand, so my left hand became clumsy and weak.
The captain took a look: "It seems that you two have to take it slowly, this is technology, it may not be so fast at once, it will only be practiced, and you will be used to it in the future." ”
Although I did not grasp the skills of the captain so quickly, I firmly remembered the four words of "left hand splitting seedlings", and trained the use of my left hand while planting seedlings, and gradually became proficient.
"Another one," the captain stood up again and told us, "you don't necessarily move very quickly when you plant the seedlings with your right hand, and immediately after the seedlings are planted, you straighten your fingers to make the seedlings straight, and then the right hand must be retracted quickly, so that you will not bring the water up." You see your brother has mastered this, he has planted faster than you. ”
"Yeah, no wonder I only planted for half a day yesterday and got muddy, it turned out that the water was brought up and dirty." I said with deep feeling.
"Yeah, you see we're not very dirty." The captain continued to teach us, "After the right hand is retracted, quickly grab the seedlings that have been divided in the left hand and continue planting, immediately straighten the right hand and retract back to the seedlings separated by the left hand, and then plant again." That way your technology and speed can catch up. ”
My brothers humbly accepted the earnest teachings of the old farmers and learned the technique of planting seedlings step by step. After a few days, although I couldn't keep up with Shi Zhong and Zhongliang, I felt that I had made great progress.
Of course, the eldest brother has improved even faster than me, and in a few days, the kung fu elder brother's seedling planting technology can catch up with Shi Zhong and Zhongliang, and they are planted very straight!
I looked anxious in my eyes, not that my brother was stronger than me and was jealous, but complaining about how he moved so slowly.
But I was not discouraged or discouraged, and continued to ponder the teachings of the captain and other old peasants, demonstrating the various actions of the old farmers from time to time, and gradually mastering the basic essentials of pulling and planting seedlings, and working in the production team was not so backward.