As soon as I saw my friend's name online "Old Corn", I thought of corn.
Corn, the main ingredient in animal feed, was once a staple food for humans, like sweet potatoes. In my hometown, the Huaihe Plain, corn did not grow before. In the 1970s, in order to solve the food problem, corn was established on the fertile soil of the Huaihe Plain. I remember that I was only ten years old then, still in primary school and living a hungry and carefree life all day long. Although hunger cannot refresh people, it can encourage them to use their brains to find ways to solve difficulties. The head of the production team, perhaps forced by hunger, obtained corn seeds from somewhere. The captain and everyone in the village felt like they had found a treasure and were planning to plant corn on the best ones.ure lands.
After selecting the land and applying fertilizer, we began to plow deeply and level it, then we divided the finely ground soil into plots of more than two feet wide. Between the curbs is a drainage ditch more than a foot wide, which can also be used for people walking. Each border is planted in two rows on both sides. The whole sowing process is ceremony-like and looks very solemn. First, use a shovel to dig holes that are neither deep nor shallow. Put two corn seeds in each hole, then water them, then bury the seeds with fine soil. This type of intensive farming aims to preserve the seeds and allow each corn to germinate, but the efficiency is very low. Men and women worked hard for several days and finally six acres of corn were planted.
The seeds aret were sown and soon the seedlings grew. The plants saw the wind and the sun and grew like children full of life. Looking at the green corn plants in this field, the captain was happy. This green gives us the hope of having enough to eat.
When the corn plants reached a meter in height, the captain decided to spread them in order to produce large ears. At that time, farm manure was mainly used for agriculture, but there were also chemical fertilizers, a kind of ammonium bicarbonate that made you blind when you opened the bag. Fertilizer was difficult to buy, so the team leader finally managed to get a few bags through his connections, and he took some commune members to collect them from the town's fertilizer factory on poles transport.
Because the adult workforce must perform other, more important tasks, the captain assigned the task of fertilize us, the students of primary and secondary schools. The team leader assigned an older middle school student as team leader and got us kids to do the work that adults do. In order to save chemical fertilizers, the top dressing is very special, which for us is also a strict requirement of the team leader. We need to use a small shovel to dig a small pit away from the roots of the corn, then use a child's eating spoon to put a small spoonful of fertilizer into it, then pour water on it and finally bury the pit. with the soil dug, the volatile ammonium bicarbonate remains quietly in the soil and is slowly absorbed by the roots. This kind of work is like a game, we play happily while doing it. The group leaders urged us to work faster, but with these demands, including the fact that we had to fetch water from a pond far away, we could notmoving faster even though we wanted to, so when it was almost time to finish the work, each group hadn't even completed a single line. The captain came to check on our work and saw that we were so slow. I was worried about the progress, so I just put the fertilizer in and buried it well without watering. So we followed the captain's instructions and started working happily. It is indeed very effective. Digging a hole, applying fertilizer and burying the soil are all done in one go, and a row is completed in a short time. When the captain was present, we used spoons to hold the fertilizer. As soon as the captain left, we grabbed him directly with our hands. We estimated how many scoops were in a handful and applied it to a few plants. efficiency. The fertilizer feels cool and comfortable in our hands. Even though the smell makes it difficult to open your eyes, nWe think it’s an honor because we’re playing a “foreign fertilizer” that hasn’t been seen for generations” ——At that time. , products with high technological content were generally called “foreign”, which also meant import.
Corn is nourished and promoted by chemical fertilizers, and grows faster. Soon the corn bloomed and the little flowers were floating all over the ground; the breeze blew and the leaves rustled, and some danced lightly, like a girl's braids. As the flowers bloomed, so did the sticks. The sticks were tightly wrapped, with only a handful of light red barbs exposed. Whenever we had free time, we would gather around the cornfield to play. Some of the more naughty and daring ones would go down into the field to fold large corn husks, twist them into a circle and put them on our heads, comme if we were hidden. a trench of the Eighth Route Army. But this kind of outfit is only good for when we play next to the cornfield. As soon as we leave the cornfield, no matter how fresh it is, we have to throw it away, and we are also told not to tell. captain. The ears of corn swelled day by day, and when they were about to ripen, the production team would send extra guards to prevent anyone from stealing the ears out of hunger or curiosity.
Under the envious eyes of us children and under the attentive care of the production team, the corn has finally ripened. During the harvest, the team leader held a simple ceremony, and then the women and men went into battle. Even our group of primary and secondary school students who had fertilized the corn also joined the harvest army. Women and children broke sticks in the fields, while men were pThey were strong and used buckets and bags to carry them to the field. There is also a group of older women in the field, responsible for removing the outer layer of the corn cobs, so that the exposed golden corn kernels can be dried easily.
After the ears were harvested, only a field of corn stalks stood in rows like sentinels in the field. Even if these straws have lost their fruit, they remain treasures. First, we children would break off the corn stalks and eat them like sugar cane. When we went to school, we never forgot to put a few pieces in our school bags, find a quiet corner and taste the scent of the sugar cane stalks. When the adults put the fruit in place, they freed their hands and began to cut the corn stalks that once brought us sweetness. There is so much straw that cannot be dried in the sun hangsFor a while, it was therefore used as pasture for livestock. Later, the wind and sun made the corn stalks too dry for the old cow to chew, so they were distributed to members as firewood. At that time, not only was there a shortage of food, but also a shortage of firewood. With this firewood we could cook a lot of rice.
The fruits began to be divided and every family was filled with joy. They carried the allocated sticks home on their shoulders, then beat them for a long time. During free time in the afternoon, with their backs under the wall, in the shade or under the shade of trees, there are always groups of people shelling corn kernels while talking about their daily lives. There was no machinery at that time, so these particles clinging to the stick had to be peeled off with both hands, and some hands had dBlood blisters. Later, someone invented a tool to flatten one end of the thick wire with a hammer, like a screwdriver. Use this tool to remove corn kernels from the cob row by row, which is much easier. Some also held a large stick in one hand and rubbed them against each other, so that the corn kernels fell one after the other. So many ears are turned into corn kernels with both hands. Although the work intensity is very high, everyone's hearts are warm, and there is always a happy smile on their faces, because there is food.
People use stone mills to grind corn into flour, mix it with frosted sweet potato leaves or grated radish, and add a little salt to make corn tortillas. The aroma is endless. and intoxicating. Some can be ground into large particles and used with rice to make rice, which is bMuch more delicious than rice made with just rice. In winter, during the off-season, corn kernels are fried in a hot iron pot and eaten as a snack. Corn is constantly evolving in different ways in the hands of hard-working housewives to satisfy people's food needs and desires.
Nowadays, corn has almost disappeared from the dining table as a staple food and is only used occasionally as a whole grain to regulate needs of the body in vitamins. And sometimes people are not reassured by this small adjustment effect. Some of today's corn is said to have been genetically modified. The safety and right to information of genetically modified foods have been questioned by some people. Today, as material wealth becomes more and more abundant, food security is called into question more than ever. This is why thePeople miss old corn more and more.