If you can't see the majestic alfalfa scene in the spring, it is not perfect after all.
After a spring thunder, a light rain, the earth is crisp, and everything recovers. The Tianshui people were summoned by the gentle spring sun and flocked to the banks of the river and the mountains north and south, following the footsteps of spring to capture the information of wild vegetables.
In a certain section of the river bank slope or the beachhead of the river dam, what new shoots will be sent in the spring, the tianshui people know it all in their hearts. Intentionally or unintentionally, they passed the river beach where the purple alfalfa flowers once swayed, bent down, used their index fingers to pull open the stones pressed on the stubble of the alfalfa, carefully observed a piece of two yellow buds, and timidly poked out their heads.
"In three or five days, the alfalfa will be pinched." People who walk by think so, and say so. The people who looked at each other got excited and began to plan a vigorous alfalfa feast. The Tianshui people are quite particular about "shaving alfalfa" and seem to be a grand ceremony held to start the rhythm of spring.
Choose a sunny afternoon, call friends, three or five groups, talk and laugh into the alfalfa field, patrol a circle, choose the best position to squat, bamboo basket or plastic basin placed around, the tools of alfalfa are also sufficient, prepared with a delicate small shovel, casually copy a fruit knife, nothing, you can also play your own resource advantages, commonly known as "pinch alfalfa".
Alfalfa seems simple, in fact, it is a test of personal kung fu, first of all, you have to "squat" down, "squat" to live, but also a keen judgment. Young people are not good at squatting for a long time, and within a few minutes they will feel dizzy and breathless, and they must stand upright. After repeating this several times, the initial fanaticism has been lost, and the alfalfa and weeds are indistinguishable.
On the other hand, the grandmother next to her, found a sunny slope, without saying a word, sat cross-legged on the ground, the bamboo basket was placed in front of the hand that could be reached, the ass did not move, controlled the rhythm of the body, turned clockwise, the hand was shoveled down, front and back, left and right, but all the old roots that sprouted new shoots could not escape the grandmother's careful care, until they thought that the side had been cleaned, and the body pushed the bamboo basket, the ass moved forward, and then repeated the same action.
While the young man was still pouting his ass, carefully examining whether the green under his eyes was alfalfa or weed, the grandmother's basket had overlapped several layers of emerald green.
Alfalfa also has to be patient enough. Imagine the rapid pace of urbanization, leaving little land left for crops, and even more scarce places for alfalfa to steal. However, with the rapid changes in people's living standards, the alfalfa that was originally hungry for years and months has become a new favorite of the table, and the fan base of alfalfa has grown year by year and is unstoppable. What's more, the craft of "shaving alfalfa" has also hitched a ride of the times, with short videos and vibrato platforms, on the Internet hot search, and its popularity has soared. If you can't become a qualified "alfalfa powder", just by envying you to join the "Alfalfa" army, you may only end up rushing away with excitement and sadness.
The large contingent of alfalfa is composed mostly of the elderly and women. From a distance, a small piece of tidal flat, wearing red, green, hat, turban, in the local Tianshui dialect: "Hemp pressed, more people who shave alfalfa than alfalfa", which can be called a different kind of scenery in spring.
Enjoy this huge scene from the speeding window, touch the scene, and feel a lot of emotions.
In the countryside as a child, the alfalfa of perennial herbs existed as a forage for cattle and horses, and only in the early spring when the alfalfa returned to green, a limited period of time allowed the villagers to take the lead in tasting, generally after the Qingming Festival, immediately implement the "sealing and digging order" to protect the pasture. Therefore, the alfalfa that has nourished generations of croppers can only be "wild vegetables". This does not affect people's expectations and love for it, and alfalfa is also the first fresh vegetable we can touch after a long frozen winter.
At that time, shaving alfalfa was mainly a task for children. When I came home from school, I threw away the bag on my shoulder and went into the kitchen to see if I could find a little food, and I put my stomach on the empty stomach. Of course, it is gratifying to have a harvest, and if you can't find anything, you have to carry it to the basket, and when the sun has not yet set, you will fly into the alfalfa field at the mouth of the village. Before dark, Ma Li's girl can also shave a pot of alfalfa buds that fall into the sunset.
On the way home, when they meet the adults who finish their work, they will always unabashedly praise whose children are diligent and productive, and whose children are good at reading, they are not capable, and the alfalfa that is shaved is not more than half of the family. Where do they know that the incompetent child has spent his whole life nostalgic for the dusk of the alfalfa.
The alfalfa that was plucked home was carefully picked by Grandma, and the dried wood sticks and sheep dung eggs were removed. The mother took out the potatoes hidden in the old cellar in winter, peeled and cut into pieces, put them in the oil pot and flipped them for a while, washed alfalfa flattened on the potatoes, sprinkled with flour evenly on the surface, swirled a small amount of water along the edge of the pot, buckled tightly with the pot lid, simmered slowly until the water in the pot was steamed dry, and then covered for a few minutes, opened the lid, a fragrance of green vegetables and the thick mellow aroma of the potato came to the face, and the tongue was full of tongue.
The steamed alfalfa is shaved on the edge of the pot, the sticky potato pieces are kneaded into a paste, and then the alfalfa, potato puree and hot flour are fully and evenly balanced, and a steaming pot of "alfalfa" is out of the pot, and then accompanied by red pepper, green onion, garlic paste, the word "fragrant" is obtained.
Later, when I grew up, I went to my hometown and left home, and my life was consumed a little bit in the busy and chaotic, and I didn't have the opportunity to shave alfalfa for many years. Unconsciously, alfalfa is no longer the task of children, but has become the joy of adults to change the taste of life. It's just that every season, people who have experienced the same era will always fall into the memory of alfalfa.
When my mother was still healthy, every spring, she would always find a way to carry a bag of alfalfa for me. In her opinion, this may be the only taste of my city life that I can't get, but I miss for a long time, and it is the only way she can express her thoughts about me.
For me, it is not so much a regurgitation of the ritual of "shaving alfalfa" as it is a regurgitation and retrospection of a survival memory rooted in the bones of life.
The years change, spring goes to spring and back, how many nostalgia is lost in the flow of time, can not hold back the traces, fortunately, we still continue the same joy, alfalfa sprouted, spring warmed.
Author:Zhang Weiping (Member of Gansu Writers Association)