Author: Lao Liu
My hometown is located at the foot of the northern foot of Laoshan Mountain. In my childhood memories, the most numerous fruit trees in my family’s private plot were apricot trees. At that time, my family’s apricot forest was quite famous in the countryside.
I once remembered that every year when the cherry season came, my mother would start to say: "Xiaoman cherries, mangzhong apricots", which means that after the Xiaoman solar term, our apricots will be ripe. There are several varieties of apricot trees in my home, including crown apricots, wheat yellow apricots, and one called sweet apricots, which means the almonds are sweet rather than bitter. I only have one such apricot tree in my home, and the apricots on this tree are Generally they are not sold, they are kept for home consumption. After eating, apricot meat , apricot kernels are dried and then cracked open to take out the almonds and wait for salad dishes. In those years, fruit trees were our family's biggest industry, bringing us a large harvest every year. My parents relied on these fruit trees to support our family.
From "the fragrant buds burst on the apricot tips" to "light red and faded to white with rouge", the buds on the apricot tree branches gradually bloomed, and the light red gradually faded to white, just like they had been dyed by rouge. My parents began to care about whether the apricots would be harvested every day. They kept pruning, fertilizing and spraying pesticides, and maintained them carefully without slacking off at all.
From "the apricot flowers have not yet faded" to "the branches are beginning to bear green apricots". Every time after school, I would run into the apricot forest and look at the trees, flowers, and sky. Behind a touch of green, little green apricots were vying to come out. I looked at the bright afterglow of the setting sun, through the green leaves. , the green, yellow, and red apricot skewers are even more charming and mouth-watering.
From "the plums are golden and the apricots are fat" to "the apricots are yellow and half-ripe". When other people's plum trees turn golden, my apricots grow bigger and bigger. "Maihuang apricot" is the earliest to mature. It is not big, but tastes very sweet and has a large yield. When it is ripe, look at the bunches of yellow apricots hanging on the branches, each one plump and bright. , like bunches of shrunken wheat ears, exuding an alluring fragrance. The last to ripen is the "Crown Apricot", which is big and green at first and then yellow and red, just like the face of a shy girl in her prime, green and red, which makes people lovable.
I still remember that back then, picking apricots was the happiest thing for me. Whenever school was over, I would rush home to see how ripe the apricots were that day, and figure out how big the harvest would be this year with my parents. And every morning, I get up early and go picking apricots with my parents and sister. At that time, we usually picked apricots in the morning, because the apricots picked in the morning were fresh, beautiful and delicious. Either my father sends it to the market to sell, or a fruit seller comes to collect it, and both can be sold at a good price.
Xingshu and I have a special and different complex. In 1980, at the age of 15, I was fortunate enough to join the army. According to national policy, the local government must provide subsidies to active military personnel every year. But at that time, the people's commune and the village had no money, so they asked the village to allocate more fruit trees appropriately. This was called "tree subsidy". So that year, the village allocated seven apricot trees to my family. Although these seven apricot trees were still saplings at the time and started to bear fruit about three years later, my parents were still very, very happy. I became a soldier, which made them proud. Unexpectedly, they were even given more fruit trees. Therefore, the parents took care of these seven small apricot trees as if they were daughters. After that, whenever the apricots were ripe, my parents would always tell me to find a way to take time off and go home to eat apricots. They would always leave the best and sweetest tree for me. If I was too busy with work and couldn't go back, I would ask my sister to give it to me. I sent it to the army and did not pick it up almost every year until my father passed away in 1992. By this time, I had reached a certain level and had more opportunities to return home. I must go back every year when the apricots are ripe, not only to eat apricots, but also to commemorate my father. Later, around 1997, the reform and development in my hometown carried out the transformation of old villages, and the apricot grove in my home was also reformed. I was sad for a while.
" The pomegranate flowers are blooming and the apricots are ripe and red." The apricot forest in my hometown made my childhood happy, nourished my childhood, and gave me a gift. Do you know, do you know, it is apricot leaves green and apricots are fat again.A lifetime, unforgettable!
