Sam's Dream of Green Horizons Chapter 7

Uncle Matthew has worked hard for the mountain this winter, and I feel relieved to have Uncle Matthew on the mountain. Once, Uncle Matthew's son came back from another place. Before going down the mountain, Uncle Matthew asked Jiang Laosi and the man called Dongge to water the cows on time. Jiang Laosi answered very quickly, which made Uncle Matthew feel relieved. But on this day, one of my senior brothers and his family came from another place and insisted on going to the mountain to have a look. 

I had no choice but to take a 20-inch off-road vehicle and take my senior brother's family to the mountain. I asked Jiang Laosi: "Did Uncle Si's cows drink?" He told me that they had. I took my senior brother to see the big bubble of water source, because I wanted to raise fish here, so I asked my senior brother to help make a decision.

My senior and I walked along the mountain road covered with morning snow towards the water source. On the way, I only saw the traces of a cow. I saw that cow walked all the way to the drinking water place, circled there and went back. I asked my senior: "Why are there only one cow's footprints on the road when so many cows come to drink water?" My senior is the vice principal of a railway middle school. 

He told me: "It seems that the cows didn't drink water today!" I was very angry. I think this is a cruel abuse of cows. They also know that they are thirsty! Why don't they come to drink water the next day after eating hay overnight? The footprints of the cow on the snow show that the cow is really thirsty and comes to find water to drink. It seems that people without responsibility and love cannot develop the breeding industry well, and people without responsibility cannot do well in working. The reason why our business is not doing well is that the integrity and sense of responsibility of the people are poor.

When we got back to the mountain, I calmly asked Jiang Laosi: "Uncle, did the cows drink today?" Jiang Laosi replied: "They really drank!" I asked him why there were no cow footprints on the road, and he said: "It snowed this morning." I asked him: "Then why didn't it snow on the west side of the house, but only on the east side?" He said: "This is impossible!" I said: "Then go outside and take a look! The cows came out of the pen and walked towards the rapeseed field, but there were no footprints going to the water source." Jiang Laosi went out to take a look and had nothing to say.

After returning from the mountain, I told my fifth uncle about the situation. He was very angry and said he would criticize him when he returned to the mountain.

Later I learned the truth. Daniel Chen picked up a wild rabbit that someone else had trapped nearby. They cleaned it up in the morning when there were few people around and stewed it. Because the forest area has a strong protection for wild animals, if they are reported, the consequences will be serious. I also repeatedly warned them that first, they should not hunt wild animals, and even if they hunted, they were not allowed to keep them. Second, they should strengthen fire prevention. If anyone disobeyed and something went wrong, they would be responsible.

Uncle Matthew severely criticized Jiang Laosi and almost fired him. He cried and begged Uncle Matthew not to let him go and promised that he would not disobey his orders anymore and would take responsibility. The fundamental reason why he didn't want to leave was that when he came to the countryside, he had an affair with a woman and the woman's husband wanted to settle accounts with him, so he didn't dare to go back. Besides, he was a bachelor living with his son's family, which really made him lose face in front of his daughter-in-law. I really don't understand the complexity of Jiang Laosi's thoughts when he went out to work.

The days pass in peace, but the sad things are still fresh in my memory.

Sweat in the Golden Autumn

The summer in Daxing'anling is very short, and time has brought everything into the autumn. The west wind has picked up again, and the leaves on the birch trees have turned yellow-orange, and like the fallen leaves of previous years, they are reluctant to linger on the branches and fall into the birch forest.

On the fire prevention road in the forest, busy mountain runners ride motorcycles back and forth in and out of the forest. In summer and autumn, young people collect wild herbs. They carry hundreds of kilograms of wild herbs from the mountains more than ten kilometers away from the road, sweating profusely, and tie them tightly on the back of their motorcycles. Then they ride their motorcycles to transport the herbs to a town dozens of kilometers away from the mountains.

When autumn is approaching, people come to the blueberry field in the forest to collect this blue wild fruit. The field of this wild natural wild fruit is connected to one another, with no end in sight. According to information, this wild fruit is rich in more than 40 kinds of amino acids needed by the human body, and its nutritional value is obviously high. The Daxinganling Winery uses this wild fruit to brew the local famous wine - Wanshan Likou. People who have been to Daxinganling must taste this wine, otherwise it will definitely be a regret in life. Of course, collecting this wild fruit is very dangerous, because it is a food that black bears like very much. You must go into the mountains with more than a dozen people. I remember when I was a child, I followed my father to collect this wild fruit. In the basketball court, I saw the feces of the black bears still steaming, so my father asked us to leave quickly because the black bears were nearby.

The main products of Daxing'anling are astragalus and peony. The peony flowers near the mountain pasture are in full bloom, which is a beautiful scenery in the forest area. They decorate the mountain with vitality. I also like these peony flowers, which are white and purple and have a long flowering period. With the arrival of the herb diggers, these peony flowers have disappeared. Only the earth pits where the herb diggers dug herb are left in the places where the peony flowers grew. These peony flowers disappeared just like the original forests of the year, which made me feel very melancholy. The environment is being changed by humans, and the beautiful scenery is disappearing.

A few days later, people were busy running around. Seeing the baskets full of birch mushrooms, I knew that this autumn would be another late autumn with a good harvest. The birch mushrooms in Daxing'anling are rich in nutrition and have a delicate taste, especially for stomach problems. If you have the opportunity to come to Daxing'anling, you must eat this fresh birch mushroom soup, which is a pure green famous dish. Before I started raising livestock, I could ride a motorcycle to pick mushrooms twice a day because I had time during the holidays, and I always came back with a full load. As long as I found two mushroom rings, the big bamboo basket on my back could not fit them all. I took them home and my mother strung them into strings. In that season, the house was full of mushrooms, and the fragrance of mushrooms was floating inside and outside the house.

I have no choice but to envy the freedom of these mountain hikers, because this season is the busiest time for the ranching sites. They pack up their four-wheelers and mowers, prepare a month's worth of diesel, and go harvest the grass for the cattle to spend the winter.

The grass in the dog days is not easy to dry and is easy to deteriorate. The days around the beginning of autumn are the golden season for cutting grass. If you come to Daxinganling at this time, you can see the haystacks on both sides of the railway while sitting on the train. It is a beautiful landscape of the forest area and you can see the hard work and creativity of the people in the forest area.