The squeaking sound on the grinding wheel prose

The millstone standing next to the puddle in the middle of the village is like an old man who has gone through many vicissitudes of life. The mottled body is stained by the weathering of annual rings, recording the vicissitudes and changes of the small village!

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Before the 1950s and 1960s, the rural areas of the Central Plains had barren land, a backward economy, and material shortages. Farmers lived a life of lack of food and clothing. At that time, there was no electricity, and even more There is no machinery, only stone mills and stone mills are the food processing tools that farmers have relied on for generations.

Stone mills are two different grain processing tools. Stone mills are two stone grinding fans put together, with a wooden or mud-made grinding disc underneath. . Stone mills are usually located in a small room, only big enough to hold a millstone and a noodle box. There are several noodles hanging on the wall, some are thick, some are thin, some are two-thin, and some are Small sieves for corn grits, etc. are specially used to grind wheat, mung beans, corn and other various flours. Stone mills are used to grind millet and rice. After millet and rice are rolled, the rice bran needs to be blown away in windy areas. Therefore, stone mills are not as lucky as stone mills and are generally placed in relatively open areas. , outdoors where the wind blows from all directions, first build a base about half a meter high with stones, which is strong and reliable, and then put a round and thick large stone plate. Place a large granite stone roll on the big stone plate, and press a square shape on the stone roll. The roller frame is usually made of locust wood, which is strong and durable. There are two corresponding holes at both ends of the roller frame, and two wooden poles can be inserted into it. We call it rolling pole. When there are animals, they use the animals to pull the stone. When there are no animals, you can insert a pole in another wooden hole and two people can push it together.

The millstone in our village is located in the middle of the village, surrounded by puddles. Under the weathering of the sun, moon and annual rings, when I remember, the millstone circle has become old and mottled, but it still stands tenaciously. There, it keeps turning and creaking every day, grinding out all kinds of fine grains such as golden millet, wheat kernels, corn kernels, etc. for the villagers. Satisfy the food and clothing of the villagers.

The hope of the farmers has been fulfilled. The inextricable grinding road carries people's hard-working footsteps and sheds strings of hard sweat. The squeaky singing sings the joy and joy of a bumper harvest. Occasionally, There is also the painful and sad sadness of famine years.

In the good years, the first thing Nianpan tastes is the aroma of various grains, which satisfy the taste buds. During the spring famine every year, the grain stocks of each household have already bottomed out, and they use a small amount of grain to match it. They lived a hard life with wild vegetables, eagerly looking forward to the maturity of barley and wheat. When the ears of barley had just turned yellow, women from each household went to the field to pick a basket of barley ears, spread them out on the grinding plate, and gently Gently push it a few times to crush all the barley grains in Xinen and Xinen. Pass them through a fine sieve to filter out the wheat prince. Then put them into the pot and cook them until they look like tadpoles. , dripping by dripping, chewy, smooth, sticky and fragrant, very fresh. Adults call this barley rice noodles. Every time I make this kind of rice, children eat a few bowls and their stomachs are full. It's round and round, and the veins are popping.

In summer, when the weather is very hot, people don’t like to eat muddy rice, so they grind the newly harvested wheat into wheat kernels. When I was a child, it was common for my mother to wash the wheat, dry it in the sun, and then rub it repeatedly with a wet white cotton cloth dipped in water. My mother said: "The more you knead the wheat skin, the thinner it becomes. It cannot be too wet or too dry. If it is too wet, the wheat will be crushed into a flat shape and the skin cannot be taken off, and the taste will not be good. If it is too dry, it will be easily crushed. , the wheat kernels must be rubbed evenly, wet on the outside and dry on the inside, in order to grind out good wheat kernels.”

After the mother kneaded the wheat, she spread it on the grinding plate while pushing the stone roller. Keep pulling and turning while grinding to make the force even. When the grinding is almost done, because the wheat husks are wet and cannot be lifted out, you must use a dustpan. After dusting, continue grinding a few times, and then dust it clean. The colorful wheat kernels are now grinded, and the cooked wheat kernel porridge is fragrant and delicious.

In our hometown, some land is set aside every winter to be planted again in the next spring. People call it spring land. The corn (corn) sown after spring is called spring corn. The spring corn matures just in the summer. After people peeled off the glutinous rice sticks, they spread them on the grinding plate and rolled them repeatedly. The golden glutinous rice kernels were boiled in the pot, simmered, simmered and cooked again, and they quenched their thirst and made them hungry. They didn't even need to eat steamed buns. .

After the autumn harvest, every family has to grind a large set of millet and spread the millet on the grinding plate. The blindfolded donkey pulls the stone wheel and runs around, sometimes turning its back to the sky and squeaking. They barked a few times and baldly bald to show their merit to people. The stone roller shaft made a brisk creaking sound, which was rhythmic and coherent, like a beautiful melody, singing the joy and joy of the farmers' harvest.

In addition to the people in this village, Shi Nian is also used by the villagers of Xiaoyanzhuang and Huazhuang in neighboring villages. Although Shi Nian is busy all year round, it has brought the relationship between neighbors closer, especially during the Spring Festival. Every household has to prepare food for the New Year. The stone mill works tirelessly day and night, crushing millet, sorghum, dried sweet potatoes, chili noodles, peppercorns, aniseed and other foods, tasting various delicacies, and the cheerful squeaking sound , welcoming the arrival of the festival.

But in the years of famine, Shi Nian was not so lucky. I remember that during the three years of natural disasters, the food harvests failed year after year. People ate all the wild vegetables and went to the river to dig thatch roots in order to survive. After it was dried and crushed into dough, all the trees in the village were stripped of their bark, leaving each standing tree naked and half-dead. People dried the peeled bark, chopped it into small pieces, and placed it on the grinding plate. Round and round, the stone roller turned with difficulty, and the stone roller shaft made a heavy squeaking sound, which seemed to express sadness and sadness. , the extruded bark noodles are mixed with flower seed cake noodles, sweet potato leaf noodles, rice noodles, and steamed steamed buns. They are astringent and bitter and difficult to swallow. Although they saved people's lives temporarily, they left many people They all suffered from edema and were put on crutches.

After the disaster year, Shi Nian has returned to its former cheerfulness and enjoys the delicious food of whole grains. Every time it rains, water accumulates on the grinding plate. I heard from the old people that the water in the grinding plate can cure the monkey wart. There are many children in the countryside who have thorny warts. When the rain stops, the children with thorny warts start fighting. Those who couldn't rush to wash the acne on the grinding plate, and some naked children just lay down on the bare grinding plate and rolled around.

In the rural areas of that era, children did not have many toys, and the grinding plate became the best place for children to have fun. When no one was grinding grain, the children liked to go to the grinding plate and use their cleverness. Wisdom, play with what you like. Some like to play with a pile of mud, make some pots, pans, spoons, small mud donkeys, mud cows, mud pigs, mud sheep, mud chickens, etc., play house, and follow the comic strips. Go up and make various clay figurines. Some compete in catching stones on the grinding plate. Sometimes they use the grinding wheel as a stage, hold long and short sticks as swords, guns, swords and halberds, and imitate the people in the movies to fight and kill. The children were crazy, playing, making noise, and laughing. The happy laughter exaggerated the hope of the village. Occasionally, adults would occupy the children's position, squatting on the grinding plate and lowering it, occupying the square, and the children gathered around them. Watch and learn, and keep giving advice.

On summer evenings, young men and big girls gather on the rolling mill that is exposed to the wind from all sides, put up a small lantern, and play cards while talking and laughing, with secret glances in their eyes, sometimes in order to win or lose. It will also make you blush and have a thick neck. The old ladies who had been working hard all day in the kitchen hobbled to the big puddle to wash and wipe themselves, then carried their small chairs and rocked to the open space next to the grinding plate to gather together. Joining in the fun, they gently shook the banana fans in their hands while chatting with each other about their parents' shortcomings.

The old houses, stone mills, stone mills, farm meals, chickens crowing and dogs barking, orioles singing and swallows dancing, and the dancing smoke from the cooking stoves in the ancient villages reflect beautiful ink paintings, which are a book in time. The thick book records the vicissitudes of the thousand-year-old village, carrying the memory of life and the joys, sorrows and joys of ancestors for generations.

Generation after generation of children are happy with the joy of farmers' harvests, and they are also happy with the elderly's peaceful old age. It grinds coarse and fine grains into delicacies in cooking smoke, regulates people's taste buds, and grinds days into the warmth of memory. The dreams and hopes of childhood grew wildly amidst the sound of the stone wheel turning.

With the development of high-tech society, rural people have also led a well-off life. With various tractors, seeders, harvesters, dough beaters, and rice mills, farmers No more sweating and pushing. Every family has TV sets and mobile phones, and children also have advanced toys. In their free time, they can stay at home and watch the world and enjoy the happiness brought by high technology.

However, that stone mill mottled with vicissitudes of life is like an abandoned old man, standing alone at the corner of the big puddle. No one cares about it and is neglected. Who can still remember it? Its traces weathered by annual rings once carried the vicissitudes of the small village, as well as the ups and downs of generations of people!