Dressed in sunshine, savoring the beauty of poetic rural life

Text / Liang Yulun Photography / Zhong Shunlong

Farm moms are thrifty and hardworking; the vegetables they grow themselves not only get eaten meal after meal, but once neighbors, relatives and friends have all had their fill, any leftovers are dried in the sun.

After a few days under the blazing summer sun, the taste of sunshine is stored away in the very texture and veins of the vegetables, which become dry, shriveled, wrinkled hard stems. One by one they go into old glass jars of every size, tall and short, fat and thin, all long since washed and air-dried; the lids are screwed tight and the jars set in the kitchen cabinet. Once the season has passed and the craving strikes, you grab a small handful, simmer it in stock, and it is a flavor all its own.

After Minor Heat, each day grows three parts hotter. Under the scorching sun, most people can hardly wait to escape the unbearable heat, but for farm moms, when there is work to be done, it is truly a wonderful partner.

Setting out vegetables to dry is an impromptu creation in the practical life of farm moms, full of vitality beneath its restraint!

Hang out the laundry, air the quilts, and the smell of sun-dried things is simply different. Lean in and take a sniff, ah, surely you know by now what the taste of sunshine is; every breath you draw in is full and comforting.

Drying vegetables is in a class of its own. In the general impression, what people know best and remember most are probably the winter radish cakes, salted vegetables and dried cabbage, but summer vegetable drying adds several more rich colors and scenes. Seeing it the first time, you really would not know that the process of drying vegetables holds such delightfully ingenious touches from every mom, including what to dry, how to dry it, and how to arrange it, all of which make you marvel.

Usually a bamboo pole, a net, a bamboo sieve, a chair, whatever household odds and ends are grabbed on hand, all instantly become the most useful props. Once the stage is set, the vegetable leaves take the stage. Depending on the nature of the vegetable, some are sliced thin, some cut into chunks, some left whole. Some moms, wearing bamboo hats, arrange them slowly and methodically, the layers laid out without a single detail missed, while others are quick and nimble, seemingly casual and free, yet neat and precise, each gap just the right size.

Oh my, these moms are the true masters of bringing art into everyday life. In their hands the vegetables become natural pigments, and the pictures made on the spot are utterly natural. What fresh happenings there are under the sun; seemingly a quiet display, yet it reflects the plain sincerity of ordinary people's lives, a quiet and restrained vitality!

Summer's abundant crops in Fenglin include peanuts and fodder corn, spread out whole on the ground to dry, a grand and impressive sight. The trick is to keep turning them diligently with a rake so they dry thoroughly.

Compared with these, the moms' vegetables are small and exquisite, like sliced loofah and bamboo shoots, shredded pumpkin, chunked winter melon, whole long beans and small chili peppers. Being small in size, under a blazing sun two or three days of continuous drying is enough to succeed. The only worry is an afternoon thunderstorm, so if there is any hardship to speak of, it is having to sacrifice the afternoon nap and keep glancing into the distance at the sky.

Drying loofah - what pretty little dots!

Besides fresh vegetables dried for eating, any that have grown old can also be dried for use! For example, old loofah left whole on the vine and dried into an all-purpose loofah sponge for washing dishes and scrubbing backs, or old bottle gourd split in half and dried to use as a water dipper. And there is more: even the grass jelly for cooling off in summer, every household dries it all over the streets and alleys. Boil it for tea, make grass jelly, rich and thick. So the summer sun is really too lovely!

Seeing the vegetables these moms dry, I, knowing nothing of cooking, was very curious how these dried vegetables would be cooked later. "These dried pumpkin shreds boiled into rice porridge are so sweet!" "This dried bean stewed with pork ribs is awesome!" "This dried bamboo shoot braised with pork, you will go through two bowls of rice!" "Grass jelly stewed with chicken soup can cool and strengthen the body!"

Oh my, hearing all this I was suddenly enlightened and my mouth watered. It turns out the secret touch that makes these mouthwatering farmhouse dishes so good is prepared in advance on ordinary days. So although the summer sun is hot and glaring and people can hardly stand it, when transferred to the natural world it brings many benefits. Please seize the summer sun, and hold tight to following these grannies and moms, for there is so much to learn!

Drying loofah - painting on black cloth!

Drying loofah - it looks like a Nintendo Pac-Man game!

Drying long beans: the emerald green just put out to dry!

Drying long beans: after three days they have cultivated themselves into perfection!