Oh, the cool, late autumn and early winter mornings make me miss the rice harvest season. I miss the peaceful memories of my school days... After Vietnamese Teachers' Day (November 20), we students get a "seasonal break", an annual holiday that every student loves.
Bamboo rice specialty of the Stieng people
At that time, not long after the complete liberation of the South, the economy was facing many difficulties. My family and many other families from different rural areas gathered in Binh Phuoc to "do new economic activities". To solve the immediate famine, our family planted short-term crops. The red soil in the East was fertile, and it only took a few months of hard work to harvest beans, corn, potatoes, cassava... In the Central region, my family was used to growing rice, and when we came here, we saw that every family was growing rice, so we learned to do the same. Near my family's farm was the hut of Mr. Dieu Ha's family, a Stieng ethnic. The kind old neighbor lent us rice seeds, and instructed us on how to weed, plow, burn the fields, and dig holes...
To learn how to farm, my family arranged a job with Mr. Dieu Ha's family. He wholeheartedly instructed and showed us how to choose straight, long, and sturdy bamboo tubes to store rice seeds. He reminded us to stay far away when burning the fields, in case there were any bombs or mines that exploded, it would be very dangerous. When clearing the fields, he would gently gather bomb fragments or mines and put them in a corner, not allowing children like me to get close.
November comes, the rice fields are golden ripe, the plump, heavy rice heads bow their heads and sway in the gentle breeze. Not only the students' houses, but also the teachers' houses, all have fields, in the morning they go to teach, in the afternoon they go to the fields, ensuring a full stomach, ensuring enough strength to sow the seeds of knowledge. When the rice is ripe, the whole family, young and old, parents and children, go to the fields to harvest. Cut, thresh, dry, clean, then load the rice onto ox carts to take home. I heard that at first, many teachers and students asked for leave to help their families harvest the rice fields, neglecting their work with the blackboard and white chalk, then the government had a policy of giving them a week off for the "season break". A week, enough time for the golden rice to ripen. A very humane decision at that time. Although we were still elementary school students, we also knew how to help our parents during the busy days of the harvest season. I was assigned to cut the remaining rice bushes at the edge of the fields, where the rice was mixed with trees and rocks. I was playing around in the golden ripe rice fields, but when I saw the bushes of the fruit, I immediately rushed towards them. When the rice fields were golden ripe, the fruit of the fruit was also ripe and fragrant. Adults and children, when resting and drinking water, all loved to eat the fruit of the fruit. Tear open the shell like a tiny lantern to reveal a round, pretty, delicious and extremely attractive ball.
Going to the fields to harvest rice with my family, children like me at that time loved it. Going to the fields to pick watercress, watercress, luffa, and giang leaves to bring home to help with family meals... Wild vegetables and garden vegetables eaten with fragrant new rice, oh my, delicious beyond reproach.
Nowadays, the concept of "off-season" has receded into the past. Although people still work on the fields, machines have replaced human labor. Upland rice requires less effort to produce, and is cultivated with new varieties, so the rice grains are now more fragrant, stickier and more valuable. Upland rice is sought after by many people, especially those who make rice paper, wet rice cakes, rice cakes, vermicelli, and noodle soup.
Don’t ask me why I like eating upland rice. Holding a bowl of upland rice, memories of a time of famine come flooding back. The wish to eat a bowl of rice without additives, the wish to be full… That simple wish has now become a reality, to see society progress, life change to be more prosperous every day. And I know how to appreciate what I have.
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