Grain Rain, the last solar term of spring. There are traces to come, shadows to go, so shy, so leisurely. For farmers, the Grain Rain is auspicious, and people always fulfill their wishes in anticipation and waiting... Every solar term written before Grain Rain, whether it is the Beginning of Spring or Rainwater, is only a conceptual existence for the people of Kanto. To be honest, there is no rain in the rain, no sound in the awakening of insects, and the spring equinox is not warm - the sky is always cold! In the days that followed, although the body gradually felt warm and the ice and snow continued to melt, people would still occasionally see snowflakes fluttering like butterflies. Therefore, spring gives Kanto people a feeling more like a child who has just stood up, walking alone in the process of learning to walk. Only when the Grain Rain arrives, the curtain of spring seems to grand open with the singing of cuckoos. Not bad, in the impression of Northeasterners, Guyu is undoubtedly a solar term with a strong sense of ceremony. It takes on an extraordinary appearance when it lands - it establishes its destiny for spring and spreads its power for sowing. The saying goes, 'Grain rain cultivates fields!'! What is Datian? It is the land cultivated by farmers for generations. It sounds simple, but one can appreciate its poetic and romantic sentiment from this word. Do you know? It is not today's us who sing the word 'Datian', but the ancient people over three thousand years ago, who should have sung it first in the Book of Songs, which is known as the first collection of poems in China. In his poem "Xiaoya · Datian", there is a recitation of "Datian produces a lot of crops, both planting and guarding, and preparing for the task. Take me as a qin chong, Chu Zai Nan mu...". There is no need to delve into every word, as long as you read it thoroughly, its meaning will naturally emerge. With that, my heart suddenly lit up - I had a variety of crops in the field, selected seeds, fixed farming tools, and everything was ready. Then, I had to pick up my sharp plow and go to the southern field to plant crops. Playing with the recitation, I also vaguely felt that 'Datian' seemed to have another meaning. Datian is not just a cultivated land, it should also include the crops grown in the field, as well as the fragrant autumn grains in the field. The word 'gu' is a collection of 'field crops' in the Kanto region - corn, rice, wheat, sorghum, foxtail millet, millet... The name of the five grains comes with the word' gu ', which coincides with' yu '. Therefore, the ordinary solar term' gu yu 'has some unusual meanings. Food is of paramount importance to the people, and the five grains come first. Therefore, the spring planting, autumn harvesting, and winter storage of the five grains have been a great strategy throughout history! In modern society, "grain" is also an important feed and production material, which can be converted into meat, eggs, milk, and can also be used to produce food, medicine, fuel, and so on. The role and value of grains are fundamental to the national economy and people's livelihood. The five grains are cultivated by farmers, but their products are not only supplied to their own families, but also to thousands of households. In this way, when the big plow plows into the field and the seeds enter the ground, it sows hope for people. At this time, what people are hoping for is to catch all the seedlings and ensure a bountiful harvest, in order to achieve prosperity for the people, prosperity for the country, and peace for the world. The three "valleys" and "rain" come together, hence the solar term of "valley rain". The reason for the name Gu Yu can be seen from the original intention of the ancients. Yeah, if we had a refreshing rain before and after planting the seeds, it would have been a blessing from heaven. Farmers have little to ask for, this is the best of the year! People in the world yearn for beauty and hope for good rain to accompany them, but the situation in Kanto is different from that in Jiangnan. The fact is often that while people in the Kanto region are worrying about spring drought, the "Grain Rain" that settles in Jiangnan, in the beautiful mountains and clear fields, takes advantage of the misty weather to start a series of "rains" named after flowers. In addition to the Grain Rain, there are also Apricot Blossom Rain, Peach Blossom Rain, Yellow Plum Rain, and so on, from spring to summer to autumn. Every flower rain corresponds to a farming task, nourishing and nurturing the seeds scattered in the field, nurturing life and dreams, and giving hope and well-being to those who cultivate that land. In Kanto, although the season of Grain Rain is the same as in Jiangnan, the distribution of rainwater by the heavens is very biased. My hometown is in Baicheng, western Jilin, located in the vast hinterland of the Songnen Plain. According to geological experts, in ancient times, this was an endless "Songnen Plain Ancient Great Lake" with abundant rainfall! When will rainfall decrease and make it a semi-arid region in western Jilin? No one can say for sure. As a result, the villagers have the sentiment of "rare rain in the valley" and "spring rain is as precious as oil". Despite this, since the ancestors entered here, people have never looked down upon it due to the lack of rain, or had the idea of going far away to another land. Faced with drought, people believe that there are more solutions than difficulties. In the chilly spring, people still recite the agricultural proverb of "planting big fields with rain in the valley" in their hearts. Regardless of whether it rains or not, from this day on, people concentrate their minds, take advantage of the weather and land conditions, cleverly arrange the planting program for big fields, and do their best to meet the temperature, water content, and light required for the landing of seeds. Wisdom eventually becomes a gentle rain, nourishing the land, urging seeds to take root, sprout, bloom, and bear fruit... In this way, it truly lives up to heaven and humanity. Four valleys rain, but there is rare rain in the Kanto region. But as soon as this day arrived, it immediately became a horn to gather people and march towards Datian. What to plant, how to plant? Listen to me speak in detail. When I was a little familiar with farming, it was during the period of collectivization. Farming was done by production teams, and everything was arranged by the old team leader. After the grain was stored in the warehouse, he carefully considered next year's agricultural work, including soil, fertilizer, water, planting, astronomy, geography, and the five elements of yin and yang in his calculations. On New Year's Eve, people are immersed in the atmosphere of the New Year, but he judges the soil moisture in spring based on the rainfall in autumn last year and the snowfall in winter. He stared fixedly at the brightly burning candle on the candlestick of the offering table, trying to use the spirituality of God to glimpse whether the annual harvest would be big or small crops from the candlelight produced by the wick. If the candle is large, there will be various crops such as corn and soybeans; If the candle is small, there are various types of millet, sorghum, wheat, and millet. In addition, the old captain also pays attention to the calendar sign on the wall and cares about the first "chen day" of the first lunar month falling on the first day. Chen, also known as "Chenlong", is also known as "Dragon Day". In the hearts of the villagers, it falls on the first day of the lunar calendar, and that year is known as "how many dragons control water" - "dragons rely more on dragons than floods"! Although this may have some superstitious elements, in the years when nature worship had not completely disappeared, it was the cultural basis for his agricultural thinking, and it is believed to be a response to the saying 'rare rain in the valley'. After careful consideration, we planned the "field planting plan" for next year based on the habits of each field crop - planting millet in the eastern area, wheat in the western depression, sorghum in the northern long ridge, and corn and soybeans in the southern slope. Afterwards, following the order of the solar terms, they began to do tasks such as selecting seeds, delivering manure, and plowing crops. At the same time, it is necessary to repair agricultural tools and prepare plowshare rope covers. Everything is ready, just wait for Guyu to plow! The first plowing of the Five Grain Rain, most people in the Kanto region start from "plowing". Plow, which is the method of sowing seeds using a plow called a rake. The rake was considered the most complex "agricultural machinery" at that time. It has two large "feet" like skis, with the distance between the two feet being the span of one ridge and two ridges; Having four legs, not exceeding a certain height, with two front legs and one back leg each supported by a crossbeam; Between the front and rear beams, there is a thick and slightly arched component called a rake joint; The peach shaped rake wheel is mounted on the rake core diagonally inserted from the middle of the large rake; On the left side of the front beam of the rake, there is a wooden handle about 1.5 meters high and thick with a pickaxe handle, which people call the rake move. Accompanying it are soil covering pulls, point gourds, and baskets for filtering manure. And the crops it feeds on are millet, sorghum, and foxtail millet. There are roughly two ways of soil removal: one is dry stubble removal, or white stubble removal, which is the type of soil removal that does not involve applying feces. Each pair of rakes is operated by 4 people, including the handle of the hand-held rake, the point of the gourd and the seed, the support of the pulling element for soil cultivation, and the walking of the grid with a stick. Another type of manure filter is a pair of rakes with six people, mainly equipped with two more manure filters. Although both methods are "scraping", the way of scraping has also changed due to the different positions of the soil pulling tie. The dry stubble scraper and the soil spreader are directly tied to the two hind legs of the scraper, with a rope length of 3 to 4 meters. When opening the rake, the ones behind it are the ones for planting gourds, the ones for laying soil on the handle, and finally the ones for walking the grid. And for the six person rake, all of them need to filter feces, so they need to hang a side pull. Side pull, which refers to fixing a wooden pole about 3 meters long and the thickness of a tea bowl on the right side of the rear leg of the rake before opening, also known as the "carrying pole". Two pull ropes are tied to the carrying pole. When raking away, only a shallow ditch was dug on the ridge, and then two manure filters chased after each other to filter fertilizer. When the rake returns, it must be turned to the right. At this time, the planting person can knock on the gourd in advance along the groove left by the rake when it comes. The rakers, pullers, and grid walkers all followed closely behind. Fengtian requires a large number of people, which is complicated to say, but once it is cultivated, it is truly a scenery during the Grain Rain season. That was a morning after the rain in the valley. As soon as the work bell rang, a pair of rakers led their respective troops straight to the field assigned by the old team leader. When they arrived in the field, they only heard the sound of the old master's "woof", followed by a whip, and the horse automatically stood up along the ridge. The group of people took their respective positions, and with a loud "slap" of the whip, the two horses immediately tightened their belts and took their steps... Then, with a pair of rakes and teams of people, they stepped on the rhythm of tapping gourds and started to race. A wisp of dust and smoke rose from behind, and then a spring breeze was formed... "Big plow buckle" is another expression of "planting fields with grain rain". Only corn and soybeans are suitable for this type of cultivation. Compared to 'fan', it is much simpler. The big plow is no different from other plows, except that when plowing the land, a plow bowl needs to be added on top of the plowshare. It is a parallelogram iron plate with a slightly curved surface, a rounded left corner, and an irregular upward tilt that matches the plowshare. When fastening the ground, it is attached to the top of the plowshare. Don't underestimate, as soon as the plow starts walking, it can twist the originally divided soil waves into a strong force and tilt them to the right. Before the "land grabbing", people would dump their manure into the ridges and ditches. Therefore, when grabbing the land, the planter would hold a fence in their left hand and accurately plant the seeds into the ridges and ditches according to the prescribed plant spacing for various crops. The scaly soil rolled up by the plow stick is tightly applied to the seeds, and then combined with the right half ridge to form a new ridge. The benefit of this approach is to return the previous year's grain stubble to the field, loosen the soil, and conserve moisture. At that time, the ridges formed by good plowers were of moderate depth and evenly distributed with mud. Looking along the ridge, it looks like a row of loach ridge style house covers covered with tube tiles; Looking horizontally, the moist soil flakes are like carp scales and crow feathers, arranged in rows, flat and graceful. Under the sunset, there is a serene and mysterious black color. In the vast and rising earth qi, there seems to be infinite vitality. Meeting Gu Yu in Datian was the spring of my second year back home after graduating from high school. At that time, the practice of plowing was still in place, but the "big plow buckle" was not common anymore. It was a time of drought and evil. Let's not say that there was no rain in the valley. Even on Loong Boat Festival, it was difficult to have a soaking rain. In order to protect the seedlings, three plows were used to create ridges. That spring, I never left my hands with a bucket and my shoulders with a pole. After all the seedlings emerge, the lush green seedlings bring joy to people's hearts. That year, I felt the resilience of my legs and the strength of my shoulders. To this day, I still remember that the second team of Yongjian in my hometown had a total of 120 large fields, and the ground was covered in oil and green