Unforgettable old flavor

A month ago, my wife told me that there was a "Harmony Milk Shop" next to the bus stop at No.6 Shengdan Road. It's pure and delicious. I ordered two bottles for me to drink before work or take home after work.

At first, I thought the name of the shop was Harmony, and I couldn't help thinking of Harmony Village by Kanas Lake. I traveled to Xinjiang ten years ago and went to Harmony Village, which left a deep impression on me. In the open space surrounded by mountains, Harmony Village lies quietly, and Tuwa people's peaked huts and animal pens are scattered at random in every corner of the village. The river swished through the village under the shade of green trees. The faint water vapor forms a winding white belt over the forest, floating between villages and mountains. The most striking thing about Harmony Village is the unique natural and cultural landscape formed by log cabins, cattle, snow peaks, forests, grasslands, blue sky and white clouds.

When I arrived at the store, I found that the name of the store was not Harmony, but Harmony Milk Workshop. According to the boss, this is a franchise store. Fresh milk comes from Danyang Lianhu Farm, and the store is only 20 kilometers away from Danyang Lianhu Farm. The boss drives to the farm every day to pull the freshly squeezed milk into the store for processing. Fresh milk that can't be sold that day is processed into dairy products such as yogurt and ice cream.

I smelled a thick smell of milk as soon as I entered the store. The proprietress poured a cup of hot milk for me to taste. I took a sip and tasted it. It is pure and delicious, with a little sweetness and some pure fragrance. I suddenly opened the floodgate of memory and remembered the old taste. Scenes from more than 40 years ago came to my eyes.

I remember it was the autumn of 1973. I 10 years old, in the second grade of primary school. In the evening, Qian Shuji of the brigade came to my home and said to my dad, "The county plans to set up a livestock farm in Wuqi Farm (197 1 farm formed by reclamation around the lake). You have been a production captain for several years. The Wuqi Farm is more than 20 kilometers away from my hometown, and the traffic is closed and inconvenient. That year, our three sisters were still young and had many difficulties, but my father readily agreed and reported to the unit the next day.

The Spring Festival is coming soon, and my father went home with two baskets of new year's goods. Besides some agricultural and sideline products, there are two bottles of condensed milk, which I have never seen before. I'm curious and can't wait to try it. Especially sweet and refreshing, very delicious. I ate half a bottle in one sitting.

Hearing my father say that fresh milk tastes better and more nutritious, I have been looking forward to going to my father's unit to see cows and taste fresh milk. Finally, in the summer vacation, my mother took our three sisters on a boat that only leaves once a day and got off at Jiaze. At that time, there was no car to the farm and no bridge, so we had to ferry. I got off the boat, walked for a while, arrived at the ferry, ferried ashore, and walked along the dam for nearly 10 km before I reached my father's unit. In those days, in order to save a few cents on the fare, my father always got up early to go to the farm and always walked home from the farm with two baskets of agricultural and sideline products.

When I arrived at the farm, I saw the cow for the first time. There are dozens of cows in two rows of cowsheds. These cows are obviously different from the buffaloes I usually see. They are not as tall and strong as buffalo. Their fur is white and white, unlike buffalo. The work of raising cattle is not as easy as everyone thinks. It is not only a manual work, but also a technical work. Besides feeding and cleaning the cowshed, mowing and milking are the most difficult tasks.

Cows eat a lot, except for feeding, they mainly eat grass, so mowing the grass is a heavy job. In summer, the grass grows fast and luxuriantly. Father doesn't rest at noon, regardless of the hot weather and mosquito bites, he cuts hundreds of pounds of grass every day.

Every day at dawn, my father and the workers in the livestock farm go to milk. The work is very hard, and the whole venue smells of cow dung, which will splash on me at any time. Cows are not very docile animals, so be comforted when milking, and there is a danger of being kicked and trampled by cows.

At that time, my father was always as busy as a top. This is really a hard job!

Pour the milked milk into the cauldron and start to cook. The milk boiled and the room was filled with the smell of milk. After drinking a cup, the fragrance was overflowing. Later, every winter and summer vacation, I would go to the farm to drink fresh milk. The smell of fresh milk has penetrated into my mind.

Nowadays, milk has become the biggest nutrition in people's daily life, and it is almost the most common consumer product in every family. Only when we drink nutritious and delicious milk, do we think of the cattle breeders who work hard behind us? Of course, many large farms have been basically mechanized now, and manual milking has gradually withdrawn from the stage.

There are many varieties of dairy products and fresh milk now, but most fresh milk has lost its original flavor because of additives and long-distance transportation and storage. Now I can drink such authentic fresh milk, which reminds me of many memories and feelings. I will never forget the old smell of milk from my father's livestock farm, and I will never forget my father's hard work and thrift. These, like sweet milk, will always nourish me and become an inexhaustible motive force for my progress.

(Jiang Jianguo)