今天，想写一篇关于上一周我们种植的情况的博客，把上一周拍的照片找出来，又想看看最初几周我们刚刚种下他们时的样子，就又浏览了第一周拍的那些照片，想到了我刚来到这里最初的那些日子。

已经近三个月了，他们都长大了，有的已经走上了餐桌，有的还在地里努力的成长，看第一周的那些照片，地里光秃秃的什么都没有，再看现在地里完全不同的景象，一片生机；我也在长大，逐渐的适应了这里的一切，有时候觉得身心疲惫，每天在太阳底下8个小时的体力劳动之后，回家后还要脑力劳动，看一切关于这方面的资料，看手中朋友们推荐的几本书，思考和对比什么是我回中国后可以用的，什么是我值得反思的。

下面一副图中是我们上周刚刚收获的中国大白菜（Chinese Cabbage），每次听到他们说这个单词，我都觉得格外亲切，总觉得这个蔬菜跟我有什么血缘联系似的。

那些西兰花，刚刚从温室里移植到地里的时候，叶子都被害虫吃的伤痕累累了，现在他们竟然成为我餐桌上的最爱。

醋熘新鲜的大白菜，肉炒西兰花，凉拌甘蓝，小葱拌豆腐，肉炒豆角，肉炒蒜苔，生菜……我已经能够用我自己劳动培育出来的蔬菜做出各种各样的美味了。

这种乐趣恐怕只有亲身体验过，才能懂得。

有一种美国人对美国中部地区的称呼，他们说中部地区是Heartland(心灵的土地)，开始我不知道关于这个说法的故事，但我却从我的角度得到了答案——

这里是心灵安家的地方，这里的民风纯朴而善良。

这是什么瓜，以前从来没见过。英文名字叫summer squash。

下面两附图是大白菜种植前后的对比

下面两副图是西兰花种植前后的对比

7/14 – They’re growing, and so am I

Today, I wanted to write an entry about what happened while we were working with the plants last week, to pull out all of last week’s photos, and also to see what they looked like in the very first few weeks when we’d just planted them.  So I browsed through the photos from the first week, and thought about my first few days of being here.

It’s been almost three months already, and they’ve all grown up; some have already made their way to the dinner table, some are still diligently growing in the soil.  I look at those photos from the first week, the ground completely bald with nothing in it, and then I look at the completely different sight of the ground now, full of life – I’m also growing up, gradually adapting to everything here.  Sometimes I feel  exhausted in body and mind, doing eight hours of manual labor in the sun every day, and still having to do mental labor after I go home, looking at all the materials on this topic, reading some books my friends have recommended, considering and comparing what I can use when I return to China, what’s worth remembering. 

The picture below is of the Chinese cabbage that we just harvested last week.  Every time I hear that term, I feel it’s especially dear, like this vegetable is my blood relation or something. J

When the broccoli was first transplanted from the greenhouse into the ground, insects ate the leaves until there were scars all over them, but now it’s become the thing I love most at the table.  Fresh Chinese cabbage sautéed in vinegar, stir-fried meat and broccoli, cold prepared cabbage, scallion tofu, stir-fried meat and green beans, stir-fried meat and garlic sprouts, raw veggies…I’m already able to use the vegetables cultivated by my labor to make all kinds of delicious dishes. 

 I think you can probably only understand this kind of enjoyment if you’ve experienced it yourself. There’s a way that Americans have of referring to the central part of the country - they say that it’s the Heartland.  At first I didn’t know any stories about this expression_r, but I got the answer from my own perspective –

This is a place where the heart makes its home; the manner of the people here is simple and kindhearted.

This is some kind of squash – I’d never seen it before.  Its English name is summer squash. The two photos below are a before and after comparison of the Chinese cabbage.

The two photos below are a before and after comparison of the broccoli