In early spring, the withered and yellow weeds on the Loess Plateau swayed against the cold wind, and there was still a little snow left in the shade under the sun. Walking into Gaojialeng Village, Zhangjiashan Town, Wubao County, Shaanxi Province, from a distance, you can see the rows of caves located between the hills, half slope and slanting sun. The handmade hollow noodles are vertical from the top of the kiln, like threads, emitting bursts of fragrance.
"All villagers should not gather together, have dinner, or visit each other..." With the loud trumpet of the village committee, the women in the village are busy in their own courtyard. Xue Bolin, chairman of Wubao County Women's Federation, said that almost all women in Zhangjiashan Town had mastered the skills of making hollow noodles. With this skill, many people have become rich by starting businesses at home.
Liu Yanqing, 59, and his wife got up early to process noodles. By about 10 a.m., they had finished hanging two noodle racks in the yard. After careful counting, there are 50 hooks on each noodle rack. Gently touch it, and the noodles have fine burrs different from those processed by the machine. If you pull them slightly, they will be very elastic.
"Every time I hang noodles, it's just one kilogram, and if it's more than one kilogram, the noodles will be thick." Liu Yanqing said that for more than two years, except for rainy days, she and her wife have got up at three or four o'clock every day to make noodles. After a series of processes, such as rubbing noodles, dish noodles, waking noodles, and putting on poles, they straighten the noodles after they are put on the shelf, and then dry them in the air. "Now there is no way to string them. It's better to make more noodles at home."
Sang Cui, the chairman of the village women's federation, said that Liu Yanqing's wife was born deaf and dumb, and she could not earn a lot of money by recruiting workers everywhere before. In 2015, the village cadres specially invited the inheritors of the village to teach them how to make dry noodles. In that year, the couple produced more than 3000 jin of noodles, with a net income of more than 10000 yuan. In the second year, the output tripled, with a net income of 40000 yuan. Liu Yanqing has a low level of education, but she is very diligent. She is a good hand at making hollow dried noodles. She is responsible for the key steps of kneading and adding salt.
"If you live in the village, you can care for your grandson and earn money. Let's have fun!" Liu Yanqing said happily.
Everyone is busy making noodles, and Sang Cui is not idle. She set up a women volunteer service team in the village to distribute disinfectant, alcohol and other epidemic prevention materials to the villagers together with the village cadres. Every day, she patrolled the safety production situation of the village's front-line households, requiring farmers to wear masks and gloves throughout their work, and disinfect their homes
"Sisters, in times of emergency, let's stay at home and go out less. This is the practice of hand made hollow noodles with apple and carrot flavor, and everyone should try to make them." Recently, the "Happy Group of Gaojialeng Village Women Raping" established by the Village Women's Federation has produced homemade videos and news links full of dry goods every day. Under Sang Cui's organization, 158 women in the group stayed at home to learn skills and make noodles, which not only ensured public health safety, but also increased family income.
"Since the second day of the New Year, we have been focusing on the epidemic prevention and control work while arranging the resumption of production. At present, there are 166 households in the town who have started to produce noodles in succession." Wang Na, the mayor of Zhangjiashan Town, said that the annual output of hand-made hollow noodles in the town is more than 3900 tons and the output value is more than 50 million yuan. In view of the current epidemic situation, the town specially contacted the postal company to pick up goods from farmers' homes in batches and at different times, so as to ensure the smooth sales of manual hollow noodles.
"With the help of new online media, we will open entrepreneurial micro classes, move offline courses online, and let women sisters exchange and learn in entrepreneurship, employment, spring farming and production. At the same time, we will actively play the role of women's federations in women's entrepreneurship and employment demonstration bases and family factories, and lead women throughout the county to help women out of poverty." Xue Bolin said. (Reporter Dang Baifeng)
