More books, new clothes for children...
Carrying rice and rice balls, people crossed the stream and headed up the mountain towards the top of Hoang Son Quan. As long as you are flexible in climbing the mountain, have a sharp eye, and are quick to pick sim, you will have money. With a selling price of 25,000 VND/kg, each day making a living by picking sim in Hoang Son Quan brings in an income of 250,000 - 300,000 VND/day.
While weighing the sims that she had just picked to sell to traders, Ms. Tu Thi Hoa in village 2, Quang Kim commune shared: “The sim season is right when farmers are off work and children are on summer vacation. My mother and I took the opportunity to go up the mountain to pick sims to sell to earn some extra money to prepare clothes and books for the children to start the new school year. Going early and coming back late, but this job still brings in a good income, each day the two of us earn 500,000 VND.”
“The feet of the person who goes first get to eat”, the old people used to say. The job of picking sim must also start very early. At 3am, Hoa and her children, along with the people in village 2, Quang Kim commune, had to leave their homes to go up the mountain to make a living. Carrying sim bags and rice balls, the people crossed the stream and went up the Hoanh Son Quan peak to start picking sim.
In August, the sim on the top of Hoanh Son Quan is in full bloom. The bare sim branches seem to have gathered all their essence for the ripe fruit season. The sim fruits are as big as the tip of a finger, ripe and black from the sun, hanging on the branches. On average, each person can pick 10-15kg/day, with traders buying at 25,000/kg. Although it is not a high-income job, picking sim does not require skills or capital, so it attracts many participants.
Since ancient times, ripe sim has become a simple and "playful" gift from the countryside in district markets and mountain towns. The ripe sim season has also entered the memories of many generations of young people born and raised in the highlands. Nowadays, ripe sim has many other uses, so it quickly became a popular commodity, following traders everywhere. Thanks to that, many lives and people who make a living from the sim season have extra income to buy nice clothes and new books for their children before the school year.
Repairing house, buying cows…from “forest wealth”
The sim ripening season lasts for 2 months (August - October of the solar calendar). Not only Ms. Hoa and her children and the people in village 2 of Quang Kim commune participate, but this sim season in the south of Hoanh Son Quan range also attracts many people from other communes in Quang Trach district, such as Quang Hop, Quang Luu, Quang Trung, Quang Phu to make a living. Most of the people going up the mountain and across the stream to Hoanh Son Quan to pick sim are women and students taking advantage of the summer vacation. Perhaps due to the characteristics of endurance and quick hands, sim picking is more suitable for women and children.
Nguyen Thi Hien (11th grade student, Quang Trung High School) in Quang Phu commune said: “Picking sim is not a hard job, as long as you are diligent and hardworking, you will make money. Each sim season lasts 2 months, I earn 5 million. That is a huge amount of money for us, thanks to wild sim fruit, for the past few years I have not had to ask my parents for money to buy books and clothes for the new school year. My parents also have less burden. That is why every year we eagerly wait for the sim season to ripen so we can go picking.”
After the season of blackberry, it is the season of mulberry, Chinese jujube, cassia, and chestnut. Each season has its own fruit, so many people have "stuck" to the forest of Hoanh Son Quan to make a living. Like Ms. Hoa, Ms. Pham Thi Lien (Quang Kim)'s main job is a construction worker. But when the fruit season comes, Ms. Lien "sticks to the forest" to pick fruit. Many years of following the fruit season in the Hoanh Son Quan forest have helped Ms. Lien's family buy breeding cows and repair a house with a roof above and a roof below.
Excitedly sharing her heart, Ms. Lien said: “Last year during the strawberry and blackberry picking season, I earned more than 30 million VND. Thanks to that money, I was able to buy a breeding cow and save money to repair my house.”
During his lifetime, President Ho affirmed: "Forests are gold, if we know how to protect and build them, they are very precious." Following Uncle Ho's teachings, the people of Nam Hoanh Son Quan (Quang Trach, Quang Binh) have protected the forest safely for many years. Today, by-products from the forest have brought sustainable income to many households living near the forest.
More excitingly, many households in Quang Luu, Quang Kim, and Quang Hop communes have brought wild sim trees to their gardens and forests to plant and protect. In addition to the income from the main fruit, the blooming season on the hills of sim trees planted, protected and protected also opens up a direction for developing experiential tourism, helping many households to become rich legitimately.
Bon Pi Nao creates golden seasons on the marshy land
Comment (0)