There is always a mountain that makes you jump for joy

The hillside of Mamahua is such a place


Along the Juma River, the majestic Taihang

Autumn is shining, surrounded by mountains

terraced fields, colorful leaves

Deep courtyard


Exploring the mountains and wilds:

Beat persimmons, pick hawthorns

Know Herbs, Find Fossils

Pick flowers, grind soybean milk

Watching birds, encountering little squirrels...



From Tianjin to the hillside of Mamahua, back and forth thousands of miles, although the distance is far away, I have the next thought about it. During the 2-day and 1-night mountain experience, I followed the natural history teacher and brought Jing Xing to a vivid, interesting and vivid nature lesson. This is a journey to germinate children's love and cognition of nature, and it is also an opportunity for children to return to nature and raise them, which has benefited a lot.



In the mountains, there are fun and learning


Autumn in the north is so short that people have not had time to feel it before the next solar term. On the day of Lidong, I came to this Nanyu Village hidden in the mountains of Yesanpo. The warm sun is shining, the autumn wind is caressing, and the sky is connected with the mountains; on the terraced fields in the distance, there are colorful leaves, distinct The branches, the yellow and orange persimmons hanging on the branches, are the brightest; the crowing of chickens and the barking of dogs are the only things that can be heard in the silent mountain forest.


The persimmons after frost are now ripe, and they can last for a month or two hanging high on the branches.


"One morning or one afternoon, the clouds that once called the wind and rain dispersed, and the gentle and clear sky was filled with the happy colors of autumn." As the poet Hermann Hesse wrote, yes, where the eyes can see, only With this persimmon, it can best cure the bleakness and coldness of this late autumn, and give people a sense of happiness and satisfaction.



The people in the village are also happy and fulfilled, working at sunrise and resting at sunset every day. After late autumn, it is gradually entering winter, and the days are getting shorter and shorter. Spend half a day basking in the sun, and before the sun goes down, go to the field to chop a firewood and prepare two meals; Xing is also eager to try and want to carry it...



The natural vegetation here is rich and original, and you can see many butterflies and fireflies in summer, but you can often meet small squirrels all year round. Walking and walking, I saw a little squirrel wandering into the land of chickens, ducks and geese looking for food. Everyone stood there staring blankly for a long time, only to see the little squirrel quickly jumped into the hole in the wall after finding a walnut .



·Hit persimmons and pick hawthorns


Autumn is clear and sweet, leaving us with unique food, which can be eaten after picking, just like persimmons and hawthorn fruits, which can also be dried in the sun, steamed and boiled to become another kind of delicacy. As soon as I arrived at the small courtyard, I saw the housekeepers of the B&B drying persimmons in full swing, hanging them under the eaves and decorating the yard.



There is a persimmon tree on the back hill next to Mamahua Courtyard, and the branches are bent down by the fruitful persimmons. Swing the long pole, aim at the persimmons, and with a little force, one can be hooked off. The children had a lot of fun picking up persimmons on the ground. In old Beijing, eating persimmons is called "drinking honey". You can take a small sip from the middle and suck it directly, or you can peel it off and eat it. The juice inside is as soft as egg yolk and sweet as honey.



Eating alone is not enough. There is a lot of knowledge here. Later, the natural history teacher told us that the persimmons we eat are grown by grafting black jujube trees and persimmon trees. If they are not grafted, they will grow small persimmons.



It is also very convenient to pick hawthorns with a long-pole cloth bag for beating persimmons. There are fallen hawthorn fruits in the grass on the ground, all of which are very fresh, and you can pick up a bag in a short time. They are sweet and delicious.



·Go to the mountains to know the herbs and look for fossils


The steward of the small courtyard led the way, and followed the naturalist teacher, preparing to enter the mountain. Autumn leaves fluttered and fell with the wind, stepped on the soft grass, the trees around the head lost their summer luxuriance, changed their autumn clothes, changed their body shape, red, yellow... Just like this, I was caught off guard Into the fairy tale in autumn.



Around the small mountain ridge, one bend, two bends... The further you go to the back of the mountain, the wider the field of vision. The autumn mountains in the north are vast, but they have a layered beauty and a sense of thickness. The children of Jing Xing followed the older friends all the way, and walked down the whole journey by themselves. As long as the mountain road is worn tightly to prevent being stuck by thorns, basically children over 3 years old will have no problem. There is only a short section of two or three meters of rocky road that is steep and uneven, and needs to be crossed sideways.



The natural history teacher is simply an "encyclopedia" that moves around. He will stop and explain to everyone when he sees any plants.



▼The one-root grass grows from the crevice of the stone. The teacher said that its flowers are very fairy (see the lower right corner of the picture). After checking the information, it turns out that its flowers are the "rock flowers" that grow from the cracks in the rocks that we often see in the mountains in spring. Three treasures of rock flowers in Fangshan: clematis maple leaf, unigrass, and corydalis, which can be seen in Pofengling in spring.

▼"The soft strips are flowing, and the leaves are falling gracefully", this kind of white fluffy cotton ball is the common clematis in summer, with yellow stamens and white petals, very fresh. Clematis often grows in hilly shrubs in low mountainous areas. It can withstand severe cold, but is afraid of stagnant water.

▼Radix, also called milk sorrel grass, is a Chinese herbal medicine. It likes to grow twining around bushes and hedges. The picture shows a radish plant growing with wild jujube branches, because the dense needles of wild jujube have become its self-defense weapon. Open the husk and the fluffy seeds burst open and fly away like dandelions when blown.


Birds are natural architects and build their nests once a year. The teacher told everyone that we must protect the bird's home and not take it away casually, otherwise the bird will not find a home when it gets tired. Yes, birds are friends of human beings, they maintain ecological balance, protect the natural world, and they can also sing to people.



After arriving at the back mountain, we came to an open area, and everyone took a short rest. The valleys on both sides are deep and secluded, and the persimmons are hanging high. The shepherds are taking care of the sheepfolds, and the adults are very interested in picking up the persimmons.



It belongs to the Yanshan area and is a landform formed after the Quaternary glaciation. The teacher pointed to the stones under his feet and told us that there are many sedimentary rocks here, with obvious bedding structures and rich paleontological fossils. The children were so curious that they began to knock on the stone to see what they could find inside.



The sharp-eyed child searched around and found a new discovery - a dental bone of a local herbivore. The teacher said: "The structure is compatible with the function. According to the length characteristics of its molar arrangement, the animal's habits can be determined." From discovery to Interpretation, a vivid and peculiar nature lesson, is vividly presented here. During the bird watching in the Juma River the next day, the children also found a stone that was suspected to be a fern fossil. Nature is a treasure, containing too much knowledge, we need to explore and understand.



· Sheepfold Café, a lesson about food and flowers


Sheepfold Café is a special public space for Mamahua’s hillside B&B. You can order a cup of coffee here, have a pleasant afternoon tea, or read a book, work, hold a meeting, or hold a variety of activities .



As it was getting late, everyone gathered at the Sheepfold Café and listened to a lecture about food and the art of flower arrangement by the naturalist teacher. Fruits are the most common ones, but what are the fruits, what can be eaten, and how to eat them? Can we really tell the difference? In the words of the teacher, "Eating is a science, and the world of foodies has botany." What we thought to be simple common sense in life has become a problem that needs to be studied carefully.



Flower arrangement is an art and a poetic way of life. The simple flowers in the mountains can be turned into beauty through the teacher's guidance without colorful branches. Flower arrangement can not only cultivate temperament and enjoy life, but also decorate the room and feel the four seasons.




Juma Riverside, bird watching


It is a 10-minute drive from Mamahua's Hillside B&B. There is an open platform and water area. This is the habitat of the black stork, a first-class national protected animal. It is especially suitable for bird watching in autumn and winter. It was a bit windy that day, walking on the single-plank bridge, I was slightly shivered by the blowing. On both sides of the Juma River, there are steep cliffs and towering peaks. The clear river at the foot passes through the beach and flows gracefully; the reeds are green and the dew is full.



One thing to know about bird watching is that birds are very sensitive in hearing, vision and movement. The teacher explained to everyone a lot of precautions when watching birds, such as not wearing bright clothes, not speaking loudly, and how to use professional binoculars correctly. Perhaps a short class of children can't recognize birds, but told him that in front of nature, we must follow the rules and respect it.



Eating brazier around the stove


In the mountains, it started to get dark at 5 o'clock.

The butler sister lit the brazier and prepared our dinner.



The twilight is cool and joyful. Everyone sits around the brazier pot, which is steaming. The small pot contains a lot of things, such as dried vegetables, tofu, sauerkraut, konjac... With bell peppers, the whole room is filled with a faint aroma.



our yard


Nanyu Village is a long and narrow village distributed from north to south. There are 15 courtyards scattered on both sides. We live in a three-bedroom house in No. 1 courtyard. The front yard is a transparent and bright restaurant on both sides. It's three bedrooms and one living room. This courtyard is also the lowest one, with neighbors on the left and right. Just a few steps away from the door is a gazebo where the old people in the village gather to talk and talk at home. You can naturally integrate into the life here and feel the folk customs here.



There are a few green bamboos in the yard with sparse leaf shadows; the crisp sound of wind chimes awakens the hazy sleepiness. The mint in the corner in front of the door is still green and shiny, exuding a faint fragrance.



The large floor-to-ceiling windows at the front and back of the room invite plenty of sunlight in. The cement-textured tea break table naturally separates the reading, office and leisure areas. The bedrooms all have separate bathrooms, and the cotton linen bedding is very comfortable. Floor heating and air conditioning are both available. Now that winter is just starting, basically only the floor heating is turned on, and the heat is very hot.



· Grinding soybean milk


The stone mill was invented by Lu Ban, and the founder of soybean milk and tofu was Liu An, king of Huainan in the Western Han Dynasty more than 1900 years ago. The night before, he and Jing Xing watched a small video of grinding soybean milk on the Internet, but they were so excited that they couldn't fall asleep, and it took them a long time to tell stories before they could lull them to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I said was: "Is Mr. Sun coming out? Can I go out and grind soybean milk?"



Because he was too small and out of reach, Jing Xing couldn't sit and grind steadily like his sister, so he went around the stone mill with great effort, but most of the results were grinded by his sister alone. Reluctant to leave.



· Comfortable breakfast


Thick millet porridge, handmade steamed buns, firewood eggs harvested by farmers in the village, and farmhouse stir-fried dishes with mamahua...every dish is delicious, and there is a large pot of soybean milk ground early in the morning, which is thick and original. Only in such time and space can we enjoy a good breakfast.


The 2 days and 1 night mountain course is very short and meaningful. It is worth doing to let children play freely in nature and communicate with nature without restraint and dogma, stimulate his perception and interest, and give him a little enlightenment.