【Wang Zengqi | Wild Vegetables from My Hometown】Goji Berries

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On spring mornings, especially after a light rain, one can hear the voices of those selling goji berry stems. It’s usually girls from the nearby villages who sell goji berries’ stems; their voices are very clear. “Sell goji berries’ stems!” ”The goji berries were placed in a bamboo basket, a rectangular-shaped one called a \"yuanbao basket\"; the goji berries were wet from the rain, and the girl’s voice as well was damp from the rain. Goji berries aren’t very expensive, and there’s no need to weigh them; just give them some money, and they’ll pour the whole bunch into your hands. Girls don’t treat this as a serious business either; they sell it just to make enough money for a bottle of hair oil. You can pick it by yourself; it’s not a hassle. In a short while, you can pick a bunch. Goji berries are everywhere. The playground at my elementary school used to be a site for sacrificing to heaven and earth, called the \"Heaven and Earth Altar\". At the base of the surrounding walls of the Temple of Heaven, this is what grows there. Goji berries produce small white flowers in summer, and in autumn they bear many small red fruits, which are the goji berries themselves. When we were kids, we called them “dog’s milk bulbs” because they resembled a dog’s mammary glands. Goji berries are also served in a cold dish, with an aroma that is even more delicate than that of shepherd’s purse.