壹九八壹年夏，吳冠中返故鄉宜興寫生。他在宜興郊外見桑林葦塘，因憶白居易詩「厚地植桑麻」引起其畫興，筆下遂有速寫〈故鄉〉。後又移作彩墨，寫成本幅。本幅約寫成於八十年代初期，僅鈐印，未署款，直待九十年代，才由畫家補署。
圖中半植桑林，半繞葦草，池塘靜躺其間，祗見彩葉浮蕩，鴨子悠然遊掠而過，白墻黑瓦的江南民居，隱約散布於後。畫家筆下描劃的正是「半畝方塘壹鑒開，天光雲影共徘徊」，靜謐安和而生機勃發的環境，無疑是對鄉情的惦念，亦如「源頭活水」般從中激發其源源不絶的創作意念。
"Note:" the mulberry garden in my hometown, the reed pond in my hometown, and the house of my aunt and uncle are similar in my memory." - wu guanzhong
In the summer of 1981, wu guanzhong returned to his hometown yixing to sketch. He saw mulin weitang on the outskirts of yixing. His paintings were inspired by bai juyi's poem "thickly planting mulberry hemp". And then moved to color ink, write cost. This written about in the early eighty s, only QianYin, no department, until the ninety s, only by artist agency.
In the picture, half planted mulberry forest and half surrounded by reed grass, the pond lies still in it, only to see colorful leaves floating, ducks swimming leisurely and skimming by, and jiangnan folk houses with white walls and black tiles faintly scattered behind. Artist works tracing strokes is "a half acre Fang Tang summary, skylight cloud wandering together", quiet and Ann and thriving environment, is undoubtedly the nostalgia of miss, also like "origin" inspiring its endless creative ideas."
