Amslane Day 4- Meeting the cows and mountain hikes
Took another hike behind the houses in the grazing/uncultivated mountain zone to do some plant collection. It was so windy there was a small dust storm beginning and I sheltered behind one of concrete slabs for fear of blowing over and to avoid being pelted with tiny stones. After waiting squatting by one of the plants I was attempting to collect the air cleared a bit and I could trek down. Collected several specimens including the tescara (a spiky asteraceae) that we had seen being eaten or collected the past few days, and am attempting to press them with newspaper and some books I brought.
During second breakfast tea with Yemena and Halti Hadija, they said it was dangerous for me to be hiking up the hillside in these windy conditions (I agree, but given that morning activity is limited I still needed to collect some data). Since Yemena said it was too windy to collect fodder from the fields or trees higher on the mountain she needed to get alim (bought barley straw) to feed the cow today from the mountainside storehouse. The smell of straw brought up memories of feeding my childhood rabbit and guinea pig.
After I carried the straw back to animal pen. Yemena mixed the alim in a bucket with foodscraps and dish water. The cow started to munch immediately (as did the chickens). With her permission I was taking photos to document, and Yemena kept saying phrases with facebook and smiling, but I had no way of explaining it was for research and not facebook. I have to say although I knew some people here had smart phones I was not expecting much facebook use, but it makes sense given how remote they are. (It seems that only the younger generations have accounts, but its more that people know of these platforms than use them).
I have not seen any cows outside their pen buildings, they are visually invisible, but certainly do add a lot to the soundscape of the village. Only sheep and goats appear to graze, chickens run all over the village with the cats, and donkeys are always walking with the men usually carrying building materials, feed/food sacks, or the men are riding.
After a lovely tagine lunch that Souad cooked, Halti Hadija and Halti Iesha asked to have their pictures taken as well as Fatim and Yousef since I took some of Yemena with the alim. They children are not camera shy, funny since considering how much they hide and play shy with us, glad they are starting to feel more comfortable.