Ait M'hamed Day 13
Left at 6 to meet Zahara to help her collect fodder (ejaretan- both the plants and action of collection). Earliest activity I’ve observed yet here or Imegdale aside from transit taxis- nobody else was about in the centre except two men. It was about a 20 minute walk to her field at the outer edge of Bernet (her nearer one as was told to me yesterday). We passed the time pointing at things and naming them, although it was mostly me asking what different things were in broken Tamazirt.
After crossing a bridge over a river we arrived in her field ‘egren’, which was half apples ‘tefe’ with alfalfa-‘lefst’ and weeds-touga underneath. There was an astounding amount of The other portion closer to the road was erden or wheat- I’m still having trouble distinguishing this from ‘timzine’ barley when the plant are younger. Aside from height and sometimes shade of green depending how young they look remarkably similar- grass/grain identification is always rather tricky. We set to work using a sickle to cut the lefst, but throwing it into piles to bundle later rather than bundle as we went like I learned in Amslane. I was taking too big of strokes and bunches so she kept saying ‘ee-mic’ ‘e-meec’ or a little…I think. Since there was only one sickle and glove between us we took turns harvesting. In between I watched and took pictures of the field and different touga flowering in her crops. Soon another older women whom I met yesterday joined as well to collect. After a time she gave me her scarf to kneel on so my knees would not take so much force, very thankful for this. It was amazing how much we cleared (or they did since I seemed slower). We piled the loose touga into the donkeys basket saddle apparatus, then the women tied two bundles to put on top in scarves. And the remainder we tied into bundles with the longer plants to encircle and secure. And then other women carried it on her back. I tried to take it but they seemed insistent on not letting me.
The ‘arole-‘ donkey, the key being in this expedition since he carried back the load, but after a few hours of happily munching the wildflowers and lefst on the edge of the field, he did not seem keen to walk back with such massive piles of touga. I feel so terrible every time a donkey or mule here has to have those head ties with metal mouth bits forced on. This donkey still attempted to chew a few plants in spite of it.
Turtle sighting! While walking back across the bridge we saw about a dozen turtles jumping off the little suspension island below. I get so excited every time I see a new animal here, and its so surprising how many amphibians and now reptiles live in the rivers here despite the plastic pollution and prevalence of washing suds, and liquid waste from homes. The ecology is standing up or adapting perhaps- bit then again I don’t have a previous state to compare and people haven’t noted a great loss, but I can’t ask without a translator- will wait for Abdellatif.
Upon arriving back we lead the donkey and another by her house to tracker tires that we filled with touga and also released the cow to eat (she got a significantly larger portion). The rest was stored in the under-stair toilet. Zahara then insisted I come upstairs. They have two cats and kitten which was so cute! When I was trying to coax it in the sitting room since it seemed so afraid, she hit it to move out of the room. Zahara kept trying to offer tea, but I did not want to be rude and break fasting in front of them since they would have to wait for iftar. It’s been alright fasting so far, mainly hard when sick as well since my energy is a bit lower, but it actually makes working a lot faster since we don’t have to spend ages at eat house having tea and food, and timing is just around people’s work instead of meal breaks and work.
People both here and in Amslane show huge dedication to their animals, it’s basically the main job of most women. Even the smaller animals like cats (and sometimes dogs) have a role in pest eradication and protection and food waste disposal, which is why people welcome them in or near their homes. But the conditions, they are kept in are not ideal. This makes sense to a degree since they are there are work assistants, compost machines or providers of food and wool. But sometimes it’s hard to tell which factors are most at play- poverty, community laws, or the species hierarchy that leaves some animals in less than healthful environments. It’s been very interesting to think about some ideas about human-animal relations outside of more capitalist or mass production, and alternative ways to relate to animals and the species hierarchy and what animal products mean to people in different contexts.