I travelled about 7,000 miles to get to Morocco, and I’m seven time zones away from California. It’s a long way in place and time. I’m readjusting to a different way of doing things. It’s not so different than many places I’ve lived in the past, so the adjustments are somewhat familiar. It’s pleasant, and maybe a bit nostalgic to recapture how I’ve lived with similar situations in the past, but it still requires a bit of thinking to change current habits.
I know I’m in the desert because I was up early this morning (6 AM), turned on the tap, and found there was no water. In many desert places, they turn off the water at night, and that’s the case here. I just asked Noureddine, the guesthouse’s general handyman, and he said the town turns off the water at midnight, until about 7 AM.
Things don’t start very early here right now. It’s still Ramadan, so locals eat very early and then go back to bed, and get up later. There is no noise until after seven…and so far I haven’t heard any early morning breaking-the-fast noise. Since it’s warm during the day, I like to be up and out early, but apparently that’s not how it works here.
My computer says it’s 1:12 AM…here in Taroudant it’s 8:12 AM on a cool, sunny morning, and breakfast is being cooked downstairs. There is a central air shaft in the building, as is apparently common, which brings in light and circulates air. It is whitewashed a bright white, so it brings in a lot of light. The kitchen is three floors down, and opens onto the airshaft as well, so all the amazing smells of cooking waft up to me on the 4th floor. As the air moves nicely, they don’t stick around, though.
On the way to the oasis, the road goes through what is called the Argan “Forest”. It is now just scattered argan trees and a lot of bare ground. It used to be much more dense, but overgrazing and reduced rainfall have made it look like the Sahel. We saw a number of mixed goat & sheep herds browsing on the argan trees. Literally “on”, the goats climb up to get to more succulent branches. The sheep mostly eat branches around the base and only get up on horizontal trunks, but the goats were at least 20 feet up in one of the trees! Look at them in the tree!
Argan is a very drought tolerant tree with very deep roots, which produces a fruit like an olive. The kernel inside the hard shell is a little bigger than a shelled pumpkin seed, and it produces a very high quality oil which is used for cooking and cosmetics. There is a high demand for it, but it is labor intensive to produce, and it is mostly hand labor. As a result, it is very expensive – a liter of the cooking oil costs almost $40. It tastes okay, but apparently the big draw is the health properties of it…and the trees are not really cultivated, so it is sold as “bio” or organic.
In the coop shop that sold the oil, I tasted it…it was okay, but I wouldn’t pay $40 a liter to cook with it. On the skin, it was a good moisturizer, and is supposed to reduce scarring, so maybe it would be worth it for that. If it gives women some independent income and power, I’m all for it!
Nearby the “Argan Forest” is the oasis of Tiout. There is a Kasbah or fortress high above it dating from the 16th century and the oasis is green with thousands of date palms. Tiout was a way station on the ancient salt route from Mali & Niger and the date palms are relics of that era. According to Saïd, they are not the best varieties, but just grew up from discarded date pits over the centuries. Visually it seemed there were lots of varieties, as there were many colors …red, yellow, orange, green and brown dates, some were different stages of ripeness, but none were ripe for eating - another month or so. 
I know I’m in the desert because I was up early this morning (6 AM), turned on the tap, and found there was no water. In many desert places, they turn off the water at night, and that’s the case here. I just asked Noureddine, the guesthouse’s general handyman, and he said the town turns off the water at midnight, until about 7 AM.
Things don’t start very early here right now. It’s still Ramadan, so locals eat very early and then go back to bed, and get up later. There is no noise until after seven…and so far I haven’t heard any early morning breaking-the-fast noise. Since it’s warm during the day, I like to be up and out early, but apparently that’s not how it works here.
My computer says it’s 1:12 AM…here in Taroudant it’s 8:12 AM on a cool, sunny morning, and breakfast is being cooked downstairs. There is a central air shaft in the building, as is apparently common, which brings in light and circulates air. It is whitewashed a bright white, so it brings in a lot of light. The kitchen is three floors down, and opens onto the airshaft as well, so all the amazing smells of cooking waft up to me on the 4th floor. As the air moves nicely, they don’t stick around, though.
On the way to the oasis, the road goes through what is called the Argan “Forest”. It is now just scattered argan trees and a lot of bare ground. It used to be much more dense, but overgrazing and reduced rainfall have made it look like the Sahel. We saw a number of mixed goat & sheep herds browsing on the argan trees. Literally “on”, the goats climb up to get to more succulent branches. The sheep mostly eat branches around the base and only get up on horizontal trunks, but the goats were at least 20 feet up in one of the trees! Look at them in the tree!Argan is a very drought tolerant tree with very deep roots, which produces a fruit like an olive. The kernel inside the hard shell is a little bigger than a shelled pumpkin seed, and it produces a very high quality oil which is used for cooking and cosmetics. There is a high demand for it, but it is labor intensive to produce, and it is mostly hand labor. As a result, it is very expensive – a liter of the cooking oil costs almost $40. It tastes okay, but apparently the big draw is the health properties of it…and the trees are not really cultivated, so it is sold as “bio” or organic.
We went to a cooperative where they produce argan oil. The coop was started to provide income for women. The fruits are harvested dry, so the pulp is dried like a husk and has to be separated. They had a mechanical huller at the cooperative, but it was maybe 50% effective, so then someone has to sort the clean nuts from those still with the dried fruit on them. Then they go to the women who, by hand, use a small stone knocked against a larger stone to open the shell and get the kernel. They were incredible fast, but it sure seemed like they would hit their fingers – it takes skill. They are paid by the amount of kernels they produce, so they work very quickly.
In the coop shop that sold the oil, I tasted it…it was okay, but I wouldn’t pay $40 a liter to cook with it. On the skin, it was a good moisturizer, and is supposed to reduce scarring, so maybe it would be worth it for that. If it gives women some independent income and power, I’m all for it!Nearby the “Argan Forest” is the oasis of Tiout. There is a Kasbah or fortress high above it dating from the 16th century and the oasis is green with thousands of date palms. Tiout was a way station on the ancient salt route from Mali & Niger and the date palms are relics of that era. According to Saïd, they are not the best varieties, but just grew up from discarded date pits over the centuries. Visually it seemed there were lots of varieties, as there were many colors …red, yellow, orange, green and brown dates, some were different stages of ripeness, but none were ripe for eating - another month or so.
The oasis is also a victim of global warming…it used to be fed by a spring, but it dried up, and rainfall runoff is not enough, so they are now pumping groundwater to keep it going. They were growing alfalfa, maize, pumpkins, and other vegetables under the date palms. They plant three crops a year, rotating from grains to beans or fava beans, then to vegetables. It is considered organic as no pesticides are used…but I don’t know about fertilizers. I only saw manure from donkeys and sheep.
In this scarce water area, it seems odd to be growing so many high water use crops, but apparently if you have the money to dig a deep enough well, you can use all the water you want. Saïd says there have been efforts to legislate water use, but it has failed every time. I was surprised to see a lot of corn, even on government land that is allotted to individual farmers: 6 hectares (about 15 acres) per farmer. I thought all couscous was made from wheat, but here they make flour and couscous from barley and corn as well. Apparently the maize couscous is preferred.
In this scarce water area, it seems odd to be growing so many high water use crops, but apparently if you have the money to dig a deep enough well, you can use all the water you want. Saïd says there have been efforts to legislate water use, but it has failed every time. I was surprised to see a lot of corn, even on government land that is allotted to individual farmers: 6 hectares (about 15 acres) per farmer. I thought all couscous was made from wheat, but here they make flour and couscous from barley and corn as well. Apparently the maize couscous is preferred.
After seeing all the abandoned farms, Lesson for the day…use water wisely, or you may lose it.
What a treat to hear from you! Sounds like you're off to a great start, although you could have stayed in Auburn to see goats and sheep grazing together - we just finished the multi-species grazing academy this afternoon.
ReplyDeleteKeep the posts coming - we're all traveling vicariously through you!