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aggienaut So let's say you're in Morocco, a rockin the casbah and perusing the bazaars. You happen across a booth where they are selling perfumes and ointments made from the rare and exotic argan oil of Morocco. Being a lass -or perhaps a lad named Dennis- with a penchant for perfumes and perfumers, you immediately buy some from the friendly merchant (who insists "a special deal for you my friend!", but actually fleeced you), and lather some of the sweet smelling oil all over your face.
Argan trees are endemic to the Sous Valley in southwestern Morocco, where the only natural argan forest in the world is a UNESCO protected biosphere. Goats love to climb these thirty foot tall trees to nosh on the olive-like fruit.
These goats are not just kidding around!
Now at some point, someone with a lot of chutzpah decided for some reason that oil could be extracted from these goats' subsequent droppings. How this was discovered strikes me as a mystery on a level with the question of who first thought of trying to milk a cow (seriously, clear your mind of the cultural norm that cow's milk is the natural product of cartons in the refridgerator section of the grocery market and put yourself in the flimsy shoes of a caveman staring at a saber-toothed woolly proto-cow and thinking "I'm gonna sneak up on that thing and squeeze its teat!").
Anyway, it turns out that apparently these goat droppings actually do make really good oil, and so it has become a regular practice in the region to press the oil out of the goat-leavings and bottle it for use in cooking and cosmetics.
Today all argan oil produced in Morocco is produced by women's cooperatives, which spread the profits among the women of the local tribes. In its journey from a goat's tuches to your face the oil provides 20 million workdays per year, according to wikipedia.
In similar news, you may have heard of the coffee which is made exclusively from beans that have traveled the digestive tract and been pooped out from weasel-like civets. I haven't experienced this coffee myself directly, but there's a pretty good beer made with it that I can recommend.
And here's a picture I took of a goat riding a donkey in Egypt.
Special thanks to my friend Aaron whom I consulted for more perspective on the yiddish usage of bupkes, and he instead brought this oil to my attention. And here I'd googled "goat droppings" several times already and only found piles of manure. If it weren't for Aaron I was going to have to write an entry about why bees sometimes paint their porches polka-dot and what to do about it!
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Date: 2011-12-09 12:09 am (UTC)This was a very fun and interesting read, and I love the photos!
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Date: 2011-12-09 03:45 am (UTC)Nesting
Date: 2011-12-10 07:29 pm (UTC)"harold, there are goats roosting in the front tree again will you go out with the broom and shake them out?"
Re: Nesting
Date: 2011-12-11 02:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-09 03:46 am (UTC)Second, I know what you mean about milking cows. I always assumed it must have been a by-product of killing a cow and finding her udder full of milk, because, as you say, it would be hard to sneak up on wild cows and milk them. On the other hand, someone invented bull-fighting and beekeeping...so...?
And finally, I love the pics you added to this one. Charming entry all around.
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Date: 2011-12-10 08:24 pm (UTC)Okay you've inspired me to look it up on wikipedia, which of course addresses the issue. Wiki surmises that cows were first domesticated for their meat and then once they were good and domestic someone then braved up for a teat squeeze.
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Date: 2011-12-09 03:54 am (UTC)I want to focus on your actual entry, really, but I keep getting distracted by the fact that there is a GOAT. Riding a DONKEY. I no longer understand the world.
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Date: 2011-12-09 05:09 am (UTC)I LOVE the photo you took. Goat's are too cute, haha.
Funny entry! And I've sort of always wondered that about cows, haha.
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Date: 2011-12-13 01:40 am (UTC)I looked it up on wikipedia after writing this entry, wiki surmises the saber-toothed woolly proto-cows were first domesticated for their meat and THEN someone decided to go for the teat squeeze.
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Date: 2011-12-09 07:54 pm (UTC)This was awesome, and the pictures worked well in your post. :)
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Date: 2011-12-13 01:44 am (UTC)I was remarking about what shitty topics we've been getting, by which I mean this one and the coprolite one. Such crap! :D
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Date: 2011-12-09 07:54 pm (UTC)And that picture of the goats in the tree is amazing. The goat riding the donkey is awesome, too--I mean, how can a goat riding a donkey not be awesome? But I really want to see how those goats get down out of the tree.
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Date: 2011-12-13 01:45 am (UTC)and thanks! :D
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Date: 2011-12-13 01:55 am (UTC)And the goats in the tree came from this site which looks relatively reliable (:
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Date: 2011-12-10 02:52 am (UTC)I have been using this oil on my wayward hair, works a treat too!
The world is an amazing place.
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Date: 2011-12-12 06:27 pm (UTC)It's amazing what folks have used for perfume.
Date: 2011-12-13 12:11 am (UTC)You probably already know where ambergris comes from. And if you don't I have two words for you:
Whale spew.
(G)
A fascinating post. Thanks for sharing.
Re: It's amazing what folks have used for perfume.
Date: 2011-12-13 12:29 am (UTC)