IN HONOR OF THE BOVIDAE (COWS)

There is an odd smell in my village lately. As I take my evening stroll about town, I note that people are pouring a thick, brown, paste on the dirt ground outside their homes and smearing it with a broom. I stop to observe and ask “Inona Ity?” (what is that?) “Tay Omby” they say, cow poop. Naturally at first, I think I don’t understand the Malagasy and walk a little closer. But the smell confirms it.

 
Just when I think I have seen and heard it all, now this. We are entering the end of summer and it is the second rice harvesting season. It takes about 4 months from planting to harvest time. And all the women, men and children are in the fields with scythes cutting rice, then the rice is bundled and carried to town on the heads of every man, woman and child because there are no trucks to do this back breaking work. They carry the rice home and  beat it against rocks to separate the rice kernels from the stems, the machines are their arms and back!  Rice feeds more people in the world than any other crop. Malagasy are the largest consumers of rice in the world, averaging about 20 pounds of rice a month, per person.  I do not exaggerated  when I say they eat  ALOT of rice!  3 times day at every meal.

 
And you ask, what does this have to do with cow poop. Evidently dried cow poop makes a good tight seal on the dirt floor outside and helps keep small rocks and bugs from getting into the rice that is thrashed and swept into large bags to be carried to the mill. There actually is a machine that mills the rice, removing the brown husk from the outside.

 
As they are explaining this to me I am left thinking, hmmm which situation would I rather be in, the possibility of biting down on a small stone, perhaps cracking a tooth or a horrific intestinal disease from ingesting  cow poop. Hard decision!!
But then I do cook the rice, so perhaps that kills the bacteria. But then again, the rice goes through the milling process and kicks out most stones. And hey a few bugs, well-cooked never killed anyone.

 

I never much appreciated cows before this. Now I realize what a gift they are. Providing all our ice cream, butter, cheese, yogurt! And of course, the all-American hamburger and steaks. I reflect back on the fashionable leather purses and shoes I have had, courtesy of our friend the cow. They are work animals here, pulling large wagons filled with rice or produce. They also make jewelry from the horns. And now I know their “Tay” makes a good, sealed, shiny, brown, linoleum type floor! No wonder they are considered sacred in India.

 
Google cow poop- I dare you! You will find there are lots of uses around the world for it.

 

A gem can not be polished without friction, nor a man without trials. Seneca 

 

Spreading Tay                                                                   Carrying rice home

                               

Hauling Rice                                                                   Drying rice on the ground

                         

Children working the fields