Subsistence Farming in Morocco
Farmhouse in eastern Morocco
Simple homes like the one shown above are a common sight in the poorer parts of rural Morocco. At this point we were still travelling through the Atlas Mountains south east of Fes. As you can see in the picture, the terrain is very rocky all around. This means that there is no shortage of building materials – cheap, handy, easy to use and effective. Interestingly, the farmer is in the process of improving the look of the house by applying what looks like a form of whitewash to the walls.
Despite the remote location of this farm I notice that they do have a supply of electricity. I also note the satellite dish on the right hand side wall. In some of the towns such dishes could be seen in their hundreds, sometimes dozens on one apartment building alone. If you look carefully you can see the farmer ploughing the ground up the hill behind the house (see enlarged photo below). I have no idea what he was intending to grow. This was the middle of winter so he was getting ready for planting something in the early spring perhaps.
I noticed very few tractors in the poorer rural areas of Morocco. Donkey power was common, however, and this farmer was also using a donkey coupled with what looks like a mule.
Farming in eastern Morocco
An intriguing door
Doorway in Rabat, Morocco
On our wanderings through the Kasbah des Oudaias in Rabat, Morocco, I came across this intriguing door. Some doors were decorated in some way, but none as elaborately as this one. It features a number of what look like metal plates, several horses pulling chariots, a horse-shoe, a mermaid and no less than five scissors across the top. Apart from the number of the house, there was no indication of who lived there, or whether a particular enterprise was undertaken within.
The writer in me wants to ask questions like: who lived here? What trade did they follow? Was someone living here a dress maker, a tailor, a lover of horses?
Intriguing.