Where the heck did I go? I posted 3 weeks ago if my maths do me correct. Time flew by. I have no explanation. Well, except that I have not had a whole lot to post about.
I could have titled this post any number of things:
- The Dog Days of Summer (Cliche theme)
- Cruel Summer (Bananarama theme)
- Lazy Summer (This title makes me sound well… Lazy or lethargic, neither of which I want associated with)
- Scorching Summer (While it is hot here, my town is generally the nicest place to be in the summer)
- The Boys of Summer (Don Henley themed)
sigh…
I am not at all saying my title of “The Fruits of Summer” is better than the above. It is just literal, and relevant to the subjects of… you guessed it… Fruits, AND Summer!
Summer in the High Altlas mountains yields many things. Here are a few:
- Bad air quality (due to smog, dust aloft, harvesting wheat)
- Allergies, then Asthma (after 20 years it returned…)
- Hot weather… but dry
- Gorgeous outdoor activities (Soccer, Biking, Hiking, Camping, Swimming)
- Fruits.
I love my village in the summer. If I actually had a lot of work going on, then I might love it even more. BUT, then I couldn’t just relax, and enjoy the laid back summer days. Here is a profile for you. Generally, the daytime temp gets somewhere between 90-95. For me, being from Ohio, this is hot. Except when you factor in there is little to no humidity. I have a rough time gauging the temperature because of this lack of humidity.
My house, made out of mud, generally stays 75 degrees. At night I open the windows to let fresh and cool air into the house, otherwise the temp would be a bit higher. The insulation of my thick mud walls is a super-great blessing. Which baffles me as people do not build this way anymore, and the cement/thin brick buildings get super cold in the winter, and fairly hot and humid in the summer.
We get a bit of precipitation in the form of thunderstorms. MAYBE once every 10 days. This in after daytime heating usually, and lasts for 15 minutes.
Overall, this is (in my opinion, and a few others) the nicest place to be during the summer. With that said, I despise traveling, and thus going to lower elevations, and hotter temperatures and higher humidity. So I try to stay put as much as possible. I have to leave once in a while for meetings/appointments, or helping out with workshops, or paying bills/getting money out.
The above are great, BUT, what I love most about summer is the variety of fruits and veggies. Fresh fresh fresh!!! Recently I have been reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” by Michael Pollen. I will certainly post about this book at some point later. It is a fantastic read, and a NY Times bestseller from a few years back. I highly recommend it!
So what kinds of fruits and veggies do I get?? (Just so you know, most of the veggies are around all year, but quality/price increases/decreases dependent on time of year)
Winter fruits (In this order) consist of the end of Pomegranates, Clementines, Oranges, Bananas (all year)
Spring fruits consist of Oranges, followed by melons (honeydew, cantaloupe, and some other type), Cherries (my favorite)
Summer fruits consist of Cherries, Melons (All of the above PLUS watermelon), Apricots, Peaches, Nectarines, Plums (couple of types), Figs, Grapes
Fall Fruits consist of Pomegranates, Apples, Dates, Various Nuts, clementines
As you can see, summer fruit season is fantastic! Before I came to Morocco, I pretty much hated peaches and apricots, and most cherries. Now I find myself eating upwards of a KILO (YES 2 pounds!) of peaches or apricots in just a day or two. I can down a watermelon in 3-4 days, and a kilo of cherries usually does not last me even a day.
The price generally is very cheap for a kilo of fruit, average around 8-10 Dirham per kilo (that is .50 cents per pound). As I said, price varies on a few things
With the thought of this being my potential last summer here in Morocco, I am trying to get my fill. Sometimes, eating too much fruit can have negative effects (I will not venture into details,) as fruit can be contaminated with something that sets your stomach off. Washing peaces and other fruits can be difficult, and one mistake can land you with a bout of dysentery. But, the positives far outweigh the negatives when it comes to fruit.
I just hope that wherever I live after I am finished in Morocco, that I can have as many fantastic fruit choices… and veggies too!
That’s all for now, but I do hope to be posting a bit more regularly. Ramadan is approaching soon, so I probably will have even more time on my hands!
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