Ten things that would make our life in Ouled Mgatel easier

I love my house, and I love to live here. I'm amazed that we managed to build it, and to actually live in it, since all seemed at first a crazy adventure. We made it, with very little money, without an architect, a plumber or an electrician. And it works.

There are a few things though that would make our house a better place.

1. A bigger solar panel. And maybe a small wind turbine. Because we’d like to say that our house is completely green, but this is not the case. We cheat. Every two days or so, we have to bring our battery to the neighbors’ house, where we recharge it – their farm is connected to the power lines.

2. A well. Because, again, we cheat. I explained why in this post. The water we have in our tank is not enough, especially at this time of year. So we plan to dig a well, an operation that is not so expensive, and that would change our lives.

3. And since I’m talking about water… Rainwater tanks, to collect the precious rain. This we absolutely have to build before winter, with a system of gutters. Because, even if a lot of people believe Morocco to be mostly a desert (sorry, this is not the case), it rains a lot during the winter and the spring.

4. A few years. Time to wait for the trees we’ve planted in this wheat field that is now our garden to grow. To get more shade in the courtyard. And hopefully olives and lemons, figs and apricots.

5. A new car. Since it is impossible for us, with our jobs, to live in Ouled Mgatel without a car. We tried – we had no choice – for a while, and it was not fun. Moroccan customs have very strict rules for bringing cars from abroad, and we can’t keep ours. We’ve brought it back to France, and we’re looking for a new one in Morocco. A challenge, given our tight budget –second hand cars are very expensive here.

6. Colors. Everything is just so white in our house. Sure, it’s beautiful, but boring. We still haven’t tried to put colors on the walls. Decoration is not really our thing, but we’ll have to do it. For a few years, pigments we’ve bought in Chefchouen have been sitting in a box, just waiting to be mixed with whitewash and put on our walls.

7. Plastic mats to put on the floors. Not very green, I agree, but necessary. That’s what everybody puts on the floors here, since the earth tends to make a lot of dust. At the beginning, we decided we wouldn’t put plastic mats (plastic !) in the house, and chose beautiful Moroccan rugs instead, but had to accept the fact that there is simple to much dust. We’ll put the rugs on the mats, and hopefully, no more dust under our feet.

8. Real stairs. Because some day I’ll trip on my slippers when climbing the ladder leading to our bedroom. We have the wood, the nails, everything to build the stairs. Just waiting for Fred to have the time !

9. Speaking fluent Moroccan Arabic. This is for me, not for Fred, since he’s already fluent in Arabic. I’ve been living in Morocco for 5 years, but haven’t really bothered to learn the language during my first 3 years, except for a few basic words/expressions. I almost never used verbs, since I didn’t know how to conjugate them. It might sound strange, but it’s very common here for French people, who are accustomed to find French speaking Moroccans… So now I’m progressing, but still struggling with the language.

10. A DSL connection. Ok, this one is pure fantasy, it will never happen, unless some day the outskirts of Fez reach Ouled Mgatel…

A Stork in Ouled Mgatel

Seen on a dried out field near Ouled Mgatel : a stork, looking lonely. It’s more usual to see those birds in the cities. But I’ve been told that storks eat frogs – is that true ? In this case, there are plenty of frogs to eat in Ouled Mgatel – and especially in my garden. So, storks, if you’re hungry…

Caper Season in Morocco

For than 10 days now, it’s been more than 40° c. in the countryside. From time to time the Chergui, the hot wind coming from the Sahara desert, blows and makes all attempt of leaving the house very difficult.

Fortunately, the straw and the earth of our mudbrick house are very insulating. It’s easier to fall asleep in our house than in an appartment in Fez, because it keeps us cool.

Our garden suffers because of that crazy heat. In spite of our water tank and our water-treatment ponds, we’re running out of water. The ponds are empty, it’s so hot that the water evaporate instantly.

Only one plant seems to be adapted to this climate.

Caper trees do nothing like the other plants here and grow at the moment when everything else dies. Once the wheat harvest is over, small shrubs appear in the fields, and grow bigger every week. It seems that the less water there is, the more caper trees are happy.

Oddly enough, the caper trees grow in parallel lines, as if they had been planted by man – which had been maybe the case, a long time ago.

The inhabitants of Ouled Mgatel benefit from this indestructible plant. They don’t eat it though.

Our neighbors gather the capers

Caper trees make new caper every week. But do you know what are capers anyway ? They are not the fruit of the caper tree, but its flower buds. The flowers are beautiful, and they have a very nice fragrance.

People here gather the capers when they are big, much bigger than we’re used to see them in the jar in the European supermarket. Then the capers are sold at the market. This year, peasants get 15 dirhams (1,40 euro) for a kilogram of caper. Then, the capers of Ouled Mgatel (and of the all area of course !) begin their trip around the world; they are sold in China. There, it seems, people like big capers.

Believe me, capers are hard to pick, mainly because of the big thorns. Plus, they are only a few capers on each branch, which makes for a long picking. And the picking has to be done every week.

I really wanted to pick some, because I had this idea of jars of capers in my cupboard, and pizzas, and pastas… Well, I certainly was too confident. And I gave up, after 20 minutes of painful picking. Here is my (bad) harvest :

Yeah, I know, it’s disappointing, even if, contrary to my neighbors, I only picked the small ones, that is, the ones closer to the thorns…

I put my meager harvest in a jar, with a mixture of vinegar, salt, and water, but I won’t give you the recipe before I try to eat it !

Evening sky in Ouled Mgatel

And it's that beautiful every day...