Countryside Research Trip 1

Apologies for the long break in posting! I've spent about a week and a half in and out of the countryside, plus a few days before that of hectic preparation. But I'll make up for it with an extra post today!

So last week I went on my very first research trip to the countryside! The plan was to interview as many nomadic herders as possible about the plants they eat and use, and what they think about agriculture or gardening in general. I was able to team up with Ana, another Fulbrighter, who is here studying heavy metal contamination of water sources. We decided to go to Darkhan and Selenge provinces- about a 5 hour drive north of Ulaanbaatar- because there used to be lots of mining there, and it's also the agricultural center of Mongolia. Potentially contaminated rivers for her, herders who live next to farms for me!

On Saturday March 24th we assembled our crew and hit the road. Together we were a group of 6: Me, Ana, our driver Miga, my translator Khongor, my roommate Holly, and Nathan the biologist. Holly and Nathan were just looking to tag along on our adventure in the countryside so they chipped in for gas and came with us.

Overall we had a really great trip! In a nutshell, here are some of the highlights of the 5 days we were in the countryside:

Meeting several nomadic herder families, breathing fresh air, enjoying the sunny/warm weather, "helping" herd, aka petting baby goats, drinking salty milk tea, staying overnight with a herder family in a ger, visiting the Russian border town, birdwatching, photo ops at random monuments, picnics, puppies, tree-climbing, fossil-finding, visiting sacred wishing trees.

Here are some of the photos we took!

First water sample site.

Darimaa and her children, one of the families that agreed to test the prototype of my portable garden this summer.

This family wanted me to pictures of them with their herds.

I'm helping! I'm helping!

Kids from another family that agreed to test my garden. Proudly posing with their latest generation of livestock.

Ana in the van!

Holly and Nathan in the van!

Khongor in the van!

Me in the van!

This mother dog looked like a little coyote. Her and her puppies were friendly and we fed her some leftover scraps.

The sacred Wishing Tree site we visited. The whole area was decorated with ritual khadag (scarves) tied to trees and draped over branches and logs.