(Ugh -- thanks to a blogger mishap, my post disappeared and now I'm stuck rewriting it ... in a mood tonight MUCH less punchy than when I originally composed the post about cow shit .... I guess maybe I'll learn my lesson NOW to compose in a word processing document, and then copy over to blogger?)
Y'all know what a cow pie is, right? In case you're unaware ... take a look at what Wikipedia says :: A deposit of cow dung is referred to in American English as a "cow pie" Cow dung is the waste of bovine animal species. For most of you, the bovine species means cows, right? The bovine species also includes bison ("buffalo"), yak and water buffalo. Now, instead of discussing further what exactly dung IS, let's move on to the reason behind this post.
During our travels early this spring, we came across several of these ::
What is that, might you ask? It is profit, it is a livelihood ... and yes, my friends ... it is cow poop! |
Cow dung (usually combined with soiled bedding and urine) is often used as manure, but in many parts of the developing world, including India, caked and dried cow dung is used as fuel.
Cow poop becomes electricity, heat, a renewable source!
(Although I'm not sure if it's done in India, in Kenya, villages also use cow poop to line the floors/walls of their huts for a natural insect repellent, although curiously NOT for flies)
When I asked several people about these little creations, I learned that the cow pies are collected, dried and then formed into these huts (of sorts) for further drying and storage. They are covered to protect them from the yearly monsoons ... and then later sold to neighboring villages and towns for fuel. Quite ingenious!
By the way .... have you ever wondered where the term "cow pie" comes from?
A deposit of cow dung is referred to in American English as a "cow pie", and in British English as a cowpat. Also known as "cow chips" when dry, it is used in the practice of "cow chip throwing" popularized in Beaver, Oklahoma in 1970. Another game is Cow Chip Bingo. (REALLY???!!???)A buffalo chip, also called a meadow muffin, is the name for a large, flat, dried piece of dung deposited by the American Bison from the large amount of grass that it eats. Well dried buffalo chips were among the few things that could be collected and burned on the prairie and were used by the Plains Indians, settlers and pioneers, and homesteaders as a source of cooking heat and warmth.Bison dung is sometimes referred to by the name nik-nik. This word is a borrowing from the Sioux language. It has also come to be used, especially in Lakota, to refer to lies or broken promises (especially by the U.S. government). It probably attained this sense by association with the English term "bullshit".
Since I can't remember how I ended the original post on this subject, I'll just share the photos with you ... enjoy!
