I Visit My Land and the Nearby Pottery Village
December 26, 2008

The best Christmas present that I could have received was finally being able to visit my land! It was even more beautiful than I imagined it. For photos, you can visit my Flickr site at: http://flickr.com/photos/37702165@N00/sets/72157604389628506/.

I also discovered that there is a pottery village only a ten minute walk from my property! I think that people would be really interested to visit it. When I was there they were making tila (pots) for collecting the sap from the date palm tree which is cooked into ghur, a delicious brown sugar. I even got to taste some of the juice directly from the tree!

The Potter
The potter spins his wheel, which is made from a board on a tire.


Forming the Pots
He then begins to work the clay into the pot.


Pottery Building
The pottery wheel is in a small bamboo and thatch building. There are several of these pottery wheel buildings in the pottery village.


Woman and Rice
An old woman is grinding rice in the same building. (It has nothing to do with the pottery, I just like the photo!)


Drying the Pots
The pots are actually made in two pieces - the top half and the bottom half. After they have dried a bit, they are assembled. These are the top halves. Manure (used for fuel) is drying on the wall in the background.


Whole Pots Drying
The assembled pots drying before they are placed in the kiln.


Kiln
After the tila have dried they are placed into the kiln.


Inside the Kiln
This is what the kiln looks like on the inside.

Final Tila!
After the tila pots are finished, they are hung from the date palm trees to collect the sap. This sap collection is done every winter. Each tree will fill two tilas a day.