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quaveethnobot

📚Author: THE PLANT HUNTER
🎤Keynote Speaker
🌎Fellow @the_explorers_club
🧪@nihgov Funded
🎧Host @foodiepharma Podcast
🦵Amputee
Rep'd by @mmqlit

We’ve reached the end of #ExpeditionHas & I’m

We’ve reached the end of #ExpeditionHas & I’m off for the UK today. Feeling such gratitude for the successful trip & the many gracious hosts we worked with in Albania & Kosovo. Here’s a last view of nature in her mountain splendor 💚

Thanks to you all for joining us on the journey!

#butterfly #butterflies🦋 #nature #flowersofinstagram

I ❤️ this candid selfie shot! It has been such

I ❤️ this candid selfie shot! It has been such a gift to work with these incredibly talented graduate students from the University of Prishtina on #ExpeditionHas! Thank you Ardid and Bardha for sharing your light, your joy, and talent for scientific field work with @mariafadiman and I!! We can’t wait to return to your beautiful country!

#kosovo #balkans #fieldwork #teamworkmakesthedreamwork #ethnobotany

With each new family that we meet on #ExpeditionHa

With each new family that we meet on #ExpeditionHas, I am consistently humbled by their incredible generosity to strangers. After being welcomed to sit in the shade of a fruit tree in their yard, we are often offered delicious snacks as shown here: fresh home made cheese, lactofermented green tomatoes, and a glass of fresh juice.

#ethnobotany #balkans #kosovo #albania

Today as we toured the pazaar in Gjakove, I saw th

Today as we toured the pazaar in Gjakove, I saw this memorial plaque on the market being burned by Serbian forces in 1999. More than 1000 civilians & 112 children murdered in this city, many others missing. I feel echoes of Kosovo’s pain every time I think of the war in Ukraine. The second image is of the market today.

What do these pictures share in common?? Add your

What do these pictures share in common??

Add your best guess in comments… answer is below 👇

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Each image contains a protective amulet against the evil eye, a psychosocial complex that has to do with envy over one’s possessions. The idea is to draw the envious gaze away from the property (livestock or home) by distracting it with something else.

Important livestock such as horses & cattle are often adorned with brightly colored beads as a protective amulet. The front gate of a home may be protected by classic symbols (ram horns or willow branches) or a modern twist like this teenage mutant ninja turtle doll with garlic around its neck!

#ExpeditionHas #ethnobiology #albania #kosovo #balkans #traditions #evileeye #amulet #evileyeprotection

The summer days are long and full of hard work in

The summer days are long and full of hard work in the mountain villages. In Borje, locals work with horses to carry mounds of hay back to their barns for use as livestock feed over the long winters. #ExpeditionHas #Albania #ethnobotany

Numerous reasons for my big smile in this photo wi

Numerous reasons for my big smile in this photo with collaborators @MariaFadiman & Xhavit! Loved the village horses in Borje & we met a local Gorani man who shared how he built & maintains his rye-thatch roof for storing animal feed. So many amazing traditions here! #Ethnobotany

Views of the Gorani village of Borje in the distan

Views of the Gorani village of Borje in the distance. It’s so good to be back!!

#Albania #ExpeditionHas #travelogue #mountains #explore #ethnobotany

I’ve always loved strawberries but have never ev

I’ve always loved strawberries but have never ever tasted any strawberries as delicious as these! Wild alpine strawberries (Fragaria vesca) are now in fruit in the mountains. The flavor is incredible - a balance of sweet, fragrant, tart - like a burst of sunshine in your mouth! Local people collect the fruit to eat and also sell (10 euros/kg).

#ExpeditionHas #strawberry #strawberries #Balkans #Kosovo #food #Albania

Who drives on rocky dirt roads in the Albanian mou

Who drives on rocky dirt roads in the Albanian mountains with 1 leg & 1 functional arm? This girl 🤣

Battling heat rash on my stump & sprained wrist from plant-hunting, but spirits are high! Feeling so lucky to have a great group of local collaborators 🥰 #ExpeditionHas #amputee #amputeegirl #fieldwork #research #womeninstem

Time for a water break! Loved seeing these cute go

Time for a water break! Loved seeing these cute goats running to the village fountain during our visit to Cahan, Albania 🇦🇱

#ExpeditionHas #Agropastoralism #Balkans #goatsofinstagram #goatstagram #goats

Bad roads = great ethnobotanical knowledge ahead!

Bad roads = great ethnobotanical knowledge ahead! But sometimes the roads are so bad that you have to all pile into the SUV with 4-wheel drive capacity 😃

Each day brings a new adventure on #ExpeditionHas! #Albania #Balkans #ethnobotany #teamworkmakesthedreamwork

@mariafadiman @onlymountainsnevermeet @av.hajdari

What a privilege to meet this lovely village elder

What a privilege to meet this lovely village elder in Vlahen, Albania! Born in 1914, she is still spry and bright at the age of 108! When we asked her what she eats to stay in such good health, she responded with a big smile, “the things I like! Bread, cheese, fresh cherries from my tree!”

#centennarian #albania #villagelife #healthspan #ExpeditionHas

With @mariafadiman and Bardha Kurti

Happiness is enjoying a tailgate lunch of traditio

Happiness is enjoying a tailgate lunch of traditional Has spinach and cheese burek and kos to drink on a dirt road in the Albanian woods 💚 #expeditionhas #ethnobotany #foodexplorer #foodexperience #balkans #womeninstem #explorer

Posted @withregram • @mariafadiman I am continua

Posted @withregram • @mariafadiman I am continually struck with how much people give of themselves, and how that opens up inside of me. @insidenatgeo #natgeoexplorer #expeditionhas #ethnobotany

Posted @withregram • @onlymountainsnevermeet @qu

Posted @withregram • @onlymountainsnevermeet @quaveethnobot 22 years of uninterrupted friendship and scientific partnership
#ethnobotany #Has #Albania
#friends

Today we visited with some wonderful families on t

Today we visited with some wonderful families on the southern part of Has in Kosovo. We learned a lot about how local “turshi” (lactofermented vegetables) are made and met the oldest woodcarver in the region who showed us a delightful array of spoons and pastoral walking sticks. #ethnobotany #ExpeditionHas

@mariafadiman @onlymountainsnevermeet @av.hajdari

“Kos” is the word for yogurt in Albanian. It i

“Kos” is the word for yogurt in Albanian. It is a slightly more sour yogurt than what you may be familiar with and is served to be eaten with a spoon or as in this case - diluted with water and served in a glass to drink.

I’ve tasted many delicious glasses of kos while conducting community interviews. The people here are such kind and generous hosts!

#ExpeditionHas #kos #yogurt #albania

The plant that “brings the dead back to life”

The plant that “brings the dead back to life” - filmed on Pashtrik mountain, Albania. #ExpeditionHas

Today we visited the community of Kishaj high in t

Today we visited the community of Kishaj high in the mountains of the Has region of #Albania. Check out the views!!

#ethnobotany #offroad #travelogue #balkans #WomenInSTEM #ExpeditionHas

There are so many interesting types of natural fen

There are so many interesting types of natural fencing created by the mountain villagers. I’m learning a lot from #natgeo #explorer @mariafadiman about the #ethnobotany of material culture while on this trip! A fun addition to my usual focus on edible and medicinal plants!

#ExpeditionHas #Albania #Kosovo

It has been a long day of driving up and down roug

It has been a long day of driving up and down rough, rocky roads in the Albanian mountains, getting the SUV stuck (and then out, whew) and I even somehow managed to step into a bucket of water in a village completely submerging my boot and leaving my foot wet for the next 5 hours … wrinkly toes!!)… but at the end of the day as I reflect on our day of adventure and look back on photos of specimens, all I feel is joy at the lovely species and people we’ve had the chance to encounter!

This beauty is from the mint family - Teucrium chamaedrys - an important medicinal plant. We found this and many other interesting species in the arid rocky slopes of Pashtrik mountain in Albania.

#ExpeditionHas #ethnobotany #medicinalplants #womeninSTEM

Locally known as Lule Shtog (elderflowers in Alban

Locally known as Lule Shtog (elderflowers in Albanian)- elderberry trees (Sambucus nigra) abound in the Sharri mountains!

Across Albania and Kosovo, the trees are currently in flower and local people harvest the flowers to sell in local markets and into international trade. DYK that elderberry is one of the top herbs of trade? Much of what winds up in dietary supplements and herbal teas has its origins here in the Balkans ❤️

#ethnobotany #balkans #albania #kosovo #elderflower #medicinalplants

Thanks to @mariafadiman for the pics!

It is difficult to capture the stunning splendor o

It is difficult to capture the stunning splendor of the Sharri Mountains in photos… but I have tried.

#ExpeditionHas #Albania #Sharri #Balkans #getoutside #explore #nofilter #nature #landscapes

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