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By Carina Magyar in Grasses —

II: Sainfoin

Searching for Kyrgyzstan's white gold.

duodi, the 12th of Floréal, Year CCXXXI
The bright buds of sainfoin. Photo by Joseph Vary / Unsplash

Good morning. Today is duodi, the 12th of Floréal, Year CCXXXI. We celebrate le sainfoin, a good food for livestock.

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The scientific name of sainfoin is onobrychis, which means "donkey food" in Greek. Meanwhile, the English name is a direct lift from the French, meaning "healthy hay." So for as long as sainfoin has grown, people have recognized its beneficial properties for cattle, sheep, and other domesticated ruminants. Science has born that out further, proving that a mixture of sainfoin and ryegrass cuts way down on bloating and flatulence (a major contributor to climate change). And the animals aren't exactly forced to eat it, either. Given a choice, grass eaters will devour sainfoin like it's catnip. The main drawback is its slow growth, as the species is native to the Central Asian steppes where weather patterns are rough and animals are more scarce. In a farming situation, a herd of just about any animal will overgraze sainfoin to death in one season.

Switzerland is a fascinating nation in Europe, in that it sits at a perfect crossroads between several major cultures and contains pieces of all of them, but due to its extreme terrain, remains steadfastly its own place, somehow apart from the affairs of its neighbors and their constant conflicts.

Asia has a similar nation. Kyrgyzstan sits at the confluence of several Silk Road trading routes, and is a melting pot of people from the Caucasian, Mongolian, Chinese, and Indian regions. It's also more than 90 percent mountainous terrain, full of vast glacial meadows that are only accessible by dirt road or helicopter, and home to extreme temperatures throughout its many regions – as high as 120 Fahrenheit and as low as negative 30 Fahrenheit – while being packed into a space about the size of Greece.

It's also home to the best honey in the world.

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III: Wallflower

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