Rivenrock Gardens Cactus Blog

   We got a letter from a  large organic food company letting us know they would soon be purchasing from us.   They also asked if we had any aloe to sell… this is the response I sent them..

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  We have a huge aloe plant, and since it is cared for like everything else here organically, and is on the organically certified land, it would be organic also. But it is in a really nice improved soil and is oddly watery when cut.  The cut leaves might best be shipped packed into five gallon buckets like we sell our cactus fruits.  I don’t know if the aloe would be the one you want, I associate aloe with gel, this particular plant is watery I think due to the great soil mix on that terrace it is on.  We sent some leaves recently to someone else who asked for them, he also commented on the odd watery nature of that plant…. if you are interested, we could send you a five gallon bucket so you can see how you like it. I’d need to charge, but we’d give you a discount so you can evaluate it. Five gallons might be some fifteen lbs I’d imagine. If you want, I could pack it in, if you’re going to juice it anyway that might not hurt anything at all. And you get more weight packed in. If we do that, I would take cuttings as we go, and plant them soon, and by next summer we could have a good supply of aloe.

   But the edible cactus has been our main product, and it is good.

   We’ve got an edible cactus special running right now, a 16 inch cubed box, weighing some 50 to 55 lbs at mailing, we’re selling them for $60.  Some of them are tending a bit larger in the leaves, but still at a good stage for eating. In fact there is some value in the larger leaves as long as they have not matured to the point of pithiness; they are easier to clean for the food weight… they have the same number of spines as the smaller ones, it’s just they are farther apart.

   With this special you pay us after you get the cactus… we charge the sixty dollars and whatever the shipping through UPS is. We tack that on, and send you the UPS shipping receipt in the box of cactus. Just add that price to the sixty dollars, and that’s the total owed. If you have a UPS shipping account and wish us to ship using that account number, we like it even better because we are not out any funds to ship… in that case, we’ll extend thirty days billing for your boxes of cactus.  You might be able to sell them before you even need to pay us.

  What is the use you need them for? Are you going to process them in any way? Perhaps there is a certain stage of growth that would suit you well.  We have several buyers who have specific growth stages they like, we try to work to everyone’s satisfaction to get them what is best for them.

  These cactus will last a couple of weeks in good shape. I imagine you did some experimentations with what we sent you. I imagine also that you were mightily impressed with the leaves.. they are very high quality.. and that usually continues (barring natural or deer disaster) until November. After that the quality suffers as the winter storms pummel us. The best season is from June to November.  But we do have availability through most of the winter most years… but a hard winter can take a toll. Some years we sell no cactus at all for a few months in the late winter.  We have a newsletter you can sign up for, any disruptions will be announced using that medium.

   But even with what I consider to be lower quality in winter, it is usually better than what others might be able to supply. Quality is our big asset. And being organic helps us with the quality issue.

   We welcome your business,  orders are best done by e-mail so I have the address and I’ll know to send you cactus.

   Thanks,

John