A really interesting and informative article on Luther Burbank, the plant breedeer of the early twentieth century.
The article focuses mostly on the spineless cactus he bred.
Wow, supreme wildlife filming! Those BBC guys have done a great job on these episodes… watch the bug, the scorpion, and the snake go about their lives…. great close-up views.
I was in the woods one time calling predators with a little whistle with which I could imitate a hurt and dying mouse…. usually the coyotes would come bounding over the hill to me to get an easy meal… one time an owl made circles above me in the air trying to find the hurt mouse. It was an amazing moment…. to have such a creature flying silent circles above me, five feet above my head as I lay on a grassy knoll.
Leaving for an unknown shore
With every breeze just like a sigh
The sea is deep with
tears of those before
With feelings like the sea birds cry
It gently took me by the hand
Across the ocean blue
And placed me in a foreign land
Far away from you
No more the ancient conversation
Replies with just a nod
No fiddle plays a lamentation
No slowly burning sod
No smiles await on Ellis
Fears of the unknown
Only tired hearts of the countless
People taken from their homes
To be drawn across an ocean
This crooked path we pave
On earth’s eternal motion
To be a servant to the slave
Wait and yearn to be released
As the ground beneath you heaves
Turn your gaze to the East
Reflect on what the cold wake leaves
To be drawn across an ocean
This crooked path we pave
On earth’s eternal motion
To be a servant to the slave
Wait and yearn to be released
As the ground beneath you heaves
Turn your gaze to the East
Reflect on what the cold wake leaves
To be drawn across an ocean
This crooked path we pave
On earth’s eternal motion
To be a servant to the slave
We get many people asking us how long the cactus we ship will last…. I like to tell them that in general they will be happy with it for about two weeks, after that it will start to get a bit softer.
Now, it should be realized that I view this through the prism of someone who grows cactus for human consumption. While two week-old cactus might still seem fine to someone in Minnesota in the middle of winter, it might seem a bit older to me who is picking fresh cactus several times weekly. I also like to lower customer expectations, rather than to give them an ‘overly inflated’ expectation. I’d rather people who buy from us be pleased that the cactus is much better than they suspected it would be.
One of our customers who asked how it should be stored wrote us this mail, so that we could pass it on to our other customers….
Be aware, he wrote this in February, and some of it is speaking of cactus that he’s had for a couple of months…. he lives in an undisclosed location that gets horrible snow and loads of cold….. brrrrrr
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I asked once about storing the cactus, you said a cool dark shed,
or something like that.
It worked, this winter I insulated the garage, it’s got a bit of heat,
it is around 40-45*f most times.
I have it in a plastic cooler, when it is real cold out and I worry the
garage will cool down below freezing I close the lid.
Temp ok in the morning, open and let it sit uncovered.
I’m still using the pads from thanksgiving.
A few got soft, (but not spoiled-NO Waste at this entire batch)
I use them 1st, the tender young ones.
The older stuff is as fresh as it was mid November when you picked it.
The fruit lasted a while too (3 weeks if memory is right).
If anyone asks, this is a great way to keep it.
The fridge didn’t work.
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Now, this is pretty much along the lines of what I recommend for tort owners… many of our customers say that they keep the leaves in a box in the garage, or a storage shed near the tort enclosure. Also, for tortoises, the Grade ‘C’ leaves which tend to be thicker and more mature have the longest shelf-life. Many people seem to be able to use our monthly subscriptions to get their cactus in an economical and simple fashion, and by the end of the month, when they are feeding the last few leaves to their tortoises, they are still feeding pretty fresh material.
When we send out fresh leaves, probably the best way to use them is to feed the less mature leaves first, they will go soft fastest.
I was wandering through an old (semi) abandoned warehouse in Los Angeles.
People have come in and done pretty nice artwork on the walls.
This place was very interesting on many levels.
The architecture is early twentieth century utilitarian. Built with brick and sustaining earthquake damage through the years, it no longer serves as a functioning warehouse, but houses film industry equipment, and serves as a set for films. There are loads of bays in which trucks and trailers and miscellaneous equipment can be stored, ready at all times to roll out into the lot for work. Any of the bays can be readily ‘dressed’ to fit nearly any indoors need.
The roof leaks terribly however, and the water running down the brick walls has resulted in layers of lichen growing here and there, lifting the old paint. We were working there just a couple of days after getting a large amount of rain in California. Several areas of the floor were covered with water.
It was fun wandering around this building and noticing the modifications made to the building through the years…. many holes have been drilled into the brick walls and threaded studs inserted so that ‘set’ walls can be built quickly to change the appearance. This is indeed a great place to film.
I don’t know if this art was the result of local graffiti artists, or if they were put onto the walls for some film that was made here. At any rate, the art is a bit old.. lichen is growing over the art, and the paint below is lifting off. But the quality of the art is very good. These were talented people who did this work.
We had a spell of warm weather last month.
It started our cactus budding out early, which is just fine with us.
Unfortunately for some crops, a winter heat wave, and subsequent bud growth will often be followed by a cold spell which will freeze and destroy the new growth.. often weakening the plant, and sometimes reducing the fruit of the next season.
This is a danger for us also, but not to the extent some plants have.
The local grapes are budding out already…. this is very bad for the grape growers.
For us, this happy news means we can tell people that the Opuntia robusta leaves will be available in a month or so… they are VERY high quality leaves of excellent use for gourmet cooking. When they are available, we will post the information on the newsletter… so if you wish to be notified, be sure you are on our mailing list.
It’s winter… rainy, cold, miserable. The ground everywhere is soaked with water… but while it drives me inside, and keeps us from picking, it is good seeing all that water going into the ground, and knowing that there is going to be increased growth due to the added nutrients.
But still, it’s winter… rainy, cold and miserable. And I am stuck indoors, so, I should do something productive like marketing for when the cactus leafs out again in full.
So, since I have this year’s postcards done, I thought I’d turn marketing prep work to banner ads for the web.
Our first marketing efforts this year will be to the tort keepers. They will want the more abused leaves from our winter storms…. they are not as pretty as what we’ll have a couple months later, but they are still good and full of life and energy. Tortoises will love them, and the tort people will be happy with the less prime and therefore more affordable leaves that have survived the winter.
Back in June ‘The Green Network’ (part of The Discovery Channel) visited our place to do a segment on edible cactus.
The host of the program is Gregory Schaefer, and we had a good time with him and the crew who came to film the segment, as well as our own local chef, Gary Hamel.
“How should store cactus that I have received, which by the way is quite nice looking and my torts love it!!”
We wrote back….
Most folks seem to get by fine (a couple weeks or three, even a month) with the cactus in the box, open, sitting under a bench in the garage.
All you need is a cool spot, and not a lot of light. In fact, in general the darker the better, but you don’t have to aim for real darkness.
Some folks keep it in the fridge. But don’t wrap it too tightly. The leaves should not have moisture against them.
We’re glad you like the leaves.
Is it ok if we put your happy testimonial in our ‘customer testimonials’ section? We could use just your initials. That preserves your privacy.
I’d also put my reply, this will help to inform other folks who browse the site.
This is the tough time of year for us, the quality stays about like this for another couple of months, and then starts to get better as the spring comes in and brings the fresh leaves on. So if you like them now, you’ll just be happier with them come springtime.
Also, we really do sell these with the intent of people eating them, but we’re just as happy to sell for tortoises to eat… but we encourage you to try some… use one of the younger thinner fresher looking leaves… they’re pretty good cleaned, diced and added to fried potatoes and eggs in the morning. Good for you too. In fact, cactus is considered a healthy food, indeed a ‘health food’ that the grandmothers run for when people have certain ailments. Just a little bit daily is real good for a person.
We have just started back with our ‘monthly subscription’ for five pounds… this year for $23. This is for the five pound Grade ‘C’ leaves. In general you’d probably be pretty happy with the grade C. But they are more likely to be the ones with big holes from a rock during a storm, or the top half gone due to frost. You still get about the same weight, just more will look a bit rough. We can’t offer subscription offers like that with the Grade B because we often have frost or something that removes Grade B from the roster. So all we’d have then is Grade C anyways. And there have been times we’ve stopped all new sales to new customers so we could continue the monthly subscriptions. But we’re doing ok so far this year. We had one big huge freeze for three nights in a row in Dec… but we were able to keep the plants from freezing too badly. And a heat wave (temps in the 80′s) for three weeks afterwards gave us new growth we hope will mature into good leaves in March and April. But once May comes, we’re usually doing just great, with fine leaves, and all the grades actually (pretty much) do go up a notch in quality.
We’re glad to have you as new customers, and hope you will continue to buy the great Organic Edible Cactus of Rivenrock Gardens,
Thanks,
They wrote back…
Thank you for the reply and of course you may put it in your site, I will send pics of the torts eating also to the site. I am sure I will try it myself eventually and look forward to a long relationship with you as my torts will live a very long time.
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A long business relationship is what we seek. Our business has been growing much like a tortoise, slow, steady and sustainable. We have gradually increased our growing area and proficiency as our sales have increased. We are in this for the long haul, much of our production is from varieties that might take years to come into full maturity, but will live for decades in the same spot, putting out good leaves each year during those times.
Ten days of rain… three more to go before we get clear (er) weather.
Arroyo Grande street flooding
The rain is good as the land needs it… but civil infrastructure in California is not built well to handle the occasional deluges we get.
This slightly water-filled curbing is handling the weather well… there are places in other towns that get much worse… but I didn’t feel like driving to them to take a photo.
Refuge Worm
A worm escaped its flooded burrows, and tries an ‘overland’ route.
Worms are one of the best indications of a healthy soil. When caring for your soil, perhaps it is better to ask what you can do to help the worms grow and prosper rather than what you can do for your plants. Because in general, anything that benefits your worms will benefit your soil and the plants it supports.
This is called ‘Feed the Soil, Not the Plants’.
By the way, this is not our worm… our soil drains well and our worms don’t need to escape from the water in the soil. I picked this worm up and tossed him into some shrubbery. While I think fishing with worms is just well and fine, I don’t ever want to do anything to hurt a worm unless it means it might lead to perch on the table.
