Cereus peruvianus and Agave americana in our front yard
Chica by a puddle
The trees reflected in the puddle by rocky and Chica
Euphorbia resinifera (poison arrow) plant
Old Man of the Andes Cactus
Old Lady Cactus
Manzanita
We had a lot of rain in December. At one point we got some ten inches of rain in a week. This is about one third of our usual yearly rainfall. We were forced indoors most of the month… but there were a day or two here and there that allowed us to get some air and take a walk around. One of those days I took these photos…. while walking around our house.
“What is good for the Russian, will kill the German”
Russian saying
Not all things that are good for one area are necessarily good for another. While cactus is native to the Americas, it grows well in other areas of the world with similar climates. It has become endemic and is even a pest in some parts of Africa and the Mediterranean region. It ran its course in Australia where it became such a hugely noxious weed that it was outlawed. The sale of cactus leaves and fruit became an under-the-counter ‘Black-Market’ activity.
We got a letter from someone in Kenya asking for advice on how to fight the spiny cacti that have taken over their communal grazing land…. Here is a short series of letters and replies…
He asked…
My community has suffered a lot because of cactus. How can we get rid of it.
I replied…
Here many ranchers burn the spines off with propane, then they feed it to the cattle. Not too much at a time, it should not be a lot over ten% of the entire food fed. Some places pile dry brush around a section of plants, let that burn… the pads then become half cooked and many animals can then eat them. One area of Mexico feeds the milk cows the cactus pads.. it is said to make the milk taste better, they get more money for that milk. Too much makes the animals’ stools runny… bad. Other than that. cut the pads, pile them high, use animal manures to help it rot…. keep cutting deeper into the plant, bit by bit. It takes a lot of work. Better is a tractor if you can use one, pile it all and let it rot. Keep tearing off and killing any leaves that sprout.My father was in Kenya in the 50′s. I feel for that pretty country he talks about some.Let me know if it helps. Best is to use the cactus where you can, while you reduce its danger.
He wrote back….
Thanks very much John
i am very happy hearing from you , you may have heard about the Maasai people, they are majorly pastoral and keep Livestock as their main economic mainstay, i am part of this community and currently pursuing a degree program in Environmental planning and Natural resource management at the University of Nairobi on a scholarship base. i have been particularly vocal over the opuntia `Opuntia Megacantha` menace that has drastically affected our livestock and hence our Nomadic traditional lifestyle which is deeply enshrined in livestock.
i am so happy to receive your ideas and suggestions, the propane way sounds workable and may be we shall try this, the idea is to utilize with gradual eradication until we see the whole weed off. The Maasai people dont want it at all and they would rather wish that it disappear as soon as possible.The said cactus has spread and rendered a big portion of our communally owned land useless and pastoralist populations are forced to abandon their homes because of its infestation, our cattle,sheep and goats feed on the red fruits and the tiny spines settle along the alimentary canal ( from mouth to Anus) creating wounds and eventual deaths, funny enough when the animals begin feeding on it they become addicted and despise any other fodder! really crazy!
I am also happy that your father once visited our country, i think you should also visit us soon and help us fight opuntia! Kenya is a good country and my community enjoys interacting with friends as we reside around most Game reserves.
i am personally requesting you to link us with friends who might help us manage this problem. i will try and send you some of our media coverage on the same.
Thank you so very much and say hi to your family and Rivenrock Gardens team!
This was very touching…. it’s a shame for people to have to abandon land and old ways due to things like drought, economics and war… yet we know those happen, but to have to leave because cactus has taken over is too much! Anyone who wishes to contact these folks and make donations for propane, or any other supplies can get with us, we’ll send your e-mail on to them so you all can talk.
A customer wrote to tell us how much she likes our edible cactus….
I do have to say that this is the best cactus I’ve ever had!
My favorite is eating it raw with some lime and salt.
I also have a smoothie every morning
with orange juice, cactus, celery, parsley and pineapple.
S.R.
Fine Art black and white cactus images by French photographer Philippe Perrin. Taken in Mexican deserts. As part of the book ‘La memoria inmòvil’ that will be soon published in Mexico
info. email: photoandfashionstudio@gmail.com
“For that which is boundless in you
abides in the mansion of the sky,
whose door is the morning mist,
and whose windows
are the songs and the silences of night”
Build of your imaginings a bower in the wilderness
ere you build a house within the city walls.
For even as you have home-comings in your twilight,
so has the wanderer in you, the ever distant and alone.
Your house is your larger body.
It grows in the sun and sleeps in the stillness of the night;
and it is not dreamless.
Does not your house dream?
and dreaming, leave the city for grove or hill-top?
Would that I could gather your houses into my hand,
and like a sower scatter them in forest and meadow.
Would the valleys were your streets,
and the green paths your alleys,
that you might seek one another through vineyards,
and come with the fragrance of the earth in your garments.
But these things are not yet to be.
In their fear your forefathers gathered you too near together.
And that fear shall endure a little longer.
A little longer shall your city walls
separate your hearths from your fields.
And tell me, people of Orphalese,
what have you in these houses?
And what is it you guard with fastened doors?
Have you peace,
the quiet urge that reveals your power?
Have you remembrances,
the glimmering arches that span the summits of the mind?
Have you beauty,
that leads the heart from things fashioned of wood and stone to the holy mountain?
Tell me, have you these in your houses?
Or have you only comfort, and the lust for comfort,
that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest,
and then becomes a host and then a master?
Ay, and it becomes a tamer,
and with hook and scourge makes puppets of your larger desires.
Though its hands are silken, its heart is of iron.
It lulls you to sleep only to stand by your bed
and jeer at the dignity of the flesh.
It makes mock of your sound senses,
and lays them in thistledown like fragile vessels.
Verily the lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul,
and then walks grinning in the funeral.
But you, children of space, you restless in rest,
you shall not be trapped nor tamed.
Your house shall be not an anchor but a mast.
It shall not be a glistening film that covers a wound,
but an eyelid that guards the eye.
You shall not fold your wings that you may pass through doors,
nor bend your heads that they strike not against a ceiling,
nor fear to breathe lest walls should crack and fall down.
You shall not dwell in tombs made by the dead for the living.
And though of magnificence and splendour,
your house shall not hold your secret nor shelter your longing.
For that which is boundless in you abides in the mansion of the sky,
whose door is the morning mist,
and whose windows are the songs and the silences of night
Some of us neighbors get together and exchange veggies. Even though most of us are from inside the canyon, there are many local micro-climates that favor one fruit/vegetable over another and enable that family to grow something that might be difficult for some of the other folks.
Here’s some of the veggies we got last week. All grown by neighbors.
The real find is those Palestine sweet limes…. they are not limey at all.. they have a very delicate flavor….. I want to grow some for myself.
Local produce grown by the neighbors
Clockwise from High noon… avocado, tomatoes, Palestine sweet lime, squash and portobello mushrooms.
Roasting peppers
We roasted some Anaheim peppers for supper…
first you have to remove the skin….
you roast them to boil and blister the skin…..
Scraping roasted peppers
Let them cool enough so you can handle them easily….
and the skin will then peel easily from the fruit with a butter knife.
You then have to split them open, and scrape out the seeds inside…
then chop ‘em up and set them into the bowl to finish cooking…
cactus, mushrooms and peppers in skillet
In the end we fried the peppers, some cactus, onions, and mushrooms all together in olive oil.
Add some spices… and you’ve got a pretty decent meal that’s really nutritious.
Something like this is good over rice…
Opuntia ‘Nopaleana cochinialiffera’… AKA Nopalea grande
Opuntia ficus-indica var. Anaheim
Opuntia ficus-indica var. Anaheim
Opuntia ficus-indica var. Ojai
Opuntia ficus-indica var. Ojai
Opuntia ficus-indica var.Vandy alba
Opuntia ficus-indica var.Vandy alba
Opuntia ficus indica var. Burbanks Spineless
Opuntia galapagaea
Opuntia ficus-indica, Lynheimeri X Engelmanii
Opuntia ficus-indica, var Lynnwood fruits
Opuntia ficus-indica var Santa Ynez
Opuntia ficus-indica, var Lynnwood
Opuntia microdaysys yellow
Opuntia robusta
Opuntia Subulata
Trichocereus pachanoi
Trichocereus spachianus, four feet tall
Yucca elephantipes
Agave
Agave Americana glauca
Agave Americana variegata
Agave Americana variegata
Succulent
Succulent
Succulent
Succulent
I took a walk about the place this morning, taking photos of some of the cactus growing here.
We don’t actively sell all of the plants in our collection… but we’re always willing to negotiate the purchase of a plant or more if someone wants to explore the possibilities.
Not all states allow cactus into them without a special inspection for which the state of California charges dearly.
Some states allow cactus that has no roots… so for those states we can take cuttings of some of the plants… this may make it easier, or more possible, and cheaper to ship.
Some of our plants, such as the agave and aloe have to be sent with roots, so we wash them, and prepare them for shipment carefully.
You can see that this section of our garden is very wild and rangy. we water a few times a year only, and we don’t worry too much about annual grasses and forbs. I think that a mono-culture is in essence a bad thing… it leads to soil-chemical/nutrient imbalances, easy pest-proliferation and a less diverse plant community that helps shield against these things. So we allow the weeds to grow… we mow and weedwack, the chickens eat much also, and scratch the ground killing many of the weeds. By winter-time the weeds have been trimmed or knocked down to where they are by then only a mulch on the ground. As the winter rains fall and stimulate the new weed seeds to growth, the mulch will help to shield them from the elements… it will then rot into the soil in the next year or so. This continual recycling of nutrients is a good thing for your soil.
Sunset from the cactus patch….
Our cactus have a good view….
We live further down the hill….
We don’t have the same view our cactus have.
You can see from this photo that we are on a South-Facing hillside.
In general south-facing hillsides are a good place for plants. They tend to be free of the shadow of other plants…
so plants will often have a much higher growth rate, as long as moisture and feed issues are good.
On the other hand (proving there are many variables in agriculture),
we know that quite often for fruiting orchards, north-facing hillsides are preferred.
This is so that the trees will get more winter cold, and delayed warming and flowering in the spring.
Early blooming on a south-facing hillside makes the tender sprouts and flowers susceptible to a late frost. So delaying blooming time by keeping the trees in the shade of a hill in the spring often saves a crop.
For us, the full sun of the southern exposure is the preference of the cactus. They like all the sun they can get. We can space them a bit tight, yet they all still get a full sun exposure to the south since they are raised above the other plants to the south of them. Yet they still shade the ground of the plants to their north, thereby reducing soil evaporation, and keeping the soil cool. Much of the soil in our cactus patches hardly ever gets a shaft of light…. almost all of the photons from the sun are all caught by the plants… converting sunshine, carbon dioxide and water/foods to sugars in the process of photosynthesis… using a mechanism called CAM that is particular to succulents such as cactus, sedums, euphorbias, and others.
As I walked I was getting an occasional tiny poke on the sole of my foot. Eventually I took my shoe off to see what the problem was.
Imagine my surprise… now… how’d I get a cactus sticker in my shoe?
This is very embarrassing…
as a professional I am not supposed to step on cactus spines.
“Twenty years a Cowboy, and never stepped in manure yet”
~Western saying
I should always wear my PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)… which in this case would be my boots. This spine would not have gone through that hard sole. And the steel toes have saved my skin and bones at least twice that I can recall…. but they were both on the same foot…. so if I HAD sawn my toes off the first time.. they would not have been there to get smashed by a big load ten years later. In both cases I suffered no damage or pain…. both the saw and the heavy load stopped at my steel toes and saved me.
Always wear your safety gear…. it’s sometimes inconvenient and often uncomfortable… but it’s better than losing parts of yourself… or getting parts poked and torn. The toes you save may be your own
Linton Kwesi Johnson
Cause when the music met I-Tops…
I felt the sting… knew the shock…
Yay… I could do and ride this rock!
Avis sent over a photo of her tortoises eating cactus we grew.
She says they really enjoy the cactus we send them.
This is one of the Grade D leaves that lived through the winter.
You can see they are thick, but still have plenty of nice goodness inside.
