It's that wonderful time of year…
When I roll my wagon around the garden…
Visiting dozens of our prickly pear cacti, collecting their fruit in a vat of water.
Late afternoon is when I do this, on a special August day, when the fruits are bright and ripe.
There are so many prickly pear cactus all around the outskirts of our garden.
Some are taller than me and wide as a car, out front.
Others are dainty, like this one under the giant apricot tree.
I use my tongs to collect and pop them into water, just so the thorns don't cling to me too much as I wheel my way around the garden gathering.
Then I get cozy and spend about 3 hours taking the edible (non-thorny) part out of the center.
I work with a sharp little knife and a fork, as you can't touch the outsides with your fingers.
(more details on doing this here)
Cutting off the top and bottom, and swiftly but gingerly, rolling the skin layer off and revealing a nugget of goodness inside.
Each one has about a million little seeds.
Some people make Jam.
Some people make dye for clothes.
I like to make prickly pear Lemonade.
I have a step by step tutorial and recipe right here.
It's soooo goood.
The color always takes my breath away.
What a major treat every August at this time.
I think I will make a second batch, even though it's a labor of love.
It's totally worth it.
Eeeek, lightning and thunder just now, so loud that thunder!
I best type fast, before my service cuts out as it always does when it storms.
I have been a juggling making things mad woman.
Clay creatures are almost ready as layers and layers of paint and stain dry.
(I let each layer dry as I work)
And, I have been staying up way past my bed time playing in jewels.
Garnets and crystal quartz and Swarovski crystals and antique pieces and milagros and and…
Ooo, it's so fun!
I try each one on over and over until it is something I would LOVE to wear myself.
So, there will also be more jewels in my jewelry shop soon too.
Oooo, darkness and bright lightning so close, better skedaddle!!
Much more soooooon!
How are you?
What's going on out there in the world??
Love, V
ps: My sister is having such a fun giveaway on her bloglette right here.
She's so crafty!!
pss:
Pouring rain in the desert right now… YAY!
I can’t even imagine what that fruit tastes like. Sean loves prickly cactus plants and said that the fruit is really sweet and delicious. I’ll have to take your word for it because those thorns are more than enough incentive for me to stay faaaaar away. LOL – I can’t stand removing a thorn or a splinter from my skin. Owie!
Between work and trying to get some exercise at night, I’ve been planning Halloween costumes and gathering kids party ideas. I want to have a boneyard scavenger hunt in the backyard, but I have to remind myself to think more FUN and only slightly Spo0kY; which is rough for me. LOL
Alas, another thing I have never tried! It’s a lovely color! What does it taste like? And don’t say a prickly pear! :0)
I had a cup of the pom. & quince tea from Colorado & I thought of you. I think I will always associate quince with you since you’re the only one I’ve ever heard mention it.
The weather here was cool today, in the 60s!
I can’t wait to see your new goodies in the shop!
It tastes, hmmm, a little bit like watermelon I suppose? But not as
watermelony…. and sweet too 😉 I am definitely going to send
youa couplequince!!
I so love your blog. Been reading it for about a month now and just can’t stop! I’ve been reading old posts and new posts, posts, posts, posts! All of them filled with complete loveliness!
Your writing and colorful pictures warm my heart and make me smile. I am inspired to be myself and not be what others think I should be.
You are a very sweet and beautiful person.
Have a Wonderful evening…
🙂
Thank you Indigo 🙂 It is not always easy, but yes you are so
correct, it is important to strive to be our own selves, good to ourselves happy
in our own lives and not trying to please everyone else. Sometimes I have
to remind myself to please myself, and if that means running through the rain
without shoes and not brushing my hair for days then that is what one has to do,
hahaha!!
Feeling a little blue today at the death of Robin Williams…… I’am quite the fan. So sad. But a visit to your blog is alwasys good for cheering one up!:) I have sure seen my share of prickly pear but i have never tried it….My hubby tells me it tastes like strawberries???….but hey watermelon would work too! Hugs! deb
What a colour – both the fruit and the lemonade – wow!
And the first few pictures made me think of the prickly pear as having fabulous painted fingernails. : )
Ooh, little creatures… and jewels…can’t wait to see everything! (Garnets – looooove garnets – just wore one of my favourite garnet necklaces today.)
What’s going on out here? Well… groovin’ out to Otis Redding while folding laundry at the moment (“Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay”), and awaiting tomorrow, when we will be getting wild rain up here in the Northeast, too.
~Jenn (who is happy to be back)
Wow, prickly pear fruit! How fascinating and what an amazing colour! I am glad you use tongs to pick them, I shivered at the thought! Prickly pear lemonade just seems so exotic! I love it!
Oh such beauty you have in your desert hideaway. All that color makes the world so very beautiful. The prickly pear lemonade looks wonderfully thrust quenching.
We just got hit with a wonderful rain storm, which dropped one inch of rain. We needed it so badly. It did a world of good.
Have a wonderful day.
The prickly pear cactus is so beautiful-the color of the buds–and the lemonade would be wonderful!
I don’t think I’d ever seen a prickly pear before! How interesting! Looks like they make delicious lemonade! I can’t wait to see the completed jewels and clay creations Miss V, you never disappoint!
I twirled in the rain today…pure joy in the desert ! :->
Coast fog of summer flying past,
Down the coast to find sun at last.
Up the mountain winding road,
Past the ole wise noble fat toad.
Turning here and climbing there,
To Rider Ridge to free our cares.
Yes indeed let us first have tea,
Sadaf with sugar and cream.
Goat cheese, dried fruit toast,
Red hot pepper jelly to summer we Toast.
Ukulele and finger tamborines,
Morrocan trousers creating a scene.
Wireless totems streaming past,
Tomatoe gardens and redwoods at last.
Homemade wines and corn chowder soup,
Bing cherry jelly makes flips and loops.
Ballet dancers Giselle and Cinderella,
Gold, White and Blue, I tell ya.
Fuzzy, crane neck plants..full of
Saphron light & red of romance.
Popcorn balls like islands in the sea,
Color your fortune what do you see?
I heard that echo past sea and mountains,
Laughing in special blend of summers flowers,
In hair and fields alive and waves sand sound.
The color of the prickly pear,
Sets my heart aflare.
To have such a drink,
Loves first wink.
Thank you for the share and how do you dare,
With pricks so mean they really sting.
xo Pinkster
Wonderful, Vanessa! Can you believe, in some areas near here(the next county over where the earth is sandier), we have prickly pear cacti! They are miniscule in comparison to yours, though…”small-house-plant-sized”…and I wonder if they even bear fruit…I guess they must! (Not sure I have ever seen them in August…)
Glad you are getting rain, my Dear!
Hugs.
Anne & The Furs >^..^<
Vanessa, just seeing this. I’ve been so busy, I haven’t commented in quite a while, but always check in for my dose of aahhhhhhh. Your talent has no end!
Your jewelry takes my breath away. The sparkly red crystal bracelet and necklace are to die/live for!