Dec 24, Barrel Cactus Is A Vital Source Of Food And Water Where It Thr

In the harsh desert, where few men can survive, the barrel cactus has meant life to the Native Americans. The Mojave, Chihuahua and Sonoran desert, where the cactus thrives, has made the this cactus a vital source of food and water. It is amongst one of the most valued of desert plants.

The cactus is one of the desert plants that have been put under protected status in various areas. Uncountable cacti have been cut down to make the highly popular barrel cactus candy. If this destruction of this natural resource will be allowed to continue, it will make theses species of cactus extinct.

Historical Usage

The cactus can be prepared as a stew. The flowers are harvested when they have just bloomed and boiled like cabbage. The more mature blooms are mashed and added to water to make a tasty drink.

The water that is used to make the exotic beverage is extracted for the pulp of the barrel cactus. The water that is squeezed out from the pulp can be consumed as it is. In case of dire need, the pulp is chewed to bring nourishment to the body and quench parching thirst.

The most famous food item that the cactus is known for is candy. The pulp of this desert cactus is used to process this sweet candy. It is reported the candy was outlawed in the U.S. in 1952 to protect the species.

The top of the cactus when cut, may be used as a cooking container. The cooking is done by the addition of hot stones into the provisional pot. The sharp spines are not edible. They were made into needles, fishhooks and other similar tools.

Description

The cactus is of the genus Ferocatus, which means fierce cactus. Desert cacti of this genus are cylindrical in shape. It grows near the desert slopes and canyon walls.

They are one of the largest desert plants that can grow up to a height of 11 feet tall. These desert plants are ribbed and covered with spines. The Fishhook species has curved spines, hence the name fishhook.

During the months of April until June the blooms appear. They are beautiful and edible yellow-green to red flowers located at the crown of these desert cacti.

This usually grow along desert washes, gravely slopes and beneath desert canyon walls in all of the hot desert of North America from the Mojave, Chihuahua and Sonoran desert of southern California, southern Arizona west to Texas and south into Baja, California and central Mexico.

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Pressure Pond Filter Saves the Day, Green Water Goes Away

August 16th, 2010

In Spring 2008 I made a water feature in my garden. It has mostly been a huge success, I love the looks of it, I love the sound the fountains make, the fish are fun. It overall adds a certain something to the garden that I didn’t know was missing until I had it.

However I have had a bear of a time keeping the water clear. For the first couple months after I made it it stayed clear. However once the pond got established, it got dirty. I could barely get the water clear for brief periods of time. In 2009 I bought a new pump/filter set. The same kind I had originally, because the first died. It is a small pump in a box with filter pads that goes inside the pond. It doesn’t work, I don’t recommend it. The new filter/pump did some good, but most of 2009 and all of 2010 so far (once it warmed up) the water has been murky and dark. I haven’t even fed the fish in months (and they’re alive, so they must be eating the algae and whatnot).

My pea soup water, immediately after installing my new filter

The pump I had kept dying, these pumps just suck. The filter kit is like $100 bucks too, so expensive junk. I don’t want to buy a new one each year. I had resigned myself to having algae problems because I don’t want to put the time into doing all the chemicals and testing and whatnot. But I wanted the water sound, I wanted the movement, the bubbling, the fountain. It is soothing. So I knew I needed a new pump and filter, one that was easier to clean, because I figured I’d have to clean it super frequently like I did with my current one just so it could barely cope.

I settled on this external pressure filter and pump set as seen in the Amazon link here. It has a backflow valve to allow me to clean the filter without opening it, which is what mostly attracted me to it.

It also includes an internal UV filter, which should help kill algae, but when you first install the filter you’re supposed to let it run with the pump for a day before turning the UV on, to make sure there is no leaks in the electrical area.

As it would turn out, the UV filter isn’t needed for me. The pond pump and filter are supposed to be able to handle a pond 5x larger than mine, and in 24 hours, BEFORE I had even turned the UV on, it had turned my green opaque swamp water crystal clear. No new chemicals added. I had even tried an 80% water swap out a few weeks ago and it didn’t help, but 24 hours with this new pump and filter and my water is crystal clear.

Sure, this setup was expensive, around $250, but I had already previously spent $200 on filters/pumps that suck. So if I had bought this from the beginning the premium I would be paying would be much smaller. Plus this pump is big enough where I can now add a waterfall, which I plan to do next year.

Installation was simple, the hardest thing was standing in Lowes and getting the multude of different sized tubings and couplings to do the connections, splits, and diverters I needed to do the hookups I wanted.

The results, 24 hours with my new pump and pressure filter Posted in: Gardening » 

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