Taking Advantage of Free Greens....

We’ve become a society wedded to the supermarket.  In fact, most Americans, even if given the opportunity, are not interested in learning to forage or studying the native edible plants around them.  If it doesn’t come wrapped in cellophane or if it’s not piled in the bin at the produce section of the grocery store then Americans won’t eat it.  The likelihood of pesticide residue or E-coli or salmonella contamination does not deter the American shopper either.  Push the shopping cart along the aisle where fruits and vegetables are displayed and then pick what you need.  That’s the American way.  Yes, some Americans grow gardens but not many.  Fewer still will ever forage for edible plants.

 This past weekend some people came to visit and while they were here the topic of edible native plants came up.  I told them that within 200 feet of where we were sitting grew between twelve and fifteen edible plants.  The typical look of surprise swept over their faces as did the subtle expressions suggesting they wouldn’t eat the plants even if they knew how to identify them.  They wanted to walk in the woods and go camping and take pictures and look at birds.  They brought their fancy camp stoves and super duper ultra-lightweight tents and all the latest gear as advertised in Camping Yonder Magazine and lavishly reviewed in a raft of outdoor and hiking blogs.  They wore the latest in camping fashion and hiking boots.  All except for one of them that is.  She wore blue jeans and a gray cotton shirt and she wanted to see the plants. Then she asked if she could taste them.  So I said: “We’ll pick some fruit and some greens and we’ll cook the greens along with some tender cuts of wild hog.  Her friends set off with all their gear and packets of freeze dried, salt-ridden polymono-saw dust and we stayed to forage and eat what had just come out of the ground and off the hoof.

 She’d heard of stinging nettle or ortegia as it’s called locally.  And she was honest and forthright enough to ask me if it would be safe.  I said, “When we cook it the formic acid and serotonin and the other chemicals will be neutralized and what we’ll have are tender greens loaded with vitamins and minerals.”

I’ll not go into the details of Urtica dioica, the stinging nettle or ortegia.  There are a thousand articles and posts in other places with recipes and the like.  But I will suggest you harvest the younger leaves for the best taste and always wear gloves when you’re picking the leaves.  Let me mention as well that around these parts the roots of ortegia have been used for various urinary tract conditions like benign prostatic hyperplasia.  Ortegia can be steamed, boiled, made into tea and added to juices.  But always after it’s been rendered safe by heat, i.e., boiling.

 We sat on the porch and ate our greens, and broiled strips of pork and a few other things that I’ll talk about in the next few posts.  Who knows, maybe I’ve helped generate the makings of a forager and native plant aficionado.  Time will tell.

Variations on the Apache Foot Snare

The Apache Foot Snare was presumably designed to catch large animals like deer.  As depicted on a number of websites and survival manuals it consisted of a hole about two feet deep and four inches in diameter that was ringed by a number of wooden spikes either pushed directly into the ground or affixed to a loop made from either vines or braided cordage.  A small snare was laid on top of the hole over the stakes.  The object was to catch a deer’s leg when it stepped into the hole.  In theory, the spikes either force the deer to fight to free itself thus ensnaring its leg, or the loop with spikes attaches to the leg and when the deer extracts its leg from the hole it pulls the snare upwards and the deer is trapped.  But it has always seemed to me that both designs are flawed—at least as depicted in various photos.  Given the region that the Apache roamed it would seem easier solutions to this trap were readily available.

Koeberlinia spinosa

Junco

Ziziphus obtusifolia

Lotebush

Condalia hookeri

Brasil

All three of the thorny hardwoods pictured above are located within the Apache’s former range from South Texas westward into New Mexico and the Mexican states of Coahuila and Chihuahua.  These plants have thorns ranging in length from about four inches in the case of Condalia (brasil) and Ziziphus (lotebush) to nearly eight inches in Koeberlinia (junco; hoon-koh).  Admittedly, these are dangerous plants to handle.  So here is my disclaimer: This post is for historical reference only.  Do not try this at home.  What do they say on the TV show, Myth Busters?…I’m a professional blah, blah, blah, or something to that effect.  Okay, now that we got past all that let me continue:  Some of the photos of Apache Foot Snares are laughable.  Spikes pushed directly into the ground will either work free when the deer steps into the hole and the overlaid snare will be shoved farther into the hole or will have no effect whatsoever.  And the spikes secured to a ring of vines or cordage will not have enough spring tension to hold onto the deer’s leg.  In other words, neither type snare is going to work…unless a spring device is attached to the snare via a spring-pole or other apparatus that will snap the snare backward when the deer steps into the hole.

It’s conceivable that the Apache used spring poles; and if they wanted their traps to be effective I presume they would have opted for something along those lines.  However, it seems more likely they would have simply cut a few branches of junco, lotebush or brasil and then carefully (very carefully) wound them into a tight circle that they then slowly inserted into the hole.  In this case a hole of two feet would be minimum.  A hole of about 30 inches would be preferred.  The spiraling ring of thorns is the same length as the hole.  It is pushed all the way to the bottom of the hole but extra care must be taken that none of the long thorns stick into the sides of the hole as that would impede the thorns ability to snag onto the deer’s leg.  The thorns must all face towards the middle of the hole.  When the deer steps into the hole the thorns catch onto the leg and when the deer attempts to yank its leg out of the hole it brings the entire ring of thorns upward with it.  The snare (made from any number of materials) will then snag tightly onto the deer’s leg because the mass of thorns will not allow the snare to slip off.

And that’s how I think the Apache Foot Snare really worked.  Surely, I’m not the first person to come up with this idea.  I’ll bet some perspicacious Apache or a member of some other tribe had that idea a few thousand years ago.  Now remember that snaring deer is illegal and I’m only discussing a hypothetical topic here.  But so many bits of advice printed in various “survival manuals” and depicted on any number of TV shows are simply concepts passed from one person to another with little thought as to their feasibility.  I submit that the Apache Foot Snares seen on YouTube and other places aren’t going to work as effectively as their makers claim.  I think the Apache figured those things out many centuries ago.

Blogging from the Deep Woods & the Itinerant Life of a Nature Freak and Knife Hack....

A look from my back porch as dawn breaks behind me.  Last night two great-horned owls hooted in the woods pictured and several pauraques whistled until far past midnight….

Trying to keep a blog going while living in the woods is not without its problems.  There’s the availability of suitable Internet connections, for one.  And then there are the logistics of keeping a homestead going and still finding enough daylight to write blog posts.  You see, it’s not as if we have the complete array of conveniences available to those living in towns or cities.  For example, we must supply our own water, take care of our own garbage, defend ourselves (we have no access to immediate police protection this far into the woods), and also keep watch for the ever-present dangers that might precipitate medical emergencies.

Over the last few days we’ve been busy drilling a new water well.  While nowhere near as hectic as building a house in the backwoods, the process of digging a well in this locale is still problematic.  It’ll be another week before we can switch over to the new water source assuming there are no “events” in between that slow the process.  This morning my son and I were up at dawn preparing the pad where we’ll place a large storage tank.  We also needed to fill a 200 gallon holding tank for the well driller to use.  As I write these notes I can hear the rumble of his drilling machine about 200 feet from the house.

Winds are blustering through as another norther whips overland.  I’m grateful for the winter we’ve had.  In the last ten years we’ve experienced very little resembling winter and though we’re still suffering from a severe drought there have been some nice periods of rainfall which means this year we’ll have abundant wildflowers.  Last spring the entire region ranged from khaki brown to burnt umber with nary a flower in sight.

There are tens of thousands of blogs and it’s presumptuous for me to think that I have anything noteworthy to say to anyone.  What, after all, does a desert rat share with a society that is essentially urban, glued to television, infatuated with consumption, politically partisan, conservative, liberal, and otherwise so removed from the life I live as to either abhor it or romantically idealize it?  But perhaps the one who’s actually been educated in this blog is not you but me.  My contemplations on bushcraft, nature preservation and low-impact living are indeed subjective and perhaps a bit esoteric.  You see, I’m one of those oddballs who thinks we ought to fight (as in fight!) to save nature.  In other words, nature preservation is a really big deal for me.  I also view the subjects of bushcraft and low-impact living as both compatible and even synergistic.  That last statement is worthy of an entire blog post or perhaps even a book-length manuscript and perhaps I’ll tackle it someday.  Let it suffice to say here that bushcraft is far less invasive of nature than the process of mining, manufacturing and transporting materials across the world so that some naïve camper can “leave no trace” when he ventures into his favorite piece of woods.  Oh how I love stirring the pot.

I am a student of population ecology.  I’ve concluded, based on my analysis of the data, that we humans have far surpassed our maximum carrying capacity.  That makes certain issues like exponential human population growth and unrestrained immigration critically important.  This, however, is a good example of where political ideologies and economic “theories” collide headlong with science, particularly biology and above all nature preservation.  Let it suffice to say here as well that we cannot cram more and more people into any box without suffering some sort of cataclysmic event.  This is a non-refutable truth.  But in the world beyond my deep woods enclave emotions steer the boat far more than empirical evidence.  We are therefore stuck in a political and “market driven” climate that ignores biological realities.  Perhaps we’ll also stir the pot on this subject a bit more down the road.

Your emails and blog stats have taught me a lot about your personal interests.  Take knives for example.  Don’t get me wrong: I really like knives.  But it’s not the alpha and the omega for me.  I’m not a knife collector nor am I one of those who dreams knives.  I enjoy making knives and, in fact, I’ve got a number of knife projects in queue.  So in that sense I collect my own knives.  None of these knives are for sale.  Please understand that I am honored and deeply grateful for the dozens of requests I’ve had for one of my knives.  But it would become a chore—a genuinely stressful chore—if I had to go out to the shop to build knives for people.  And besides, I don’t want to deal with the litigious aspects of selling dangerous handmade tools nor am I all that gung-ho about spending long hours around metal dust.  I take all the necessary precautions from respirator to eye and ear protection but it’s still a risk.  So I make knives as I please and there is no pressure doing it that way.  If I want to make a knife then I make a knife.  Otherwise, I have gobs of knives on hand from crooked and hook knives to skinning knives to the large Woods Roamer knives and I could stop making them today and still have enough for my great-grandchildren to use.

A Few of My Crooked Knives

Woods Roamer Knives

My life in the woods, however, has taught me that though a knife is a nice tool to have it’s not really of maximum importance in a survival situation.  The fact that so many “survival experts” make the claim that a knife is the paramount item to possess is based, I believe, on repetition and not actual experience.  Yes, give me a knife and I’m very content.  But your classic “bushcraft knife” is not the knife I would prefer to have on hand if I were in a “survival situation.”  I’ll take a machete in desert or tropical regions and a small axe in the northern latitudes over any four-inch, Scandi-ground etc. etc. blade.  My second cutting tool would be a pocket folding knife.  Just remember that humans lived without any steel knives for about 40-thousand years.  And they managed to survive.  Also recognize that owning a knife does not bestow expertise.  I know a couple of fellows who own dozens of expensive bushcraft knives and neither one knows much about the woods other than how to make feather-sticks and scrape a blade over a ferrocerium rod.  I did, however, teach one of them how to make a fire using a bow-drill.  That’s all good to know but bushcraft is far more than making fire with sticks.

My next post, by the way, is on variations of the Apache Foot Snare.  I think you bushcraft types will find it interesting.  I’m going to discuss the way I think the Apache Foot Snare was really made…or should’ve been made.  And one more thing: We’ll keep this blog going a bit longer if you’d like to know more about Brushland and Southwestern bushcraft and nature preservation.  A lot more things on native plants and ethnobotany too….So keep in trouch.

A Naturalist's and Bushcrafter's New Year

Blogging has taught me a few things about myself, the land around me and people in general.  Unless you’re trying to make money off a blog (and there’s nothing wrong with that) then there’s no reason to write about anything that you don’t find interesting.  If you’re passionate about a subject then it will probably be the main impetus of your blog; otherwise, the blog will fizzle quickly.  As you might have gathered over the last few years my passion is nature.  It’s not about buying things for camping or hunting but instead about living in the woods quietly and peacefully.  Yes, I like knives and bows and arrows but I make my own instead of buying them with the exception of a few pocket knives.  I visit knife forums and selfbow websites only occasionally.  I do, however, read a lot about subjects relating to ethnobotany especially as it correlates to primitive technologies.  Lately, I’ve been spending time reading as much as possible about how various grasses have been used around the world to make everything from arrows to dwellings to musical instruments, watercraft, fences, and the like.  You might recall a recent post about the “Columbian Exchange” and the war on Phragmites australis as an “invasive species.”  For those of you who enjoy bushcraft then phragmites is a plant you might consider studying.  As recounted in the previous post it has been used extensively for many things.  I make all my arrows from phragmites but I’ve also lived in huts that were thatched with the reed and years ago I had an opportunity to ride in a boat made from carrizo.  Even so, phragmites is not the only grass species employed for bushcraft projects and in future posts I hope to discuss those other grasses in detail.

There’re a lot of excellent arrows in this stand of carrizo.

I see an annual circle completed when spring arrives and not in the middle of winter as is generally the custom.  In other words, the new year unfolds with the emergence of flowers and trees leafing out.  The new year begins when I see bobwhite and scaled quail coveys break into pairs and when I encounter new bird’s nests in the trees around my cabin.  The coyote’s songs take on a different quality as spring approaches and other animal behaviors are also altered around this time of year: The white-tailed deer, for example, become more elusive as do the javelina.  Soon I’ll start seeing quite a few Painted, Indigo and Varied Buntings in my front yard as well as Hooded and Altamira orioles.  The bird list is extensive and not a day goes by (perhaps not even an hour) that I’m not watching out for birds at the feeders and watering stations.

Huisache Flowers

And then there are the smells of springtime.  You see South Texas is probably the first place in the United States where spring shows up.  One of my sons lives far to the north and he just sent me a text saying, “Here we go again.”  He was referring to the latest winter storm about to hit.  Two of my other sons report sleet in their area.  Even though the same blue-norther is blowing through as I write these notes, it will be mild compared to most other places and will do little to deter the springtime that has already begun.  All around the huisache trees (wee-sach-eh) (Acacia farnesiana) are blooming with bright yellow flowers that are nothing less than beautiful.  The flowers’ fragrance is indeed tranquilizing and in fact the blossoms are distilled to make an ingredient for perfumes.  The bark of the huisache can be used to make a black dye.  People in parts of Mexico and Central America sometimes press the seeds to make cooking oil.  But the best part of the huisache is the honey derived from its flowers.  I’ve written about this before but it’s worth repeating.  The only way to get pure huisache honey—the nectar of the gods—is to find someone who has placed hives in the middle of a large huisache grove and then buy directly from that person.  Of course, that’s difficult to do.  One more note: Huisache nomenclature suffers from the same academic nuttiness that has besieged other plants.  Perhaps one of your former biology teachers told you that scientific names are the definitive moniker of any plant or animal.  Well, unfortunately that doesn’t hold anymore for plants.  There are so many synonyms that my advice (if you’re not a professional botanist) is just stick to the common name in your area and learn how to identify the plant and if you’re interested in bushcraft or ethnobotany then find out as much about the plant’s uses and then be done with it.  Also know that the botanical community will continually fumble around with all sorts of names and only they will find the process edifying.  So here goes: Huisache is not only known as Acacia farnesiana, but also Vachellia farnesiana and it was formerly called, Mimosa farnesiana.  The plant’s family name went from Leguminosae to Fabaceae but it’s the same thing because both refer to the “bean family.”

One more note:  I’ve been asked in several emails what makes a person passionate about the woods.  By the way, “the woods” is the universal metaphor for nature.  Facts are that there is no definitive answer to that question.  Some answers have been proposed but I find all of them lacking in both empirical proof and substantive logic.  Furthermore most of the research in that regard is too crammed with variables to be worthwhile—at least in my opinion.  Some have suggested that one must be introduced to nature at an early age by someone who is passionate about nature in order to become both an ardent and zealous nature lover.  I’ve seen many examples of that occurring but I’ve also seen plenty of instances where people were exposed to nature via a “nature person” and they did not develop any sort of infatuation towards the woods.  And yet there are others who had no such encounter with a nature person and yet as children they developed a deep seated affection for the woods.  This brings up the nature/nurture equation with all its obstacles and additional questions.  I am increasingly convinced that a driving passion for nature is as much a product of genotype as it is derived from any nurturing experience.  In time I’m convinced that will be proven true.  Anyway, as springtime approaches may I wish all of you nature and bushcraft folks, Happy New Year.

Comments and Emails Related to Global Climate Change Post....

Thank you for taking the time to comment on the previous post pertaining to global climate change.  I’ve received dozens of emails in addition to the published comments.  Many of the opinions have been from people telling me horror stories about how their land and the air they breathe have been polluted by one industry or another.  Unfortunately, the topic of Global Warming or Climate Change or as I like to refer to it, Chaotic Climate or Climate Related Mayhem, is both contentious and sometimes difficult to dissect.  The polluting industries and their comrades including the Rightwing Media have spent millions of dollars attempting to distort the issue and muddle the available data.  They realize that if the public opts for prudent and rational behavior then their abilities to profit at the expense of the land will be greatly diminished.  In the end, this is less about a cleaner environment than it is about a small group of people continuing to reap great profits while destroying the planet.  In the clinical sense their actions would be defined at the very least as “hyper-instrumental” in that they will use anyone or anything as an instrument to get what they want with no feelings of guilt, remorse or anxiety.  In its most extreme form it is called sociopathology.  But ask yourself: Isn’t it better to have clean water, breathable air, genuine forests (not tree groves), and a landscape that isn’t choked with toxins and carcinogens?  If we can work towards those goals then the topic of global climate change becomes moot.  It is, after all, our continued desecration of the earth that has raised these broader issues.

I received emails from people who have experienced the terror of living in areas where intense gas well drilling is occurring.  One correspondent from the town of Hebbronville, Texas said that parts of the town have a nauseating smell as a result of the drilling.  He said that an area to the west near a small town called Catarina is also enduring the effects of both toxic air and polluted subsurface water from hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.”  Another letter was from a lady who said her husband’s COPD was greatly exacerbated by the air pollution in the city where she lives.  She added that she has become active in educating others about what polluted skies do not only to those suffering from respiratory diseases but also to children with developing lungs.  One particularly poignant email came from the great state of West Virginia where a company called ironically “Freedom Industries” spilled two extremely toxic chemicals into the Elk River and poisoned the drinking water for about 350,000 people.  You might recall the CEO of Freedom Industries appearing on national television replete with a bottle of pure drinking water and complaining that it had been a long day and he was tired and (swig, swig) he just wanted to go home.  It reminded me of the CEO of British Petroleum (BP) who during the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico where millions of people were impacted and great swaths of shoreline were forever damaged and eleven men lost their lives said that he “just wanted to get [his] life back.”  Both of those men are prime examples of hyper-instrumental behavior.  In the email the writer from West Virginia said that her family has been shattered by the leaking poisons and that they fear many of the local residents might have to eventually relocate.  In other words, they have possibly lost their homes.

For most of us who meet at this blog-site the central issue revolves around our ability to enjoy nature.  Whether we are bushcrafters or birders or native plant aficionados or all three combined we share a deep connection to the land and to preserving the wilds.  Thus anything that threatens our love for nature also threatens us both as individuals and as a collective group.  We don’t just sit idly by as the land and the air is polluted by those who could not care less about nature and whose sole motivation is to profit at the expense of others.  Judging from the letters and from the friendships I have made through this blog I gather that we are all very much the same and that most of us are active in the cause of saving the land, the water and the air we all breathe.  In other words, when others destroy the natural world then they are in effect destroying us.  And that is why we are passionate about topics like clean water, unpolluted skies, and diverse natural habitats.  We revel at the sight of a bird or when we hear it singing; we are filled with emotion upon looking at mountains in the distance; we hunger for quiet walks in the forest; and we are appalled when others speak of bulldozing a prime patch of nature or when we see where callous and selfish people deliberately poison our underground water supplies and fill our skies with contaminants.  And perhaps most of all—judging from the comments and emails I’ve received over several years of blogging—we are not of the type to just sit back and be victims.  Yes, it seems that those of us who gather at this blog-site are fighters each and every one.  So please let’s keep the dialogue going.  I enjoy reading your opinions whether in the comments section or in emails.  Discussion is the key to understanding and analysis.

Thanks,

Arturo Longoria

Chaotic Climate January 2014

If you’re locked in a freezer that’s set in the middle of a sweltering desert then you might assume there are no problems regarding an ever warming environment and its associated chaotic climate.  That seems to be the attitude of some people who, based on their local weather, have concluded that warming temperatures are a myth.  So let’s call this phenomenon, “Locked in a Freezer Syndrome” because as the following data shows, this past January was hotter than normal worldwide.  As such we might expect blizzard conditions in parts of the world where significant amounts of evaporation off our ultra-warm oceans waft to places where it gets dumped as snow.  That scenario is entirely within the parameters of chaotic climate theory that is now, by the way, even more supported by the data.  No, Uncle Wilber, it’s not a hoax; and no Aunt Molly, it’s not a conspiracy; and no Cousin Billy it’s not a secret plot to “take away our rights.”  It is simply data—supportive data—that keeps accumulating showing we can expect more and more chaotic climate incidents.  Take Australia and the US state of California for example.  Both places are suffering from extreme drought—which, of course, leads me to question whether Australian born plutocrat Rupert Murdoch ever checks the weather reports Down Under.  Seems Murdoch enjoys disseminating poorly thought-out and data-deficient pronouncements denying chaotic climate and the ever-growing mountain of data suggesting its human related causes.  But for Murdoch and all the others who have failed to look up the data then perhaps the following maps will, if nothing more, raise an eyebrow or two.

What the above maps show is that despite sections of the earth that have experienced blizzards in the past few weeks the overall picture still shows a planet in the throes of increasing record breaking temperatures that just keep going up and up.

Ah, yes.  I can hear the naysayers even from my enclave in the deep woods.  I recall the old song, Love Hurts (I preferred The Everly Brothers version).  Maybe it’s time for a new song, Data Hurts.

For More Info check out the following website:

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2014/1

The Last Vestige of Christmas...Tasajillo Cactus

I look forward to Christmas.  Temperatures drop or at least they dropped this year.  We had a decent winter which is something we’ve sorely missed over the past decade.  For those of you to the north I think I have a bit of good news.  A couple of nights ago I was making a set of arrows in my little hobby shop and two flights of Canadian geese flew overhead going north.  A sure sign that winter is coming to a close.  In Deep South Texas winters are short-lived and over the past decade they have been practically non-existent.  Our worldwide chaotic climate has given us some years when temperatures never went below fifty degrees and if they did it lasted for only a few hours.  But this year we had a good winter and I am thankful for the respite from the heat.  There will be days this coming July, August and September when temps will soar well above the 100 mark and I will think back fondly on this winter.  A couple of weeks ago I was in North Texas in twelve-degrees of snow and ice with a wind-chill of zero.  It brought back memories of my days in Michigan long ago when I’d hike out over a frozen Lake Michigan and sit on hillocks of ice to enjoy the quiet.  By the way, I was told that it’s been a long time since the lake has frozen over.  Apparently, this is the first time since the 1980s that at least 75 percent of the lake has been covered in ice.

Already things are returning to normal around here and the cold-fronts are becoming sporadic and not very intense.  But all around are vestiges of this past Christmas and when the sun is setting the Brushland lights up with its own glitter.  Perhaps the woods is as reluctant as I am to let go of the beautiful Christmas of 2013.

We call the plant pictured above tasajillo (tahs-ah-he-oh) but it is otherwise known as Desert Christmas Cactus.  I prefer the name tasajillo because it’s an older name to the region.  One of my objections to many plant field manuals is that they fail to include the oldest common names for the area covered.  Thus in South Texas most field manuals would be, in my opinion, more instructive and accurate if the authors always sought to name a plant using common names of Native American or Spanish origin before using names that are more recent.  Unfortunately, many of our plant field guides lack that feature.  Nonetheless, and at least for this article, the name Desert Christmas Cactus is appropriate.  In my late afternoon walks I think of this past Christmas every time I see a clump of tasajillo.

I can’t recall the first time I encountered tasajillo but most people become aware of the cactus when they bump into it and receive a painful stab from its spines.  Tasajillo spines are particularly nasty in that they are enveloped by a sheath that slips off and remains implanted under the skin.  The sheath is quite difficult to remove so the best advice I can give is to always be aware of your surroundings when hiking in the Brushlands or desert regions.  Besides, this is a land with many obstacles and tasajillo is but only one of them.

A large rat known locally as the “nopal rat” (because it makes nests within clumps of nopal or prickly pear cactus) places the cylindrical and abundantly spiny stems of the tasajillo cactus at the entrance to its nest.  When I wrote the novella The Trail I included a segment where the main character, Jacob, sets out to collect nopal rats within an old corral choked full of prickly pear cactus.  Years ago in the mountains of Mexico I was treated to a meal of nopal rats by a group of Indians who lived in a remote mountain region.  They told me the rat is a delicacy and, in fact, cooked with chile and beans it was quite good.  The rat lives primarily off the succulent nopal pads and is therefore a vegetarian.  No, it doesn’t taste like chicken.  It tastes more like pollo.

Desert Christmas Cactus is known scientifically as Cylindropuntia leptocaulis and besides the name tasajillo it also goes by the common name Desert Christmas Cholla.  There are other common names in other regions but where I live those are the folk names used to identify the plant.  Tasajillo makes an excellent perimeter fence in areas where privacy or protection is needed.  I planted a row of tasajillo at the back of a friend’s yard a few years ago because people were graffiting his cedar fence.  It is tricky planting tasajillo as you might imagine.  Wear gloves, use tongs, and perhaps even chaps.  But once the tasajillo takes hold you’ll have a wall of spines growing to about five feet high.  Don’t overwater the cactus and be sure it’s in partial shade.  Tasajillo grows best in sandy loam and the only problem you might have is vines attempting to use the cactus as a support.  Best lay down a heavy layer of mulch or even plastic overlaid with sand on top of each plant.  You will, of course, get stabbed in the process but then so will anyone else who ventures close.

Wildlife love tasajillo and I’ve seen everything from quail and Rio Grande turkey to javelina eating the cactus.  Various bird species make their nests in tasajillo including roadrunners and mourning doves.