March News from Cactus Kelly

Welcome to New Subscribers! . . .and You Regulars Too

Bean Workshop Group

Two mesquite pods on the right--one curled and one long and straight. Harvested in early June. Smaller ironwood pod and beans on the left. They'll be ripe in late June.

Dear Souls Interested in Delicious Mesquite,

You are invited to a foraging workshop scheduled for Sunday, March 30, at 2:30 P.M.

Ever wondered how to make use of those pesky mesquite pods that fall all over your yard? Or your neighbor's yard?

This workshop will teach you, from A to Z, how to identify, taste, and harvest the beans, as well as how to store them. Additionally, you will learn about an inexpensive machine, "The Giraffe," that helps you make flour quickly at home.

How to roast the beans, how to sift the flour, how to store the flour, how to avoid getting bugs in the beans!

Please let me know if you have any mesquite pods you'd like to mill during this workshop. You can mill a half bucket of beans at no extra cost.

I've learned a great deal of interesting information over the last nine years working with this beautiful tree of life.

I started with Wendy Hodgson's book, Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert. Then I went out and found Mesquites and learned how to make flour and drinks with it.

Tickets Here for March 30 Mesquite Workshop/Party

We'll enjoy some mesquite snacks and prickly pear tea.

At 4:30, we'll venture a short distance on a South Mountain trail that is not listed on any maps. It is sandy and fairly flat. There, we'll see the native Velvet Mesquite Trees, which will have blossoms to harvest in April and pods ready in June.

This workshop will prepare you for these upcoming harvests.

SAVE THE DATES:

More Workshop/Edible Plant Walks on

April 13 and April 27 in my location,

and June 14th in Chandler

at the Veterans' Oasis Park. I will send you the sign-up links soon.

With Gratitude,

Kelly

Mesquite blossoms in April. These "catkins" are delicious fried. I'll bring

out some frozen ones from 2024 for us to fry!

After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, love, and so on — have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear — what remains? Nature remains. ~Walt Whitman

Connecting people to their environment is my passion. I always learn from attendees as much as I pass on my bits of knowledge!

Please add info@cactuskelly.com to your contact list so it will come to your primary mail folder.

I wish to acknowledge the local O'odham tribes for their wisdom learned from living in harmony with plants for centuries. It is their land where we meet and live.