If you live in the good ‘ol US of A then you know the saguaro cactus (Carnegia gigantea). You might not know its name, but virtually every postcard, TV image, or other mass media image of the desert includes this stately being. They are a backbone plant of the Sonoran desert ecosystem, and are having a great fruit-producing year. If you live in southeastern California, southern Arizona, northern Sonora or Baja I would encourage you to get out there and harvest these amazing fruits…you won’t regret it.
This video highlights how to harvest the fruits and how to dry them for long-term storage. As an aside, my favorite way to eat them is when they have already fallen to the ground and are dried out. In the video we also visit the Saguaro Country Nursery for some easy pickin’, views from Lorrie Joanne Scott on the state of saguaro’s in AZ, and a brief view of some other foods available in the 111° Sonoran desert heat right now.
Sunny;
good job, lots of cool info. Having lived in the Huachuca Mountains for a while, I’m glad to see someone highlight all of the terrific edibles out there. One suggestion tho, there are some sound issues on your video when the shots are not full face shots. (i.e. when your drying out the fruits) you might consider inserting voice overlays for your narratives on these. Also, one minor thing, you use the word “amazing” a lot. Other than that, your energy level is great, your camera angles are good and you look really excited. You should consider coming to San Antonio and helping me with an event at the Botanical Gardens and making it into one of your videos.
mkh
Comment by Mike Harrison — July 5, 2007 @ 6:24 am
Hi Mike,
thanks for the comments! When’s the event? What are you doing? I’ve only driven through the Texas panhandle up north.
Definitely some sound issues. i’m shooting this all of myself on a $250 handycam camcorder. The voice layovers are pretty hard to do because I’m using iMovie (not the expensive Final Cut Pro). Someday!
Thanks so much for the comments, it really helps.
cheers, ~sunny
Comment by sunny — July 5, 2007 @ 8:17 am
I have been living in Tucson for 10 years and just this week learned of the fruit on the saguaro you website is very informative.
Comment by monica Garcia — July 10, 2008 @ 8:05 pm