When cacti go rogue.
Once upon a time, in 2017 to be exact, Carlos and Kate had some giant nopales, and they gave me a few pieces to plant in my own yard.
As the years went by, the baby nopales began to grow.
And grow. . .
And grow!
By 2022 they were starting to get out of hand, as was my neighbor’s vegetable garden on the other side of the fence.
It took me several days to trim them back, but I was happy with the results. You can read ore about this in “It’s Fall in the Back Yard”.
Fast forward to December of 2023, and you can see we were going to have issues if the nopales didn’t get trimmed again.
The only problem was that by the beginning of this month, I realized I didn’t have the energy or the desire to do it myself.
This was going to have to be done by a professional.
That’s when I decided to call E & J Sanchez Tree Service to see if they could trim nopales. They’re the best! You’ve seen them before if you’ve read “I Found a Tree (Again)”.
They are experts at everything.
Plus they had a wheelbarrow instead of a red wagon!
The finished product. Don’t be alarmed by the way they cut them straight across; that’s how they do it at the cactus farm.
And we’re already getting new growth! The new pads can be cooked, (there’s a link to a recipe in “Nopales and More”), but they are kind of a pain to mess with, so unless anyone else wants them I think I will just let them keep growing. . .
Nana's Whimsical World 
Nopales burritos are so good!
Lol, true, but I’m way too lazy to make them!😂
Hi Debbie,
Do you eat the pods/flowers? Probably not what they are called.
Love,
Eileen
Hi Eileen, the pods/ fruits are called “tunas”. I’ve never tasted them but I know a few people who like them. The tree trimmers ate a couple of them while they were here. I asked what they tasted like and they said it’s kind of a tropical flavor.
Also, your comment came through as anonymous, but I just found out that I an able to go in and edit it to say your name. Do you want me to go ahead and do that? 🤔🐱🐼
Those Nopales are amazing. Never tatsted them or had to trim them … we don’t have’m here in The Netherlands 😁 Good of you to listen to your body & mind and let others do the hard work!
Yes I agree with you! No way was I going to attempt trimming them. There are nopales everywhere around Fresno and actually in most of the southwestern United States. You can even get them in the produce department in some grocery stores. 🌵
Ha natural “food” in abundance👍😀
True 😂
Wow, that got huge! Those guys did a great job – well done. Not sure about the food, but why not just try a little bit.
Oh, by the way, how are Foster, Panda and the crew doing in the chilly Antarctica?
Believe it or not, they’re still in Australia waiting for me to finish “Part 2” and figure out how they are going to get their trampoline back. 😂😂 I’ve got a lot of the pictures done, now I just have to write the story. But you can be sure the men in orange jackets are involved!
😉🍊😊
It’s really amazing how large these got!
I know! 😮🌵🌵