Our special crop........very special indeed........has doubled in size/yield this year.It's a crop that requires very little labor and.......very little water. The thorn-less prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) is the perfect plant. You don’t have to water it after the third year......it flowers..... you can eat the pads and the buds..... and it’s evergreen. Plus, if a piece of it falls off onto the ground, it will grow you another plant.
It's harvest time here at the farm.....for the prickly pear fruit. How do we determine when the fruit is ripe? When the birds start pecking away at it!
In modern holistic medicine..... prickly pear cactus extract and supplements are used to treat type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, colitis, diarrhea, and benign enlargement of the prostate gland. Prickly pear lollipops are occasionally used as a weight loss aid in the treatment of obesity. The natural extract is a useful remedy for alcohol hangovers, and the plant's gel-like sap is often used as a hair conditioner.
It's amazing that we seem to be the only farm within Sacramento County that grows this perfect crop. Besides all the uses talked about above.......the older ...more mature green pads are processed into chicken feed. That's right....chicken feed!
We have the best eggs.......hands down!
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