Saguaro Seed Saga

A new picture for the start of this blog. I like pictures of houses and doors for some reason and this one is perfect for our attempt at cactus growing. The Gila Woodpeckers will make a hole in the Saguaro cactus and use the nest for one year only. After that the Cactus Wrens move in. This looks like a cozy little condo - shaded by a Mesquite. I think it's a Mesquite - might be a Greasewood aka Creosote Bush. I thought Creosote came from Terre Haute, IN, but apparently not. Terre Haute just used to smell like Creosote came from there years ago.

Had to get those Saguaro seeds clean and dried out so that we have some hope of planting them next week. It wasn't easy - the darned things are the size of poppy seeds and pretty much gooped into the pod. I tried to put them in the blender and then push the goop through a strainer. But my strainer let the seeds go through as well as the goop. I had red goop all over my counter! I finally used a slotted spoon to siphon the seeds from the bottom of the watered down goop and then spread them on paper towels to dry. It was a bit messy and I lost a lot of seeds but I think we still have enough to start our own Saguaro National Forest! I put them on the hood of the truck to start drying in hopes of fooling the fruit flies that were very interested in what was there. Then I cleaned up the mess. These darned things had better grow!