Eileen Daniels

Nopale paddles can be harvested in the spring for a vegetable harvest and can be grown in many parts of the country. Look for varieties that have no thorns for easier handling. You’ll also get a long fruit harvest in the fall and winter.

This past winter I had lots of fun harvesting the fruit from my prickly pears. It’s super easy if you know how: pick the fruit with tongs and put them in a plastic bag or a container and put them in the freezer until frozen. After they’re frozen let them defrost in a pot on your stove top. When they are defrosted they become like frozen strawberries and the fruit juice oozes out. Bring the fruit to a boil for several minutes to dissolve the spines. Strain the contents of the pot through a colander to make jelly and gelatin with the juice. I use the leftover skins to make tea adding a little sweetener. It’s quite tasty! I dehydrate most of them for later use. You could even add the skins to a soup in an emergency situation after making the tea.

This year I’m making fruit flavored balsamic vinegar as gifts using fruit from my trees. I do need to buy the vinegar though.

I've been using my thermal cooker quite a bit this winter. My favorite meals have a chicken stock base - soups, stews etc. I have the 7 Liter Saratoga Jack thermal cooker, so it makes a nice size pot for many bowls of soups and stews. I've been using it like an old caldron. I cook the soups, eat some and return it to the thermal cooker where it stays relatively warm. A quick warm up on the stove and it's nice and hot for the next meal. My body is craving this quick, healthy food and so I have it for two or more meals a day.  Once a week I roast a whole chicken in my Aroma Turbo Oven, giving me chicken leftovers. I make my stock from two chicken carcasses cooked in the thermal cooker.

I recently helped Max, a friend that does bee removals professionally, remove and relocate 2 outdoor hives to my home. The bigger colony did not stay in their new super more than a couple of days. the smaller colony has stayed in the super I provided for them. Both hives were located under a tree limb as to give them protection from the rain. I live in So CA (zone and it was Max's opinion that the bees that live in outdoor hives will have a hard time making it through the winter.