Desert Tunas

It is late summer, and after having lived in cities my entire life, it is interesting to me to see how in the country each season has its own charm and peculiarities. Right now the grass has taken on that tawny color and the prickly pear cacti (opuntia engelmannii) are sporting their beautiful dark red fruits that they call "tunas" here.

These are edible fruits, and several animals eat them. I find the red outer peel on my path, although I do not know how the animals (javalinas?) get past the spines to get to the flesh. I know that people make jam from them and I once had a tuna lemonade that was just delicious. In this patch of cacti a packrat has made its nest (good protection from predators!), but I am not sure whether the tunas are part of his diet.

There is a patch of these prickly pear cacti close by in the National Forest that is about 20 acres. In the spring they have these beautiful yellow flowers, which turn into tunas this time of year. By the end of winter all the tunas will have been eaten, and the cycle starts anew.