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1/28/2020 0 Comments Prickly Pear Juicing WorkshopsOur next workshop will be held on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020 from 1:00 - 3:00 in Mesa, near Mesa Dr. and Main St. Other upcoming prickly pear juicing workshops will take place on Feb. 4, 7, and 13 from Noon to 2:00. Please email me if you're interested in attending at info@cactuskelly.com. You'll get to take home some juice. Here are some photos from recent juicing "parties." Prickly pear juicing workshops are hard work, a time for learning, and a lot of fun!
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 Wild Edibles at Desert Botanical Garden Regular Price: $38.00 Member Price: $30.00 Sunday | Jan. 26 | 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. Learn how to identify and when to harvest mesquite, ironwood, and paloverde trees and how to harvest and juice prickly pear cactus fruits. Sample desert food and drinks will be provided. Written harvesting instructions and recipes included. Instructed by Kelly Athena. Limit 30 Session Winter 2019-2020: Sun, Jan 26, 2020 2:30PM - 4:30PM CLASS CANCELLATIONS | Desert Botanical Garden reserves the right to cancel programs at its discretion. Programs will run as scheduled, regardless of weather, unless participants are contacted directly by Garden staff. We reserve the right to substitute any instructors. REFUND POLICY | To receive a refund, you must send a written request at least 14 days before the scheduled date of your class or program. Please send your written request to registrar@dbg.org. For more information call 480.481.8146. AGE REQUIREMENTS | Children under 10 may not attend. Ages 10-14 may attend education programs with an adult and both must pay fees. Those 15 and older may attend without an adult. SIGN UP HERE AT THIS LINK! Workshop will be held at: Desert Botanical Garden 1201 N Galvin Pkwy, Phoenix, AZ 85008  Sign up for this event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2124839734477865/ TICKETS are: * FREE for Volunteers without beans * $20 for those with beans which includes one pound of your bean flour and an aflatoxin test (to determine mold in beans).
Bring your dried Velvet Mesquite beans to grind into flour. Make sure you have tasted your beans to determine they are sweet. Make sure the beans are dry--they can snap in two easily so they won't jam the machines. Leaves and twigs should be cleaned out of your beans before you come. The beans should be beige/brown/red streaks. Not green. Cost of additional lbs. of flour after the first pound included in ticket price: $4 per lb. of additional flour. If you donate 1/4 of your total beans to Cactus Flower Co-op, your flour will cost $2 per additional pound.
We will give instructions and hands-on demos about how to mill your mesquite and paloverde flour at home, and how to juice prickly pear cactus fruits. Up to 5 lbs. of beans can be processed for each person. If you have more than 5 lbs., bring them and we'll grind them toward the end if there is time. Expect to be here at least one hour while we all help with the process. We have the "Giraffe" and the Kitchen Mill machines to grind the beans. They are small tabletop mills that work fast (less than a minute to grind several cups). Then we will sieve/sift the flour so a fine flour is made. All attendees are asked to help with the sieving of their flour. Please include your email address in your ticket signup so I can send you the exact address. If the event is full, please send me your email address and I'll let you know of our next event. We will have another event in October if there are a lot of people on the waitlist. Please bring a healthy potluck dish. 8/24/2019 0 Comments Good Food Expo
 8/11/2019 0 Comments Prickly Pear FestivalFREE Presentation on the Edible Desert by Cactus Kelly: How to Harvest Mesquite, Ironwood, and Paloverde Bean Trees and BONUS topic: How to Harvest and Juice Prickly Pears Saturday, August 17, 2019 10:00 - 10:45 a.m. There will be other speakers and events all day from 7 AM to 6 PM I'll also have a booth from 9:00 - 5:00 with my prickly pear juice & powder, paloverde beans, desert capers, Wild Dancing Heart book, prickly pear themed hand-painted silk scarves, lip balm, desert tea, and mesquite flour for sale 199 N Lobb Ave, Superior, AZ 85173-2514, United States This event on Facebook and more on the Festival  FREE: Learn about the incredible edible desert: How to identify and harvest beans from the paloverde, mesquite, and ironwood trees, and harvesting weeds and cactus fruits! This event is hosted by the Old Town Scottsdale Farmers Market through the Original Arizona speaker series of Chmachyakyakya Kurikuri. Presentation from 10-10:45 includes the audience making mesquite bean flour! I'll answer questions and you can buy products such as prickly pear juice, weed chips, paloverde beans, and herbal tea until 12:30. WHEN: Saturday, April 13, 2019 at 10 AM – 12:30 PM WHERE: The booth where I'm speaking is in the SW corner of the Farmers Market. This event is hosted by the Old Town Scottsdale Farmers Market through the Original Arizona speaker series of Chmachyakyakya Kurikuri. The booth has banners that say "Original Arizona" and "Chmachyakyakya." Old Town Farmers Market in Scottsdale E 1st St at N Brown Ave, Scottsdale, Arizona 85251 More details: http://www.facebook.com/events/809799202730495/ SAMPLE of what you'll be learning and tasting from Cactus Kelly:
Any type of mesquite tree bean is edible. Just take a bite around June when they've dried from green to tan and see if they taste sweet. Some beans are chalky and others are sweet. Make sure the pods taste very sweet, break up the pods into smaller pieces, put up to 2" high's worth in a Vitamix blender, Bullet blender, or coffee grinder, blend it for 30 seconds or until all is made into a meal; put in a cone-shaped grinder and push the meal through with a metate grinder stick like you see in the photo above. Kids love to do this! Keep your mesquite flour in the freezer, as it's sometimes a little moist and you don't want it to molder. Before making the flour: Dry out the mesquite beans first in the back window of your car with the windows down a little in the summer heat. A bug was laid with every flower on the catkin so it's full of bugs which you can't taste and won't hurt you. They will fly out as the bean dries. They will fly out of your car. More little green flying insects will keep flying out for a year if you keep them in heat or room temp. Freeze them after drying to freeze the bugs and keep the beans from moldering. Keep the leftover gritty pieces from making the flour. This is called the "mash." Add water and boil it to make a delicious mesquite tea. The more mash you use and the longer you steep it, the stronger and sweeter it tastes. Add cinnamon if you'd like. FREE: Learn about the incredible edible desert: How to identify and harvest beans from the paloverde, mesquite, and ironwood trees, and harvesting weeds and cactus fruits! This event is hosted by the Old Town Scottsdale Farmers Market through the Original Arizona speaker series of Chmachyakyakya Kurikuri. Presentation from 10-10:45 includes the audience making mesquite bean flour! I'll answer questions and you can buy products such as prickly pear juice, weed chips, paloverde beans, and herbal tea until 12:30. WHEN: Saturday, April 13, 2019 at 10 AM – 12:30 PM WHERE: The booth where I'll be presenting is in the SW corner of the Farmers Market. This event is hosted by the Old Town Scottsdale Farmers Market through the Original Arizona speaker series of Chmachyakyakya Kurikuri. The booth has banners that say "Original Arizona" and "Chmachyakyakya." Old Town Farmers Market in Scottsdale: E 1st St at N Brown Ave, Scottsdale, Arizona 85251 More details: http://www.facebook.com/events/809799202730495/  Learn how to harvest paloverde, mesquite, and ironwood trees in the Sonoran Desert
at this Phoenix Foraging Workshop! May 5, 2019 2-4 p.m. at Desert Institute of Gardening, Phoenix, Arizona We'll touch on prickly pear juice making, barrel cactus fruits and seeds, and other plants as well! Details and Registration Here  Learn to harvest mesquite, paloverde, and ironwood bean trees. These nutritious beans
have fed desert people for thousands of years. Recipes and preserving methods included. When: Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, 9 - 11 a.m. Where: Desert Botanical Garden 1201 N. Galvin Parkway Phoenix, AZ 85008 More Information: 480.941.1225 Teacher: Kelly Athena Join Kelly Athena for an ethnobotanical tour through Sonoran Desert bean trees, including mesquite, paloverde and ironwood. Learn how to identify them, harvest their buds, blossoms, and beans, and prepare and store them. You will also receive recipes on how to use the beans as edamame, sprouts, snacks and tea. Dress comfortably, some walking in the Garden. Limit 15. Price: $34.00 Desert Botanical Garden Member Price: $27.00 CLICK HERE TO GO TO LINK to SIGN UP! THEN SCROLL DOWN TO THE 13TH WORKSHOP LISTED THERE! 6/11/2018 0 Comments Prickly Pear FestivalYou're invited to this free event! A celebration of our incredible edible desert! The free event begins Saturday, Aug.18, 2018, at 7:00 a.m. with a guided hike to forage prickly pear fruit. It is followed by a pancake breakfast at the local VFW at 405 Main St, Superior, AZ 85173, guest speakers, food education, local vendors, food trucks, an art gallery, and a cactus lounge with beverages and live music throughout the day. The location will be at the Town Hall, 199 N. Lobb Ave., Superior, Arizona. Please contact Pete at PricklyPearFest@gmail.com for more information. (It takes a couple of tries for that email to go through!) I'll be presenting The Desert Grocery Store—Harvesting the Desert Bean Trees: Palo Verde, Mesquite, and Ironwood including how to identify, when they're ripe, desert "edamame," flour making, flower popcorn, recipes and tastings at 10:00 A.M. on August 18th! Guest Speakers for the Prickly Pear Festival Aug. 18, 2018 Mark Lewis (who knows every edible plant in Arizona and has written a wonderful book about it): “The Cactus family” ………………………………... 9:00am – 9:45 Kelly Athena (Cactus Kelly): “The Desert Grocery Store: Desert Bean Trees” ……………….10:00am – 10:45 Duke Barrett: “Desert survival basics”……………………………..11:00am – 11:45 Diane A. Vaszily: (Desert Awareness Committee) Medicinal plants of the desert ……………………………..12:00pm – 12:45 Peggy Sue Sorensen: (The desert Kitchen)“Edible trees” …….……1:00pm -1:45 Mike Montiel: (Symbiotic Farms)“TBD”……………………..…….2:00pm -2:45 John Slattery: Making Flour from Oak Acorns …...……………….3:00pm – 3:45 Jerry Tamerson: Canning and fermenting……………………………4:00pm -4:45 Find this event on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/175086269848581/ More Details about the Prickly Pear Festival from the Superior Chamber of Commerce: The Seventh Annual Prickly Pear Festival hosted by the Superior Chamber of Commerce is set for Saturday, August 18th 2018, from 7am to 6 pm, in the quaint and dynamic mountain town of Superior, Arizona. The festival celebrates all the edible wonders of the Sonoran Desert while showcasing the many products and health benefits of the Prickly Pear cactus. Along with the festival activities, most of the local restaurants and retail merchants will have special sales and prickly pear items for sale. This year’s event will feature a Prickly Pear Foraging hike, which begins at 7:00am, those attending the hike should meet at the Superior Municipal Airport located on US 60. Hikers should wear long pants and sleeves along with sturdy shoes. To pick the Prickly Pear fruit, you will need tongs and a bucket or container to hold your fruit. Following the hike, stop by the Veterans of Foreign War Hall on Main Street for a pancake breakfast, make sure you top your pancakes with the home-made sweet and tangy prickly pear syrup. The cost for breakfast is a generous donation of your choice, the breakfast includes sausage, pancakes, coffee and juice. All proceeds benefit the local VFW Post. At 9:00 a.m., let the fun begin at the Superior Town Hall, located at 199 Lobb Avenue just a block off of Main Street. This restored school, now the local municipal complex, will play host to many educational speakers on the edible desert, a prickly pear beer making demonstration, live mariachi music, Mexican folklorico dancers, food trucks, the Prickly Pear Pageant and the Cactus Lounge, which will feature the Superior’s famous Prickly Pear Margarita. The vendors, art show and demonstrations will run until 5:00pm. All the speakers will have a vendor's table. I will be selling Prickly Pear Popsicles, Prickly Pear Concentrate in dropper bottles, desert teas and herbs, hand-painted prickly pear silk scarves, potted plants, vases with fresh herbs, and many other goodies! The Cactus Lounge will close at 6:00pm. The third annual Prickly Pear Pageant is a pageant that celebrates vintage clothing and a unique theme each year. Prizes are awarded to the contestants, who best showcase the theme of the pageant. This year the theme of the pageant is “Hollywood Inspired”. Participants can contact Tina Casillas at 480-399-5895 or tinamarie2000@gmail.com The Second Annual Prickly Pear Cook-off will be held from 11:30am to 1:00pm at the Superior Senior Center, located at 360 Main St. Those wishing to enter a dish in the contest should contact Mila Besich-Lira no later than August 1st, 2018. For complete rules and regulations contact azccedc@gmail.com. This year there will be two categories for entries, desserts and main entrees/appetizers. Cash prizes will be awarded. The presentation by contestants will happen between noon and 1:00pm. New to the festival this year will be the Superior Prickly Pear Margarita Shake Off, hosted in the Cactus Lounge. This event invites local bartenders along with novice bartenders to show off their skills and earn the title as “The Most Superior Prickly Pear Margarita Maker” For more information on contest entry and rules contact the Superior Chamber of Commerce at 520-689-0200 or via email at iamsuperioraz@gmail.com. Superior is located 60 miles east of Downtown Phoenix and is an easy drive on the newly expanded US 60 Highway. For an up to date festival schedule visit our website at www.superiorarizonachamber.org COPYRIGHT © 2017 SUPERIOR ARIZONA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE  This presentation with Jean and Robert will be held 1 1/2 blocks away at the Senior Center: 5/27/2018 0 Comments Harvesting Bean Trees
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