Today's  Gathered  Goodies

Nuts.  Deer and squirrels beat our women to the trees, so we have a limited number of nuts.  First come, first serve.  Enjoy them now, because they are seasonal. 

Berries.  Bad news.  The lady collecting our berries fell off the cliff, spilling everything in her basket.  The women working with her had to carry her back to camp.  Check back another day.

Tuna.  You’re in luck.  We have plenty of tuna.  What?  You thought we were talking about tuna fish?  This tuna is the seed pod on a prickly pear cactus.  It’s delicious, but watch out of the sharp spines.  As later explorers in Texas found out, failing to remove the spines can kill you. 

 

Baked sotol root.  Sorry, but we don’t have any of this today.  This root from a yucca is cooked in an earth oven, also known as a stone hearth.  It takes a lot of wood to fire these ovens, and there just isn’t enough wood available to do the job.. 

Baked lechuguilla root.  This is the root of a small agave found in the same area and is also cooked in a hearth.  No wood, no fire.  No fire, no baked lechuguilla root.

...and there's much more that we will over in the months to come.

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