More often than not you get to see my broad sweeping photos of the Dells. A giant sea of granite, a pretty lake next to the formations, clouds, sunsets…. You get the idea.
There’s more to the Dells than just those things. There is life among the rocks. Tan and blue aren’t the only colors out here. There are greens, reds, yellow, purples, and more. Normally it’s the stuff you step over, walk around, or generally don’t take any notice of. It’s all there though.
I’d mentioned yesterday that there are even things out here that you can make jelly out of. Prickly Pears. They’re pretty cool looking. They come with some hazzards though. Try to pick them the wrong way and you’ll end up with a hand full of spines.
Last year I tried touching one. Apparently the fruit has micro spines in it as well. Yeouch! 🙁
As you can see from the photos, not the friendliest plants! How does one go about harvesting the fruit? Better yet, how the heck do you cook these things after? Some day I’ll have to learn more about the prickly pear.
Beyond standard desert flora I’ve found many other plants thriving among the rocks. Pretty little flowers that you might just pass by while taking in the overwhelming sights. You’ve seen some of the flowers I’ve found over the past year. Desert living….who would have thought?
Not me!
I’m happy to say that my little series has me looking around at the Dells again in detail. Morning or evening walks, I’m looking for unique things to share with readers. And I’m finding things that up until now, I’ve totally missed. How long have I been here? More than a year and a half!
I’ll keep looking around. And I’ll share what I find here. There’s a lot more to see, looking up, down, or across the sea of rock……
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Thank you, Rich, for some very cool floral pictures. To handle the prickly pear tunas, you need either good garden gloves or tongs. You put the tunas into a pot with water & sugar & boil the mess all up. When it’s cooked down the right amount (I don’t know just how to tell that), you put the mess into a cloth & squeeze through. That way you avoid those dang barbs. And, yes, those microbarbs are particularly nasty, because you aren’t forewarned.
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Glad you like them Granny J.
Wow, who figured out they could eat the prickly pears???
One word…GLOVES!
Also, don’t just go around randomly touching cactus (I learned that one from my dad…and WE were from California 😉 )
If you ever want to try cactus, I know an awesome Mexican place here that serves the BEST cactus tacos!! They are lovely…I would also think that any native people would have figured out cactus is edible because there are a lot of desert animals that eat it…just sayin’ 🙂