Rancho Mission Viejo

More interesting finds from our ventures outdoors this week.

Today's pictures are from a hike we took up into the hills from the parking lot at Remington Senior Apartments, right by the fire station. There's a trail across from the fire station that heads down into the cover of some very, very large, climbable oak trees.




You'll see paths and hills carved into the trail by dirt-bikers. The kids love running up and down them.




The trail winds through the oaks then comes out into the sunshine for a bit of an uphill climb. One section is really steep, but gets you up to the ridge for some really beautiful views.






Here's what we saw...

Ground Pink



Lupine



Splendid Mariposa Lily as it looked on our way up the hill



The same lily as the sun was setting on the way down - it closed




Wishbone Bush



Wild Cucumber



Salamander - found this guy while digging with a stick through the fallen oak leaves in the shade. I thought it was an earth worm and was about to show it to my 2 year old when I noticed its head looked different and it had legs.



Horehound - I see this everywhere now. You can boil the leaves to make a sore throat remedy. You can also make horehound candy with it.



The next pictures are from earlier in the week at the tidepools in Laguna Beach.

Unidentified caterpillar on deerweed



I believe this is some kind of coralline algae - pretty



goose neck barnacles, they look like crab claws





And last but not least, a bit of a poem from our studies this week...

Mother-my-love, if you'll give me your hand,
And go where I ask you to wander,
I will lead you away to a beautiful land
The Dreamland that's waiting out yonder.

~from Child and Mother by Eugene Field

Prickly Pear

Have you noticed the Prickly Pear lately? The yellow and orange blooms of summer have made way for its deep red, pear-shaped fruit, which I recently read is very tasty.



Well a couple of days ago as we were taking the kids for a hike we came across some very ripe looking prickly pear fruit. I didn't have gloves, but I did have a plastic bag and a friend's knife so I collected two of the fruit into the bag without touching them.

Unfortunately, I still got several of the spines in my fingers! Apparently, there are two kinds of spines on the plant and the fruit. There are the large, smooth, fixed spines which are visible. These are easy to avoid. There are also much less visible, smaller hairlike spines called "glochids" which easily penetrate the skin and detach from the plant.

These glochids are what were all over my plastic bag and that's how they ended up in my fingers. They're hard to see and consequently, hard to remove once they're in there. But you can feel them!

They sat in the car for about two days before I got around to Googling how to eat prickly pear. Apparently, handling them with tongs and running them under cold water while scraping them gently with a knife will get rid of most of the spines. I was a bit leery after my first painful experience so I handled it with tongs until the skin was completely off.



Cut the rough end off - look at all that juice!



Slice the skin lengthwise. They do this much better in the video, I took too much of the meat off here because I was doing it with tongs.



And there you go! Prickly pear fruit.



Isn't it a beautiful color? The juice is such a gorgeous pink.

The kids and I, my hubby and Grandma all tasted it as is and agreed it is very, very tasty! Tart and sweet - kind of like a tart watermelon flavor with a plum-like texture to it. We're definitely getting more!

Here's a video that explains how to harvest and prepare prickly pear

And here are some fun things you can make with Prickly Pear.

Prickly Pear Sweets and Treats
Prickly Pear Margaritas
Prickly pear sorbet
Prickly pear cactus fruit salad
Prickly pear cactus mojito
Prickly pear juice with lime, ginger, and honey
Tuna Juice (prickly pear is also called tuna)

Enjoy!