August 14 & 27 2011
It’s harvest time and Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park boasts two of Arizona’s most knowledgeable and experienced prickly pear pickers eager to teach you how to safely pick, de-spine, juice and prepare these abundant desert fruits. Last year Jean Groen and her harvest season accomplice Robert Lewis collected hundreds of pounds of cactus fruit — turning the ripe red beauties into 40 quarts of juice! Jean will share her picking and juicing techniques during an informal, outdoor one-hour workshop, teaching visitors how to harvest these forbidding fruits without turning your hands into a virtual porcupine of painful cactus stickers, spines and glochids. At the end of class, Jean & Robert will share prickly pear-based snacks. Classes are included with daily admission of $9 for adults or $4.50 for ages 5-12. Visit park’s home page