Danny Rhodes of Desert Fungi in Velarde, New Mexico gives us a detailed tour of his greenhouse mushroom farm operation. I found the wet wall/swamp cooler system he rigged to control the temperature in his mushroom growing greenhouse in the summer especially interesting. Danny produces between 100-150 lbs of Oyster, Shiitake, and Lion’s Mane Mushrooms per week, most of which he sells at the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market and direct to local restaurants.
This was a really interesting entry. Here several Navajo students from Paul McCarl’s class at the Whitehorse High School in Montezuma Creek, Utah present their solar cooker projects.
Especially interesting is a Fresnel lens cooker the students built in order to be able to fry the popular Southwest fry bread.
As one of the student notes, you don’t see too many solar cookers that will fry.
The students introduce themselves in Navajo and then go on and explain their projects.
Barrel Cactus - photo by Vegan Feast Catering on Flickr
From Cooks.com
BARREL CACTUS CANDY
Take the barrel cactus and cut off around until you get to the white meat. Do not use center of cactus because it’s very hard to slice.
Start by slicing one inch strips of cactus. Soak in cold water overnight. Next morning drain and slice into one inch cubic squares.
Cook in boiling water until tender.
For two quarts of cactus cubes, make the following syrup: 1 c. water 2 tbsp. orange juice 1 tbsp. orange juice 1 tsp. orange peel
Stir and dissolve syrup over low heat until thoroughly dissolved. Put in cactus and cool slowly until syrup is absorbed. Roll in powdered sugar.
The Real Know How 