Kelly Athena, known as Cactus Kelly in foraging circles, asks my children to cup their hands, then pours ground-up mesquite pods into their waiting palms.
“It tastes like Honey Nut Cheerios,” she tells them.
Athena calls what happens next the “mesquite reaction.”
Sure enough, my children’s eyes widen in surprise at the sweetness as they eagerly lick it off their palms.
As we walk up South Mountain near her home in Phoenix, Arizona, Athena pauses before we go very far on the trail and asks everyone to quiet down. Like she does every time she goes out to forage, she acknowledges the land.
“I thank the east, the west, the north, the south. I thank everything above us, everything around us, everything below us, everything within us. We thank the local O’odham tribes and Piipaash tribes for passing on their knowledge of these wonderful plants. And we acknowledge that this is their land that they always lived on and cared for. And now that our hearts are as one, let us proceed onto our walk.”
Cactus Kelly has taught people of all ages how to forage in Arizona. – Photo courtesy of Cactus Kelly
Along the way, she teaches us to listen for bird calls, points out saguaros sheltered beneath their nurse plants, and explains some of the ways Indigenous people use creosote bushes.
“Everything comes from them. Everything comes from the tribes that lived here and took care of the land so well and knew how to survive,” she says.
I’ve lived in the Sonoran Desert my entire life, yet much of what Athena shows us is completely new to me. The landscape I saw as dry, unforgiving, and brittle was suddenly full of food.
“It’s fragile, it’s beautiful … you’re kind of disappointed at first here, and you just have to look closer,” she tells me.
Athena was first invited to teach foraging classes by the Desert Institute of Gardening. Then a local restaurant reached out to purchase native foods from her. After that, libraries, nature centers, and even the Desert Botanical Gardens sought her out.
Athena was glad to help. “I saw that there was very little foraging education in Phoenix and a huge gap to be filled.”
Then she noticed her neighbors’ yards. Jojoba bushes, prickly pears, and mesquite trees — the food was already there, thriving largely unnoticed and unused by the people living on the land. So she knocked on their doors to ask if she could forage from them. They agreed.
Her father also had a knack for sharing his enthusiasm for the natural world, pointing out a woodpecker here, a flower there. The year Athena turned 10, her father gave her a book about Native Americans’ relationship to local flora and fauna. She devoured it, calling herself an amateur naturalist from then on.
Learning to See the Desert
In the mid-1980s, as an adult, Athena moved to the Sonoran Desert and picked up naturalist Wendy Hodgson’s book Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert. Wanting more than she could learn from its pages, Athena began trekking into the desert with guidance from well-known local forager Mark Lewis and others.
“I think it’s important for people to be connected to the place where they live,” she says.
Around that time, Athena also earned her Master Gardener certification. But she found gardening in Arizona difficult — the rats ate a good deal of it, the soil was “rocky and alkaline,” and it was too hot, she says.
“I’m kind of a lousy gardener,” she jokes.
Then she noticed her neighbors’ yards. Jojoba bushes, prickly pears, and mesquite trees — the food was already there, thriving largely unnoticed and unused by the people living on the land. So she knocked on their doors to ask if she could forage from them. They agreed.
Cactus Kelly teaches Arizonans to see food where others see weeds. – Photo courtesy of Cactus Kelly
That’s the thing: Many desert dwellers have untapped food sources in their yards and along trails, yet little is commonly known about the traditional foodways Indigenous people relied upon for generations.
“We recognize that Nike swoosh; we don’t recognize the catkins that are on the mesquite trees in front of us every single year,” Athena says. “There’s a pendant full of 80 flowers per inch, and we don’t notice that.”
The more time you spend in nature, the more “you see how beautiful it is and you want to preserve it,” she says. And we’ll begin to understand our place within it, how we are only a part of a much bigger cycle.
The Desert Is Full of Food
Athena isn’t the only Arizonan helping people to look at the desert differently.
Rosie Crocker, known as Sonoran Rosie, teaches foraging classes in Tucson, where she sells herbal creations she makes out of sustainably foraged desert plants in her downtown shop, Arizona Poppy. She is also the author of the book Seasons of the Desert: The Wellness Wisdom of Southwestern Native Plants.
Rosie Crocker, aka Sonoran Rosie, foraging in the desert. – Photo courtesy of Sonoran Rosie
“There’s literally something edible and/or medicinal in every single season,” she says. Palo verde flowers and beans emerge in spring; monsoon rains bring amaranth, followed later by prickly pear fruit; fishhook barrel cactus fruits in autumn; and wolfberries arrive in winter.
And the desert’s edible bounty isn’t limited to plants. Rising like a green paradise from the desert floor are the Sky Islands in southeastern Arizona, a group of isolated mountain ranges.
There, Hernan Castro, a distinguished mycologist known as the Desert Alchemist, is working to expand knowledge of fungal life in the Southwest through his own foraging classes. He calls the mountains “havens for diversity and life.”
The area is so diverse, he says, because it’s “multiple habitats all stacked up in one compact mountain. You can find every habitat from Mexico to Canada in one mountain.” Although Castro doesn’t know the exact number of mushrooms that grow in the Sky Islands, he’s personally seen more than 1,000 different species.
“Sometimes you can’t see them unless someone shows them to you,” he says. “And then you start seeing them everywhere. I think that’s what shocks people.”
I can relate. Since taking foraging classes with Cactus Kelly, my kids and I cannot unsee the same plants that we once walked past without a second thought. It’s really a miracle, what this so-called dry, dusty land can produce.
– Photo courtesy of Cactus Kelly
– Photo courtesy of Sonoran Rosie
Above left, this group harvested buckets of wild prickly pears! Above right, both the fruit and pads of this cactus are edible and popular in many traditional cuisines.
How to Forage Responsibly
Rules about harvesting vary by location, so check local regulations before collecting anything.
Forage with someone who is knowledgeable of local plants rather than relying solely on a book or the internet.
For Crocker, ethical foraging “starts with observation.” Spend time learning what’s growing near you and how abundant it is before harvesting anything. She generally only harvests about 5% of what’s available and recommends taking less than 10%.
Both Athena and Crocker leave low-hanging fruit for animals and harvest small amounts from multiple plants rather than stripping just one. The rabbits, javelinas, and quail will thank you for remembering their needs. Remember that you’re sharing with wildlife, so take only what you need — and know when to take nothing.“Everything there’s for a purpose,” Castro says, “and it’s in a balance.”
Safety note: Never eat a wild plant unless you are 100% certain of its identification. I once went on a forest walk and found large, beautiful mushrooms. I brought one home and texted Castro a picture. He informed me it was a green parasol, which is poisonous!
What to Forage in the Sonoran Desert
Palo Verde (spring): Flowers and young green beans. Athena compares the beans to peas or edamame.
Ironwood (late spring/early summer): Athena describes mature beans as having a flavor similar to that of hazelnuts, peanuts, soybeans, and pistachios.
Mesquite (early summer): The whole dried pods can be frozen, ground, and sifted into flour for a Honey Nut Cheerios experience. (Work with an experienced forager the first few times.)
Prickly pear (late summer): One of Crocker’s primary forage foods and a desert staple.
Amaranth (monsoon season): Crocker says it grows abundantly following monsoon rains and can be prepared like spinach.
Fishhook barrel cactus (fall): Crocker describes it as having a sour, pepper-like flavor, with tiny, poppy-like seeds.
White king bolete (Sky Islands): Castro calls this Arizona mushroom a “classic” and leads foraging classes in the Sky Islands, where you may encounter it during monsoon season.
Dining and Cooking