Cactus Farmer

Just a few years back, when I was in 3rd or 4th Grade, my brother and I went to visit David and Jesse Lenat at their Cactus Farm. While we were exploring the green houses, their dad, Richard, gave my brother and I each a cactus to take home.

Mine lived in a small pot near a window through the rest of grade school and high school and then my mom cared for it through college. It grew into a little cluster of pencil thin, green, spiky pads over the years.

After I graduated, moved to California and got an apartment in SF; I was home for Christmas one year and took one of the pads wrapped in tissue to California. It grew well there and now produces big, bright yellow flowers every year.

This Christmas, I stuffed two tiny buds into glass bottles and brought them to Iraq and planted in the yard with one of the cat’s help (paw in the background).