Thursday, August 2, 2018

Casa Grande National Monument, and desert eats

Casa Grande was one of Andrew's desired stops on our recent trip to the desert SW.

The largest ruin, and it's protective canopy, can be seen for miles. The design of the canopy (which protects the great house from the weather) was done by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. and constructed in 1932. There's an interesting story on it here.

The ruins looked a little fake to me, probably because of the steps they've taken to restore and protect them.

What I really enjoyed at the monument was information on what the ancient peoples of the area ate (The Casa Grande was abandoned around 1450 C.E.). Of course there were the usual things like Yucca root and the Agave, but the display included so much more.

I snapped these lousy shots in the visitors center not intending to use them in a blog post. But what the heck, I thought you might find the information interesting. Prickly pear...
Palo verde

Cholla cactus...it's the buds (before they flower) which were eaten. More info here.

Creosote bush

Mesquite tree

This painting by Ron Carlos and Jacob butler was created in honor of the O'odham people, I liked it a lot, especially the fact they included devils claw (Harpagophytum procumbens actually Proboscidea altheaefolia, thank you Gerhard) seedpods in the design.

There are all sorts of medicinal uses for devils claw but I just think the seed pods are cool looking. There were several on display (I forgot to snap a photo!) but none for sale in the gift shop. I tried to find someplace selling them on our travels but never did, back home I see they're available on Etsy! If you're unfamiliar that's them in the top middle, with the curly tips. Do you suppose those are corn dogs on the left?

Weather Diary, Aug 1: Hi 85, Low 61/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2018 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

15 comments:

  1. I'd have enjoyed a visit to this kind of place too, I've always been fascinated by prehistoric humans and their culture. I'd love to see the Anasazi cliff caves some day, but I may be too old for that now. I, of course, had no clue what devil's claw seedpods looked like, glad you pointed them out. The corn dogs look like cat-tails to me, but I doubt there are any of those in the Southwest desert.

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    1. Oh you should definitely go Alison! We visited the cliff dwellings in 2012, they were fabulous. I knew those were cattails, I was trying to continue the food theme and be funny. And actually cattails do grow in the desert SW, I've seen them along the (almost dried up) Rio Grande. Here's what I didn't know though. You can eat the "hot-dog" part of the cattail! I looked up "cattails Rio Grande" to make sure my memory was correct and found this: https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/714141

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  2. Loved the painting and all the info on the plants, though I can't imagine eating those things. I visited Mesa Verde in 1971 when they still allowed access to areas that are now off limits. An amazing and unforgettable experience.

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    1. We visited in 2012, no doubt a much different experience than yours, but still fabulous.

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  3. Corndogs made me laugh out loud! Really interesting information about the uses of desert plants. Love the painting.

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  4. You don't find many ruins in the US so this was definitely worth a visit. I also loved the painting.

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    1. Have you visited Mesa Verde or Chaco Canyon? Both worth the trip.

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  5. We stopped there once 25 years ago but I didn't remember much apart from the canopy. Thanks for a refresher, esp. the ethnobotanical info.

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    1. The canopy is so much more memorable...

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  6. P.S. I think the southwestern devil's claw is Proboscidea altheaefolia. Harpagophytum procumbens is a South African species. Not that I knew any of that; I just looked it up :-).

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    1. Right you are! Thank you, I searched and searched and thought I'd finally found the right one.

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  7. Ok , so this is extremely random. When I lived in Sedona I was a bartender and the guy who ran the restaurant/bar was named Roland and he had this little poem about himself: "Roland Roland, he's our man;He's from Casa Grande;if he can't do it no one can" I told you it was random, but anytime I see anything about Casa Grande I think about Roland and this poem.

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    1. Hahaha, yes, very random. Thank you for sharing your Roland memory.

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  8. your hot dog pun was about as funny as the joke the kid keeps trying to explain to his mom in 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore' I only caught on because I knew you would never confuse those hot dogs for cattails...love all the info and the beautiful painting
    rickii

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