Eating well in Mexico

Nopal is a useful cactus plant that grows very easily here - you can just throw a pad down on the ground, and it will root. The local people eat it every day, as it is so inexpensive and nutritious. I make a morning drink of it with blended raw nopal, apple and pear, and a little ginger and pineapple juice - very refreshing, and we think it tastes better than the popular jugo verde, which is more savory and includes celery and parsley. These nopal cactus right outside my gate are really starting to grow now that spring is here. I plan to be a nopal guerrilla gardener one of these days, and just start planting the pads everywhere there is a bare patch of ground. It seems to me we should make sure there is plenty of free food available in the village "just in case".