This is how important the annual saguaro harvest was to the Hohokam and Pima Indians. It paced their lives, defined time, and most importantly, gave them year-long sustenance.
Timing is everything.
Arrive too late and the fruit is punctured and cleaned out by birds. Pick too soon and the fleshy innards are hard and bitter. When the fruit bulbs took on a fat, reddish hue, tribal members knocked them from limb tops using a crude tool shaped from saguaro ribs. Volunteers with the Phoenix's Desert Botanical Garden use basically the same tools today. They gather and freeze the fruit to be used during the year in demonstrations at the garden or they trade the seeds with their counterparts around the world for other exotic varieties.