edible Baja Arizona - June 2013 Inaugural Issue

Celebrating the foodways of Tucson and the borderlands.

Summer 2013 • Issue No. 1 • GRATIS

Member of Edible Communities

Barbara Kingsolver & Steven Hopp • Andrew Weil, M.D. Gary Paul Nabhan • Carolyn Niethammer

INAUGURAL ISSUE

baja arizona

2 summer 2013 edible Baja Arizona

Enjoy Our Wholesome Traditional Heirloom Food Products

®

White Tepary Beans - Brown Tepary Beans - Roasted Corn - Ga’ivsaRoasted Corn Flour - Pima Club Wheat - White Sonora Wheat

Garbanzo Beans - Black Eyed Peas - Stone Milled Heritage Flours

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EdibleBajaArizona.com summer 2013 3

Enjoy Our Wholesome Traditional Heirloom Food Products

®

White Tepary Beans - Brown Tepary Beans - Roasted Corn - Ga’ivsaRoasted Corn Flour - Pima Club Wheat - White Sonora Wheat

Garbanzo Beans - Black Eyed Peas - Stone Milled Heritage Flours

For our webstore, list of local restaurants and retailers visit www.ramonafarms.comReceive 20% off your entire online order. Use key code: EB6A01N

Ramona’s American Indian Foods, LLC • (602) 322-5080

NONGMOFARM

ContentsSummer 2013

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810

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GRIST FOR THE MILL A note from Editor and Publisher Douglas Biggers

A Local Foods Manifesto Finding Our Place at the Table in Baja Arizona

Home is Where the Prickly Pears AreBarbara Kingsolver and Steven Hopp

VOICES What’s your local food ambition?

FOODSHEDThinking Like A DesertGary Paul Nabhan on growing food in a hotter, drier climate

GLEANINGSNew markets, food swaps, veg-u-cation

IN THE BUSINESSTo Market, To MarketQ & A with Peter and Bree Wilke

MEET YOUR FARMERWalking in CyclesJim McManus keeps his eye on the cycles of soil and water

WHAT’S IN SEASONA shopper’s guide to seasonal produce

RECIPE Tepary beans, with a twist

DIRECTORYFarmers’ Markets & CSAs

TABLEA Proper DevilDowntown gets local with the opening of Proper Restaurant and Diablo Burger

FEATURESSeeds of Infinite TimeNative Seeds/SEARCH celebrates 30 years of saving seeds—and preserving heirlooms—in the borderlands Holding PatternA melon’s journey from soil in Sonora to a Safeway on your street

EDIBLE HOMESTEADMesquite, monsoon gardens, and the coop scoop

FORAGERSummer Saguaro Harvest

Carolyn Niethammer on braving summer’s white-hot sun to

earn this bright fuchsia fruit

FORK IN THE ROADEighty Grinning GoatsThe goats of Chiva Risa browse the borderlands

SONORAN FOODWAYSBacanora,

revealed Bill Steen photographs

the distilled essence of the Sonoran Desert

BUZZThe Temple of Brew

At Borderlands Brewery, beer that’s kind to planet and palete

SOURCE GUIDEAdvertiser Directory

LAST BITEThe Manifold Joys of Local FoodAndrew Weil, M.D., on the many benefits of eating local

ON THE COVER: The stages of flowering and fruiting of Carnegiea gigantea. Images were scanned over the course of several months on Tumamoc Hill by Paul Mirocha. Content page photograph by Steven Meckler at Proper Restaurant

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If you’d asked me six months ago if I’d be publishing a new magazine focused on local food and drink in Baja Arizona, I would have given you a quizzical look. My “locavore” leanings long pre-date its “word of the year” designation in the

2007 Oxford American Dictionary, but a return to local media wasn’t on my to-do list (I co-founded the Tucson Weekly in 1984 and was its editor and publisher for more than 16 years).

That all changed one day last November, when I happened upon a Facebook post by my friend Jared McKinley—a short video about a family in Pasadena that was growing a vast amount of food on their small inner-city plot. I decided, impulsively, that promulgating the gospel of local food and drink, here in one of the most arid regions in the country, was going to be my next project. (The next thing I did was plant a garden.)

It turned out that Jared had been thinking along similar lines. And within hours of my epiphany, I learned that my old friend Gary Paul Nabhan—world-renowned ethnobotanist, writer and local foods rabble rouser, and the W.K. Kellogg Chair of Sustainable Food Systems at the University of Arizona—was the patron saint of none other than Tracey Ryder, the co-founder and CEO of Edible Communities. EC is an amazing network of 77 independently owned publications in North America that are telling the stories about their respective foodsheds, celebrating the importance of local food and drink, and promoting their farmers, producers and purveyors. After many conversations, plates of delicious local food and a shot or two of bootlegged Sonoran Bacanora (for sustenance and courage), Edible Baja Arizona was born, and now proudly joins the EC family with this inaugural issue.

On page eight you can read more about our mission, but I want to acknowledge a few people who have been instrumental in bringing this project to fruition: Thanks to the founding EBA team: Jared McKinley (associate publisher), Megan Kimble (managing editor), Serena Tang (design and production), Paul Mirocha (intrepid art director), our great advertising sales team of Becky Reyes, Stephanie Chace and Kenny Stewart; and, of course, Gary Nabhan, chair of our editorial board.

Steven Meckler, Jeff Smith and Bill Steen provided fine photography; gracias to all the writers (see our masthead), and to mis viejos amigos Hector Acuña for the map of Baja Arizona on page nine, and to Kay Sather for the illustration that accompanies the essay by our friends Barbara Kingsolver and Steven Hopp (to whom we are especially grateful), and to our very own Andrew Weil, M.D., for his always wise words that end the magazine. And to the many other friends, supporters and family members

who played important roles these last few months: ¡Gracias! And lastly: please make it a point to patronize the fine businesses that advertised in the first issue: they are fearless and deserving.

So, let us begin a lively and long conversation—in the pages of this magazine, online, and face-to-face. Eating (and drinking) locally isn’t a feel-good fad for foodies: it’s an incredibly powerful way for communities to reassert control over that most basic commodity: the food on our plates, the drink in our glasses, the very sustenance of our communities and cultural heritages here in Baja Arizona. We’ll invite you to dinner!

—Douglas Biggers, editor and publisher

EDITOR AND PUBLISHERDouglas Biggers

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERJared R. McKinley

MANAGING EDITORMegan Kimble

CHAIR, EDITORIAL BOARDGary Paul Nabhan

ART DIRECTORPaul Mirocha

DESIGN AND PRODUCTIONSerena Tang

ADVERTISING CONSULTANTSBecky Reyes, Stephanie Chace, Kenny Stewart

CONTRIBUTORSJessica Langan-PeckTim VanderpoolCarolyn NiethammerAmy Valdés SchwemmLisa O’NeillRita ConnellyKusuma RaoDave MondyKay SatherAndrew Weil, M.D.Bill Steen

PHOTOGRAPHERSSteven MecklerJeff SmithPaul MirochaBill Steen

WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU.307 South Convent Avenue, Barrio ViejoTucson, Arizona [email protected]

Edible Baja Arizona is published six times annually by Coyote Talking, LLC. Subscriptions are available for $36 annually @ edibleBajaArizona.com. Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used without the express written permission of the publisher. Research and community outreach of Edible Baja Arizona is co-sponsored and funded by the W.K. Kellogg program in Borderlands Food and Water Security at the University of Arizona.

GRIST FOR THE MILL

Eating (and drinking) locally isn’t a feel-good fad for foodies: it’s an incredibly powerful way for communities to reassert control over that most basic commodity: the food on our plates, the drink in our glasses, the very sustenance of our communities and cultural heritages here in Baja Arizona.

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We wish to share with you a lofty goal: We hope that we will not only attract you as a reader of our forthcoming issues, but engage you as a denizen of

the desert borderlands to help our communities see, feel and taste this region we call Baja Arizona as one of food abundance and uniqueness, and not as a so-called “food desert.”

You may or may not be aware that a revolution is taking place, but it is. Scores of individuals, non-profit organizations, grass-roots initiatives, private farming projects, small businesses, chefs and bakers, brewmasters and winemakers, cheesemakers and food artisans are all connecting with consumers in Pima, Co-chise and Santa Cruz counties in new and exciting ways.

All of these efforts are generating an ever-increasing aware-ness regarding the importance of local, wild and heirloom foods in this region. We believe now is the per-fect time to harvest this amazing coales-cence of efforts. We want to create a new voice that celebrates the local food move-ment and advocates for the importance of localizing the foodsheds and the food sys-tem here in Baja Arizona.

Why do we call it “Baja Arizona”? Quite simply: We live in a place that is unique, a mélange of Sonoran Desert, oak wood-lands, sky islands and treasured riparian zones that is unlike anywhere in the world. We want to celebrate our regional identity as a rich mixture of Native American, Mex-ican and immigrant cultures that collide and cross-pollinate to create something truly special. And we consider our neighbors across the imposed international boundary in Sonora to be an in-tegral part of what makes this region taste, smell and feel the way it does. We celebrate these connections, and go in search of the flavors of Baja Arizona, regardless of borders. (Baja, by the way, means “lower” in Spanish; our region is south of the Gila River.)

We don’t eat and drink merely to ingest calories and nutri-ents; the act of nourishing ourselves is deeply linked to our sense of place, our identity, and our collective story. That’s why we’re engaging some of the region’s most creative writers and award-winning artists and photographers to bring you images and nar-ratives that will, we hope, linger like the remembrance of an in-credible meal shared with friends.

This publication will demonstrate the tangible ways in which food re-localization efforts can dramatically benefit our human health, land health and economic well-being, while providing us with more beauty, frivolity, sensory pleasure and cultural rich-ness along the way. By rebuilding our foodsheds to be more re-silient and just, we see this effort as a key means for community building and economic recovery. Study after study by expert af-ter expert show the same results: By reducing our dependence on food trucked in from thousands of miles away and strengthening our local food system, we can make our communities more se-cure, healthier and prosperous.

Food is our most direct and enduring connection to the cul-tures, land, water and weather cycles of our bioregion. In our pages, we will be using regional foodways as a lens into the social

and environmental issues, the rich heritag-es, and the future options for living well in the desert despite our very real limitations.

We believe that fresh, seasonal, desert-adapted foods can play a critical role in curbing the diabetes and obesity epidemic that is currently afflicting communities all across the desert borderlands. Already as much as one in four dollars spent in our local hospitals, and one in ten spent on medical care in general, is related to dia-

betes and its many side effects. Unless we redirect some of those financial resources towards investing in healthier food systems that can help prevent diabetes, Arizona’s economy will go not just off the fiscal cliff, but also the nutritional cliff.

El Diablo, of course, is in the details, and there are many complex steps we must take as a community to realize the laud-able goal of eating and drinking more locally in a way that truly changes our reality. It requires a coalescence of businesses, gov-ernments, nonprofits, academic and volunteer resources coming together to create real and lasting change.

Edible Baja Arizona is committed to telling this story, over and over again, through compelling reporting, writing, and photog-raphy, as we build the case for a food system in Baja Arizona that makes us safer, healthier and happier. And we look forward to celebrating each step of the way with a good meal, a glass of local cheer and the connections of friends and family. ¡Salud! ✜

Finding Our Place at the Table in Baja Arizona

“Find your place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there.”—Gary Snyder

A Local Foods Manifesto

We want to celebrate our regional identity as a rich mixture of Native American, Mexican and immigrant cultures that collide and cross-pollinate to create something special. We celebrate these

connections, and go in search of the flavors of Baja Arizona, regardless of borders.

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Home is Where the Prickly Pears Are

By Barbara Kingsolver

and Steven Hopp

Illustration by Kay Sather

Novelist, essayist and poet Barbara Kingsolver made Tucson her home for more than 25 years, leaving the Sonoran Desert in 2004 with her husband Steven Hopp and two daughters to live on a family farm in southern Appalachia. As a family, Barbara, Steven and their daughter Camille wrote the best-selling Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a wonderful account of a year spent eating only what was locally available and homegrown. Steven, a professor of environmental sciences, is also an avid farmer and the proprietor and founder of the Harvest Table, a restaurant that features locally sourced foods. Barbara has won countless awards and honors for her work, including the National Humanities Medal, and is the author of The Poisonwood Bible, The Lacuna, The Bean Trees, Animal Dreams, and Flight Behavior, among many other best-selling works of fiction and non-fiction.


Some of our best memories of our Arizona years involve foraging: in late summer, fanning out over the desert with a platoon of friends and our kids to pick grocery bags full

of prickly pear fruits, and boiling them down over an outdoor fire to render the clear, deliciously smoky-tasting purple jelly. In the fall, heading to Willcox for a day of picking and picnicking in peaceful old orchards, stockpiling enough apples for a winter’s worth of pies and applesauce. In summer, getting up at dawn to pick tomatoes and peppers from our garden before full daylight brought its scorched-earth policy to bear.

Never mind that the garden plot was ensnared in a spaghetti jumble of irrigation tubes, and fortified on every face with chick-en wire so the javelinas wouldn’t beat us to the harvest. And be advised that the prickly-pear picking excursions involved pro-tective clothing and 12-inch tongs. Bringing local food to the table, for those of us who had moved to the desert from greener, gentler climes, was no longer the standard domestic chore we’d known in childhood. Here it was more of a treasure hunt, edg-ing regularly into the category of extreme sport. The challenges sometimes left us feeling ridiculous (an ornamental garden that’s fenced like Fort Knox, for example, is a dubious ornament), but the edible rewards were somehow all the sweeter for it.

Most people who live in the desert, if they’re paying attention, have a gut understanding that their cities function essentially as space stations, with every ounce of sustenance shipped in from less hostile atmospheres. Biologically speaking, this landscape is equipped to support no more than the handful of humans who lived, hunted, and cultivated seasonal tepary bean patches here before Europeans ever knew the place existed. Maybe that’s why

it feels so amazing to make a foray from time to time into that elite and ancient club: the ones who knew how to live on the fruits of the des-ert. In a detached, jet-hop-ping, smoothly globalized world, it’s no small thing to exercise belonging to one’s place. Especially when the place is a prickly one.

In 2004, when our family moved away from Tucson,

the whole country was starting to wake up from a long, acqui-escent stupor where food sourcing was concerned. Best-selling books like Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore’s Dilemma called our attention to the compound disasters of industrial food systems, and the importance of local foodsheds. Farm-aid organizations

rallied to the support of rural smallhold-ers, CSAs became reborn, and farmers’ markets blossomed from coast to coast. Restau-rants like Chez Panisse and Blue Hill elevated locally based cuisines to standards heretofore unknown in the land of the golden arches. And new publications, led by the Edible Communities series, awakened consumers to the tempt-ing epicurean possibilities in their own backyards.

As our family settled into the farm in Virginia where we now live, we added our voices to the choir, documenting a year of lo-cal eating in our book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. We had moved to southern Appalachia to be close to extended family, but did not mind the rich soil, reliable rain, fruits we could pick without body armor, and a vegetable garden that grew more or less by itself, without being tubed and wired like a patient in intensive care. We have come to greener pastures, there’s no doubt, in a landscape that offers an easy plenitude—at least in the currency of backyard gardens—to the folks who populate its lush hills and valleys. As former Tucsonans, we practically smack our foreheads at the marvel of self-timed irrigation from the sky, and try not to smirk when temperatures crawl to 90 and our neighbors com-plain of the terrible heat. We know a good deal when we see it.

But we also recall the thrill of the chase, and still carry a sweet spot in our memories for those shady Willcox orchard oases, the all-day prickly-pear syrup boils, the nutty tasting bread we made with mesquite flour and slathered with mesquite-blossom honey, and the fire-and-earth palette of pepper flavors we could grow courtesy of Native Seeds/SEARCH. We wax nostalgic for the buckets of olives we used to pick from the picturesque old trees in Himmel Park and other public places, while the dog walkers and Frisbee throwers peered up our ladders at us like we were crazy—or perhaps just foreign. We’ve adjusted now to Virginia’s snow-covered winters, but perversely keep trying (with frankly pathetic results) to replicate the Meyer lemons, pomegranates, ar-tichokes and mission figs that fell into our hands from our Tucson backyard landscape. Probably, we will always pine for those figs.

Most of all, we miss our daredevil compatriots in desert for-aging, including our friend Gary Nabhan, chile connoisseur and seed-saver extraordinaire, who raised one of the great early lo-cal-food manifestos in his book Coming Home to Eat. The move-ment has deep and authentic roots in southern Arizona, and so it strikes us as a rightful homecoming for the Edible magazine series to tap those roots with a Baja Arizona edition. From our farm on the other side of the continent, we’ll relish every issue as we raise a pitchfork in solidarity—or a pair of tongs—and look forward to our next visit to the fruits and flavors of a desert we’ll never cease to love. ✜

In a detached, jet-hopping, smoothly globalized world,

it’s no small thing to exercise belonging

to one’s place. Especially when the

place is a prickly one.


voices

We asked a dozen local food leaders:

Why food? I’m asked this question a lot. Not as in, “Why eat?” but rather, “Why write about it?” I began my career in jour-

nalism wanting to write about The Environment, about Global Warming and Big Energy, the prob-lems I was sure would define my generation. But where to begin? Some challenges, like global warm-ing, feel so insurmountable that it seems as though nothing can be done. Without small specificity, without localness and precision of place, it is hard to ask and harder to answer: What do we want to change and how do we want to do it?

Although it’s easily obscured in a culture where hundreds of new edible products appear in the su-permarket every year, what we eat becomes part of our bodies, landscapes, and communities in ways that are irreversible. The lesson is as old Perse-phone, who ate four pomegranate seeds and was stuck living with the God of the Underworld for a third of her life: Sometimes, food is fate. We can change our fates by changing our food, and we can do it here and now. What follows is the beginning of the conversation, a start to a dialogue that will continue in these pages in issues to come. What will be—what can be—the fate of our food, bodies, economies, and communities? Be in touch. ✜

—Megan Kimble, Managing Editor

Indigenous lifeways endure in the traditional knowledge of desert edibles, essential to the well-being of our communities. My work with the Northern Arizona University and University of Arizona “Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention” will explore how our desert food sources can contribute significantly to the revitalization of our health and the sustainability of our integrated physical and spiritual wellness. Octaviana Trujillo is a professor of Indigenous Studies at Northern Arizona University.

For me, the promise of local, culturally-rooted, place-specific food is best expressed in the idea of conviviality—a sharing of flavors and trespassing of sensory boundaries. A shared meal is a mode of storytelling. Without story, there is no sabor, or taste, in anything we ingest. The history of our identities, migrations, life-trajectories, adventures, heartbreaks, and triumphs is all coded and revealed in specific moments that we share with one another over food. Maribel Alvaraez is Associate Research Professor at UA’s School of Anthropology and The Southwest Center. She directs the folklore festival Tucson Meet Yourself.

I made some changes to chis page--Can you carry forward to next 2 pages?--Paul

What is your ambition for

the foodshed of Baja Arizona?


Food is perhaps the most important, and controllable, element in one’s health over the course of a lifetime. The enormity of the processed food industry effectively blinds people from understanding what they’re eating, and the cumulative effects of diet. Sharpening the focus on local food raises awareness of this critical relationship; food becomes less anonymous, more about true sustenance. Ari Shapiro started, owns and operates Sparkroot Coffee, Xoom Juice, and Falora Pizzeria.

As an educator and interpreter of natural history and culture of the Sonoran Desert, the most important goal for me is to connect people to the deep heritage of the region. As far as I am concerned, Baja Arizona is Northern Sonora and Northern Sonora is Baja Arizona. Some people call it the Pimería Alta. I simply call it home. Jesús García was born and raised in Magdalena, Sonora and he is an Education Specialist at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

I want people to know this desert can feed them. I hope to inspire you to chew a péchita, harvest nopalitos for Pipian Rojo or gather quelites for a meal in tune with the season. Amy Valdés Schwemm makes mole powders as Mano Y Metate, L.L.C.

My biggest concern is: will new/young/innovative farmers, urban and rural, find access to land and and make a fair living, now and tomorrow, and can changes in current state and local taxes and ordinances recognize their contribution to the health and security of our region? Barbara Rose harvests, cooks, and teaches about Sonoran Desert foods at Bean Tree Farm.

This is an exciting time for our ‘Local Food’ in many ways, from the way it is being grown, to the way it’s been brought to markets and for the way we are cooking it. At Penca, I love to be able to bring to the table traditional Mexican dishes that use very local ingredients like nopales or prickly pear. Patricia Schwabe owns and operates Penca Restaurante, Mexico City Cusine and International Bar in Downtown Tucson. She and her family have owned Tooley’s Cafe in the Lost Barrio since the1980s.

As an applied anthropologist, my work has focused on removing some of the policy barriers to local food production at the city and county levels. It is important to not only develop community policies that promote household food security, but to also promote informed community participation in local governance. Merrill Eisenberg is a retired professor in the UA’s College of Public Health.


Ramona: By growing the traditional crops of our people, and explaining to the children and young people of our tribe how our ancestors grew the 60 day corn, tepary beans, White Sonora and Pima Club wheat, Pima limas, blackeye peas and garbanzo beans, we are setting an example for our community that they can follow and be proud of the contributions of the Akimel O’odham to Arizona’s development.

Terry: It is our hope that, by raising awareness of the variety of wholesome and delicious traditional Indian food crops grown here in the desert Southwest, there will be an increase in the demand for these wonderful food crops that will enable our family and others of our Indian community to continue to grow them profitably and preserve the traditions of the Akimel O’odham. Ramona Button is the owner of Ramona’s American Indian Foods, commonly known as Ramona Farms. Terry Button is the manager of Ramona Farms.

Learning the stories behind the products, knowing the faces behind the names, sharing moments with those who have so painstakingly produced a delicate, gloriously edible product in a seemingly fragile, and harsh, environment sparks a connection to this wondrous desert landscape —and all of us that live in it—in such a way that is both humbling and inspiring. Joy Vargo is the former proprietor of Canela Bistro, a local-centric restaurant in Santa Cruz County.

I imagine Baja Arizona as a sustainable, self-sufficient desert region where the people who live in the borderlands and the Santa Cruz River watershed think, act and dream as a desert culture. This means treating water as a scarce, sacred resource, selecting crop species that thrive during periods of high heat and low moisture, and using our community relationships to support urban and rural community action. Rafael de Grenade works on the Tucson Oasis Initiative and is a post-doctorate Research Associate at the University of Arizona and Pima County.

I hope our towns become more and more like fruitful oases that provide food and shelter for an ever-greater diversity of species of flora and fauna. I aim to collaborate with the innumerable creatures living around our house and garden in the convivial creation of sustenance for us all. Dena Cowan is a writer, translator and editor. She also works on Community Outreach at the Mission Garden with Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace.

“The Food Conspiracy Co-op ...makes Whole Foods look like 7-Eleven.”— The San Francisco Chronicle,

5/5/2013.

Voted BEST ORGANIC FOOD STORE by Tucson Weekly readers. All of our fruits and vegetables are grown without the use of harsh chemical herbicides and pesticides.

The co-op has served the local community since 1971 and today is cooperatively owned by over 2,500 local house-holds. Join the co-op today!

We support local farmers — including Sleeping Frog Farm and Forever Yong Farm — and you can too!

The Food Conspiracy Co-op is all new. EVERYONE can shop at the co-op. Come check us out!

412 N. Fourth Ave., between 6th & 7th streetsopen daily from 8 a.m.-10 p.m.

(520) 624-4821 • www.foodconspiracy.coop

“The Food Conspiracy Co-op ...makes Whole Foods look like 7-Eleven.”— The San Francisco Chronicle,

5/5/2013.

Voted BEST ORGANIC FOOD STORE by Tucson Weekly readers. All of our fruits and vegetables are grown without the use of harsh chemical herbicides and pesticides.

The co-op has served the local community since 1971 and today is cooperatively owned by over 2,500 local house-holds. Join the co-op today!

We support local farmers — including Sleeping Frog Farm and Forever Yong Farm — and you can too!

The Food Conspiracy Co-op is all new. EVERYONE can shop at the co-op. Come check us out!

412 N. Fourth Ave., between 6th & 7th streetsopen daily from 8 a.m.-10 p.m.

(520) 624-4821 • www.foodconspiracy.coop


A small market stand shows the bounty that can be grown in the desert with rainwater alone. (Photos reproduced with permission from Rainwa-ter Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1, 2nd Edition by Brad Lancaster.)

Got climate change? Still want to grow food?Who isn’t faced by the challenges of climate uncer-

tainty these days? Climatologists associated with the Institute of the Environment at the University of Arizona see growing evidence that extreme summer heat, extended drought and water scarcity are becoming “the new normal” across much of North America. Weather shifts have become a new threat to U.S. food security, as farmers and ranchers across the country face unprecedented challenges in producing food under chang-ing conditions.

At the same time, there is growing recognition that Tucson and its surrounding farmscapes have much to teach food produc-ers in the rest of the country on how to adapt to climate uncer-tainty. With the oldest continuous record of farming in North America (reaching back 4,100 years), the Tucson Basin has be-come an international learning lab for how farmers can adapted to the kind of climate shifts that have plagued farmers here for at least 900 years.

That’s one upshot of my new book, Growing Food in a Hotter Drier Land: Lessons from Desert Farmers on Adapting to Climate Uncertainty (Chelsea Green Publishing 2013). For decades if not centuries, Tucson has been an incubator of nursery grounds for new innovations in rainwater harvesting, techniques for shad-ing crops to beat the heat, building soil-moisture holding capac-ity, and using seed diversity as a bet-hedging strategy. And once again, people from all parts of the world are taking notice.

After centuries of Ak-Chin agriculture and decades of water harvesting experiments in the area, Tucson has once again be-come one of the global hot spots for training others on how to harvest rain and nutrient-rich floodwaters to produce food. In particular, Tucsonan Brad Lancaster’s Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond workshops have helped thousands of Ari-zona residents break their addiction to groundwater pumping, and inspired tens of thousands of others on three continents to jump into the dance.

Almost exactly a century ago, Arizona hosted one of the first World Dry-Farming Conferences that focused on desert-adapted seedstocks that could not only take the heat, but survive drought. Today, with home-grown desert heirloom seed sources like Native Seeds/SEARCH, Aravaipa Heirlooms, Desert Sur-vivors Nursery and the Pima County Public Libraries’ Seed Library program in place, gardeners and farmers in Southern Arizona are once again well-positioned to use crop diversity to

help buffer their production from uncertainty. But on-farm biodiversity doesn’t end with what grows in the

rows. Arbico Organics in Oro Valley has become a world leader in sourcing beneficial insects and soil inoculants containing di-verse effective microbes. To the southeast of Tucson, Petey Mes-quitey’s Spadefoot Nursey and Borderlands Restoration L3C are providing dozens of farmers and gardeners with pollinator-at-tracting plants for hedgerows that keep the birds and bees which increase crop yields. At ReZoNation Farm near Marana, Jaime de Zubeldia is providing natural beekeeping workshops to en-sure that there are enough pollinators around to make use of

FOODSHED

Tucson as a Learning Lab for Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Landby Gary Paul Nabhan

Thinking Like a Desert


As much as possible, harvest rainwater and the nutrient-rich organics that flow from the desert into our gardens and fields.

Do everything possible to improve soil moisture holding capacity by composting with locally sourced materials.

Use the strategies of biomimicry to “think like a desert oasis” to design nurse plant guilds of desert-adapted food crops.

Increase the efficiency of water delivery all the way to the plant roots; become a water conservation plumber.

Welcome into your garden or orchard a diversity of plants, beneficial insects and soil microbes to be “co-farmers” with you, to create greater resilience in your foodscape.

Savor the intense flavors of the desert As Wallace Stegner once challenged all Westerners to do: “get over the color green.”

those fragrant nectar plants.At Avalon Organic Gardens near Tubac, Tarenta Baldeschi

has devised a half dozen strategies to shade and buffer greens and veggies from extreme summer heat. Another 30 miles to the north, at Bean Tree Farm near the upper end of the Tuc-son Mountains, permaculture designer and wild forager Barbara Rose has trained hundreds of residents in how to design their land uses to enhance the bounty of both wild and cultivated edibles. And further on up the road—off Highway 101 on the Salt River Indian Reservation—Ken Singh is demonstrating to

hundreds of Arizonans each week how to build moisture-holding ca-pacity on his two acres of compost-rich gardens and orchards at Singh Farms. Due to his diligent use of effective microbes and organic feedstock for his compost, Ken has achieved 25-foot growth of fruit trees in less than eight years, and increased moisture capacity of his soils at least tenfold.

Curiously, since the 1950s, the urban heat islands of Metro Tucson and Phoenix have been warming up faster than the state and global av-

erages for temperature increases. Varieties of fruit and nut trees which grew well here 40 years ago no longer receive enough “chill hours” in the winter for adequate flowering and fruiting. And so, Jesus Garcia of the Kino Heritage Fruit Trees Project has worked with nurseries to make available “low chill” heritage varieties of figs, quinces, pomegranates and grapes that still pro-duce abundant and delicious fruits after mild winters.

The take home message of Growing Food in a Hotter Drier Land is not only simple, but reassuring: We need not be passive victims of accelerated climate change. By considering the food choices we make each day, and by supporting the sustainable ways in which our food is produced nearby, we can help shrink our “carbon foodprints” and adapt to the new normal. ✜

Gary Paul Nabhan is an internationally celebrated nature writer, food and farming activist, and proponent of conserving the links between biodiversity and cultural diversity.

ADAPTING TO THE NEW NORMALAs we deal with the inevitable impacts of

climate change on our food system, there are several key principles that we should embrace

and adapt to our own conditions:

Tucson has once again become one of the global hot spots

for training others on how to harvest rain and nutrient-rich floodwaters to produce food.

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GLEANINGS

Food Swap Tucson

Perhaps your backyard flock is producing more eggs than your family can eat or your garden is growing quicker than you can cook it. Food Swap Tucson may be the per-

fect outlet for your culinary cravings. For over a year, this food-centric gathering has brought together home chefs, beekeepers,

mead makers, bread bakers, jam and jelly masters, picklers, pre-servers and small urban farmers who “swap” their goods. Each par-ticipant is required to bring between five and ten items. Creative packaging is encour-aged. After swapppers taste each other’s wares and mingle with the makers, each person fills out a form suggest-ing a swap: apple chut-ney for pecan pie, say,

or enchilada sauce for peach marmalade. There is no set sched-ule but organizers say they meet about once a month, usually somewhere near downtown. Find the swap at facebook.com/FoodSwapTucson.

Hopyard Market

W e wanted to bring a taste of New England to the Southwest,” says Ally Crist, owner and operator of Hopyard Market on North 4th Avenue. And she

has. This charming market resembles those found in neighbor-hoods throughout New England, where Crist and her husband grew up—indeed, the name Hopyard comes from a state park in Connecticut. Find dried goods alongside freshly prepared food and drink, with plenty of items locally sourced. Toothpaste or laundry soap, ketchup or candy, fresh vegetables or cold cuts from the deli—Hopyard has you covered. The market has honey from nearby hives, full pounds of coffee from Gadsden Coffee in Arivaca, and homemade jam. In the back, a refrigerator case is filled with the basics for the house grinders and salads. Crist emphasizes that everything is homemade, from the marinara sauce on the chicken parmesan sandwich to the roast pork in the grinders. Salads are fresh and varied. Desserts come from Bavier’s pastries. You can eat in or carry out, Tuesday through Saturday 9 a.m.-7 p.m. 210 N. 4th Avenue; (520) 300-6256; [email protected].

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Urban Fresh

Urban Fresh is part restaurant, part school, part cater-ing service; it is entirely focused on being fresh, local and organic. Everything is made from scratch and no

animal products are used. Owners Kathy Iannacone and Kath-leen Lohnes opened the store late in 2012. Both are certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners as Inte-grative Health Coaches, and Urban Fresh is a combination of their knowledge and love for healthy food. The menu includes freshly made juices, smoothies, salads, soups and wraps that are made with vegetarian and vegan ingredients. The school consists of small classes and guest chef presentations. Take their “Plant-Strong” Summer Boot Camp to learn how to stock a pantry, or the “Cool Down” class that’s all about desserts. Also on offer at Urban Fresh: meal pick-up. A special menu is published once a month; order from a list of entrees, side dishes, salads and des-serts, and decide the days you want to pick up meals. Open Mon-day through Friday, 9 a.m-3 p.m. ‘Vegucational” classes held on weekends. 73 E. Pennington St; (520) 792-9355; [email protected].

The Loft Farmers’ Market

The Loft Farmers’ Market is the latest addition to Tuc-son’s ever-growing fresh market scene. Find an as-sortment of goodies ripe for the picking on the patio

of the Loft Cinema on Speedway Blvd. every Saturday morning from 8 a.m.-noon. You’ll find beautiful produce grown by local urban farms such as Breckenfield Family Growers and River Road Gardens. ZenHens, a lo-cal farming cooperative, has eggs of all colors and Tucson Honey Com-pany offers their 100% raw, natural honey. The Tucson Food Conspiracy Co-op brings baked goods to go with Aqui Coffee’s hot, steaming Joe. You’ll also find natural soaps, garden plants and succulents, bread and salsa. And, every week, the market invites a local non-profit or-ganization to set up a table and share their information. For more information, visit LoftCinema.com/film/the-loft-farmers-market.

—Rita Connelly

Rita Connelly shares her opinions about the local food scene in the Tuc-son Weekly and at The Well-Fed Foodie on Facebook.

Please send emails or press releases to [email protected].

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QYou own Time Market, Wilko, B Line, and are involved in Exo Coffee. How’d it all begin?

Peter: It started in 1995 with Time Market. I moved toTucson, bought a house a block away from the market, got to know the owner, and at one point he said, “Hey. Do you want to buy this dump?” And I was just stupid enough to do it. There was never a plan to have multiple businesses; I just got involved with differ-ent partners, all of whom have since left. B Line opened in 2002, Wilko opened in 2009, and we started roasting coffee for Exo about four years ago. But food has always been a part of my life. Everyone in my family cooks. My grandfather was an importer for General Foods, my other grandfather was a tea taster and owned a market and smokehouse.

Q How did you two meet?

Bree: Peter was my older brother’s best friend. We kind of grew up here together, in Time Market. When I met Peter, he’d owned the Market for a year. It was a super exciting time, when he was bringing in unique products from little far-away places, bringing in good wines. He’d bring home the wine for me to try, we would cook together, then we would travel together, taste and talk about what we tried. It’s been a huge part of our relationship.

To Market, To MarketTime Market’s Peter and Bree Wilke talk passion, performance, and price

Interview with Megan Kimble • Photography by Steven Meckler

in the business


Q Are you both involved equally with all the businesses?

Bree: I’m really focused on Time Market. In the past two years, the Market has really experienced a re-birth. Before then, I had been living in San Francisco for school and we were traveling back and forth a lot. We were influenced by the experiences we had in San Francisco, the local food culture there. It’s a very friendly city, an amazing place to learn how graceful and gor-geous food can be, how dining can be casual and exceptional at the same time. [When] I returned to Tucson two years ago, Wilko was thriving, and it was the perfect time to work together on doing things at Time Market that we’ve always wanted to do, with local farmers, baking our own bread and really raising our game across the board.

QWhat kinds of changes are you making in terms of local, organic sourcing?

Peter: Ideally, local is better than organic, because you know where it comes from and you can go see what they’re using in their crops, how they’re taking care of their chickens. We’d like to source everything locally but this part of the country is a little more difficult in sourcing certain things like dairy, or foods that don’t grow in our biome. It’s a challenge to find a consistent sup-ply of raw ingredients. We’re trying to cultivate a culinary team that can react quickly to availability from local farms. For ex-ample, Sleeping Frog farm just called us and said, ‘We have so much chard; we don’t know what to do.’ So tomorrow, the salad is going to be a charred Swiss chard sal-ad. But it’s not the easiest thing to react to. What do you do when someone calls to say, ‘I’ve got 80 pounds of figs’? Bree: We’re working on structuring that flexibility here, at Time Market and disseminating that to Wilko and B Line. If you can’t get, say, fresh arugula for even two days, if there’s a blip, it’s hard to have that printed on your menu. Your cus-tomers are like, ‘Well I came here to get that sandwich.’ Peter: The easy answer is to change your menu all the time, to have a chalkboard. The question is: Is this population ready for that?

Q And is it?

Peter: It’s a lot better than it was 10 years ago. Bree: A $9 sandwich can be difficult for people. Peter: We’ll have a pasture raised, organic roasted pork loin sal-ad, with local greens grown in Armado, delivered by the farmer, all organic baguette made by two guys in the restaurant, with home-made condiments, and it’ll cost $9. There will be people

Peter and Bree Wilke, left, in the produce section of Time Market. In addition to pizza and sandwiches, the Market stocks general grocery items.

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that complain about it… It’s all a Rubik’s cube, the price of that sandwich. To make it really good, the person making it has to be attentive enough to pull out that one arugula leaf that’s gone yellow. That person is not making minimum wage. That all goes into this whole deal, and that’s what you want to say to someone who complains about the price of a $9 sandwich.

Q So what keeps you making that sandwich?

Peter: This isn’t really a business model. It’s more of an intense passion. We make these decisions because we have to do it that way. Because it’s the right way for us. We just hope enough people

agree, that they want to come in and support us. Support us by saying, ‘I’ll buy that.’ Bree: It’s like throwing a party. Sometimes it’s completely stressful, you feel like it’s a flop. We’re throwing a party every day; it’s a lot of clean up and a lot of work. But when you throw one of those parties when everyone feels great, you feel great. You feel like: That’s community. Peter: I’m into creat-ing experiences and spaces so people in the community can go experience something to count as a real experience in their daily life. You know how the first thing new people ask is, ‘What do you do?’ I’ve always wanted to say: I’m a performance artist. We put on three shows a day, it’s an interactive experience, it has taste and smell and sound, and we have a cast of about 30 people. ✜

Katie Morris tosses pizza dough, cooked in the Market’s wood-fired oven. Bree Wilke says that what gives Time Market its community-centered feel is the strength of their employees and the continuity of their customers.


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To get to walking j farm, nestled in the Santa Cruz River valley watershed near Amado, Arizona, you have to navigate pleasingly tight corners and slow to avoid

sauntering peacocks. Past a sign advertising Walking J’s Saturday farm stand, up a shady, dusty driveway; you’ll know you’ve ar-rived when you see the garden, comprised of rows of 100-foot beds and spanning roughly an acre and a third. Young heirloom tomatoes, winter squash, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, turnips, kale, mizuna, beets, garlic, and onions in various stages of devel-opment wave in the breeze.

Walking J Farm is a polyculture farm, where many types of plants and animals live and grow in close proximity to one anoth-er. Jim McManus and his wife Tina Bartsch sell organic produce, grass-fed beef and pork, and eggs from pasture-raised chickens at three Tucson farmers markets, one in Nogales, and at Tucson’s

Food Conspiracy Co-op and Renee’s Organic Oven on Tanque Verde Road. McManus and Bartsch also run a CSA that deliv-ers fresh produce and meat weekly—enough work to require the help of as many as four interns at a time.

A large part of that work is simply getting the word out to consumers. Though demand is growing, McManus says organ-ic, farm-direct food is still a “niche” market. In a region where towns are separated by such long miles, fostering community through face to face interactions with customers helps spread the word and keep the business afloat.

While he calls marketing “a second business,” Jim’s first busi-ness is growing food, and a sustainable farm’s success depends in no small part on the quality of its soil. “I really focus on cycling our nutrients and not bringing in too much outside additive,” McManus says. To ensure nutrient-rich soil, he lets litter—dead

MEET YOUR FARMER

Walking in CyclesKeeping costs low and nutrients cycling

by Jessica Langan-Peck

Jim McManus stays busy planting spring starters with the help of two farm interns.

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plant matter—return to the dirt and contribute to biomass. Lim-iting tillage allows the soil to “build from the top down”—bugs feed on plant matter, bigger bugs feed on smaller bugs and ex-crete waste, and so on.

And, in an arid region like southern Arizona, good soil means good water retention. “If your soil’s got good aggregation and effective and efficient organic matter, the water infiltrates imme-diately and it’s held there,” Jim says. The garden’s seeming en-tropy is mostly deliberate: Wildflowers serve as buffers between beds, attracting beneficial insects. Sunflowers will provide shade for vegetables, and radishes are planted alongside squash to deter a pest called the squash borer.

Animals at Walking J play an important role in the farm’s polyculture, too. They forage, consume grass, and contribute manure. “Pigs do well foraging—you can see the difference be-tween this field”—where several Duroc pigs lay submerged in soupy puddles—“and that one, which looks like a lunar land-scape,” McManus says.

The problem, of course, is cost. He only feeds his animals or-ganic and non-GMO feed, which is expensive. While Jim’s loyal customers understand this, some of those newer to organic and free range foods don’t. This doesn’t seem to bother McManus. Indeed, so many customers wanted Walking J’s heritage turkeys last Thanksgiving that Jim and Tina had to put an automated “we’re still sold out” message on their answering machine. “De-mand is huge,” McManus says.

McManus stays busy. When his two kids arrive home from school, he’s in the midst of inspecting a cat’s injured paw, shaking rocks out of a small sock, and keeping an eye on Bryan, Spotty, and Headbutt, three young goats. McManus says that the thing he loves most about farming is being outside. “I love seeing the cycles in the seasons, and I love working on this work in prog-ress—implementing great management practices that build soil health and vitality and grow really good food.”

Cycles—of nutrients, of water—are fundamental to McMa-nus’ farming philosophy. “I think it’s the best place to give my kids a really grounded foundation of what makes the world turn and what’s important,” McManus says. “Wherever they go, no matter what they’re doing, they understand that meat comes from animals that have lives that you kill, that you can treat them good or bad.” ✜

Jessica Langan-Peck teaches and writes in Tucson, where she is currently attempting her first desert garden.

I love seeing the cycles in the seasons, and I love working

on this work in progress.—Jim McManus

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[email protected] at home in Baja Arizona. ¡Viva Los Edibles!


What’s In Season

eggplant peach

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A shopper’s guide to fresh produce commonly available in June and July in Baja Arizona.

In season herbs: Basil, Chives, Oregano, Rosemary, Lemongrass, Sage, ThymeAlso in season: beans (pinto, lima, yardlong, green), tepary beans, cowpea/black-eyed pea

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Ingredients:1 tablespoon + 1/4

cup of olive oil1 medium white

onion, minced 5 cloves garlic,

lightly smashed8-10 chiles de arbol1/2 teaspoon

black peppercorns5 whole cloves1 teaspoon oregano 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme1/3 cup roasted peanuts1/4 cup sesame seeds1 cup of water1 1/2 cups cooked

tepary beans1 1/2 teaspoons saltZest and juice of one lemon1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

An Italian spin on the classic red beans and rice, this dish works well with the toothsome texture of tepary beans. Plump and chewy jasmine rice is a beautiful accompaniment with this dish and is complemented further by small pad of butter melted over the rice just before serving.

Ingredients:2 tablespoons of olive oil½ pound spicy sausage (about

two large sausage links), sliced1 pound of fennel, cored and thinly sliced½ large sweet onion, diced1 bay leaf1 teaspoon crushed red pepper½ teaspoon dried thyme1 cup water3 cups of cooked white tepary beans1 1/2 teaspoon salt2 cloves garlic, finely minced1/4 cup of minced parsley 2 cups cooked rice (preferably jasmine)

In a large skillet add one tablespoon of oil on medium heat, saute sausage slices until lightly seared on both sides. Drain sausages onto a paper towel and reserve for later.

Add the fennel, onions, bay leaf, crushed red pepper, and thyme to the pan and saute for 12-15 minutes, stirring until the fennel is golden brown and almost caramelized. Add salt and garlic, saute for another minute. Add the water along with the cooked white tepary beans. Stir to combine and simmer on medium heat for 4-5 minutes. Add sausage and minced parsley. Serve with cooked jasmine rice.

Recipe

Tepary Beans, With A Twistby Kusuma Rao

Smoother in texture and nutritionally superior to common beans, teparies are often cultivated using little supplemental irrigation

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This deeply spicy, smoky hummus is a warming twist on the staple spread. Serve with a plate of fresh vegetables for dipping or on toasted crostinis with caramelized onions and fresh cilantro. Sesame seeds can easily be replaced with eqmual portions of tahini and peanut butter can substitute for whole peanuts. If you prefer a milder dish, start with just 2-3 chiles de arbol.

Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and saute onions and garlic in a medium-sized skillet on medium heat for 4-5 minutes, until the onions lightly brown. Add the chiles de arbol, peppercorns, cloves, thyme, peanuts, and sesame seeds and cook stirring throughout for 2-3 minutes.

Add the salt and water, and simmer on medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes the liquid is reduced by half.

Pour the mixture to a blender or food processor. Add the lemon juice and zest along with the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil, and puree until smooth and consistent. If necessary drizzle additional water (a couple tablespoons at a time) and puree until amooth. Garnish with olive, oil and fresh herbs or toasted sesame seeds.

Italian Tepary Beans and Rice with Caramelized

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farmers’ market, csa, u-pick directoryFARMERS’ MARKETS

TUCSONBROADWAY VILLAGE FARMERS’ MARKETFridays 10:00am-2:00pm2926 E. Broadway Blvd.(520) 603-8116

COMMUNITY FOOD BANK FARMERS’ MARKETTuesdays 8:00am-12:00pm3003 S. Country Club(520) 622-0525communityfoodbank.com

DOWNTOWN MERCADO MARKETWednesdays and Thursdays 9:00am-2:00pm101 N Stone Ave.(520) 339-4008

EL PRESIDIO MARKETFridays 9:00am-2:00pmChurch and Alameda(520) 339-4008

LOFT CINEMA FARMERS' MARKETSaturdays 8:00am-12:00pm3233 East Speedway Blvd.(520) 795-7777 loftcinema.com

EL PUEBLO FARMERS’ MARKETMondays 3:00pm-5:00pmIrvington Rd & S. 6th Ave(520) 882-3133

JESSE OWENS PARK FARMERS’ MARKETFridays 8:00am-12:00pm400 S Sarnoff Dr.(520) 882-2157

PLAZA PALOMINO SATURDAY MARKETSaturdays 8:00am-1:00pm2960 N Swan Rd(520) 320-6344

RINCON VALLEY FARMERS’ MARKETSaturdays 9:00am-2:00pm12500 E Old Spanish Trail (520) 591-2276 rvfm.org

SANTA CRUZ RIVER FARMERS’ MARKETThursdays 4:00pm-7:00pm

100 S. Avenida del Convento(520) 622-0525

TUCSON FARMERS’ MARKET Sundays 8:00am-12:00pmSt. Philip’s Plaza4280 N Campbell Ave., (520) 882-2157

TUCSON FARMERS’ MARKET AT MAYNARD’SSaturdays 8:00am-12:00pm400 N Toole Ave.(520) 545-0577

MARANAMARANA FARM STANDMonday 3 p.m.- 6 p.m12375 N. Heritage Park Drive(520) 622-0525

MARANA FARMERS’ MARKETTuesdays 3:00pm-6:00pmMarana Health Center13395 Marana Main Street (520) 622-0525 ext 242

GREEN VALLEYGREEN VALLEY VILLAGE FARMERS’ MARKETWednesdays 8:30am-12:30pm101 S. La Canada(520) 490-3315greenvalleyfarmersmarket.com ORO VALLEYORO VALLEY FARMERS’ MARKETSaturdays 8:00am-12:00pmOro Valley Town Hall11000 N. La Canada, Oro Valley(520) 882-2157

OUR GARDEN PRODUCEWednesdays and Saturdays 9:00am-12:00pm16500 N. Stallion Road, Catalinaourgardencatalina.com

COCHISE COUNTYBISBEE FARMERS’ MARKETSaturdays 8:00am-12:00pmVista Park, Bisbee(530) 236-8409bisbeefarmersmarket.org

DOUGLAS MERCADO FARMERS’ MARKETSundays 10:00am-2:00pmRaul Castro Park10th Street and E Avenue, Douglas, (520) 236-4675 douglasmercado.com

ELFRIDA FARMERS’ MARKETFridays 11:00am-5:00pm10566 Hwy 191, Elfrida(520) 378-2973

SIERRA VISTA FARMERS’ MARKETThursdays and Saturdays 10:00am-2:00pmNW Corner Wilcox and Carmichael, Sierra Vista(520) 678-2638sierravistafarmersmarket.com

ST. DAVID FARMERS’ MARKETSaturdays 8:00am-12:00pm70 E Patton St, Saint David, AZ(520) 586-7665

SANTA CRUZ COUNTYSONOITA FARMERS’ MARKETSaturdays 9:00am-1:00pmSW corner of Hwy 82 & Hwy 83,Sonoita (520) 397-9269

GRAHAM COUNTYSAFFORD FARMERS’ MARKETTuesdays and Saturdays, 7:30am-12:00pmFirth Park Highway 70 & 11th Ave., Safford(520) 428-6872

YUMA COUNTYFarmers’ Markets closed for summer.

COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGURICULTURE (CSA)

DOWN ON THE FARM CSATucson, (520) 505-4382 dotfarmcsa.com

AQUA LINDA FARM CSA Amado (520), 398-3218 agualindafarm.net

AVALON ORGANIC GARDENS Tumacacori-Carmen (520) 603-9932avalongardens.org

SLEEPING FROG CSA Benson, (520) 212-3764 sleepingfrogfarms.com

JOSH’S FORAGING FOWLS CSAWillcox, (520) 507-5586

WALKING J FARM CSA

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Weeks before diablo burger and Proper are set to open, Paul Moir and Derrick Widmark walk into Sparkroot in downtown Tucson loaded

down with boxes. “Have you ever seen that vaudeville act with all the plates spinning?” Widmark asks. “Well, that’s what’s happening right now.” Outside the windows, the air is teeming with dust and the noises of construction. Within two weeks, both restaurants would be open, transforming the historic Rialto Building across from Hotel Congress into a hive of local-food activity.

It’s fitting that their restaurants held grand openings within a day of each other—Diablo Burger opened on May 4, Proper on May 5—because these restaurant owners are not only colleagues but also longtime friends and supporters of one another’s ven-tures. And their friendship began sitting across from one another in a restaurant.

“We met about six years ago when Derrick came into Brix and sat at the bar,” Moir says. “He shared with me his idea for

Paul Moir keeps a calm eye on the bar during Proper’s opening week.

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A Proper Devil

New downtown eateries Diablo

Burger and Proper Restaurant don’t just share a wall— they share a vision

by Lisa O’Neil

Photography by Steven Meckler


this local, grassfed beef burger joint that he wanted to open. I loved his idea from the start and offered to share my knowledge and help however I could.”

Authentic sourcing

Proper will be Moir’s first Tucson venture, but he and his wife and business partner Laura have already made a name for themselves with their two Flagstaff restaurants

Brix and Criollo Latin Kitchen. Brix has received much acclaim, including being rated among the top 95 new restaurants in Conde Nast Traveler in 2007.

Though he made his name in Flagstaff, Moir first learned the restaurant business during his time in Tucson in the early nine-ties. “I think the community support of independent restaurants has always been strong in Tucson; it was true 20 years ago and it’s still true today,” Moir says. Furthermore, Moir sees Tucsonans as invested in eating local. “I think that Tucson is fortunate to have all these ranches and farms to the south as a local foodshed and I see more and more people taking an interest in supporting them.”

As with his Flagstaff restaurants, cooking with local ingredi-ents is a big priority for Moir. “Almost every time you turn on the TV or open a newspaper, there is a story about some problem related to food. We shouldn’t have E coli in our spinach, there’s no reason for it to be there other than huge agribusiness has pol-luted our food supply. Mass-produced, heavily processed and preserved, chemical-laden foods are making us sick and they keep

upping the ante on it,” Moir says. “This isn’t just a business deci-sion for Laura and me, it’s how we eat and how we feed our kids and it’s what we believe in and want to pass along to our guests.”

Moir will be sourcing food from producers like McClendon Select, Black Mesa Ranch, and Ridgeview Farms, which he uses at his other restaurants, and is in talks to further source from Tucson-area food producers Sleeping Frog Farms, Josh’s Forag-ing Fowls, 47 Ranch, and Walking J. “We want to support the local economy, making it stronger and more resilient. We want to have relationships with the people who produce the food, to know where the food comes from,” Moir says. “And we want lo-cal and sustainable food for health, freshness, and flavor.”

In other words, the food at Proper will be decent, authen-tic, and, well, proper. The name came from old friend and pa-tron John Sutcliffe who always described food at Brix as “proper food.” Creating a community atmosphere with a locally sourced menu is Moir’s biggest priority. “We want people to come in with friends, order a number of plates of food and a couple bot-tles of wine to share and enjoy each other’s company,” Moir says. “No pretense, just proper food and service.”

Depth of place

Originally Widmark was thinking of opening a new Diablo Burger in Phoenix and Moir was planning on opening Proper in Denver, but a new plan emerged

when they found out about the available space at Fifth and Con-gress. Moir says, “Downtown [Tucson] had all of the attributes we were looking for: a landlord with a long term vision, a strong sense of community, an urban center with a great vibe and a beautiful building.” Moir called his friend to share the news, and Widmark remembers the moment a week later when he walked into the space for the first time: “It was just one of those ‘there it is’ moments; I knew this is where I wanted to be. Paul and I just both looked at it, saw this incredibly rare intersection of authen-ticity and density, and said yes.”

A Proper plate: Pan roasted chicken breast with white beam and quinoa cakes, arugula, and verjus vinaigrette.

“I’ve become fond of saying that one shouldn’t expect to make a fast buck off of

slow food. I feel that food is changing quite perceptively

now; how we source it, how we serve it, and most importantly how we think and talk about

it.” —Derrick Widmark


For both Moir and Widmark, community is central. Both res-taurants are committed not only to purchasing food from local producers but also to giving back to their community. Through their restaurants, the Moirs have partnered with local nonprofits and they will continue to do so with Proper. Diablo Burger was the first restaurant in Arizona to participate in 1% for the Planet, a growing movement of almost 1,400 member companies who donate one percent of their proceeds to environmental organiza-tions worldwide.

Widmark moved to Flagstaff from New York City in 2006 to help run the Diablo Trust, the non-profit conservation group begun by two ranches who supply beef to Diablo Burger—the Bar T Bar and the Flying M. In spite of the challenges, Widmark says he loves running restaurants because those challenges often offer opportunities for creative solutions. “I’ve become fond of saying that one shouldn’t expect to make a fast buck off of slow food,” he says. “I feel that food is changing quite perceptively now; how we source it, how we serve it, and most importantly how we think and talk about it, and the intention and choices of Diablo Burger are made in large part so that we can do our small part in that changing dynamic.”

In Tucson, Diablo Burger is partnering with Sleeping Frog Farms for produce and Chiva Risa for cheeses, adding them to their existing producers within a 250-mile foodshed. As Wid-mark says, the vision of Diablo Burger is to “connect community to ecology through gastronomy—people to place through good, healthy local food.”

In tribute to its new town, the new Diablo Burger features the addition of “El Sonoran,” a burger tribute to the popular So-noran Hot Dog that has made a name for itself beyond its roots in Tucson. Widmark appreciates the flavors of Tucson that ex-tend beyond the palate, saying “Tucson seems to me populated by creative and friendly spirits. I see a lot of quirkiness and out-side-the-box thinking. I like places with layers, with depth, and Tucson has that, much more so than one might at first glance think.”

And as Tucsonans visit El Diablo and Proper, Widmark and Moir will continue to be one another’s cheerleaders. “As anyone who visits our places will see, we do things differently,” Widmark says, “but we share a lot of the same values and are constantly bouncing ideas off of each other, sharing information and pro-ducers. It’s not just with anyone that you can go through some-thing like this, and sign leases to be next-door neighbors for the next 20 years.”

Diablo Burger is open Monday-Wednesday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Thursday-Saturday 11 a.m.-10 p.m; diabloburger.com; (520) 882-2007. Proper serves brunch and dinner seven days a week starting at 9 a.m.; propertucson.com; (520) 396-3357. ✜

Lisa O’Neill originally hails from New Orleans but has made her sec-ond home in the desert, where she writes and teaches writing. Her favorite food to make is lemon icebox pie.

Quality MattersDirect Sourcing from Small ProducersLocal Business Internationally known

(866) 997-2877

sevencups.com


SEEDS OF INFINITE TIME

Native Seeds/SEARCH turns 30: Preserving ancient and heritage species and

forging an arid lands agriculture

By Tim Vanderpool

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On a morning in April, a robust breeze whips down from the Patagonia Mountains, hoist-ing thin tree branches, dispatching loose hats, and bending the tall rye that stretches so luxuriously across the broad flats near the hamlet of Patagonia, an hour south of Tucson.

Within this mild tempest stands Evan Sofro, a latter-day farmer with his own cap pulled tight, and growing briefly opaque in thin gusts of dust. From the west we hear the low groan of a red tractor, busily churning up the pale gray soil of Arizona’s borderlands.

Purchased in 1997 by a Tucson-based group called Native Seeds/SEARCH, the 60-acre farm is a model of emergent agriculture: It’s almost completely organic and taps such methods as mois-ture-saving ground cover and hand pollination to produce the finest of crops. Yet the prime com-modity here isn’t so much the fruit of the land as the seed stock it produces.

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A field of White Sonora Wheat at the Native Seeds/SEARCH farm in Patagonia.

Tohono O’odham, or from Tarahumara hamlets deep in the canyon lands of Chihuahua.

Bill McDorman, the executive director of Native Seeds/SEARCH since 2011, is part seed expert and part alternative-agro

evangelist. He’s been in the seed-saving trench-es since 1984, when he founded Seeds Trust, a company dedicated to genetic conservation and non-hybrid seed strains. He also founded the International Seed Saving Institute, which takes its message—and its seeds—to 15 coun-tries around the world. He says coming to NS/S is the culmination of his life-long jour-ney to promote the preservation of regionally adapted and traditional seeds.

Now he expounds his tireless advocacy in a new role. Between junkets to farm groups around

the country, he’s a hard man to catch. But when you do, his passion is electric; his gospel, well-tread. Three companies control more than half of the world’s

seed stocks, he says. Ten companies control more than 75 per-cent. The price of corn seed went up 23 percent last year. That’s a bigger jump, he says, than at any time in recorded history. In some parts of the nation, there is only one dealer selling one type of corn, period. Small farmers need to reclaim their agricultural legacy. “We’re part of a new eco-agriculture,” McDorman says. “All this stuff is starting to rise. People are nervous when they don’t know where their seeds or their food is coming from.”

And if the planet is looking for answers, he says, it can find a few of them here. He calls NS/S “one of best examples, world-wide, for a regional seed-solution model.”

“Nothing is sustainable unless we change our food system,” he says, “and the change is probably going to be regional. Even investment bankers are seeing that we’re going to have to make agriculture smaller to make it more ecological.” And more di-verse: “What would it be like if one company owned all the

Thirty years after it was founded, Native Seeds/SEARCH still scatters emissaries throughout the borderlands, saving seeds from ancient plant lines that have adapt-ed to the hot, dry conditions of our rugged region for over millennia. The organization officially celebrated the milestone at a Tucson gathering on April 20 with supporters and founders.

While the brains of NS/S are collected up in Tucson, this farm is its soul. And Evan Sofro is the farm’s chief sage. “We had some success with sunflowers out here last year,” he’s telling me, as he gazes across the undulating fields. And those bountiful crops of yellow were a very good thing, he says, because dying sunflowers emit chemi-cals that decimate the vine weeds routinely plaguing these acres.

A traditional farmer might just douse the fields with herbicide, killing those pesky vine weeds outright. But traditional is relative: Prac-tices here predate modern agriculture by centuries. That brings us to the second, rapidly emerging mission of NS/S, which is sharing the message that sustainable, regionally adapted agriculture is indeed the future. And the seeds of that change start right here—diverse, profoundly tough, and, once they bear fruit, downright delicious.

Of course, imposing the past on the present can be arduous. Maintaining pristine seed lines often requires manually pol-linating plants inside screened cages. And abandoning the use of chemicals means constantly outwitting invaders such as vine weeds. Or the squash bugs that regularly inundate this farm and are, each year, plucked away one at a time by hand.

Underlying it all are the seeds, some 2,000 varieties of them, gathered from the far-flung Hopi lands of Northern Arizona or the pueblos of New Mexico, from the parched villages of the


world’s oil or steel?” he says. “That’s what we’ve allowed to happened to our food and seed systems.”

McDorman says his group is part of the backlash. In fact, NS/S was riding this trend-line before it even existed. “We just happen to have had a group of people who started doing that 30 years ago,” he says. “They left Tucson with this great treasure-chest we can start from, to design new agriculture that has cultural history and flavor that no one else in the world has.”

Of course, location is everything: McDorman calls Tuc-son the “queen site” of ancient seed lines, with some 2,000 varieties coming from more than 50 tribes.

Long days, rough roads

It was the late 1970s, and many traditional seed lines were fading from the landscape because of neglect and the growth of industrial, one-size-fits-all seed produc-

ers. At the time, Barney Burns, an anthropologist by training and crafts dealer by trade, had already long been roaming the indigenous communities of Northern Mexico in search of folk art. But his travels also exposed him to this loom-ing crisis, and along with his partner and eventual wife Ma-hina Drees, he began gathering seeds from villages he vis-

ited. Drees recalls long days and rough roads through the Mexican backcountry, in an era when “growing lo-cal” had little cachet beyond agriculture wonks and back-to-the-earth hippies. “Now every body is interested in growing their own food,” she says. “I guess it must have just been latent in people’s minds at that time.”

Either way, the idea soon caught on. “People heard what we were doing and thought it sounded neat,” says Drees. “We got all of our friends to give us a lit-tle money, and Gary got us a grant.” That’s Gary Paul Nabhan, a noted Tucson enthnobotanist and food ac-

tivist, who had been traveling along with Drees and Burns with Nabhan’s then wife, Karen Reichhardt. The grant came from The National Center for Appropriate Technology. As part of the grant, the group was tasked with “growing out traditional crops in order to supply seeds to native farm-ers,” Drees says. “But it received a lot of interest beyond

the people we were supplying seeds to. People wanted more and more.”

Their first catalogue was one page long, front and back, with about 50 seed types for sale or donation to tribal com-munities. Today, that catalogue has grown to 50 pages, with 200 varieties of seeds for sale. Hundreds more varieties are offered through the NS/S website.

The local-food movement has, among its many tenets, the notion that nutritional security depends upon a com-munity or regional approach to agriculture. As the number of farms marketing their produce directly to consumers has jumped from 86,000 in the early 1990s to approximately 136,000 today, as the ranks of farmers’ markets nearly dou-bled between 1998 and 2009, from 2,756 to 5,274, NS/S has seen its reach rise as well. With an annual budget now approaching $1 million, up from $50,000 to $60,000 in the early days, it has added staff, redoubled its emphasis on sustainable agriculture and, in the process, inspired a whole new generation of local-food aficionados.

Intelligent crops

Belle Starr is deputy director of NS/S. She de-scribes a small approach to the big agricultural pic-ture. “We’re experimenting with different type of

strategies,” she says, “and looking at in terms of our ecologi-cal footprint.”

That also involves great respect for the handiwork of na-ture. “We certainly acknowledge the intelligence of crops we steward,” Starr says. “The agriculture in this area goes far-ther back than any other place in the country, and the seed (strains) we’re stewarding can be thousands of years old. We’ve saved a rich diversity, specifically from this region.”

In addition to preserving ancient seed lines, the group’s dedication to regional culture is displayed through its nu-merous, innovative projects. “We were the first to conserve the wild relatives of domestic crops with the chile preserve near Tucson,” says NS/S co-founder Gary Nabhan. “We helped start the Traditional Native American Farmers As-sociation that continues to this day. We were also the first group to make a connection between native foods and how they protect people from diabetes and other nutrition-relat-ed diseases.”

The Desert Foods for Diabetes Program began in 1990 with a $28,000 grant from the Ruth Mott Fund. The project is geared towards Native Americans in the Southwest who suffer the world’s highest rate of diabetes—an epidemic doc-tors largely attribute to the abandonment of a traditional

Seeds of the past: Chapalote “Pinole Maiz” (Zea mays) and Teosinte (Zea mays ssp. mexicana). Teosinte is a wild grass growing throughout sub-tropical Mexico and Central America and is the ancestor of modern corn. P

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“We certainly acknowledge the

intelligence of crops we steward,” Starr says. “The agriculture in

this area goes farther back than any other place in the country,

and the seed (strains) we’re stewarding can be thousands

of years old.”


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diet centered around desert seeds, cactus and beans. In 1991, NS/S began the Arizona Heirloom Fruit and Nut

Regis-TREE project, aimed at honoring and propagating peren-nial folk tree varieties found throughout the region—trees with progenitors dating from the era of Spanish missionaries centu-ries before.

In 1992, the group boosted its outreach to Native American communities by establishing the Traditional Native Ameri-can Farmers Association, which hosted workshops in wellness, perma-culture, sustainable farming and seed saving. Seven years later, NS/S fought for the protection of native chiles found growing in the mountains south of Tucson; a 2,500-acre parcel on the Coronado National Forest is now called the Wild Chile Botanical Area. It marked the first time that the federal govern-ment had set aside habitat to preserve the wild relatives of do-mestic crops.

Purchase of the Conservation Farm in 1997 also marked a major step forward. Finally, the group could conduct large grow-outs to expand its seed banks and replenish aging varieties. This new ability has resulted in no fewer than 146 “accessions,” or new seed collections produced from traditional stock.

And two years ago, NS/S began its now-popular Seed School Program; the first class drew 14 students for six days of inten-sive workshops on sustainable agriculture and how to create seed banks in their own communities. Demand for the classes has since spiked, with total attendance nearing 280. The initial con-cept has also expanded to include a Grain School, a Seed Library School, and a special session focused on Native Americans called Seed Keepers.

“The impact has been national and global,” says Nabhan, who sees an attendant social shift from the days when NS/S was first started. “Seeds at time—wild and heirloom—were simply being treated as material for plant breeders. We were among the first groups to say that the food from these seeds have incredible taste, and incredible cultural stories. They link us to history, and the regional adaptation to extreme climatic conditions. Just as food is linked to place, seeds are linked to place.”

He notes that the word is out: NS/S has now distributed its millionth seed packet.

Thirty years and growing

This 30-year milestone is a culmination of a journey that began at a stone cottage belonging to Mahina Drees. Eventually, Native Seeds moved its operation to the

Tucson Botanical Gardens, and in 1993 purchased the nearby Sylvester property, with two adobe buildings and a three-quar-ter-acre plot in midtown Tucson. Four years later, the group opened a popular retail outlet on Fourth Avenue, and has since relocated its store to North Campbell Avenue.

Thanks to generous donors, in 2010 the group dedicated its $1.4 million, 5,200-square-foot Agricultural Conservation Cen-

ter and Seed Bank in Tucson. Stretching across an airy patch of county land near the Santa Catalina Mountains, this headquarters features 600 square feet of pristine cold storage and a 150-square foot freezer. On any given day it is a well-organized beehive of activity, with volunteers filling seed packets or cataloguing the countless varieties. The seed bank now includes nearly 2,000 unique strains from across the Southwest, including traditional crops utilized as food, fiber and dye by many Native American tribes, including the Apache, Gila River Pima, Havasupai, Hopi, Maricopa, Mayo, Mojave, Mountain Pima, Navajo, Tarahumara, and Tohono O’odham.

Belle Star says that the time is right for an alternative to con-glomerate farming and the ascendancy of groups such as NS/S. “The economic wind is blowing our way. We really feel that we’re in the right place at the right time.”

SQUASH UNDER THE BED

There was always crooked-neck squash under our beds.

The space under the bed met the criteria of a cool, dark, dry place.

These large, hard-skinned squash with speckled, serrated,

green and yellow designs shared space under our beds

with new cowboy boots, lost socks, forgotten toys,

dust and little spiders.

The squash rested under there with our memory of summer.

Awaiting winter darkness.

With the cold weather, we split the hard skin and expose the

rich yellow meat inside, the bounty of large seeds entangled

in the wetness of their origin.

We saved the seeds for next summer.

We eat the soft, sweet meat of the winter squash.

We swallow the warmth of summer. —Ofelia Zepeda


Turning the clock forward

The wind has dropped a notch back at the farm, where Evan Sofro is heading off to check on his interns. Inside the barn, the cheerful group of 20-somethings are bus-

ily busting up gourds to glean the seeds. And one senses that it’s been a damn good gourd year, since the vegetables appear to be everywhere in this building, either hanging from the ceiling in nets, or broken into shards that carpet the floor.

On the other side of the room is a tub half-filled with corn, from which seeds will be likewise plucked. These kernels rep-resent the best of adaptations to our desert climate. They also delineate the past and the future for NS/S.

To Sofro, this is nothing short of a revolution underway, in a nation where food crops have typically been imposed upon plac-es rather than emerging from them. “We are trying to make our agriculture regionally adapted, and create a model for what arid lands agriculture can be like,” he says. “We’re also moving into increased production.”

Of course, down on this farm, everything is relative. It’s a place where plants are routinely hand-pollinated, often with the swirl of a make-up brush. Three small tractors work the fields, prepping the soil beds for this crop or that.

“We keep 150 corn varieties on the farm,” Sofro is telling me, as he runs his hands across a cob. And that corn, he says, is deli-cious. Delicious enough, in fact, that three batches of corn torti-llas are made fresh here each day, and three batches are promptly eaten. As production of other crops expand, he says, food will increasingly be sold or donated, to broaden support and under-standing of the NS/S mission.

But in the end, it’s simply a matter of turning the clock back to the future. As we walk towards the fields, Sofro explains that he just returned from visiting Tarahumara villages in the Sierra Madre, where traditional farmers maintain vibrant crops by con-tinuously trading seeds among one another.

“In Tarahumara country, if you talked about genetic diver-sity and genetic bottlenecking, they wouldn’t have a clue what you were talking about,” he says. “But their practice is beautiful. They have this whole different way of looking at it. And they still achieve the same goal in the end, which is genetic diversity.

“We put so much research and effort,” he says, “into relearn-ing what we already knew.”

With that, the wind kicks up a small dust cloud, and the vision of Native Seeds is briefly blurred.

But only briefly. ✜

Tim Vanderpool is a Tucson-based writer.

Clockwise from top left: Hopi Pinto Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), Tohono O’odham Ha:l Squash (Cucurbita argyrosperma), Hopi Greasy Hair Corn (Zea mays), Isleta Pueblo Chile (Capsicum annuum)

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Our food system in action: the never-ending flow of produce trucks from Mexico fill warehouses in Nogales, Arizona on a daily basis.

Holding PatternA melon’s journey from soil in Sonora to a Safeway on your street

By Megan Kimble • Photography by Jeff Smith


Do you ever eat the melons?” I ask Prescott Vandervoet, a produce broker who imports melons grown in Mexi-co to a warehouse in Nogales, Arizona. For the last few

hours we’ve been walking through this warehouse, among the brown cardboard canyons of seven-foot produce stacks, talking melons, squash and grapes. I’m having a hard time imagining how this mass of melons from northern Mexico—hundreds of thousands of them—ever becomes just one melon in one per-son’s fridge on the U.S. side of the border.

It’s 35 degrees inside these warehouses and my hands are so cold that I can barely write on my notepad. The frigid environ-ment smells more like cardboard than fruit, but still: This is the source of the produce I smell and squeeze as I wander with my cart around Safeway. I want to try a melon fresh off the semi-truck. I wonder if it’s even allowed, cracking into these pallets to pull out a single piece of fruit. A small sign posted on a steel wall at the Sigma Sales warehouse declares: “No Smoking, No Food in Warehouse or Cold Rooms.”

When I ask Prescott for a taste, he nods, unperturbed. “The big companies usually just hire someone for quality control, but I come out here everyday and cut into a melon.” He walks over to the nearest stack of boxes, extending a foot over his head, and hoists one down. He pulls out a smooth melon with mint-green skin. “Orange flesh,” he says, and walks over to a wide, steel table pushed against the warehouse wall. He grabs a sleek knife, slices the melon in half, draws a half-moon shape in the flesh and stabs out a cross section of juicy fruit. He looks at it for a moment and then pops it in his mouth.

This melon has been sitting in a box in a stack of pallets in the warehouse for over a week, waiting for a buyer. Despite every-thing that Prescott and his colleagues do to keep melons mov-ing when they are fresh and nutritious, many factors slow their movement to a halt. The orange flesh is perfectly ripe now. By the time it reaches the supermarket for which it’s destined, it might be too over-ripe to sell to a consumer. Some melons are made available to local outlets if someone can come and get them in time. If the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona has an available truck to pick the boxes up, they’ll go there for free. If not, these stacks of melons—hundreds of boxes; thousands of melons—will go to the dump.

Prescott Vandervoet works with his father, Brian Vandervoet. Together they run Vandervoet & Associates, a produce distribu-tor and broker based in Nogales, Arizona. In the winter, 70 per-cent of produce on American supermarket shelves comes from Mexico and most of that produce gets channeled through No-gales—the biggest inland produce port in the world. Although McAllen, Texas is seducing an increasing number of semis—with easier access to the eastern seaboard and a state legislature that understands that a country’s border should function more like a membrane than a wall—the Mariposa port of entry in Nogales is still, for now, the Ellis Island of Mexican produce.

Prescott and Brian work with melons. They buy cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon and a new melon variety called Orange Flesh from three growers in Caborca, Sonora. Depending on the season, they may also work with another grower or two in Hermosillo. Every day between October and February, the Vandervoets are moving—receiving and shipping—19,000 boxes

...a melon picked at sunrise on Tuesday in

Hermosillo is on sale in a Tucson supermarket

on Thursday afternoon.


of melons. Warehouse space is tight, so whatever comes in had better displace something moving out.

If all goes according to plan, if Brian and Prescott’s hard work pays off, a melon picked at sunrise on Tuesday in Hermosillo is on sale in a Tucson supermarket on Thursday afternoon.

All movement

The story of these melons begins in an irrigated field in the deserts of Northern Mexico. The endless matt of thick green vines, tangled and covered with lush leaves,

is startlingly bright against the arid desert background. Receding rows of thick foliage hide the ripening melons below, flourishing in the “hot, dry, lonely, sandy soils,” says Prescott.

An agronomist walks the fields and inspects the melons, mea-suring the sugar content and diameter of the ripening fruits. The growers watch the weather, report to Prescott and Brian and wait to hire the migrating field crews who are capable of harvesting 1,000 acres of food in a week. Prescott and Brian watch, they wait and then they hire. Beginning at sunrise, pickers stoop over low-lying vines of thick green leaves and sling melons into burlap bags until noon, when the bulging sacks are thrown into trailers. From noon until eight o’clock at night, the conveyer belts whir under the corrugated, tin roof of the open-air pack-ing shed and 50 hands wash, sort and size melons into boxes. In the nine o’clock darkness, each semi trucks is loaded with 1,500 boxes of melons. By three or four in the morning, a truck driver arrives just shy of the Mariposa border crossing, and pulls over to sleep for a few hours before the border opens at 10. If the driver gets in at the front of the line, they’re able to cross the border in an hour and the melons are stacked in the Vandervoet warehouse in another hour.

But produce does not always travel according to plan: Work-ers pick melons, box and load them onto trucks; from there, it’s all movement, all reaction. Semi trucks laden with 40,000 pounds of produce rock along on rutted roads through Mexico—most aren’t paved—and they break down. Melons coming from Hermosillo might hit an eight-kilometer line at the military checkpoint at Querobabi and suffer an eight-hour delay inching forward so that each cargo hold is given a careful or perfunctory inspection. This uncertainty is just part of the game, part of what Brian and Prescott must gamble upon as they communicate with those who will buy the melons once they cross the border.

Trucks arrive at the Mariposa checkpoint on the Nogales bor-der crossing and are stymied by a whirlwind of paperwork: a con-tract from a custom house broker in both Mexico and the U.S., declared load values and weight surcharges and export-import agreements. All the paperwork must be perfectly filed and sub-mitted without flaws. On the northern immigration front, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Ad-ministration might look at the paperwork; on the other hand, they might take x-rays or ask the driver to unload part or all of

Prescott Vandervoet (left) and his father Brian, watch over the movement of melons from the soils of Sonora to supermarkets in the U.S.

his cargo. Even if the U.S.D.A. and the F.D.A. wave the truck through, there are over a dozen other federal agencies at the bor-der that might hold things up in order to take a second look at the melons or the trucks that carry them.

Once the melons have officially immigrated, they arrive, fi-nally, to the Vandervoet warehouse. A beeping semi truck backs up to the open door. The warehouse foreman slides open the cargo hold and the manager zooms over standing on a forklift. He doesn’t pause as he approaches the cargo hold. He acceler-ates forward, scoops up a stack of eight pallets, and neatly spins into reverse. A quick twist of the wheel and the forklift is in drive again, depositing a stack of melons in a line in one of four store-rooms. There, in the safety of 35 degrees, they wait for five min-utes or five days.

A cornucopia of colors

The Vandervoets are experts at selecting and import-ing melons. But a purchaser doesn’t just want melons: They want the fixings for a fruit salad, the variety of

a produce section. So, often retailers will turn to brokers—the middle-men in a land of middle-men—who buy produce from distributors in Nogales, like the Vandervoets, and consolidate it, in another warehouse, for produce needs of a specific customer like Sodexo or Safeway.

Mike Smith, a broker at Sigma Sales, Inc., will buy boxes of melons from the Vandervoets to combine with Costa cucum-bers and Miss Sonora Squashes, arranging pallets in a semi truck like a Tetris master to fill an order for a specific client. If the Vandervoet warehouse is a monoculture of melons, the Sigma Sales warehouse, vastly bigger, is a cornucopia of colors. While it might look disorganized—boxes of melons saddled next to cu-cumbers and squash—the proof of their efficiency is in the pud-ding: Mike says they ship 200,000 boxes of produce out of here every day.

Mike sends semi-trucks full of produce to retailers who, fi-nally, may think about the eater and the money we consumers


will wield for fresh cantaloupe in December. Though melons move fluidly along the food supply chain, retail sales are where a melon earns its keep. In the best-case scenario, when all the moving parts synch like clockwork, a melon vine-harvested from the Coast of Hermosillo irrigation district may be sold at a local retailer in Phoenix or Albuquerque in as few as three days.

In the worst case, if the melons are bound for Boston or Boze-man and if the moving parts don’t connect or the commodity’s supply chain stutters, it might be two weeks before a melon sees a supermarket shelf. That’s 14 days, huddled in 35-degree ware-houses and stacked in the back of semi trucks, hurtling across the country.

Prescott sends me home with a box of the ripe Orange Flesh melons. I slice a melon open on a pale wood butcher’s block and the two halves fall apart with a soft thud, the fruit revealing itself true to its name. White seeds embedded down the center contrast with the bright orange flesh. I scoop out the seeds, peel away the rind then slurp the candy-sweet fruit, bending over the counter so I don’t drip on the floor. Still cool from a 10-day chill in the warehouse, the smooth flesh tastes like ice cream melting in my mouth.

When I get up the next morning, as coffee drips into the pot, I slice another melon in half, eager to dice the sweet orange flesh into a bowl of yogurt. The melon nearly falls apart. The cen-ter star of seeds has gone piggly-wiggly. Four seeds have swerved from the center into the flesh, burrowing into the smooth orange like rogue missiles. I break open the last melon, and it too, is be-yond edible—it’s more sugar mush than orange flesh. Despite the months-long care and concern of the farmer, the quick work of the harvester and trucker, the worried negotiations by the bro-ker and distributor—despite the careful connections forged by numerous players across two countries—the melon has the last word. Not even two weeks after it left the ground in Mexico, the melon lands, with a soft exhale, at the top of my garbage bin. ✜

Megan Kimble is the managing editor of edible Baja Arizona.

The foreman at the warehouse in Nogales shuttles pallets full of water-melons to await a buyer in the safety of 35 degrees.


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I didn’t start off growing food. Instead, I cultivated cacti, succulents, orchids, native plants, ornamental and

exotic plants. When I eventually started playing around with small vegetable and herb gardens, I found myself stressing out about wasting all the beautiful toma-toes I produced. So I started preserving: pickling, canning, dehydrating, and fer-menting. The garden pushed me into the kitchen.

Accidentally, I discovered I could be re-sponsible for a majority of my own food. This gave me a sense of self-sufficiency and control over what I put in my body. I also found I actually enjoyed making food. Today I keep a vegetable garden, chickens and other fowl, goats, bees, and my kitchen is full of vessels of fermenting food and drink. My personal goal with this section is to share my enthu-siasm for becoming a home food producer in the modern era.

The modern homestead may lack the spinning wheels, butter churns and horse-drawn plows of the past. But the purpose is the same: To produce or supplement our daily sustenance. How dependent you are on that which you produce may depend on how you feel about the food you have access to otherwise. Many would like to grow most of their own food. Others may just want to have some fresh basil at their disposal. But even the smallest attempts at growing some portion of your diet will not

only improve your quality of life, it will educate you on what it takes to get food to the table. And perhaps making your own food will help you understand its true value; how, for example, a locally-grown tomato is worth double or more the price of a conventionally grown one.

The Warm Season GardenThis time of year, many people get dis-couraged from growing in southern Ari-zona. Tomatoes often cease to produce fruit. The garden that was so lush in April

and May is now encoun-tering hot, dry, pre-monsoon weather, turn-ing what was pleasant work into drudgery and discomfort, sometimes with little reward.

It is true: summer gardening is more work than spring or fall gar-dening. But there are things you can do to improve your success, be more efficient with resources, and help you keep loving the time you spend in your garden:

Remove and Replant. Discernment is called for during this season. If you have an unruly, rambling tomato plant that has stopped fruiting, pull it out. Don’t waste water on something unlikely to produce again. Make room for new plantings. In-deed, there are lots of edible plants you can start now, even in the hottest, driest time of year (see Planting Schedule).

Have a plan for watering. Automatic irrigation is much more dependable than humans with hoses—humans that may prefer not to venture outside in triple-

By Jared R. McKinley

F

Seasonal Guidelines for Home Food Production

SUMMER 2013 51

PLANTING SCHEDULEStart indoors in June from seed (to be planted outside when the monsoon ar-rives): Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant.

Plant all summer season: Direct sow seed of Armenian cucumber, cantaloupe, melon, watermelon, basil, okra, gourd, and sweet potato (from slips). You can also start plants of oregano, mint, lemon-grass, rosemary and other herbs.

Plant when monsoon starts: Direct sow seed of tepary, pole bean, corn, panic grass (edible seeds), epazote, squash (ex-cept those which need exceptionally long season), pumpkin, cowpea, sunflower, to-matillo, cucumber.

Start indoors in July from seed (to be planted outside in August): Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, heat-resistant lettuce.

End of August: Set out plants of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, let-tuce. Most of your other cool season crops can be started now from seed including the aforementioned plus parsley, chard, chives, cilantro, dill, kale, radishes, beets, carrots, collards, mustard, peas, etc.

FEEDINGIn organic gardening you feed the soil, not just the plants. Feeding the soil means feeding the microbes that feed your plants. Each crop has different require-ments and you can check out our detailed

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Get Your Coop Ready for SummerChickens are increasingly popular in southern Arizona. They are relatively easy to raise, and produce eggs, meat and manure for the garden. Here are some tips on keeping them happy

digit temperatures. Automated irrigation also means that if you leave town, you can worry a little less about your garden be-ing forgotten by housesitterss. You can do something as simple as purchasing a timer that connects to your hose-bib and run-ning drip tube from the timer. Perforated polyethylene tubing delivers water slowly and deeply. Additionally, hose watering is rarely consistent or deep, instead running off and percolating the soil in an erratic manner.

Ensure proper light exposure and mulch. You can add a little shade to the garden which will sometimes give plants a break from our relentless sun. But be careful not

to cast too much. All too often gardeners with good intentions invite more trouble by over-shading their crops encourag-ing aphid infestations, etiolation (weak growth due to light deprivation) and other problems. More importantly, make sure you have properly insulated the soil with layers of mulch: One layer of compost to feed the soil, as well as a layer of straw (at least a few inches) to keep the sun from beating on the surface of the ground. This will save water and make your plants a lot happier. As these materials break down and become part of the soil profile, you will need to add more. ✜

by Renee Bidegain

THE COOP SCOOP

· Grow a fast, full sun loving vine over the coop for more shade: queen’s wreath (Antigonon leptopus), cat claw (Madfadyena unguis-cati) or Arizona grape ivy (Cissus trifoliata). Cut back in winter to allow appreciated winter sun. · Create a natural cross breeze by replacing solid walls and roof with mesh screens and fencing. · Mist adult birds with water for a refreshing afternoon shower and hose down the roof and coop to lower temperatures.· Avoid handling your hens or stressing them out during the heat of the day.· Share the bounty of summer with your flock, such as refreshing watermelon wedges.· Use food grade all-natural Diatomaceous Earth to minimize summer pests, lightly sprinkle in and around your coop.· Keep cool water available at all times; try several watering stations in shady spots.· Minimize disease-causing organisms that flourish in summer by mixing one tablespoon of chlorine bleach with one gallon of boiling water to disinfect their water station. Let air dry before refilling· Keep a poultry electrolyte on hand for emergencies like heat stress or to add to their water during really hot days; if they don’t like the taste, they won’t drink it, so always provide untreated water as well. ✜

SUMMER 2013 53

online guidelines for each. In general try to use dry fertilizers like kelp meal, alfalfa meal, and bone meal. Liquid fertilizers are “stabilized” in bottles using sulfur, and sulfur is not an organic substance (it kills microbes). We don’t condone using chemical fertilizers because they contain heavy salts that kill miroorganisms which is at odds with the objectives of organic gardening. Good compost is the best fer-tilizer and should frequently be added to your beds.

HORTICULTURAL MYTH Watering your plants on a hot summer afternoon will bake your plants or mag-nify the sun and burn the leaves FALSE. What happens when water evaporates? The process of evaporation removes latent heat from the surface on which it occurs. Thus, the opposite actually occurs when you water plants on a hot afternoon; plants cool off. There are other reasons not to do too much overhead watering. Mineral buildup on leaves can make plants look ugly. But on a hot summer day, plants will actually ap-preciate a splash of overhead water.

BENEFICIAL INSECT FEATUREGreen Lacewing

These generalists eat a variety of pests: eggs, larvae and nymphs of aphids, mites, thrips, whiteflies and moths. They tolerate our desert heat well and are easy to introduce to the garden. Eggs are best applied to the leaves of plants where larvae will find their way to prey. Adults feed on nectar which they need to repro-duce. Encourage them to stick around by having lots of flowering plants in and around the garden.

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Renee Bidegain is an urban livestock enthusiast and manages Arizona Feeds Country Store in South Tucson.


Do you want to produce some of your own food but don’t have time,

space or water for a garden? The desert rewards those who stay here through the summer with beautiful late-June mornings and mesquite trees laden with edible bean pods. Mesquite has a nutty sweetness, is gluten free, high in fiber and protein, and is probably available in your neighborhood, if not your own yard.

Are you ready to harvest one of the most abundant, versatile, nutritious, and delicious foods of this desert? Here’s what to do. Harvest before the summer

rains, or in the dry autumn

Traditional Tohono O’odham harvested before the summer rains gathering the first ripe pods in the extreme heat of June. They placed the pods on the hot desert floor for several consecu-tive days, bringing them in each night (avoiding condensation) in breathable containers, before grinding or storing them. Mes-quite harvesting and drying were done in the Bahidaj camp, and the coming of the rains meant the end of the harvest. Then it was back to the village to plant a summer garden. If there hap-pened to be a second ripening of mesquite in September or Octo-ber they might harvest incidental ripe pods, but it was not tradition to gather them in quantity like the June harvest.

Science is now reinforcing that traditional knowledge. A common soil fungus that thrives in hot, wet conditions can pro-duce toxins on mesquite pods. Nicholas Paul Garber, a PhD candidate working with USDA-ARS plant pathologist Dr. Pe-ter Cotty at the University of Arizona, assayed fungal toxins on mesquite last year and suggested

CALLING ALL MESQUITEROS!

by Amy Valdés Schwemm and Martha Ames Burgess

New recommendations for safe mesquite bean harvesting

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that harvesters “get out there as soon as the crop is mature, and leave any pods that get wet on the trees!”

All of the mesquite collected before the summer rains was below FDA limits for aflatoxin. However, a few of the many sam-ples collected during the rainy season at low elevations were not safe. As with corn, nuts and other crops, when rain falls on mature or nearly mature pods, the danger of contamination increases. Sam-ples collected long after the sum-mer rains, in dry and cooler con-ditions, were also safe. At higher elevations, pods may not ripen before it rains, but may still be safe, due to cooler temperatures which favor different microflora over the toxin producing fungi. In this case, the autumn harvest may be the best option, though it is not abundant every year. Keep in mind these recommendations represent only one season of test-ing and research yet to come may refine our harvesting.

Taste test the pods before picking

Simply chew on a ripe pod, avoiding the seeds, to determine if a tree’s fruits suit your tastes. Ripe Velvet, Honey and Screw-bean pods have a nutty sweetness, pick easily from the tree, and rattle when shaken. The South American mesquites planted in Arizona seem to be selected for landscape characteristics, tasting nothing like the imported harina de algorrobo. In the urban envi-ronment, species cross-pollinate to produce trees with a con-founding mix of characteristics. Do not wash the pods

Harvest only clean pods from the

trees, not from the ground, as wetting the mature pods encour-ages fungi and bacteria to prolif-erate. Harvest away from major pollutants, such as along major roadways or where pesticides or herbicides are sprayed. Dry the pods before storage Spread the mesquite pods in a thin layer in the sun or in a warm (175 degrees) oven un-til they are brittle. Store in a dry, cool place. Dry pods snap cleanly when broken, but can re-absorb moisture from the air, or when removed from the freezer. While in storage, bruchid beetles may emerge. Allow them to es-cape, suspend them by freez-ing, or kill them in the oven.

Community millings and DIY

Most harvesters take their pods to community milling events to be ground and sifted in a ham-mer mill. Only very dry pods will grind into meal. Any moisture, even from the air, creates a gooey mess and a big cleaning job for the mill.

You can grind for yourself in a molcajete, Vita-mix (not an aver-age blender or food processor) or coffee grinder, and sift through a wire mesh strainer to remove the hard seeds and remaining bits of pod. Or cook whole pods and strain the liquid to make ice cream, toffee, syrup, atole, pud-ding, smoothies, milkshakes, tea or beer.

For milling dates and results of further research, see DesertHar-vesters.org and Baja AZ Sustain-able Agriculture at BajaAZ.org. Special thanks to the Mesquite Harvest Working Group. ✜

SUMMER 2013 55

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Martha Ames Burgess teaches workshops on traditional methods of harvesting and using wild desert foods and medicines.


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Saguaro fruit is a treat Mother Nature reserved only for those of us lucky enough to live in the Sonoran

Desert. The season begins during the hottest part of the summer—late June to early July. That is when the desert bakes most of the day under a white-hot sun, when even the early mornings are hot.

When I go saguaro gathering, I get up about 4:30 a.m. and aim to be out among the saguaros just at dawn. Even within the Sonoran Desert, saguaros rarely grow at elevations above 4,000 feet. I drive slowly along the mostly empty roads looking for short saguaros, those 12 feet high or less, very short for a saguaro but about as high as I can reach with a pole. Gathering saguaro fruit does not entail a leisurely stroll from plant to plant. You need to clamber across ravines and pick your way up uneven rocky slopes.

Gathering Saguaro Fruit

In May, saguaros produce waxy white flowers, the state flower of Arizona, on the tips of the arms. By mid- to late-June, the fruits are becoming ripe and the outer husks peel back, revealing a bright red inside that some people assume are flowers. This is an indication that it is time to start gathering.

The Tohono O’odham use a very long rib from a dead saguaro with a cross-piece fixed on the end to make a strong, light pole perfect for reaching to the top of the taller plants. It can be used to hook the fruits or nudge them off the plant. You can also use a conventional citrus fruit picker, a long pole with a metal basket on the top. It has the advantage of hooking the fruit

into the basket, but it only works on the shorter saguaros. Recently a young man I met suggested that a golf ball retrieval stick, a long pole with a cup on the end used to recover golf balls from water traps, works perfectly. You’ll also need a small knife and a bucket or two to carry your fruit home.

Saguaros plants are protected on publicly owned property, but regulations regarding fruit collection vary. Before collecting on any public land, call the government office that manages it to find out if there are rules prohibiting gathering. In general, collecting for private use is allowed on all Bureau of Land Management propery. Collecting is prohibited in the Ironwood National Monument and in Saguaro National Park. And of course always get permission to collect on private land.

Be gentle with the saguaros. They are very slow-growing. Five-year-old saguaros are only a few inches high; they do not flower until they are 40 or 50 years old, and most of the best specimens—those with many arms—are probably about 200 years old.

Preparing the Saguaro Fruit

Once you get home with your harvest, cut open each fruit and extract the pulp into a bowl or large deep pan. Use immediately in recipes or measure even amounts into small plastic freezer bags. Flatten and store in the freezer.

An average whole fruit contains 34 calories and 2 tablespoons of dried saguaro seed have 74 calories. A serving of five fruits has 4 grams of protein and 5 grams of fat and is high in soluble fiber and vitamin C

For Juice or Syrup

Into the bowl or pan, add as much water as

you have saguaro pulp. Plunge your hands in and break up the clumps as much as possible. Let the fruit soak for six to eight hours, then use a fine wire-mesh strainer to strain all the liquid into a large pot. Boil the liquid until it is reduced by half for juice; reduce it further for syrup. Skim and discard the froth and impurities that rise during the boiling. If you want to make syrup, add ½ cup sugar and ½ teaspoon cornstarch for each cup of concentrated juice. Boil until thickened. Also try using half saguaro and half pomegranate juice.

Preparing the Seeds

Spread the seeds remaining from the juice preparation on a large flat pan or tray and dry them in the sun. The washed out pulp on the seeds will dry whitish. When the seeds are dry, break them up into a bowl of water. Vigorously shake the seeds; the white dried pulp will rise to the top and can be skimmed off. Store the seeds in a can or jar with a tight-fitting lid. Use as you would poppy seeds. ✜

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FORAGER

A Summer’s GatheringBy Carolyn Niethammer

This article is adapted from Cooking the Wild Southwest, Delicious Recipes for Dessert Plants, University of Arizona Press, 2011.

The stages of Saguaro flowering and fruiting, scanned during the months of June and July on Tumamoc Hill.

Quick Saguaro Bread

½ cup butter or vegetable oil½ cup sugar1 teaspoon vanilla2 eggs1 ½ cups flour¼ teaspoon baking soda¼ teaspoon cream of tartar¼ cup plain or berry-flavored low-fat yogurt1 cup fresh or frozen saguaro fruit

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 5x9-inch loaf pan. In a medium bowl, beat together sugar, butter or oil, and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating well. Add baking soda and cream of tartar. Beat well. Add flour, yogurt, and saguaro fruit. Stir just until combined; don’t over beat. Pour into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.


Sliding south out of Tucson, saguaros become creosote and N.P.R. becomes Mexican ranchera. Aerostats dot the sky—the grey smudges of radar-toting blimps that watch,

creepily, over the U.S.-Mexico border. We stop just shy of its sprawling fence line and prepare to greet the goats—the 80 laughing goats of Chiva Risa Ranch.

Lissa Howe and her husband J.C. Mutchler bought two goats three years ago when they had an hour to kill and wandered into a 4-H show in Sonoita. Lissa had always wanted a goat, and two weeks after they bought two goats, they had seven. They didn’t intend to build a goat ranch at the time, but two weeks after that, they owned 12 goats. Two years later, 40 milking goats produce around 25 gallons of milk—and cheese—every day. Cassie Jean was one of the first goats on the ranch and she’s still kicking buckets out from under the kids that are trying to pull her teats at Chiva Risa’s two-year anniversary open house.

“Cassie Jean is still Lissa’s favorite, but she knows all their names, every single one,” J.C. says, shifting his weight from boot to boot. He leans against a steel fence, his back to the kid pen, where a dozen baby goats stare at us, clustered, their confused puppy expressions confounded by the tiny horns curling from between their ears. Eighty goats beget 80 names; J.C. can’t keep track of them all, but, he says, “My favorite is Sammy Pants. You know, goats are some of the most efficient converters of grain and water into milk.”

There’s a stuttered pause in the conversation and my goat-day companion Dave asks, “What’s her name again?”

“Sammy,” J.C. responds, pushing his weight off the fence and preparing to shuttle the conversation onward.

“Wait, was it Sammypants?” Dave asks. “That’s great!”“Right…” J.C. says. He seems momentarily embarrassed by

the accidental admission of affection—but how could you not

Eighty Grinning GoatsThe goats of Chiva Risa live off the grid and browse the borderlands

By Megan Kimble

fork in the road

Half a mile north of the US-México border, the goats of Chiva Risa browse on native shrub, giving their cheese a certain borderlands terroir.

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nickname, not pick favorites? The gals almost ask it of us—they trot towards us, nuzzle against the fence and our outstretched hands, pickme-pickme.

J.C. works as a professor and administrator at the Univer-sity of Arizona; three years ago, Lissa was working at a semi-conductor laser company in Tucson when the company moved overseas and she lost her job. “At that time, there were abso-lutely no opportunities,” she says. Though she and J.C. had been growing their own food for years, “When we got into goats and started making cheese, it turned out I really had a knack for it,” Lissa says. She approaches cheese making with the same scien-tific thinking that defined her former career, reading scientific journals and researching the citric acid cycle. “I look at cheese as a living thing,” she says. “Sometimes you have a batch of cheese that wants to do something else, wants to turn into a camembert, say. I don’t focus on making one batch exactly like the last batch.”

To make her cheese, Lissa pasteurizes the milk at 145 de-grees for 30 minute in a 45-gallon pasteurizer. She then adds cheese cultures and waits; a day later, what she scoops out of the stainless steel pasteurizer is cheese: sweet, creamy curds of goat cheese. We taste thick crumbles of the cheese—a fresh chèvre, barely two days old—stabbed on toothpicks and we nibble and nudge each other with wide eyes, smiling sheepishly like the goats. It’s so good.

After we migrate inside and try the cheese, Lissa hands out a sample of the goat feed for us to try. Goats eat just about every-thing—shirts, notebooks, hair—but these girls subsist on local browse and a feed mix of alfalfa and bean chaff, nothing corn or soy-based and never GMO. “I think their feed makes a differ-ence in the milk,” Lissa tells us. “The bean chaff is sweet. When the girls finish eating, it makes their breath smell like peanut butter.”

Sammy Pants’ milk is made into cheese in a small barn with a blue roof. The dairy is built from locally made insulated con-crete forms and requires no heating or cooling—these goats live off the grid. The ranch is entirely wind and solar powered—the closest power line is more than a mile away—so with the excep-tion of the pasteurizer and a small bucket pump used for milking, everything is done by hand.

With so much to be done in this growing business, Lissa now employees three people to help her part-time. “We started the business after an outsourcing and now we’re able to employ three people, two that soon go to college in the region,” she says. “For me that’s very important.”

In addition to the fresh chèvre, the goats of Chiva Risa pro-duce aged chèvre, bloomy rind, fresh feta, some goat blues, some Colby, with harder aged cheese coming this summer. Find Chiva Risa at Tucson’s St. Philips Farmers’ Market on Saturday and Sunday, and in Sierra Vista at the Farmers’ Market on Thursday, or on the menu in select local restaurants. Contact Lissa to ar-range group tours of the ranch at [email protected]. ✜

Megan Kimble is the managing editor of edible Baja Arizona.

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Bacanora: Distilling the Sonoran Desert

Photos and text by Bill Steen

Throughout my childhood years, whenever I heard the word Bacanora being used in conversations between my mother and her sisters, it was often accompanied by laughter and a kind of mystique that fascinated me. Years later,

I was to discover that they were talking about an exquisite mescal from Sonora, Mexico that is made from the Agave angustifolia. Technically speaking, any distilled spirit made from the agave plant is a mescal. Tequila happens to be a mescal that comes from the region around the town of Tequila in the state of Jalisco. Mescal products from Oaxaca use the letter z in the spelling to name their products that are known as Mezcal.

Officially, making Bacanora was a clandestine activity until the mid-90s, although it has been an integral part of Sonoran life for centuries. Until recent times, it would have been difficult to find a rural Sonoran household without it. Many Sonoran people equate Bacanora with the region’s soul and identity, and the tradition of making and selling Bacanora lives on in many rural areas. Little has changed over the years. Typically, the equipment used in the stills is very rustic, but still produces a high quality product, often only for sale directly from the mescalero’s home.

Bacanora has entered a new era. The Mexican government has granted it the status of Denomination of Origin, meaning that it can only be produced within a geographic region of 35 municipalities. Climate change in the form of hard freezes has caused severe damage to plant populations over the past several years; no longer should Bacanora be assumed easily accessible. If you are fortunate, and a bottle comes into your possession, you should treasure it. The distilled essence of Sonora is priceless. ✜

Bill Steen and his wife Athena are founders of The Canelo Project, a non-profit organization in Santa Cruz County dedicated to “connecting people, culture and nature.”

SONORAN FOODWAYS


Counter-clockwise, from top left: 1. Agave angustafolia, used to make Sonoran Mescal Bacanora. 2. Distilling equipment used by Destiladoras de Tepua, the producers of Bacanora Rancho Tepua and Cielo Rojo Bacanora. 3. Trimming the leaves or pencas of the Agave to create the pina or cabeza, the central core of the agave for baking. 4. In preparing the cabeza or pina, one or two of the leaves are left as handles to transport the plant. 5. A typical Rio Sonora liquor store, the sale of Mescal Bacanora by famed producer El Cachimba of Huepac, assisted by Marco Baca. 6. Rarely aged, clear Mescal Bacanora. Above: A traditional rock-lined baking pit being fired where the Agave pinas or cabezas will be placed on the coals, covered and remain for three days.

64 summer 2013 edible Baja Arizonaby Dave MondyThe Temple of Brew


The Temple of BrewPhotography by Steven Meckler


Pretend this post popped up on, say, Craigslist. Would the volume of replies immediately break the internet, or

would it take a few minutes? As Mike Mallozzi put it, “Starting a brewery is always a fantasy for young men our age.”

Mallozzi would know. He and fellow Uni-versity of Arizona graduate student Myles Stone opened Borderlands Brewery in Decem-ber 2011. It didn’t take long for their dream to deliver returns in reality. Though initially imagined as mostly a shipper of brews, Bor-derlands opened its tasting room doors to find lines around the block. “We couldn’t believe it,” Mallozzi said. Enthusiasm stayed strong through December 2012, when Borderlands closed the doors due to happy mandate: Public demand demanded expansion.

Now, the new tanks and tasting room tables are full. And over thirty Arizona establish-ments stock their product.

Adding to the mythic allure: Borderlands’ focus on water conservation and local ingre-dients—a quixotic concern, considering it in-flated their start-up costs, and the young en-trepreneurs were students (i.e., poor).

“We used up all our money just print-ing the business plans,” Mallozzi said. And when they took those plans to the bank, they were met with laughs, not loans. So the duo schlepped said plans (along with growlers of their nascent brews) before “friends, neigh-bors, friends of friends” and slowly the capi-tal built up; amongst these micro-investors, sustainable aims were a draw, not drawback. “The number one thing,” Stone said, “was they wanted to see something cool, new, going on in their hometown.” He and Mallozzi even resisted the lure of larger venture capital when it meant they’d have to compromise their vi-sion. “If we were going to do it, we knew we couldn’t be just one more beer on the shelf... We had to be something different.”

So I stopped by on a recent Wednesday to see if, and how, beer could be equally kind to planet and palette.

Holy water, heirloom grain

Located in an old warehouse on Toole and Seventh Ave., Borderlands abruptly abuts the railroad tracks. In-

side, windows display passing graffiti-washed trains as if by successive snapshot—strobe pops of art to complement a cavernous ca-thedral interior, punctuated with iron girder, worn wood, and chain link fence.

Mallozzi recently completed his postdoc-toral research in microbiology, and displayed a nerdy glee in explaining the complex chemical processes used to create the brews. His pride in their new tanks was abundant, but he beamed equally when showing off some less ostenta-tious objects out back: a large water harvesting tank, and barrels of used malts. The former captures all the water used (now reused) to chill their wort—a practice that saves 2,000 gallons of water every week.

Indeed, Borderlands has a bit of a water ob-session. They only make beers that are com-patible with the mineral-rich H2O of the des-ert, without additional distilling. While this rules out beers like stouts, it also lends their lager a real regionalism. “We knew,” Stone said, “if we had to pick one issue to go all out on, it was water conservation. It’s a brewery in the desert.” How apropos that their One-Year Anniversary beer was named Agua Bendita—holy water, indeed.

That Agua Bendita also featured a hallowed heirloom grain, White Sonora Wheat, com-pleting a conclave of local ingredients: prickly pear from Arizona Cactus Ranch for their wheat beer, real Mexican vanilla from Arizona Vanilla Company for the porter, Green Val-

WANTED: 30-something grad student to own brewery, champion local ingredients, and preside over tasting room & hip hub for downtowners, musicians, foodies. MUST LOVE BEER.

“We knew if we had to pick one

issue to go all out on, it was water

conservation. It’s a brewery in the desert.”

BUZZ


ley pecans for the ale, various local honeys for the Kolsh—all of which will soon be joined by novitiate hops from Arizona Hops and Vines.

And lo, what happens when this crew of brewing biomass has served its sacred purpose? That’s where the barrels behind the brewery come in. The protein-rich detritus is donated for com-post to the Community Food Bank of Souhern Arizona, as well as to local farmers. The circle of life! And all the drinkers said, Amen.

But I shouldn’t make Borderlands sound so saintly. When I asked about sacrifices—in taste or finances—made to be more sustainable, Mallozzi expressed the opposite: “It’s a big advan-tage!” I’d wondered, before stopping in, if the brewery’s aims were based on environmentalism or business savvy; that the two suddenly seemed indistinguishable was the best news for humans I’d heard all month.

One growler, to go

Of course, this would be moot if the brews were bad— but I can happily report that I loved the Nut Brown, and Borderlands’ overall roster was highly af-

fable/quaffable (beer snob translation: they tasted good, and I’d like to drink more of them). The Kolsh had the honeyed light-ness one wants in a summer selection, plus a woody finish. Was it the mesquite origins of the honey—we talk of wine’s terroir, so why not beer? Also worthy of mention: the Gose, a sour beer from Northern Germany which has only recently made rare for-ays stateside.The sour is sincere: Tartness punches your tongue even as citrus bubbles soothe the stomach, perfect for certain simmering days in the Ol’ Pueblo.

But back to that Nut Brown. Some versions of this brew have an assaulting nuttiness— which can be tasty, but also makes the beer more of a sipper. Borderlands’ version is more subtle. I’d liken it to Italian table wine. It’s enjoyable pre-meal, but can complement your dinner, too. Speaking of which, Borderlands has landed on a symbiotic solution to their lack of kitchen. Food trucks park outside, and you’re welcome to bring your kimchi quesadillas in to the brewery’s tables.

I also loved their Vanilla Porter—but I want to point out that I wasn’t a fan of all their beers. Thankfully. Early success is so often the hobgoblin of innovation. “That’s something we really try to guard against,” Mallozzi said, showing me old tanks from pre-expansion, now used for brewmaster Blake Collin’s mad/ge-nius experiments.

So my advice: stop in, sample some brews, and see what suits you. Then grab a growler and shamble on home. Amble, stum-ble, stride—or pedal.

Think about it: Biking home with Borderlands in your back-pack? It’s hard to find a better definition of sustainable buzz. ✜

Dave Mondy is a freelance writer/imbiber and an instructor at the University of Arizona.

SlowFoodSouthernAZ.org

We’re in the heart of the Sonoran Desert where American Indian and Mexican traditions have created some of the most outstanding flavors in the Southwest.

Join us in all our activities that take place both within Tucson and on day-trips to nearby locales.

Supporting good, clean, and fair food


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SOURCE GUIDEwhere to find...

The Edible Source Guide is a compact directory of our advertisers, with a description of what they do and other details of their businesses. Please visit these advertisers to pick up a complimentary copy of Edible Baja Arizona and let them know how much you appreciate their support of this magazine and the local food and drink community. Baja Arizona cities and towns are noted if the business is not located in Tucson.

BAER JOINERY Fine architectural woodworking. Specializing in the use of real wood, traditional join-ery, and non-toxic finishes. Arti-san-crafted doors, windows, cabi-netry, and furniture. 520.358.0911 BaerJoinery.com

ROB PAULUS ARCHITECTS We de-sign thoughtful environments that integrate nature and technology to enhance the human experience. Our collaborative design approach incorporates climate, culture and site to deliver unique and specific architecture that is engaging and resourceful. 990 E. 17th St. #100, 520.624.9895 RobPaulus.com

ARTISAN PURVEYORS & DEALERS

ALFSONSO OLIVE OIL A world of flavor, locally owned. We invite you to a unique tasting experience of the freshest, first cold pressed, Ex-tra Virgin Olive Oils and flavored ol-ive oils from around the world, and all natural Traditional Aged Bal-samic Vinegars from Modena, Ita-ly! “Taste first…buy when the ex-citement becomes overwhelming.” 4320 N Campbell Ave., Suite #40, 520.441.9081 AlfonsoOliveOil.com

CHOCOLÁTE All our boxed truffles are handmade with the freshest in-gredients and fine chocolate. We use regional ingredients whenever possible. We use no chemicals, pre-servatives, additives or artificial fla-vorings.134 Tombstone Canyon, Bis-bee 520.432.3011 SpiritedChocolate.BusinessCatalyst.com

GRAMMY’S JAMS Grammy offers artisan jams, jellies, chutneys, mus-tards, and pickles. Habanero Dills, Dilly Beans, Rolling Thunder and Ha-banero Jams are favorites. Back-yards, our trees, local farms and or-chards provide fruits for Grammy’s special products! Find Grammy’s at Farmer’s Markets, 520.559.1698 Facebook.com/Grammys.AZ

HAYDEN FLOUR MILLS A family business working to revive heritage and ancient grains in the desert. We have revived the tradition that start-ed in Tempe, Arizona more than 125 years ago by Charles Hayden and his Hayden Flour Mills. While not milled at the iconic Hayden Flour

Mills’ building, our fresh flour har-kens back to a time when flour still was full of nutrients and fla-vor. 4404 N Central Ave., Phoenix, 480.557.0031 HaydenFlourMills.com

SEVEN CUPS Seven Cups is an American tea company based in Tucson. We source traditional, handmade Chinese teas directly from the growers and tea masters who make them, and we bring those teas back from China to share with people everywhere. Seven Cups is the only American tea company with our own Chinese trading license, so we are in complete control of our supply chain from tea maker to con-sumer. 2516 E. Sixth St., 520.628. 2952 SevenCups.com

BAKERIES

BARRIO BREAD Barrio Bread is Tuc-son’s first Community Supported Baker. Don Guerra’s artisan breads, prepared with wild yeast cultures, long fermentation and hearth bak-ing create a truly inspired loaf. Craft-ing top quality bread and support-ing local foods in Tucson since 2009. www.BarrioBread.com

LA ESTRELLA BAKERY at the Mer-cado: A Tucson staple with yummy traditional Mexican pastries and pan dulce you won’t find anywhere else in town. Monday-Saturday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m., 100 S. Avenida del Convento, 520.393.3320 LaEstrellaBakeryIncAZ.com

SMALL PLANET BAKERY started baking bread in February of 1975. At that point, we were a collec-tive of six, only one of whom had any baking experience. We now service 14 stores and do custom baking for eight restaurants and participate in three farmers’ mar-kets. 411 N. 7th Ave., 520.884.9313 SmallPlanetBakery.com

BOTANICAL GARDENS & MUSEUMS

ARIZONA SONORA DESERT MUSEUM The mission is to inspire people to live in harmony with the natural world by fostering love, apprecia-tion, and understanding of the So-noran Desert. 2021 N Kinney Rd 520.883.2702 DesertMuseum.org

TOHONO CHUL PARK A 49-acre botanical garden and nature pre-serve, Tohono Chul has beautiful-

ly tended nature paths, artful gal-leries and shops, and tasty meals at the full-service Garden Bis-tro. Discover the breath of region-al culture and heritage through events and learning exhibits. 7366 N. Paseo del Norte, Tucson, AZ 85704 520.742.6455 TohonoChul.org

TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS A tranquil oasis in the heart of Tucson, strives to be recognized and respect-ed as the best small public garden in America. Open daily 8:30am-4:30pm, 2150 N Alvernon Way, 520.326.9686 TucsonBotanical.org

BREWERIES

BORDERLANDS BREWING COMPANY A wholesale production microbrew-ery, brewing about 500 gallons of beer a week for Tucson’s local bars and restaurants. The brewery’s tap room is open Wednesday through Saturday from 4pm-8pm. The brew-ery hosts live local must most nights. 119 E. Toole, 520.261.8773 Border-landsBrewing.com

DRAGOON BREWING CO. Found-ed with a simple goal in mind: to in-crease the quantity and quality of local beer in the Arizona market. Wed & Thur 4-8pm, Fri 3-9pm, Sat 2-8pm, 1859 W Grant Rd., Ste 111, 520.329.3606 DragoonBrewing.com

BOOKSTORES

ANTIGONE BOOKS Zany, indepen-dent (and 100% solar-powered) bookstore. Books for all ages, plus large selection of unusual gifts and cards. Regional books on cooking, gardening, sustainability, green liv-ing and more. Voted Tucson’s best independent bookstore. Located in Tucson’s unique Fourth Avenue shopping district. 411 N. 4th Ave., 520.792.3715 AntigoneBooks.com

BOOK STOP A Tucson institution for decades (since 1967!), the Book Stop stocks thousands of qual-ity used and out-of-print titles. Monday-Thursday: 10am-7pm, Fri-day-Saturday: 10am-10pm, Sun-day: noon-5pm. 213 N. 4th Avenue, 520.326.6661 BookStopTucson.com

CULINARY EDUCATION

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cooking classes featuring con-temporary Southwest and classic French cuisines. Each demonstra-tion class includes recipes & and lunch with beverages. For the fall schedule & her Lake Tahoe classes, email [email protected] DonnaNordinCooks.com GROCERS, FARMERS’ MARKETS & CSAs

BISBEE FARMERS MARKET Vibrant village market appears magically at Vista Park in the Warren district in Bisbee every Saturday morning. We feature local musicians while you enjoy shopping for healthy lo-cal foods and artisan crafts. Choic-es for Sustainable Living booth features workshops for healthy lifestyle changes. 9am-1pm, Sat-urdays, BisbeeFarmersMarket.org

FOOD CONSPIRACY COOP Food Conspiracy Co-op: Located on funky Fourth Ave., the co-op is a natu-ral foods grocery store that has served the Tucson community since 1971 and emphasizes organic, lo-cal and fair trade options. Among its many delicious offerings, the co-op serves homemade bagels, muffins, and green chili breakfast wraps, and features a hot food and salad bar. Everyone can shop at the co-op and anyone can join. 412 N. Fourth Ave.624-4821 FoodConspiracy.coop SANTA CRUZ RIVER FARMERS’ MARKET Fresh, sustainably grown foods from local farmers. Arizona fruits and vegetables, free-range meat, eggs, honey, baked goods, and natural plant products! Live music, cooking demonstrations, children’s activities and free work-shops. A great place to get to know your community! West Congress Street, just west of I-10 at Mer-cado San Augustín, 520.882.3313 CommunityFoodBank.org

TUCSON CSA Tucson CSA (Commu-nity Supported Agriculture) has of-fered weekly boxes of local, organi-cally-grown produce since 2004. We also offer pasture-raised eggs and chickens, grass-fed meats, cheese, and bread (from Barrio Bread). Pick-ups are Tuesdays or Wednesdays, 4:00-7:00 pm, The Historic Y, 300 E. University Blvd., TucsonCSA.org

FARMS & RANCHES

OSWALD CATTLE CO. Not all beef is grown equal. High quality irrigated pasture and Black Angus genetics make our meat better. Happy land makes happy cattle, which means delicious beef. Available at the Tu-bac Market and Walking J Farms. Amado, 520.398.2883 RAMONA FARMS Akimel O’odham Farm producing ancient, heirloom food crops on ancestral land along the Gila River. Products grown and packaged on farm. Visit our website for wholesome, delicious, tradition-al Pima recipes for tepary beans, corn and wheat. Shop at our on-line store. Wholesale + food service prices. Sacaton, 602.322.5080 Ra-monaFarms.com.

RIO SANTA CRUZ GRASS FINISHED BEEF Our farm on the Santa Cruz Riv-er near the US-Mexico border uses the Argentine beef finishing system based on a chain of annual forages crafted for the climate and soils of Santa Cruz County. Our calves are born on our ranch in the uplands of the Santa Cruz River. At weaning, they are moved six miles to our fin-ishing farm on the Santa Cruz River. Here they live peacefully and natu-rally on forages sustained by irriga-tion and summer rains. 520.394.0243 rscGrassFinishedbeef.com

STARBAR RANCH NATURAL GRASS FED BEEF Lovingly and humanely-raised in beautiful Southeast Ari-zona. Our beef is dry aged 28 days. Available Saturdays at the Oro Val-ley Farmers Market. Online & phone orders. The way beef used to taste! 520.805.3345 StarbarRanch.com SUNIZONA We are a family-owned, certified organic farm in Willcox, Ar-izona growing fruits and vegetables with sustainable, veganic practices and greenhouse technology. 5655 E Gaskill Rd. Willcox 520.824.3160 SunizonaFamilyFarms.com WHOLESUM FAMILY FARMS In 2012 the Crisantes family began farm-ing in Southern Arizona after farm-ing for generations in Mexico. The greenhouses built here are of the finest quality and latest technolo-gy available anywhere in the world. With three generations of expe-

rience, Wholesum Family Farms is producing outstanding quali-ty organic tomatoes. 816.522.8262 WholesumFamilyFarms.com

HERBS & HERBALISTS

DESERT TORTOISE BOTANICALS We provide handcrafted herbal products from herbs wild-harvested and organically grown within the So-noran desert bioregion. Owner John Slattery conducts the Sonoran Herb-alist Apprenticeship Program, wild foods class, private plant walks, and individual wellness consultation ser-vices. 4802 E Montecito St., Tucson DeserTortoiseBotanicals.com TUCSON HERB STORE Located in the Heart of Downtown since 2003. Dedicated to serving a variety of ethically wild-crafted and botani-cal products of the southwest des-ert. We carry: bulk herbs, teas, herb-al tinctures, beauty care products, soaps, books, incense, and much more! 408 N. 4th Ave., 520.903-0038 TucsonHerbstore.com

INNS AND B&BS

COPPER CITY INN Copper City Inn is truly delightful, with beautiful rooms, excellent queen beds, abundant lighting, spacious bathrooms, balco-nies, free wi-fi, complimentary bottle of wine, organic coffee, parking, free off-site continental breakfast, DVDs, electronic locks. View website vid-eo: WYSIWYG. Bisbee is cool! 99 Main, Old Bisbee, 520.432.1418 CopperCityInn.com HOTEL SAN RAMON An ideal choice for those who want the comfort and amenities offered by modern hotels, yet prefer the warmth and ambiance of a small, family-owned inn in Bis-bee, Arizona. 5 Howell Ave, Bisbee 520.432.1901 hotelsanramon.com

LA POSADA DEL RIO SONORA La Posada del Rio Sonora is a bou-tique hotel and restaurant on the plaza principal of Banámichi. Our 250 year old adobe has 10 rooms and suites and two apartments. This is the heart of “La Ruta Rio Sono-ra” with nearby hot springs. 70 Cal-le Pesqueira, Banámichi, Sonora, Mexico, MexicoEcoResort.com


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Monica Surfaro SpigelmanTUCSON COWGIRL COMMUNICATIONS

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LANDSCAPING

AHIMSA LANDSCAPING Ahimsa Landscaping is an ethically focused, small design + build business spe-cializing in creating sustainable landscapes through the integration of permaculture design principles and water harvesting techniques for the desert environment. 928.830.8045 Facebook.com/AhimsaLandscaping

LOCAL ROOTS AQUAPONICS We raise fish and plants together to create mutually beneficial ecosys-tems with a focus on food produc-tion. Aquaponic system sales, live fish, heirloom seedlings, consulting, site assessments, pool/pond con-versions, tours, workshops, speak-ing events and more. 765.276.6427 LocalRootsAquaponics.com

RED BARK DESIGN, LLC Landscape Design + Consultation. RedBark De-sign offers regionally and ecologi-cally appropriate landscape design services for residential, commer-cial and consulting projects. P.O. Box 44128 Tucson, Arizona 85733, 520.247.2456 RedBarkDesign.com SW GARDENWORKS A full veg-etable garden service that in-stalls and revamps existing gar-dens. Our gardens are built to last! Using bio intensive methods and soils we insure the best results with your back yard garden.3661 N. Campbell #312, 520.419.2886 SouthwestGardenworks.com

NURSERY & GARDEN

ARBICO ORGANICS Arbico Organ-ics has been providing organic so-lutions for homeowners, gardeners, farmers and pet, horse and live-stock owners since 1979. Products include beneficial insects and or-

ganisms, natural fertilizers, amend-ments, composting supplies, weed and disease controls, critter con-trol and more. 800.827.2847 Arbico-Organics.com RILLITO NURSERY & GARDEN CENTER Rillito Nursery & Garden Center is an independent family-owned busi-ness that has provided our cus-tomers with a diverse inventory of quality plants and products since 1994. Our goal is to provide quality products and excellent service at a fair price. 6303 N. La Cholla Blvd., 520.575.0995 RillitoNursery.com

ORGANIZATIONS

FOOD TRUCK ROUNDUP Help-ing independent chefs do what they love to do: cook great meals in their motorized, mobile kitch-ens, or full-size trailer. Gather-ing several times a month, in one place, at different locations, so that you can sample their innovative menus with your family and friends. TucsonFoodTruckRoundup.com HUNGRY PLANETS SYSTEMS & SERVICE Hungry Planets serves ur-ban food systems for Earth, wher-ever people go! Popular programs with UA-CALS Center for Controlled Environment Agriculture Center at BIO Expo 2013 and Museum of Sci-ence & Industry, Chicago seen on youtube.com/scitechreports.

SAACA A not-for-profit organization that exists to ensure that, through engagement in arts and culture, our communities produce strong, in-spired citizens. 7225 N. Oracle Rd., Suite 112, 520.797.3959 SAACA.org

SLOW FOOD More than 200 local chapters of Slow Food USA Be-lieve in Good, Clean, Fair Food for Everyone! To become a friend on our event mailing list email Don Luria at [email protected]. To be-come a member ($25.00) Join at SlowFoodSouthernAZ.org. TUCSON COWGIRL COMMUNI-CATIONS We’re two NYC trans-plants experienced in corporate & non-profit marketing, digital media & journalism. We celebrate native foods, indigenous culture & local-ism. Contact us for professionalism & quality in your storytelling, research,

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TUCSON CLEAN & BEAUTIFUL A non-profit organization with the in-tent to preserve and improve our environment, conserve natural re-sources, and enhance the quality of life in the City of Tucson and east-ern Pima County. These goals will be achieved through initiating edu-cational and participatory programs implemented with broad-citizen, multi-culture support. 520.791.3109 TucsonCleanAndBeautiful.org

RESTAURANTS, BARS & CAFES

ACACIA Located in the Catalina Foothills, Acacia offers an exquiste panoramic view of the city and fea-tures award winning cuisine by Chef Albert Hall. Enjoy fresh, natural and local ingredients lovingly prepared in the friendliest and most comfort-able setting in Tucson. Join us for Lunch, Dinner, Sunday brunch and Happy Hour daily. 3001 E Skyline Dr. 520.232.0101 AcaciaTucson.com AGUSTÍN BRASSERIE Features classic French bistro fare in a ca-sual elegant setting. Every Thurs-day enjoy the beautiful music of Naim Amor, along with happy hour specials. Summer hours: Tuesday-Saturday, Dinner 4 p.m.-9 p.m., Sun-day, Brunch 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Agustín will be closed from July 5-July 31. Mercado San Agustín, 100 S. Ave-nida del Convento, 520.461.1107 AgustinBrasserie.com AZUL RESTAURANT & LOUNGE AZuL Restaurant/Lounge at The Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa. Experience vibrant cuisine and local ingredients at AZuL. Nestled on 250 acres of high Sonoran Desert foot-hills in the Santa Catalina Moun-tains, our guests experience pic-turesque mountain and golf course views from 3-story arched win-dows while savoring the culinary creations of Chef Russell Michel. 3800 E. Sunrise Dr., 520.742.6000 AzulLaPaloma.com

BISBEE COFFEE CO. Our signature blends bring together beans that complement each other to cre-ate an extraordinary cup of cof-

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Desert Tortoise Botanicals

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*Wild harvested Herbals from the Sonoran Desert*Consultation Services*Herbal Education

Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

DeserTortoiseBotanicals.com SonoranHerbalist.com

* Wild harvested Herbals from the Sonoran Desert* Consultation Services* Herbal Education

fee. 2 Copper Queen Plaza Bisbee 520.432.7931 BisbeeCoffee.com

CAFÉ PASSÉ Café Passé is dedi-cated to serving great coffee and coffee drinks, locally sourced or-ganic food whenever we possibly can, craft cocktails and an eclectic beer menu. It is also home to Tuc-son’s best patio and biergarten with a patio bar, live music four nights a week and local art. 415 N. 4th Ave., 520.624.4411 CafePasse.com

CAFÉ ROKA Café Roka is celebrating 20 years of serving the Bisbee com-munity and Baja Arizona. Our goal is to create a wonderful dining experi-ence for our guests, providing deli-cious food, beverages & warm hos-pitality. Reservations recommended. 35 Main St., Bisbee, 520.432.5153 CafeRoka.com

CUSHING STREET Uptown comfort food, garden patios, full bar and live jazz have made this 1860’s histor-ic landmark a local favorite for for-ty years. Book an intimate party in a private dining room or a wedding for 100 guests. Family owned since 1972. 198 W. Cushing St. 520.622.7984 CushingStreet.com

DELECTABLES International se-lections in a casual atmosphere. Breakfast, lunch, dinner & late night. Dog-friendly patio dining, Live mu-sic every Friday & Saturday. Full bar, excellent wine list. Home-made desserts. Vegan & gluten-free menus. Catering. 533 N. 4th Ave., 520.884.9289 Delectables.com

DOWNTOWN KITCHEN + COCKTAILS Innovative farm to table cooking with global influences + killer cock-tails from James Beard Award Win-ner Janos Wilder in an art filled, urban setting with roomy outdoor patio. Dinner, Happy Hour, Bar Menu seven nights and Late Night Fri-day and Saturday. 135 S. 6th Ave., 623.7700 DowntownKitchen.com

FALORA In the historic Joesler-built Broadway Village, Falora builds piz-zas & salads anchored in tradition, with a sharply creative angle. In-gredients are simple, fresh; import-ed from Italy or brought over by lo-cal farms. Lunch/Dinner— charming patio or cozy interior. 3000 E. Broad-

way at Country Club, 520.325.9988 Falora.com

GOURMET GIRLS Tucson’s only ded-icated gluten free bakery and bistro. Open everyday except Monday, 7am-3pm. 5845 N Oracle Rd. 520.408.9000 GourmetGirlsGlutenFree.com

LA COCINA RESTAURANT CANTI-NA & COFFEE BAR Eat a meal in our beautiful courtyard, belly up to the bar and have a creative cocktail, lis-ten to live music under the stars, or dance until the wee hours —there is something for everyone. We care deeply for our community and strive to provide a gathering place for all. Tucson musicians take the stage most days of the week, our Can-tina pours local beer, and we sup-port our local farmers and ranch-ers. 201 N Court Ave., 520.365.3053 LaCocinaTucson.com

NOBLE HOPS Noble Hops offers an ever-changing menu of craft beer + fine fare, including an impressive selection of more than 175 beers from around the world, including 28 on tap-plus fine wine, keg wine and cocktails. Dining options include de-licious, fresh homemade soups, sal-ads, appetizers, burgers, sandwich-es, hearty entrees and desserts. Patio dining and private dining facili-ties available. Open daily at 11 a.m. 1335 W. Lambert Lane, Oro Valley, 520.797.HOPS, NobleHops.com

PENCA Mexico City Cuisine and in-ternational Bar located in the heart of Downtown Tucson. 50 E Broadway, 520.203.7681 PencaRestaurante.com POCO Mexican-inspired organ-ic vegetarian food, beer & wine in downtown Old Bisbee. 15 Main St, Bisbee 520.432.3733

PROPER Proper is a casual, urban dining establishment serving con-temporary, farm to table cuisine. Brunch Daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dinner nightly from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Happy Hour M-F, 3-6 p.m. Late Night, seven days, 10 p.m. to midnight. 300 E. Congress St., 520.396.3357 ProperTucson.com

RENEE’S ORGANIC OVEN Renee’s Organic Oven serves up creative and traditional pizzas + so much more. We offer a casual space for you to enjoy a menu filled with lo-cal and organic ingredients. Every-thing we do is made possible by our connection to great people and we would love to add you to our mix! Happy Hour, dine-in, take out . Res-ervations encouraged, but walk-ins welcome! 7065 E. Tanque Verde 520.886.0484 ReneesOrganicOven.com REVOLUTIONARY GROUNDS Your local source for shade grown, or-ganic, direct-trade coffee; vege-tarian & vegan sandwiches, sal-ads and homemade desserts, with a great selection of books on lo-cal agriculture and sustainable liv-ing. 606 N. 4th Ave., 520.620.1770, RevolutionaryGroundsOnline.com

SANTIAGOS In the heart of Old Bisbee, Arizona. By far the lo-cal’s and visitor’s favorite for ex-cellent authentic Mexican cui-sine, libations, and the best house-made Salsa in Arizona! 1 Howell Ave, Bisbee. 520.432.1910 SantiagosMexican.blogspot.com SPARKROOT A cornerstone of a burgeoning downtown, Sparkroot serves up Blue Bottle Coffee & veg-etarian fare with flare, in a strik-ing atmosphere. Vibrant communi-ty flavor, morning through evening. Great meeting spot; you can even reserve our loft! Beer, wine & killer Irish coffee. 245 E. Congress at Fifth Ave,520.623.4477 Sparkroot.com

STELLA JAVA Enjoy delicious espresso drinks made from locally roasted coffee beans at this unique family-owned Tucson café. Mon-Sun 8am-2pm 100 S Avenida del Con-vento 520.777.1496 StellaJava.com

TABLE Fresh, Local, Original, dining in the heart of Old Bisbee. Featuring Chef Karina Franco-Batty. 2 Copper

OSWALD CATTLE CO.AMADO, AZ

Not All Beef Is Grown EqualIrrigated-grass fed beef

Available at Tubac Marketand Walking J Farm

TASTE THE DIFFERENCE

Available at these locations in Tucson:Santa Cruz Farmer’s Market on Thursdays§

Saturday Farmer’s Market at The Loft§

Food Conspiracy Co-op§

Aqua Vita*Time MarketMaynard’s*

St. Phillips Farmers’ Market every other SundaySprouts and Whole Food Stores

Rincon MarketAlbertson’s on Silverbell

Safeway on BroadwayAnd downtown at our bakery on

411 N. 7th Avenue§

*Bread and Cookies at these locations§Bread, cookies, handpies, cinnamon rolls, granola, horse treats

and more at these locations

Conscious Design For Our Future

[email protected]/AhimsaLandscaping

Permaculture Design · Water HarvestingEdible and Native Landscapes · Greywater


SO

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CE GU

IDE

Queen Plaza, Bisbee. 520.432.6788 BisbeeGrille.com

TAVOLINO Tavolino Ristorante Ital-iano, 2890 E. Skyline Dr. (Plaza Co-lonial) Specializing in simple, el-egant food, Tavolino’s Northern Italian cuisine features: fresh sal-ads, homemade pastas, wood-fired pizzas, succulent rotisserie meats and luscious desserts. Lunch: Mon-Sat 11am-3pm, Dinner: 5:00-10pm (11pm Thu-Sat), Happy Hour Mon-Sat 3-6pm and 9-11 pm 520.531.1913 TavolinoRistorante.com

VERO AMORE Vero Amore’s two lo-cations serve authentic wood-fired Neapolitan pizza, plus a selection of fresh pastas, Italian specialties, pa-nini, salads and delicious desserts. Vegetarian and gluten-free dishes are always available. Catering, full bar, patio dining and private dining facilities available. Open daily at 11 a.m. Plaza Palomino (Swan & Ft. Lowell), 2990 N. Swan Rd., Tucson, 520.325.4122, Dove Mountain, 12130 N. Dove Mountain Blvd., Marana, 520.579.2292 VeroAmorePizza.com

SERVICES

SUN SPROUT DIAPER SERVICE Sun Sprout brings clean cotton di-apers to your door every week and cleans the dirty ones for you. Choose the ecological alterna-tive to disposable diapers. Check

out our free monthly presentations on topics important to babies and moms. 520.351.2370 SunSprout.us TANLINE PRINTING Located in Tuc-son Arizona Tanline is your best source for quality printed goods. We work in vinyl print stickers, shirts, beer koozys, posters, record covers, CD’s, patches, wedding invitations, postcards and much much more! 2610 N. Stone Ave. 520.907.9309 TanlinePrinting.com

BOOKMANS SPORTS We have been buying selling and trading books and music for over 37 years and now we are going to bring that same pas-sion to the world of sports, fitness and the great outdoors, Bookmans style! It will be another place for you to save money on the things that you love. Located at 3330 E. Speedway (East of Country Club). 520.881.7329. Coming to Tucson this June, check out our progress at Bookmans.com

MERCADO SAN AUGUSTIN Tuc-son’s first and only Public Market plays host to several locally-owned shops, eateries and incredible ex-periences. Our beautiful courtyard is home to the award-winning San-ta Cruz River Farmer’s Market and many other special events. Open seven days a week with Farmer’s Market on Thursdays from 4-7 p.m. 100 S. Avenida del Convento, mer-cadosanagustin.com 520.461.1110 MecadoSanAugustin.com

ÓPTIMO HATWORKS We have original designs, both in contem-porary and period fashions, along with cleaning and re-blocking. The Hatworks is museum-like in its layout so the public can view hat-making in the Old World style. Óptimo—the best, the very fin-est. Known the world over. 47 Main St., Bisbee, 520.432.4544 OptimoHatworks.com

POP-CYCLE Pop-Cycle is a gift shop devoted to hand-made items pro-duced from recycled, reclaimed and sustainable materials. The prod-ucts are fun and whimsical, with a little something for everyone. Many items are produced locally, some by the store owners. Treat your-self! 422 N. 4th Ave., 520.622.3297 PopCycleShop.com

VENUES, THEATRES & ENTERTAINMENT

LOFT CINEMA A local nonprofit cin-ema dedicated to creating commu-nity through film, honoring the vision of filmmakers, celebrating ideas and promoting the appreciation and un-derstanding of the art of film. Check out the Loft Cinema Farmers’ Mar-ket on Saturdays from 8am-12pm on the patio. 3233 East Speedway Bou-levard 520.795.7777 LoftCinema.com

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When it comes to health, everyone needs a conceptual filter. In other words, to be-

gin determining whether something is good for us, we all need a way to place it on one of two stacks labeled “unlikely” and “promising.”

For me, that filter has always been evo-lution. If we’re discussing a practice or substance that human beings have never encountered in roughly 200,000 years of Homo sapiens’ development on earth, it’s unlikely that it will promote health, de-spite claims to the contrary. For example, synthetic pharmaceutical drugs begin as “guilty until proven innocent,” because they typically contain novel molecules and compounds with which we have no evo-lutionary experience. This does not mean they are worthless—they simply have a higher evidentiary hurdle to clear to prove their safety.

Similarly, the modern supermarket delivers food to us in a highly unusual way and should also be viewed skepti-cally. Pushing large carts down aisles full of highly processed foods is a very recent method of “hunting and gathering.” Be-cause this food is so unnatural—and un-naturally easy to find, gather and over-eat—our health suffers.

Conversely, what’s wonderful about lo-cally grown food—particularly from one’s own garden—is that it conforms to pat-terns of behavior and nutrition that have nourished human beings for millennia. Specifically:

One must exercise to get it. In fact, the kind of exercise gardening provides —gen-tle, continuous, using all of the major mus-

cle groups—is probably close to optimal for human health. Even a stroll through a farmer’s market in the sunshine and fresh air is healthier than trudging across vinyl flooring under fluorescent lights.

The food produced is unprocessed. No one has ever grown a Twinkie bush or a cheese-puff vine. The lack of processing means the food retains vitamins, miner-als and fiber, all essential for good health. Relatively unprocessed food is also less likely to be over-consumed. It’s far easier to overeat corn chips than corn-on-the-cob.

It’s fresher. Foods in the supermarket’s produce aisle are often shipped halfway across the country, resulting in significant nutrient loss.

It’s pure. Backyard gardeners and most farmers’ market vendors don’t use synthet-ic pesticides or herbicides, many of which have been shown to have damaging health effects.

Finally, there’s an intangible benefit that may be the most important of all. I think there is a certain existential fear that

surrounds the supermarket experience. Deep down, we understand that the store is at the end of a long, complex, energy-intensive and ultimately fragile supply chain. Knowing that the food we need for survival comes to us only through the per-fect functioning of this odd system makes us wonder: Will it always work? What if it stops?

When you pick and eat a strawberry you grew yourself, you are likely to feel something very different: a visceral sense of security, a conviction that one is liter-ally grounded. Planting a seed and eating its fruit mean your survival is supported by biological processes that are millions of years old, rather than economic forces —I am tempted to say fads—that have come and gone many times throughout human history.

I report all of this to you from deep, lifelong experience. I am 70 years old, and have been surprised, and pleased, to discover that at this stage there is almost nothing I would rather do than plant on-ions or dig potatoes. Every life holds its share of disappointment and compromise, but looking back, the time I’ve spent in my various gardens all adds up to one unal-loyed blessing for myself, my friends—I always grow enough for a crowd—and the planet.

Take a break from the manifold distrac-tions of the digital age. Join me, and your ancestors, among the rows. ✜

Andrew Weil, M.D. is the founder and di-rector of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and a partner in True Food Kitchen.

The Manifold Joys of Local FoodRe-thinking our roles as hunters, gatherers and growers

By Andrew Weil, M.D.

last bite

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edible Baja Arizona - June 2013 Inaugural Issue

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