edible Baja Arizona - September-October 2013

Sept/OCT 2013 • Issue No. 2 • GRATIS

baja arizona

Celebrating the foodways of Tucson and the borderlands.

Border Crossers: What They Eat • Where the Frogs Sleep Kids in the Garden & Kitchen • Chiltepin Crush Member of Edible Communities

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Contents September - October 2013

Departments 8

70 Cover and above photo shot on location at the Canelo Project. By Steven Meckler.

Features 36 42 54

Kids Can Cook

12-year-old Haile Thomas is getting kids in the kitchen and health on their minds.

Growing Education and Edibles

With Manzo Elementary leading the way, school gardens are blossoming around Tucson.

Where the Frogs Sleep

The four farmers of Sleeping Frog are among many young people heading back to the land.

64

Carrying Capacity

70

Chiltepin Crush

What sustains a migrant as he or she hikes across the border isn’t just food.

After growing up with these fiery red chiles, Bill Steen reveals how to crush them into tasty submission.

Voices

We asked nine young Tucsonans: What do you want to see changed about food in Baja Arizona?

12

Gleanings

18

In the Business

21

Dish

22

Purveyors

26

Artisans

Spring for noodles in Old Bisbee, a hungry conference, Tucson meets itself (again), new markets and fun field schools

Q&A with Tucson Farmers’ Market Coordinator Manish Shah

What they should never take off the menu

Tucson’s Food Truck Roundup shows its artful side

Guadalupe Baking Company is raising yeast and cultivating fans

30

Fork in the Road

32

Policy

35

What’s in Season

48

Youth

52

Wind down to cooler climes with wine tasting in Sonoita

Bringing Native Back with USDA’s MyPlate

A shopper’s guide to local produce

Planting seeds for the future at Tucson Village Farm Building connections and community with Earth Care Youth Corps in Patagonia

76

Buzz

82

Ink

85

The Urban Homestead

106

Bacon Seeks Bourbon: Following Tucson’s infusions from bar to kitchen

Book Reviews: brews in Arizona and botanists at the bar

Seasonal Guidelines, the Coop Scoop, Mexican Oregano, Planting Abundance, Backyard Homesteader

Late Bite

Howe Gelb goes on a tour de salsa

EdibleBajaArizona.com 5

WE GO IN SEARCH OF THE HOLY CHILTEPIN. . .

grist for the mill

W

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER

e knew we were on to something when more than 1,500 people

gathered on a hot June night at Downtown’s Museum of Contemporary Art to celebrate the launch of Edible Baja Arizona. Maybe it had something to do with the all the great food trucks, the super-cool venue that hosted us (thank you, MOCA and executive director Anne-Marie Russell!), or the smoking hot cumbia cranked out by Vox Urbana. But we got the distinct impression from all the love we received that people were downright excited to have in their hands a new publication dedicated to celebrating the revolution that is happening in our midst.

That revolution is about rebuilding a food system in Baja Arizona that says reliance on importing 95 percent of our food from elsewhere just doesn’t make sense; that re-localizing our food system is a strategic way to create jobs and strengthen the local economy; that the health and vitality of our community is enhanced when we pay attention to where our food comes from; and that celebrating the cultural connections that arise from paying attention to local food and drink directly improves the quality of our lives. This is the work of Edible Baja Arizona.

The love kept coming as we distributed 25,000 copies of the magazine all over Baja Arizona. We felt like a Sonoran version of Santa Claus, dropping stacks hither and yon, from central Tucson to the far edges of Pima County, from Bisbee to Willcox to Tubac and beyond…nearly 300 stops along the way.

Everywhere we went, we were met with smiles and thanks—it was truly gratifying!

And we are amazed by the response from the business community. In this second issue, more than 120 local businesses have supported the mission of Edible Baja Arizona. Please show them your love by patronizing them—they make it all possible!

Many of the stories in this issue are concerned with the optimism and excitement of youth: amazing school and community-based garden programs in Tucson; the astounding work of 12-year-old Haile Thomas to teach kids how to cook and enjoy healthy food; the journey of the founders of Sleeping Frog Farms. But we also delve into the stark reality of migrants crossing the desert: What foods do they carry with them as they brave some of the harshest terrain in the world? And we celebrate the chiltepin, the tiny, punget, glorious source of capsiacin, the wild “mother of all chiles.” And there’s much more….

After living in Tucson for 43 consecutive summers, I like to think I’ve become adept at detecting the slightest nuances of seasonal change—or more likely, it’s merely wishful thinking that the harshness of summer is blessedly coming to an end, the inevitiable result of our solar sojourn. In any event, the arrival of fall is imminent, and that means it’s time to dive back into the garden, get outside whenever you can, and explore Baja Arizona’s amazing local food culture. Take time to marvel at this place we live. See you around the table.

The arrival of fall is imminent, and that means it’s time to dive back into the garden, get outside whenever you can, and explore Baja Arizona’s amazing local food culture.

Take time to marvel at this place we live.

—Douglas Biggers, editor and publisher

6 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

Douglas Biggers ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Jared R. McKinley MANAGING EDITOR

Megan Kimble CHAIR, EDITORIAL BOARD

Gary Paul Nabhan ART DIRECTOR

Serena Tang DESIGN CONSULTANT

Paul Mirocha ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS

Becky Reyes, Stephanie Chace, Kenny Stewart CONTRIBUTORS Lee Allen, Laurel Bellante, Rita Connelly, Kathya Ethington, Howe Gelb, Rafael de Granade, Nick Henry, Brad Lancaster, Allie Leach, Lisa Levine, Dave Mondy, Lisa O’Neill, Craig Reinbold, Bill Steen, Romi Wittman, Ford Burkhart PHOTOGRAPHERS Steven Meckler, Jeff Smith. Bill Steen, fotovitamina[rosanna salonia+matthew yates], Michael Wells, Omer Kreso, Chris Gall (Illustration) WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. 307 South Convent Avenue, Barrio Viejo Tucson, Arizona 85701 520.373.5196 info@edibleBajaArizona.com edibleBajaArizona.com 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 cosponsored and funded by the W.K. Kellogg program in Borderlands Food and Water Security at the University of Arizona.

Jeff Smith Adobe Canyon Arizona 1946-2013

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EdibleBajaArizona.com

7

voices

What do you want to see changed about food in Baja Arizona?

8  SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

Photo by Steven Meckler EdibleBajaArizona.com  9

voices 7 1

9

5

2 3

4 6

In continuation of our Voices series, we asked Tucson youth what they want to change about the food system in Baja Arizona. Look for more voices from the Baja Arizona foodshed in future issues.

1 My family and I own a business. Called La Tuana, it is local and we focus on making

fresh and healthy tortillas. I’m always looking for great tasting food that is also healthy. I don’t think local food is appreciated how it

7 I worked at the Felicia Ann Cutler Farm in

Tucson a couple of summers back. Practicing sustainable growing—using non-GMO seeds and no chemical fertilizer—makes you feel like you’re making a difference. I want organic

should be. I am very interested in teaching

more fresh and locally grown ingredients

food as far as the eye can see. Big corporations

kids my age about healthy eating. I would also

become more readily available, not only to

need to change their unsustainable methods of

love for schools to start giving us food that is

restaurants but also to home cooks. I think

making food. The only way to make a change

actually healthy for us.

that even though many people do have access

is by spreading the word and casting a vote for

—Jonathan Moreno, 15, Desert View High School

to [these ingredients], many aren’t aware of it.

organic food at the supermarket.

To me, increasing awareness is key.

—Reed Lavenski, 18, Sky Islands High School

—Caitlin Gilliland, 16, Catalina Foothills High School

2 Every week my mom and I go to farmers’ markets and pick out fresh fruits and vegetables. I feel like I should eat healthier than I do, but I am more aware [now] of what I

3

8

5

I apprenticed for the Community Food Bank’s

8 I am the owner and founder of Philabaum

Urban Farm. I start native vegetable plants,

Youth Farm Project. Now that I have a little

using seeds from Native SEEDS/Search,

consume. I would like to see less fast food and

more financial independence from working,

and sell the plants at local farmers’ markets. I

more farmers’ markets. I want more people

I’m making an effort to support my commu-

don’t consume refined sugars, or genetically

having gardens, and using different ingredi-

nity through buying and eating locally. As a

modified foods in any form. I try to stay on a

ents, experimenting with different foods. I

culture that doesn’t gather to eat together at

plant-based diet, getting most of my protein

want to see the people rise up and take control

the table, we’ve lost a deeper connection with

from grains and legumes rather than animal

over our food system again.

our food. Going to farmers’ markets and local

proteins. However, I will still devour a pop-

—Justice Mastrianna, 16, Sky Islands High School

restaurants and CSAs, we are reinstating a lost

fried chicken from Lucky Wishbone.

connection with what we put in our bodies.

—Wyatt Philabaum, 18, Sky Islands High School (alum)

—Riley Johnson, 18, Tucson High School (alum)

The number one thing I would like to see is more native plants being grown and consumed. They are an important part of the

6

At home, we have some chickens so we cook

9 I’d love for food to not be sprayed with pes-

ticides and herbicides and for it to be grown

desert and they consume substantially less

with their eggs a lot. We don’t buy much junk

locally so it’s always fresh and doesn’t use so

water. I would also like to see more fast food

food and we rarely ever go out to eat. I notice

much energy and fuel for transportation and

chains incorporate local and organic ingredi-

that when I’m out with people I tend to eat

storage. I’d love for cows not to be fed with

ents in their food. If things like this happened,

worse. I guess that’s just because I don’t pay as

corn because they can’t digest it so it just sits

people would be healthier and our environ-

much attention to what I’m eating. In the food

in their stomachs. Chickens need to be able

ment would be healthier.

system, I want GMO foods to stop being pro-

to roam around instead of being stuffed inside

—Noah Jeppson, 15, Sky Islands High School

duced, because eventually they’ll take over the

a cage.

crops and all the small farmers will be crushed

—Emma Randolph, 17, Sky Islands High School

4 I am currently working at Wilko and The

Abbey as the pastry chef. I would like to see

10 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

out of business.

—Emma Waddell, 15, Sky Islands High School

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F R I D AY S

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EdibleBajaArizona.com

11

At Thuy’s Noodle Shop, you can find an array of Vietnamese food. From left: traditional beef phô, homemade cassava cake, and vegan spring rolls.

Spring for Phô in Old Bisbee Text and photography by Kathya Ethington

Originally from the Mekong Delta

region of Vietnam, Dang Thi Thuy learned to make authentic phô broth after she moved to Arizona with her husband, Tom, using Skype with friends and family in Vietnam for advice. Even though Thuy cooks at home, it wasn’t a dream of hers to open a restaurant. When an opportunity arose to take over a pizzeria that was going out of business, she grabbed it; within two months she was ready for customers.

The Bisbee community has welcomed her with open arms, and for good reason. Thuy focuses on making food that’s healthy, delicious, and as genuine as one might find in Vietnam. She uses only the freshest ingredients available and doesn’t believe in shortcuts.

She even makes her own coconut milk, as she dislikes the flavor of the canned variety.

“Thuy’s food is always delicious and perfectly balanced. Everything she makes is memorable,” says Keenan Reed, a friend and customer.

Phô, the ubiquitous noodle soup dish of Vietnam, is the star of

12 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

the menu. When customers suggested she include a vegan phô, she waited to start offering it until she had perfected the broth. What makes Thuy’s phô distinctive is the addition of rice paddy herb and cilantro garnishes, but you also get the common accompaniments of Thai basil, lime, and bean sprouts. Both the beef and vegan phô have complex flavors and are substantial, so come to Thuy’s with an appetite.

Other items on the menu include summer rolls (non-vegan and vegan), spring rolls, Vietnamese iced coffee, sweet-sour limeade, and made-from-scratch cassava cake for dessert. Thuy also offers one or two weekly specials and hopes to be able to include more of her favorite dishes in the near future.

Thuy has a warm and friendly presence and seeing people enjoy the food she cooks makes her happy. She wants to keep her restaurant small because she appreciates the family oriented feel—she says the support of the community inspires to keep doing her best.

9 Naco Rd., Bisbee, AZ. 520.366.4479. facebook.com/ThuysNoodleShop

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Closing the Hunger Gap

by Rita Connelly

The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona has long

Quality Matters Direct Sourcing from Small Producers Local Business Internationally known

(866) 997-2877

sevencups.com

Sales

Demonstrations

Food

Performances

Wonder Weavers

Join us to celebrate Native basket makers!

Saturday, November 2, 2013 11AM - 3PM Apache O’odham Hopi Navajo and more Free event

had a national reputation for its leadership role in doing what food banks do: tackling hunger. In September, this role takes the form of a national conference which will bring together food banks, community leaders, farmers, and educators from across the nation.

The impetus for the inaugural event came eight months ago when Robert Ojeda, vice president of the CFB’s Community Food Resource Center, wanted to “get a sense of what other food banks were doing out there,” he says. In spite of the diversity of food banks across America, he found there were common issues and questions.

“It’s an opportunity for us to talk about framing a message that allows us to move forward as a national cohort; framing a national strategy to really have critical conversations about the root causes of hunger,” says Ojeda. “And also an opportunity to provide some useful tools for people to take with them around gardening and farming, nutrition and cooking, leadership, the work that’s being done in schools and how food banks can support that.”

More than 60 food banks from across the United States will attend. Food security and food justice are central to the work of these food banks and Ojeda hopes the conference will help “come up with a framework of how we talk about this [issue], how we understand the terms and how we’re putting them into practice.”

On Wednesday evening, the Pima County Food Alliance will hold a screening of A Place at the Table, a documentary about hunger in America. The film will be shown at the Marriott from 7–8:30 p.m. The screening is free and open to the public.

On Thursday night, the closing dinner will be made using food sourced from warehouses in Nogales, some of which would have been thrown away before it had the chance to get to retail stores in Tucson. The Food Bank will expedite this food to the Mercado San Agustin kitchen; Michel Nischan, CEO of the Wholesome Wave Foundation and a professional chef, will be preparing the dishes.

“It’s an opportunity for us... to have critical conversations about the root causes of hunger.”

Free parking

ASM is just inside the UA’s Main Gate at Park Ave. and University Blvd. 1013 E. University Blvd.

statemuseum.arizona.edu 14 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

Closing the Hunger Gap: Inaugural Conference. Sept. 18–20. Tucson Marriott University Park. 880 E. Second St., Tucson, AZ. thehungergap.org.

PHOTO BY JAY RITCHEY

P I Z Z A / PA S TA / G R E E N S / S A N D W I C H E S / W I N E / B E E R / C O C K TA I L S

Co-owner Scott Safford mans the taps at the opening of Tap & Bottle.

Tap & Bottle Cracks Open From the outside , Tap & Bottle has the look of a neighborhood tavern, not unlike the kind you’d find on a corner in a Midwestern city. Inside, it’s all industrial chic with exposed brick, lots of repurposed wood, and noticeably no TVs. This seems to encourage customers to chat about the beer they’re drinking with people sitting near them. Right neighborly, in a most modern way.

Rebecca and Scott Safford opened Tap & Bottle in mid-summer of 2013. They’ve met with astounding success thanks in part to the convivial vibe and, of course, plenty of great beer. Customers can choose from 20 craft beers and six to eight wines on tap. Bottled beers number around 400. Local brews include items from Dragoon, Thunder Canyon, Ten 55, Barrio, and Borderlands breweries, though the selection changes daily. No food is served, but many nights a local food truck is parked nearby.

“It’s a real mom and pop shop,” Rebecca says. Indeed, Tap & Bottle was built with the help of friends and family, local craftspeople, and several local breweries. Dragoon Brewery helped set up the tap system and the two businesses order growlers together to help with the shipping costs. “It’s a labor of local love,” Rebecca says.

“We’re not doing any mass market beers,” says Rebecca. “We have a lot of beers we’re familiar with and that we know and love.”

She adds, “If you’re new to beer drinking or someone who’s super, super nerdy about it, we want to be a place where you can try something new.”

403 N. Sixth Ave., Suite 135. TheTapAndBottle.com.

—R.C.

LUNCH DINNER BEER GARDEN

HAPPY HOUR (coming soon)

101 E. PENNINGTON STREET 5 2 0 . 8 8 2 . 5 5 5 0 • R E I L LY P I Z Z A . C O M

EdibleBajaArizona.com

15

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Borderlands Heritage Foods Field School Looking for hand-on lessons in traditional methods of

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1890 E. River Road, Tucson, AZ 85718 Bus. (520) 577-7400 Cell (520) 349-0174 Toll free # 800-328-1575 email: jbr@dakotacom.net

harvesting, cooking, and preserving the abundance of foods found in the Baja Arizona foodshed? Look no farther than the Borderlands Heritage Foods Field School, where you can travel to sites where these methods are practiced and work alongside farmers, growers, gleaners, and gatherers.

The field school is the brainchild of J.P. Jones, the Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Arizona. “We want to reinforce the land grant mission of the University,� says Rafael de Grenade, a post-doctoral research assistant who is working on the project with Jones. “We want to make sure that the resources of the university are brought to the people of the surrounding region so that they are able to feed themselves.� Lydia Breunig, Director of Community Outreach and Special Projects at the college, is also a part of the project, as are several non-profits.

De Grenade adds, “[We’re] bringing together the science, the technology, the innovation, the human capital, the human capacity; connecting people with farmers and ranchers.� The field school is about making connections between traditional practices and modern living.

Monthly classes will include field trips to the Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace Mission Garden, the Tumacacori Mission orchard, Sonoita Vineyards, as well as other regional farms and gardens.

Participants will learn about food unique to the area including White Sonora wheat, mission grapes, Pima lima beans and tepary beans, mission figs, and other fruits and vegetables, as well as field research methods such as mapping, interviewing, photography, and ethnography.

Class size is limited. Contact rdegranade@email.arizona.edu. —R.C.

PHOTO BY SERENA TANG

16 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

Tucson Meets Itself 3719 E Speedway Tues - Sat 11am-9pm Sunday 10am-9 pm

What started out some 40 years ago as a simple way to celebrate the diversity of Tucson has blossomed into one of the city’s most popular festivals, one that attracts more than 120,000 people annually. Known as the best place to experience the rich cultural heritage of The Old Pueblo—the tagline is, “Come for the Food, Stay for the Culture”—this year, Tucson Meet Yourself will spread onto Pennington Street between Stone Avenue and Church Street, transforming the area into a haven of American festival foods (bbq, popcorn, hot dogs). All the other foodie favorites will also be at the festival, of course. TMY wouldn’t be TMY without The Heritage Food/Cultural Kitchen and the Heritage Food Marketplace that highlights “local cooks, farmers and gleaners.”

Dancers and musicians, entertainment and education, workshops and photo exhibits, storytelling, and low riders are always a part of TMY, and visitors this year will not be disappointed. But one of the biggest changes in 2013 is the adoption of a Minimal Waste Plan; the goal is to “divest 50 percent of festival waste from the landfill,” says Maribel Alvarez, TMY’s Program Director. One small part of the plan is to ban all Styrofoam products.

Feast offers a monthly-changing menu, full catering services, and Sunday brunch. And our new bottle shop is coming this fall. See details and our current menu at EatAtFeast.com

Tucson Meet Yourself is Oct. 11, 12 and 13 at downtown’s El Presidio Park and other nearby venues. Admission is free. TucsonMeetYourself.org —R.C.

A New Nogales Mercado

3000 E BROADWAY / 325 9988 / FALORA.COM

Nogales now has its own farmers’ market. Find the Nogales Mercado every Friday from 4–7 p.m. on Morley Avenue across the street from the former courthouse. With a focus on local food system development, the grant-funded market is a cooperative effort between Mariposa Community Health Center (MCHC), Nogales Community Development, and several other partners.

Matthew Fornoff, Food System Coordinator at MCHC and Santos Yescas, Program Manager at the Nogales Community Development, spent months planning the market, seeking input from people in the community, vendors, and potential customers. “We really want to cater to the people. I feel that Nogales is different so it has to be more than a fun thing on a weekend,” says Fornoff.

Healthy food demonstrations are a regular feature.

While the emphasis is currently on Nogales, Arizona, there is hope that people from across the border in Sonora will soon be a part of the market, “You can’t put a political boundary on a foodshed,” says Fornoff. “We’re designing it in what we hope that the population of Nogales, Sonora, will see something familiar.”

proud to be partnered with blue bottle coffee

245 e congress / 623 4477 sparkroot.com

163 N. Morley Ave., Nogales, Az. Friday 4 p.m.–7 p.m. 520.397.9219. facebook.com/NogalesMercado.

—R.C. EdibleBajaArizona.com

17

in the business

Fruits of Labor Heirloom Farmers’ Market Manager Manish Shah talks finance, flavor, and figs Interview by Lisa Levine

You run the Heirloom Farmers’ Markets. How did Heirloom start?

You take the name from “farmers,” the growers of food. Is that definition changing?

My involvement began about 20 years ago. St. Philip’s Plaza happened to have a farmers’ market on Fridays. Out of college, I was hired to be the marketing coordinator for the plaza’s merchants’ association. Running the farmers’ market was part of my job. I got that year of experience working with the farmers’ market and working at the property. Later, I moved from marketing to wanting to produce a product. I developed a chai, and after that more teas, and subsequently I became the Maya Tea Company. In order to get my product out there, I became a vendor at the farmers’ markets.

That’s how I got my start: at a little four-foot table, sampling chai.

There’s two very different ways of looking at that. The core of the farmers’ market is the locally grown and produced goods. So that includes the fruits and vegetables. Then you have the cheese, the eggs, the chicken, the pork, and the beef and lamb. To that you can add what would be locally made. Breads, honey, tortillas, because [they’re] being made by somebody local. The wheat may not come from here. Some of it does, but not all of it; you can still get White Sonora wheat. The breads and the tortillas are not purely local, because some of the ingredients are coming from elsewhere, but they’re assembled here. Same thing can be said for salsa.

Certain components of that are local, some are not. What is local, PHOTO BY STEVEN MECKLER

Manish Shah keeps an eye on the bustling St. Phillip’s Farmers’ Market.

18 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

and where does it truly come from? As long as it feels right in the wheelhouse, that you feel you connected with someone who knows that product intimately, how it was made and where it was made, I think we can live with that.

UA Food Day Fair Free food Food demonstrations

What does it take to grow produce and get it to market?

Most of the businesses, especially on the agricultural side, the fruits and the vegetables and things that are growing, are working very hard. I don’t want to say that they’re just surviving, because that’s not honorable. They’re doing more than surviving. They’re thriving in their own way if you include the notion of thriving as doing something you love to do. But if you extended it to building an empire of some sort, I don’t think so. I think they’re doing something really healthy.

healthy + sustainable + affordable + fair

uafoodday.com

Wednesday, October 24th • 10-2pm • UA Mall Sponsored by the University of Arizona Well University Partnership and Office of Sustainability

Is there a relationship between supermarket and farmers’ market pricing?

The prices at the farmers’ market are generally higher. My feeling is, sell it at a price that is prosperous. If the pricing was so skewed to try to compete and make food cheaper than the supermarket, it’s going to be the end of that farm. What they do, and how they do it, is expensive. There’s a different business model here: I’m going to eat really good food. I’m going to take care of my local economy.

I’m going to take care of my small farm. I’m going to take better care of myself by eating more nutritiously.

How is a farmers’ market relevant to a home gardener?

Well, we can certainly help them get seeds. We can help them get more knowledge about growing, and if they have excess, they can sell it at the farmers’ market. There are small growers who come out, and we make some arrangement. They don’t pay what a huge stand would pay. This weekend, there were some figs. Here’s this backyard grower who’s got a bunch of figs and doesn’t want to set up a stand. He sells it to another vendor, who will sell it for him.

He gets a cut, they get a cut, everybody’s happy, and these amazing figs showed up at my farmers’ market.

Are there products you see as a priority for sustaining the farmers’ market?

The vegetables and the fruits; they are really important, but I also would say to take some of those things, and make other things, that’s the local flavor. The flavor is in the tortillas. It’s in the salsa.

It’s in the tamales. Those are obviously indigenous, but it’s in the baked goods; knowing your local baker. It’s in the cheese. It’s in the coffee. It’s the ability to go to a place, and fill up your pantry and your fridge with more than just fruits and vegetables, to fill it up with the flavor of your community. ✜ heirloomfm.com. 4280 N. Campbell Ave. Summer hours 8 a.m.– 12 p.m.; winter hours 9 a.m.–1 p.m.

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THE DISH

That one thing they should never take off the menu Photography by Omer Kreso

Clockwise, from top left:

Lily’s Laotian Chicken & Pounded Papaya Salad

Mac & Cheese

Ceviche

Veggie Tempura Bento Box

Feast

Mariscos Chihuahua

Yoshimatsu

Downtown Kitchen

Topped with bread crumbs, this classic comes spiked with ground mustard making it a mac & cheese that bites back.

Feast menu items change with the season; ask for your favorites.

There’s nothing that says south of the border like fresh ceviche; served with just-right chips, a bowl of this freshly seasoned ceviche might send you packing for the sea. Medium bowl, $8.95

Putting a different spin on the idea of a lunch box, this bento box comes packed with veggie tempura, house-pickled cabbage, salad, curried potato, seaweed salad, nyu-men noodles, edamame, and tempura sauce. $10.95

This simple but elegant salad comes stacked with fresh herbs, lime, and mango; the green beans, carrots, tomatoes, serrano chiles, fish sauce, and peanuts add heft to the fresh flavors. $7

EdibleBajaArizona.com

21

purveyors

As Tucson’s Food Truck Roundup thrives, mobile eateries pull in profit to support a nonprofit

PHOTO BY FOTOVITAMINA

Trucks on Exhibit

By Laurel Bellante

W

hat do food trucks and art have in common?

In Tucson, as it turns out, quite a lot.

Although art may not be the first word that comes to mind when you come across the Tucson Food Truck Roundup, David Aguirre, director of the roundups, says that the whole event emerged out of a love of art. It all started when the grant funding for the nonprofit Dinnerware Art Space, which promotes contemporary visual arts in southern Arizona, ran dry. Inspired by the food truck roundups sweeping across the nation and determined to keep the art space alive, Aguirre devised a new plan: Organize food truck roundups at places and events that promise to draw a crowd and ask for a percentage of each food truck’s profits to keep Dinnerware’s doors open.

The rules of participation are simple: Any truck in the roundup must be locally owned, noncorporate, and must agree to donate a percentage of its profits (calculated based on an honor system) to the Dinnerware Art Space. In exchange, Aguirre scopes out potential roundup sites, generates buzz on Facebook for each event, and navigates the sometimes delicate relationships with venue owners, other nearby food businesses, and neighbors. As one roundup-goer said, “It’s like a rolling food court in the neighborhood.” Another seasoned attendee said, “I tend to follow the food truck round-ups wherever I know they are going to be. It makes for a more entertaining dining experience with so much variety and the freedom to select whatever you want to eat.”

With nearly 16,000 Facebook fans and new roundup events popping up each week, Aguirre’s plan has generated a veritable food truck revolution in Tucson. Pima County is currently tied with Los Angeles for the number of mobile food businesses per 22 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

capita, with roughly one vehicle for every 1,000 residents. And although “dogero” push carts and mobile food vendors have long been a part of Pima County’s foodscape, serving cheap fast food to blue- and white-collar workers alike, the roundups have taken Tucson’s food truck culture to a whole other level. As Aguirre testifies, there is something special about taking a dismal place such as the lackluster parking lot at the corner of Stone and Toole Avenues downtown, transforming it into somewhere people want to be, and then just hours later, like magic, letting it disappear once more, returning the parking lot back to its dusty solitude.

Think food trucks are for just hot dogs or tacos? The 20-some mobile food vendors that gather at the roundups offer menus as varied as the colorful trucks themselves. Mafooco offers Mexican Asian fare (famous for their kimchee quesadillas); Hellfire Pizza Co. spins “punk rock pizza”; Seis Curbside Kitchen draws inspiration from each of Mexico’s six culinary regions; Twisted Tandoor sells Indian cuisine with a twist; Kadooks presents Costa Rican fusion; Pin-up Pastries pleases the sweet tooth with homemade whoopie pies. Most of the food trucks are family businesses, run by husband-wife teams, father and sons, or mother and daughters.

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At Chef’s Kitchen and Catering, Ivor Cryderman serves up a Lobster PoBoy with a smile. Cryderman works alongside his father, Chris, to help run the food truck.

One chef took up the mobile food business after the 2008 economic crisis left him without a job. He now runs his truck with the help of his father and says, “I don’t mind the competition with the other trucks. I designed my menu to be different and besides, the round-up brings more customers to my window.” Indeed, this rolling business is thriving: In just a few hours at a Himmel Park roundup on Sunday, his truck sold over 400 tacos and an untold number of sandwiches.

While food trucks in general offer an attractive way to become food entrepreneurs without the overhead or employees of a landlocked restaurant, the roundups are a critical boon to these independent mobile chefs. Although the work is not easy, the mobile kitchens allow owners to craft their menus as they please, attend the events they choose, and take the time to greet and converse with their customers. Still, it is a “feast or famine” business, one that requires making calculated bets on how much food to prepare and when to show up. While some vendors stay afloat through the

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David Aguirre, director of the Tucson Food Truck Roundup, was a part of Tucson’s art scene for years before he had the idea to sell food to benefit art.

roundups alone, others rely on at least one family member with a day job to maintain a basic lifeline of insurance and income.

Beyond just offering a huge variety of sweet and savory dishes, the food truck roundups have proven to be a useful conduit for generating positive changes that ripple throughout the community.

Earlier this year, for example, the Humane Society hosted a Food Truck Roundup as part of an effort to place 72 cats in new homes.

Within three hours, all of the cats had been adopted, plenty of food sold, and they were able to cancel the second day of the event.

While many of the mobile chefs may source their ingredients at transnational superstores and the events generate their fair share of trash, Aguirre is determined to continue expanding the innovative and “green” aspects of the roundups. This fall, for example, in collaboration with the Community Gardens of Tucson, they will hold their first “Neighborhood Chef” event in which the food truck chefs will prepare meals using items directly from the community gardens, making the total distance between the farm and table all of 50 feet.

In a sense, the roundups function as a new kind of “alternative food network” in Tucson, generating a critical mass of consumers and providing a network of mutual support that allows for a very different kind of eating experience, one that is eclectic, casual, and socially dynamic.

Almost two years after the first event, business is booming for the Tucson Food Truck Roundup, so much so, says Aguirre, that “the question is no longer ‘How is Dinnerware going to pay the rent?’ but rather ‘How am I going to find the time to put on another exhibit?’”

For more information, visit TucsonFoodTruckRoundup.com or follow the roundup at Facebook.com/TucsonFoodTruckRoundup. ✜ Laurel Bellante is a Ph.D. student in geography at the UA where she studies the foodways and agrarian changes across the U.S.-Mexico border.

24 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

EdibleBajaArizona.com  25

artisans

In Guad We Trust At Bisbee’s Guadalupe Baking Company, Juliette Beaumont is raising yeast and cultivating fans

By Romi Carrell Wittman | Photography by Steven Meckler

T

he morning air is still cool as I step out onto How-

ell Street. The sun is up, but it hasn’t crested Bisbee’s ‘“B” Mountain yet, so the picturesque town is cast in shadows. When I climb the steps to the historic YWCA’s small commercial kitchen, it’s 5:30 a.m. and Juliette Beaumont is already shaping the first of a dozen loaves of artisanal sourdough bread she will bake that morning and sell at the Bisbee Farmers’ Market.

Wearing colorful Day of the Dead-inspired chef’s wear, the owner of Guadalupe Baking Company greets me with a smile and offers me coffee, which I gratefully accept. Then she returns to her bread. That glorious bread.

Beaumont makes many varieties of loaves, but they all start with the same dough created from the same “special starter,” which she refers to as her fourth child. “It needs to be fed and cared for just like a baby,” she says of the culture, which is home to the wild yeast that makes her bread rise. “You have to feed it regularly by adding more flour and water. It’s eating and farting—letting out gas—and growing. It’s a colony of living micro-organisms, and if you don’t feed it, it will die.

The by-product of these micro-organisms is what causes the dough to rise. The yeast is alive until the tail end of the baking cycle.”

Each new batch of sourdough contains a portion of the last batch, ensuring continuity in the bread’s flavor and texture. “I started this culture about 20 years ago,” she adds.

“So it’s pretty young as far as starters go. I’ve heard of some that are more than 200 years old.”

Beaumont uses a cold ferment process. Using her

“Bread is like ceramics. They say you have to throw 1,000 pots before you’re any good at it. Well, you have to bake 1,000 loaves before you have any real control over it.”

26 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

starter dough, she makes a fresh batch, rolls it in a ball, and then refrigerates it for two days. This results in a long, slow, cold rise, which “gives it more flavor,” she says. “I don’t have to add eggs, dairy, conditioners, or other ingredients to give it flavor.” The dough is made with only high-quality, unbromated, unbleached flours, filtered water, and sea salt.

Given the long fermentation of her bread—compared to the four or five hours given to commercially prepared breads—she says that even people with gluten issues find they can eat her bread with no ill after-effects. “This bread is naturally leavened,” she explains.

“Commercially yeasted bread is meant to save time, not to make better bread, and they’re much harder for the body to break down.”

She makes a variety of loaves: jalapeño and Mexican cheese focaccia, seed and nut focaccia, baguettes—plain and stuffed (the fig jam baguette is to die for)—boules, batards, sandwich and braided loaves, and plans to add New York-style bagels and pizza dough to her product line. Beaumont says that all of her breads are made from the same dough. The different names—boule, baguette, focaccia—simply denote the shape of the bread.

“The shape determines the crumb structure,” she says. “And crumb structure determines what the bread can be used for.” For example, a boule, with its tighter crumb structure, makes for a good sandwich bread because it can hold in the sandwich’s “guts.”

Since starting Guadalupe Baking Co. in 2010, Juliette’s bread has earned an ardent following. Without a retail storefront, Juliette sells her bread at the High Desert Market in Bisbee and at the Sierra Vista Food Co-op, as well as at both the Bisbee and Sierra Vista Farmers’ Markets, where she regularly sells out in just a couple of hours.

Juliette’s life as a baker started many years before she started her business. “It’s like that Steve Jobs commencement speech,” she says, “where you look back and connect the dots.”

After moving back and forth between Arizona and California, where she’s from, a record-setting 122-degree Phoenix day sent her south. After camping in the Dragoon Mountains with her parents, a chance visit to Bisbee in 1994 changed everything. “About 45 minutes after driving into town, I rented a house,” she says, laughing.

In the heart of Old Bisbee, Juliette Beaumont shows off the array of loaves she bakes, all of which begin with the same wild yeast sourdough starter.

She continued her work as a visual artist and also got into selling antiques and collectibles, something that she could do with her young children in tow. She began making bread for her young family only after it became almost impossible to find good quality bread in the supermarket. “My sister gave me a cookbook that had a chapter about how to create a starter. The bread was delicious and the children loved it. I occasionally baked extra for school bake sales and various fund-raisers,” she says.

Five years ago while bartending at St. Elmo’s, an iconic saloon in the heart of Brewery Gulch in Old Bisbee, she met a couple who were opening a pizza shop. When she found out they didn’t

yet have a dough recipe, she agreed to help them out. She traveled all over the region to learn everything she could about pizza dough and how to cook it in a wood-fired oven. She spent hours testing hundreds of recipes. When the shop opened, the pizza was a big hit. The only problem: Juliette realized that making nothing but pizza balls was boring. When she started offering her loaves of bread on the restaurant’s menu, customers went crazy for it. When people began asking to purchase extra loaves to take with them, she knew she was on to something. After only a few months, she quit the pizza business and opened Guadalupe Baking Co. “Everything just kind of fell into place,” she says. The kitchen EdibleBajaArizona.com 27

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28 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

In Juliette’s baking “studio,” a small shrine keeps watch over her magic loaves.

at the YWCA became available and Juliette was able to find inexpensive used equipment at thrift shops and sales. “I was worried because my savings were dwindling, but it really took off.”

She estimates she spends about 40 hours a week making bread, baking on some days and making dough on others. “I like working alone,” she says. “Bread is something I can do by myself.” Bread is also something that requires the creativity and talent of an artist, she says. “Bread is like ceramics. They say you have to throw 1,000 pots before you’re any good at it. Well, you have to bake 1,000 loaves before you have any real control over it—especially naturally leavened bread, which operates on its own time schedule.”

With the help of her two sisters, Juliette is working on a bread cookbook, and hopes to begin selling her starter soon, too. She also bakes specialty cakes from time to time.

For more information, visit GuadalupeBakingCompany.com. ✜ Tucson native Romi Carrell Wittman is a marketing and communications director by profession and a freelance writer for fun.

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29

fork in the road

Wind Down in Wine Country Baja Arizona’s Vineyards and Vinters Are Thriving

by Jared R. McKinley

I

t’s only an hour out of town, but Baja Arizona’s wine country feels like another world. Drive southeast out Tucson and watch as the saguaro, creosote bush, and palo verde-dominated landscape becomes mesquite forest, scenic rolling grasslands, and scrub oak woodland. Especially in the warm season, the cooler temperatures are a refreshing break from the low desert.

Arizona wine has recently been the recipient of some overdue industry attention, winning awards in international competitions and getting mention in national wine magazines like Wine Spectator. As winemakers hone innovative practices and the growers sleuth out varieties best suited for our arid region, the finished product is becoming finer and more distinct.

A trip to Sonoita/Elgin makes a great weekend getaway, allowing you to taste a good percentage of Arizona wine over two days. Bring friends and if you want to have a fine time along with

30 sEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

your wine, try hiring Sonoita Limo to drive you around (520.954.5314; SonoitaLimo.com).

It’s surprisingly inexpensive, especially if you are sharing the cost with others. Most wineries close around 6 p.m., so head over to Xanadu Ranch, nestle into a hammock, and watch the sunset over the serene Sonoita hills (92 South Los Encinos Rd.; 520.455.0050 XanaduRanchGetAway.com). Rooms have kitchens; the shared back patio has a koi pond and a grill.

Most wineries have their tasting rooms located right on the estates. You can sip wine, wander out back, and meander among the grape vines.

No need to be intimidated; Arizona winemakers are friendly, full of character, and interested in chatting with beginners and experts alike.

For some fine dining to accompany your wine, stop in for a meal at Overland Trout, the newest venture of acclaimed chef Greg LaPrad (3266 Highway 82; 520.455.9316). LePrad closed his famed restaurant Quiessence, a farm-to-table restaurant at

Illustration by Danny Martin

Featured Wineries

the Farm at South Mountain in Phoenix, in May after an eight year run. Opening in September and featuring fresh, artful, locally sourced cuisine, Overland Trout is sure to draw dinners all the way from Tucson.

If you want to come back down to earth after sipping so much wine, there are several fun bars teeming with local personality and true grit. Check out Tia Nita’s Cantina in Sonoita proper, walking distance from Xanadu Ranch, or the Wagon Wheel Cantina in the village of Patagonia, which has karaoke on Saturdays. (3119 Arizona 83, 520.455.0500; 400 Naugle Avenue, 520.394.2433) Fall is harvest time. If you haven’t scheduled a ramble in Baja Arizona’s wine country yet, now is the time to do it. Talk to the growers and winemakers who produce in this beautiful region; taste and swirl and learn; and head home with a bottle of two or wine you can be confident you’ll enjoy. ✜ Jared R. McKinley is the associate publisher of Edible Baja Arizona.

1. Charron Vineyards: Tasting room, winery and vineyard.

18585 South Sonoita Highway, Vail, 520.762.8585. CharronVineyards.com 2. Dos Cabezas Winery: Tasting room and winery. 3248 Highway 82, Sonoita, 520.455.5141. DosCabezasWinery.com 3. Arizona Hops & Vines: Tasting room, winery and vineyard (also grows hops and will soon be brewing beer). 3450 Highway 82, Sonoita, 888.569.1642. AZHopsAndVines.com 4. Wilhelm Family Vineyards: Tasting room, winery and vineyard. 21 Mountain Ranch Drive, Sonoita, 520.455.9291. WilhelmVineyards.com 5. Rancho Rossa Vineyards: Tasting room, winery and vineyard.

201 Cattle Ranch Ln., Elgin, 520.455.0700. RanchoRossa.com 6. Callaghan Vineyards: Tasting room, winery and vineyard.

336 Elgin Rd., Elgin, 520.455.5322. CallaghanVineyards.com 7. Flying Leap: Tasting room, winery and vineyard.

342 Elgin Rd., Elgin, 520.455.5499. FlyingLeapVineyards.com 8. Kief-Joshua: Tasting room, winery and vineyard.

370 Elgin Rd., Elgin, 520.455.5582. KJ-Vineyards.com 9. Lightning Ridge Cellars: Tasting room, winery and vineyard.

2368 Hwy 83, Elgin, 520.455.5383. LightningRidgeCellars.com 10. Sonoita Vineyards: Tasting room, winery and vineyard.

290 Elgin Canelo Rd, Elgin, 520.455.5893.

SonoitaVineyards.com 11. Village of Elgin Winery: Tasting room and winery.

471 Elgin Rd, Elgin, 520.455.9309. ElginWines.com 12. Hannah’s Hill Vineyard: No tasting room yet.

3989 State Hwy 82, Elgin, 520.456.9000. HannahsHill.com 13. Silver Strike Winery (Tombstone): Tasting room and winery. A little off the track but worth a visit. 334 E Allen St., Tombstone, 520.678.8200. SilverStrikewinery.com

EdibleBajaArizona.com

31

POLICY

Bringing Native Back USDA: I’ll show you MyPlate if you show me yours

O

Text and photography by Nick Henry

ver the course of the past year, a group of dedicated Tucsonans has been hard at work in the kitchen—cooking, sampling, adjusting, and then cooking some more.

This cooking has not been for fun, sustenance, or the next potluck dinner. It’s had a larger purpose: to bring the USDA’s MyPlate to life.

MyPlate is a nutritional guide in graphical form, released by the USDA in 2011 to replace the Food Pyramid. Instead of food blocks stacked into triangular form, MyPlate takes a different approach, giving a bird’s eye view of a colorful plate with appropriately sized sections for each food category. The graphic is accompanied by entreaties such as, “Make half your plate fruits and veggies,” and, “Make at least half your grains whole.” It’s a clever and intuitive tool. But how well does it work in practice?

A group of us at the Pima County Food Alliance (PCFA) decided to find out. Given our mission to support the local food system and create positive change in the area of food education and policy, we decided to add a twist: Everything we cooked had to be in season and have a distinctly native flavor.

We took a year to complete the Native MyPlate Project, cooking one plate for each of the four seasons. The dishes are made primarily with ingredients that are either native to Baja Arizona or considered to be “heritage,” meaning they came over during the time of Father

Kino and found their way into our traditional foodways. During the summer we featured yellow Tohono O’odham watermelon and quesadillas made with whole wheat and mesquite flour tortillas, grilled zucchini, and queso menonita—cheese from the Mennonite colonies in Northern Chihuahua, Mexico.

At the very least, we expect the food will make mouths water, but we also hope to inspire. What can you harvest out of your desert garden to throw into a balanced meal tonight? Can you cook a meal for your classroom made entirely with native foods? What does your Native MyPlate look like? Take a step towards self-sufficiency and reconnect with the past, giving a friendly “Hello!” to all of our ancestors who pulled food from this land in a more gentle way.

At the same time, the Native MyPlate project says something about the food system today. The first clue can be found in the fact that a food component is missing in a few of our plates: dairy. This is not an oversight on our part, but rather, a question for the USDA, one that we share with many: If protein is already on the plate, why must there also be dairy?

According to the USDA, it’s to provide a source of calcium. However, calcium can be obtained from many other sources. Kale and beans, for example, provide calcium without the elevated levels of saturated fat that accompany many dairy products. According to the

FALL Counterclockwise, from top: Squash, nopales, cilantro, honey, amaranth grains, feta cheese, pecans, white beans, corn, apple, cantaloupe, cinnamon, white onion, garlic.

And the finished product!

Amaranth pilaf with prickly pear, honey roasted squash with apples and pecans, melon and nopalito salad, southwestern succotash.

32 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

WINTER Counterclockwise, from top: Fennel, mallow, mustard greens, grapefruit, kale, orange, saguaro seeds, hominy, garlic, jalapeño, anasazi beans, lime, onion, pumpkin, red onion

And the finished product!

Counterclockwise from right: Three sisters pozole, cilantro pesto (soup topping), fennel and citrus salad with wild mustard greens and saguaro seed dressing

SPRING Counterclockwise from top: White tepary beans, dried corn masa, nopales, apricots, I’itoi onions (pictured: green onions), chile, cholla buds

And the finished product!

Chile and nopale gordidas, tepary bean stew with chile and onions, cholla bud salad with apricot

EdibleBajaArizona.com 33

Harvard School of Public Health, high dairy intake has also been linked to increased rates of prostate and possibly ovarian cancers.

On its website, the USDA specifies that low-fat options are best and excludes dairy products that don’t retain their calcium, such as butter. This is a long way from the USDA’s “Basic 7” guide from 1943, which included butter as a food group. But it still begs the question: Who does the USDA serve, U.S. consumers or agricultural interests?

Suspicions about the USDA’s loyalties have been voiced, perhaps most fiercely, in the context of school food. During the Great Depression, when the USDA’s involvement with school meals began, the farm agenda was clear. Its role at the time was to support farmers by dealing with surpluses threatening to depress food prices. At times, much to the chagrin of a starving American public, this sometimes involved destroying food. Why not feed it to the needy, specifically starving school children? When, in 1935, the government butchered, liquefied, and dumped into rivers millions of immature hogs, the public relations disaster that ensued left them little choice. Shortly thereafter, the USDA began buying and distributing surpluses to school cafeterias and in 1946 the National School Lunch Act was signed into law.

Despite the inauspicious beginning, the USDA’s National School Lunch Program has become a significant force in the battle against childhood hunger. In 2011, the program helped feed 31 million children at little or no cost to them. For many, it’s the only reliable source of food they receive all day.

And yet, childhood food insecurity remains a serious problem in this country. In Arizona, our community suffers from the highest rate in the country: 29 percent of our children did not know where their next meal would come from at some point during 2010. Equally

SUMMER Counterclockwise from top: Tomato, onion, purslane, squash, Tohono O’odham yellow watermelon, prickly pear, pomegranate, Mennonite cheese, white tepary beans, mesquite bean pods, whole grain tortilla, water 34 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

problematic and paradoxical, the national childhood obesity rate has tripled over the last 30 years.

These devastating statistics highlight the USDA’s divided loyalties: With the one hand, the agency has helped feed a generation of kids chips and soda by supporting the overproduction of cheap corn, while with the other, the USDA is providing hungry children with ever healthier options, like the whole grains and lean meats now offered to schools and promoted through MyPlate. Notwithstanding the USDA’s efforts, there is an even greater challenge that needs to be acknowledged: the economic hardship that trickles down to our children each day. Sadly, our families and school cafeterias remain desperately poor. That makes cooking from scratch increasingly rare, and healthy, delicious and culturally appropriate foods hard to find.

We see our Native MyPlate dishes as a call to action to fix this broken system from within, an attempt to use the system’s own tools to highlight the difference between the delicious and the deficient.

No matter your age or political stripe, once you’ve tasted this food, you will want more, and you will demand it for yourself and those you care about.

At the same time, these dishes represent a way to bypass the system, for they depend primarily on ingredients outside the conventional food industry. If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like to live more off the land, our land, this is it. There is a bounty awaiting you in the desert, hoping to find its way onto your plate.

In either case, the Native MyPlate is an entrée to change. Delicious, healthy change.

For more information on recipes, visit PimaFoodAlliance.org. ✜ Nick Henry is the Farm-to-Child Program Coordinator at the Community Food Bank and is a founding member of the Pima County Food Alliance.

And the finished product!

Counterclockwise from top: Mesquite flour tortilla quesadillas with grilled squash, white tepary bean dip garnished with tomatoes, Tohono O’odham yellow watermelon, purslane salad with pomegranate, prickly pear tea

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2

3

What’s in Season 1. GREEN ONION 2. PARSLEY 3. WINTER SQUASH 4. MINT 5. PRICKLY PEAR FRUIT 6. SNOW PEA 7. PUMPKIN 8. ACORN 9. APPLE 10. NOPALE 11. EGGPLANT To find out where you can buy seasonal produce, visit EdibleBajaArizona.com for a complete listing of CSA programs and farmers’ markets.

35 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

PROFILE

Kids Can Cook

36 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

Photos courtesy of Timothy Lundin (Above) Haile introduces Michelle Obama at the Kids' State Dinner and meets President Barack Obama when he makes a surprise appearance. (Left) Haile holds her own in the kitchen at Acacia Restaurant, where she helped create a healthy kids menu.

12-year-old Haile Thomas is getting kids in the kitchen and health on their minds

By Megan Kimble | Photography by Steven Meckler

S

tanding 10 feet

from Michelle Obama, the White House seal pegged to a podium between them, Haile Thomas seemed nervous. But she’d been to the Kids’ State Dinner before—last year, when she won Michelle Obama’s Healthy Lunchtime Challenge for her Quinoa, Black Bean, and Corn Salad recipe.

This June, Haile traveled from Tucson to Washington, D.C., not to accept an award, but to introduce the First Lady to an audience that included Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Epicurious editorin-chief Tanya Steel and, later, President Barack Obama.

“I have had the opportunity to spend a little bit of time with this young lady,” Michelle Obama said, thanking Haile for her introduction—one she pulled off without a flaw. “Every time I am with her, she is that poised, that gracious, that bright, that inspiring. Haile is an example for all of you, what your little powerful voices can do to change the world.”

And how. Haile is a youth advisory board member with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a junior chef consultant and youth spokesperson for Hyatt Hotels’ “For Kids By Kids” menu, the co-founder of her own HAPPY organization, which offers kids’ cooking classes, nutrition education, and physical activities—and she’s 12 years old.

make the staples she’d grown up eating—ox tail, curried goat, jerk chicken, foods that Haile still declares her favorites, both to cook and eat. Haile grew up watching her mom cook—and watching the Food Network, which was “always on,” says Charmaine—and, at some point, she started asking if she could help mix, stir, or chop.

“Many adults don’t see the kitchen as a place for kids. I think that’s a mistake,” says Charmaine. “When they can cook, they can take care of themselves.” This self-sufficiency was a value taught to Charmaine and her six sisters as they were growing up in Jamaica, where, she says, “everyone learns how to cook. Very rarely did we eat out.”

Inviting their kids into the kitchen was “a cultural and conscious decision,” says Hugh.

In the kitchen, “they can learn where their food’s coming from, and the effort that goes into creating a meal.”

Many of Haile’s favorite foods continue to be influenced by her parents’ Jamaican heritage, but today, she’s making them with a healthy spin, swapping bulgur for white rice or arranging curry shrimp in lettuce wraps. “I like making foods that are simple and fun to eat,” she says.

How does she dream them up? “I just get in the kitchen, mix things up, and see what happens.”

“I have had the opportunity to spend a little bit of time with this young lady.

Haile is an example for all of you, what your little powerful voices can do to change the world.”

—Michelle Obama

H

aile’s parents, Charmaine and Hugh Thomas, immigrated from their native Jamaica when they were teenagers; Haile’s cooking career began as she watched her mom

W

hen Haile was nine, she took a summer class with Girls Making Media, a Tucson non-profit run by independent filmmaker Quinn Elizabeth. Quinn noticed something in Haile and encouraged Charmaine to keep her in front of the camera. (The video Haile made was about literacy, not EdibleBajaArizona.com 37

food; it begins as Haile sits, reading a book. “Oh!” she says, putting the book down and swinging her gaze toward the camera. “I didn’t notice you there.”) Kids Can Cook began that same summer, with Charmaine filming and Haile and her sister making recipes in their home kitchen.

At first, Haile was interested more in cooking than health. All that changed in 2011, when she joined the Alliance for a Healthy Generation’s Young Advisory Board. At the group’s orientation in California, Haile learned statistics about childhood obesity, about diabetes and heart disease. She returned to Tucson with her passion re-ignited, not just for food, but food’s effects.

That’s when Kids Can Cook really took off; that’s when Haile started the Healthy Girls Adventure Club at St. Gregory College Prepatory School; that’s when she organized the Healthy Eating, Active Lifestyle (HEAL) event with Tucson Village Farm and cooked a locally-sourced meal for the more than 80 people who showed up.

That same year, Haile was invited to speak at a TEDxKids event in Vancouver, British Colombia. On stage, after asserting her belief that “learning to cook is the most direct way to good health,” Haile switches gears: “Just listen to those diet commercials. When I hear the fast-talking person, speeding through all those side effects, I’m shocked that anyone buys those products!”

“That’s was the first time we knew she was serious,” says Hugh. “She doesn’t have any fear.”

When Haile was in fifth grade, she was invited to speak to a room full of seventh graders. “I was so nervous for her,” says Charmaine. “But when she started speaking, she just pulled them in. A month later, we got this huge stack of letters from these kids saying, ‘We learned from you that we can cook anything.’ They thought if an 11-year-old could stand in front of them to teach them cooking, they could just as well try it themselves.”

“These amazing opportunities are coming to her because of her voice,” Charmaine says. “Kids listen to kids.”

Which is exactly what motivates Haile—impacting the health of her peers. That impact is revealed not at state dinners at the White House, but in small anecdotes of habits changed. Kids who had previously subsisted on soft drinks and sugary juices coming up to Haile to tell her they now make smoothies every day. Parents reporting back that they’ve changed the brand of cereal they buy or started avoiding high fructose corn syrup.

Now in the seventh grade at St. Gregory—her favorite subject is ancient history—Haile notices her friends eating habits, and how they’re changing, gradually, with her influence. “Kids don’t just want to eat mac ‘n’ cheese and chicken nuggets,” she says. She 38 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

should know, having designed a “For Kids By Kids” menu for Hyatt Hotels. “In our tastings, we found that kids like things that are interactive, fun, and flavorful,” Haile says. “They want to be involved in the process of eating and making food.”

T

oday, Haile’s dreaming up more than menus. “It had always been a dream of mine to make a health center for kids,” she says, so in 2012, Haile and Charmaine founded The HAPPY Organization “to engage, motivate and educate a healthier generation of kids.” In the summer of 2013, the mother-daughter duo partnered with the Tucson YWCA to offer weekly health, nutrition, and wellness classes for kids. Although, Charmaine says, increasingly, parents are sticking around to listen to Haile’s lessons. “We’ll often have 17 or 18 kids and 10 parents.”

“I had one parent come up to me and say, ‘I didn’t know you could blend vegetables,’” Hugh says. “Another asked us to offer a program on how to eat healthy on food stamps and we’re working on that now,” Charmaine says. “Parents are getting it. They want to learn how to eat well and be healthy.”

Charmaine and Hugh got the health message loud and clear in 2009 when Hugh was diagnosed with Type II diabetes. They read books on how to reverse diabetes, changed their diets, and six months ago, Hugh received a clean bill of health. “I’m not even pre-diabetic,” he says. “All we did differently was change the way we ate.” Charmaine chimes in: “We thought we were eating healthy! You always do, until you learn something else.” Today, they say, Haile’s work motivates them to “stay healthy and walk the talk,” says Charmaine. “You’ve got a kid in your house that’s a health advocate, you’ve got to live up to that.”

After all that, what’s next? Well, there’s the top-secret project that Haile and Charmaine will launch in September. Long-term, Haile wants to go college to study nutrition. “I don’t want to be a chef. I think it’s important to know nutrition before anything else.” Studying nutrition, she says, will help her achieve her ultimate goal—“getting rid of childhood obesity as fast as possible.”

In August, Haile spoke at Deepak Chopra’s Sages + Scientists Symposium alongside such luminaries as former Mexican President Vicente Fox, civil rights activist Diane Nash, and the Huffington Post’s Arianna Huffington. “They put me at the Sages table,” Haile says, a hint of embarrassment inching across her cheeks. “I didn’t know I was all that.” ✜ Megan Kimble is the managing editor of Edible Baja Arizona.

Recipes by Haile Thomas

Mango Shrimp Salad 3 2 1 2 2 ⅔

tbsp lime juice tbsp olive oil tbsp sugar large ripe mangoes medium avocados cup thinly sliced green onions and chopped cilantro ½ tsp red chile flakes 1 pound peeled and deveined raw shrimp Cook shrimp in pan until pink, season with salt and pepper. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together lime juice, oil, and sugar, until sugar dissolves. Dice mangoes and avocados into ¾ inch cubes; add to bowl. Add green onion, cilantro, chile, and shrimp. Mix gently. Serve or cover to chill for up to 1 hour.

(Above and left) Haile whips up one of her favorite recipes—a mango shrimp salad— at her family's home. Haile and her sister film their web TV show, Kids Can Cook, in this same kitchen.

EdibleBajaArizona.com

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Black Bean and Corn Quinoa Salad 1 cup cooked black beans, drained and rinsed 1 cup frozen sweet corn, thawed 1 cup drained petite diced tomatoes 2 cups cooked quinoa ⅓ cup chopped sweet yellow onion ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro ½ avocado, sliced or diced 1 tbsp olive oil 1 lemon, juiced Salt, to taste

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Fruity Quinoa Parfait

In a large bowl, combine beans, corn, tomatoes, quinoa, onion and cilantro. Stir together. Gently stir in avocado. In a small bowl, whisk together oil and lemon juice. Pour over salad mixture. Serve immediately or let sit in refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving to enhance flavors.

½ ½ 1 ½ 2

This recipe won Michelle Obama’s Healthy Lunchtime Challenge in 2012.

Cook quinoa according to package directions. Add yogurt to a bowl and top with quinoa, fruit, and flaxseeds.

cup honey Greek yogurt cup cooked quinoa cup fresh blueberries cup dried cherries tbsp golden flaxseed Additional: Sliced almonds, chopped walnuts, chia seeds, and other fruit

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G ROWING

EDUCATION AND EDIBLES

By Lee Allen | Photography by Jeff Smith 42 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

Manzo Elementary is showing how school gardens provide more than just produce

O

n the west side of Tucson, in Barrio Hollywood, towering rainwater cisterns stand watch over a school where chickens cluck, tilapia splash, tortoises lumber, and a variety of edibles bloom—as do the minds of the students who tend to them. Billed as “The Pride of TUSD—The Greenest Elementary School on the Planet,” Manzo Elementary is leading the way in Tucson’s blossoming school garden program.

Call it Seed to Supper, Farm to Fork, or Plot to Pot, the intent behind children’s school gardens is to produce both edibles and education—and Tucson wins honors in that good-to-grow department. Named Best Green School 2012 by the U.S. Green Building Council, Manzo is the only K-5 public school in the United States to receive that honor in response to their environmental initiatives.

“I’ve always realized the uniqueness and relevance of our program,” says Principal Mark Alvarez, “but to be recognized nationally is truly mind-blowing.”

“We initially focused on what we called our biome, re-landscaping to get off city irrigation before we built the desert tortoise habitat and began to get cognizant about native edibles,” says school counselor and garden guru Moses Thompson. “About four years ago we made a serious shift to food production with more rainwater harvesting, a big in-ground vegetable garden, a chicken coop, then a greenhouse and its associated aquaponics by raising tilapia.”

Roman Talavera, a fifth grader at Manzo, has been working the school garden project since he was a kindergartner, following in the footsteps of two older sisters who were also active participants. “I learn how to grow seeds, plant according to the season, make compost, and take care of tilapia and chickens,” he says. “Feeding the chickens and collecting their eggs is my favorite thing.”

That kind of hands-in-the-dirt experience is not only therapeutic, but helps in the learning process. “We learn stuff like math and ecology while we’re doing this, like the fish tank where bacteria makes plant fertilizer and the roots clean the water. It’s a whole ecosystem,” says Roman.

The young gardener is so enthused about green growing that he’s brought the process home to a backyard garden of his own.

“We planted sunflowers and squash and chiltepins [native wild chiles]. We started with one plant, dried the seeds up and replanted, and now we have 25 plants,” he says.

“We use the growing of produce, our chicken coop, our aquaponics, and our compost pile to integrate the ecology of each aspect into academic content,” says teacher Wes Oswald. “For example,

when we work with kindergarten kids on the concept of 10, we give each child a carrot from the garden and have them count the stems.

If they find seven stems, they need to use mathematics to figure out they still need three more to make the magic number.”

By integrating the hands-on school garden effort with standard classroom mathematics lessons, math skill test scores have taken a quantum leap.

“Manzo went from a low D last year—one of the lowest-performing schools in the state—to a high C and just a handful of points away from earning a B,” says Thompson. “It’s been incredible to watch our ecology program grow from a handful of students with shovels into a transformative force in the community.”

Although the Manzo school garden may be the blue ribbon winner, a number of other TUSD schools are growing veggie gardens, supported in part by a USDA Farm-to-School grant, led by Nick Henry, the Farm-to-Child Manager at the Community Food Bank (CFB) of Southern Arizona. They include Ochoa, Mission View, and CE Rose elementary schools; Drachman Primary, Davis Bilingual, Roskruge Bilingual, Safford Engineering/Technology, and Tully Elementary Accelerated magnet schools, and San Xavier Mission School.

“We help schools who want to get gardens started,” Henry says.

Though, he says, “It’s important to highlight the fact that few communities are actually taking on the challenge of providing kids food that is grown locally, on site, in school gardens. Most Farm-toSchool programs look to work with local larger-scale farmers, while our main focus at the Tucson Food Bank is successful gardening [in these schools].”

The $98,000 grant received in the fall of 2012 partners the CFB with TUSD to work on getting fresh, local food into schools in two basic ways—supporting school gardens and emphasizing smallscale agricultural handling practices to maximize food safety, and purchasing seasonal harvest foods from local producers to serve on a district level.

“Government programs like this are really important in jumpstarting processes at the local level,” says Robert Ojeda, the vice president of the CFB’s Community Food Resource Center. “We have a great opportunity here to create awareness of choices to be made in our regional food systems where we grow more of our own.

If you start a school garden that gets students, staff, and parents involved, it has an impact that goes beyond the school into the community—an initial investment that may be hard to measure, but one we know makes a tremendous impact.”

This impact extends beyond education. “Nearly 20 percent or 1.2 million people in Arizona were food insecure in 2011, not knowing where their next meal would come from,” says Ginny Hil-

“I learn how to grow seeds, plant according to the season, make compost, and take care of tilapia and chickens.”

(Left) Students Santos Montaño, Rubi Hernandez, and Isaac Soto tend to the chickens at Manzo Elenentary.

EdibleBajaArizona.com 43

debrand, who led the Arizona Association of Food Banks for nearly three decades and recently retired. “Children are disproportionally affected by food insecurity, where numbers rise to 25 percent—or 1 in 4 Arizona school kids under the age of 18—who struggle with poverty and hunger.” (In 2011, the Pima County food insecurity rate was 16.6 percent, a slight increase over the previous year).

“Historically, both food banks and school meals programs have worked to end hunger, so it’s a partnership that makes sense,” says the CFB’s Henry. “We also know that kids who have learned how to garden and are able to eat fresh food in a school cafeteria are more likely to live healthy, hunger-free lives. We’re working hard with TUSD and various regulatory agencies to ensure some of this school garden produce makes it onto the cafeteria menu. We already maintain a summer child nutrition program where we send kids home with a bag of food items—that includes produce—which is meant to help them get through the weekend.”

And, he says, “The basic idea of the Farm-to-School grant is to help schools grow food as a learning experience as well as for an actual source of nutrition. Over the past three years, the number of requests for assistance from schools wanting to start gardens and implement food-based curriculum modules has increased to where it’s almost more than we can handle, and we have to say ‘no’ sometimes because of the high demand. We’re implementing an evaluation program to determine actual impact, but generally speaking, kids involved in these programs have a more positive relationship with fruits and veggies,” says Henry.

Tom Harrison, an avid gardener and former TUSD parent, began cultivating that relationship years ago, before school gardens achieved today’s popularity. “I started when my own kids were in elementary school at Hudlow, informally teaching gardening topics, when school officials suggested I start a school garden for second graders. I’d rent a Roto-tiller and plow things up, then take in seeds and the kids would plant them in trays. When they germinated, they were transplanted and the timeline to harvest began.”

As his children moved on, so did the Harrisons’ amateur school garden project—on to Holliday and Steele Elementary schools.

“Young kids have minds like sponges, so we’d take field trips to the Tucson Botanical Gardens and talk a lot about science, too, things like earth rotation and planting seasons. Compost heaps are alive with all kinds of stuff, so I’d bring buckets of my home garden compost to school, dump it on the table, and let the kids make discoveries. They all loved that—especially the boys,” says Harrison.

Compost plays a big part in the school garden at Manzo where 50 pounds of food remnants per day get converted into compost that goes to fertilize the growing gardens and the Sonoran Desert biome project.

Last year, National Geographic magazine wrote about those efforts, noting that Thompson’s project-based schoolyard not only helped students to grow produce, it helped in other ways by providing an environment of safety as well as learning. “Kids would come into my counseling office in crisis, and instead of trying to help in an office environment, I’d take a walk with the youngster and we’d

Moses Thompson—Manzo’s school counselor and garden guru—helps students Zuleyma Pacheco and Camila Hernandez water plants in the garden.

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go pull weeds or grab a watering can while we talked. Next thing I salad bar, but our food production is nowhere near what it would knew, those same kids wanted to go back out and water their plants,” take to run a daily homegrown entrée for 300 kids.”

But there is enough for an occasional treat like the salad and he says.

Although Manzo Elementary is the trend-setter for TUSD juicing parties used as attendance incentives. “The classroom that schools with gardens, there are others both within—and outside has the best attendance over a certain period gets to visit the garden, harvest their own salads, and bring them back to the classroom of—the district that have also taken up the cause.

“The San Xavier Mission Elementary School is the only one where we provide the dressing and a commercial juicer for healthy outside TUSD included in our grant,” says Henry. “What they’re garden-based beverages,” says Thompson.

Another TUSD school garden in its first year is at John B. doing is really exciting because they’re working with San Xavier Cooperative farmers, Tohono O’odham natives, to bring culturally- Wright Elementary. Principal Maria Marin has high hopes as she appropriate foods inside the school.” In another project, he says, looks over the four-month-old garden of tomatoes, corn, and basil.

“Tohono O’odham Cooperative Association is bidding on a con- She foresees that this fall, JBW students will not only be snacking tract to supply food services to three schools in Sells.” TOCA’s on what they grow, “but analyzing plant leaves under a microscope, Food Services Development Coordinator Stephanie Lip says, because knowledge is empowering.”

At St. Michael’s Day “We’re still in the beginning School on the city’s eastside, phase of developing Desert teacher Susan Crane says, Rain Food Services. Right “Growing anything in Arizona now we’re cultivating relationsoil is tough, but we in the Sciships with schools that serve ence Lab love a challenge, so Tohono O’odham students to our fifth graders planted a stir see what food services needs fry garden—peppers, onions, there are and how we might broccoli, bok choy. It’s amazsupport each other.” ing to see the level of engageOchoa Elementary School ment involved when children is another TUSD example of have plants to care for.” growing minds while growAgain proving the adage ing gardens. “This is so much that it takes a village to raise a more than a garden project. child, help for TUSD’s school It’s planting seeds, but it’s also gardens has come in many planting ideas,” says Paula forms and from many quarters.

McPheeters, the recently-reVendors like Desert Survivors tired Parent and Child Educahave contributed starter seedtion (PACE) preschool teacher Manzo fifth grader, Roman Talavera, turns the compost pile. lings. Others have offered time at Ochoa.

To her, the garden fits in perfectly with a commitment to pro- and talent to assemble donated infrastructure. The University of viding authentic, purposeful learning that is transformational for Arizona Community and School Garden Program provides both children, families, teachers, and interns, one that serves to prove time and talent, or as UA professor Sallie Marston, co-founder of the point hanging on her wall: “Education is not a preparation for the garden internship, says, “What we have is labor, both mental and physical.” life; it’s life itself.”

“Our primary purpose is as a support mechanism,” says Marston.

Many schools growing gardens have a significant population of students that qualify for free or reduced lunches—98 percent at “Over the last several years our participation has grown from one Ochoa, for example, and 93 percent at Manzo. According to the person to over 50.” In 2012, UA interns logged nearly 4,000 total school’s website, “The Ochoa garden not only gives families ac- hours at eleven partner schools that work within the purview of cess to organic vegetables, it allows them to share their bounty with the Community Food Bank. “School gardens are powerful, innothe less fortunate as children regularly donate part of their produce vative educational tools where children get physically involved in harvest to the Casa Maria soup kitchen. They grow the vegetables, ways that teach them all kinds of stuff about soil, water, hydrological cycles, pest control, intermixing plant varieties—you name it. It’s a make soup, and share it with others who are hungry.”

The schools that maintain gardens look for creative outlets for two-way experience: Our students learn a lot and Tucson teachers the products they raise. “We do a farmer’s market, and that’s where get the support they need to have a student garden. Everyone gets the bulk of our revenue comes from to pay for new seeds and or- something out of it,” says Marston. ✜ ganic chicken feed,” says Manzo’s Thompson. “What we grow, we sell, so we’re self-sustaining. Right now we’ve got a good balance Lee Allen is a long-time backyard Tucson gardener who studies the secrets between production and sales. I’d love to be able to run a seasonal of success by watching kids plant school gardens.

46 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

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youth

A Garden Plot Called Soup Pot By teaching both kids and parents alike, Tucson Village Farm is planting seeds for the future

By Allie Leach | Photography by Steven Meckler

W

hen you first enter

Tucson Village Farm, a tall pole stacked with thin, hand-painted wooden signs greets you. Each sign is marked with the colorful handprints of the students who created each line, leaving their mark on the farm, on its mission, and on its future. On these brightly painted signs are phrases that add up to a list poem:

On the farm we learn: To take care of the plants To milk Gertie To pollinate About worms To respect the earth To eat healthy Composting Soil Science To calculate and predict To harvest To measure and weigh Tucson Village Farm (TVF) is a working urban farm built by and for the youth of the community. A program of the Pima County Cooperative Extension and the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, since its ground breaking in 2010, the farm has exploded with a number of educational outreach programs for youth.

48 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

Located at the intersection of River Road and Campbell Avenue, next to the Rillito River Trail, TVF is easy to miss. That is, until you walk into the garden oasis. I’m sitting on a wooden bench, hand-painted to look like a cow, listening to rain pattering on the red tin roof above my head. “Come on, rain!” sings Leza Carter, the Program Coordinator of TVF. Also nested below the roof with me are Liz Sparks, the 4-H Youth Development Coordinator, and Matthew Lee, an AmeriCorps Volunteer. Liz and Leza have been with the farm since it began. In October 2009, they started with a blank slate. “It was an empty lot; nothing was there. When Liz and I spied it, we were like, ‘Can we have that piece?’ It’s a great location,” says Leza. In January of 2010, they broke ground.

TVF is changing the way kids see food through the farm’s many programs. One program, Growing Forward, is a two-hour long hands-on workshop for K-12 students that cycles students through the various “stations” of the farm. There are stations for cooking, composting, and digging, among others. But perhaps the largest station of all is what TVF is all about: the garden. It’s there in the garden that students get hands-on experience in gardening and harvesting, where they learn about pollination and soil science.

For older kids, there’s also the Counselor in Training program, comprised of middle and high school students who are trained in areas that TVF teaches on the farm, from growing fruits and vegetables to composting, setting up irrigation systems, and preparing food.

Matthias Pollock, a former graduate student in the UA’s College of Public Health, conducted research to evaluate the effectiveness of TVF’s programs. His findings were significant: After kids came to a single two-hour field trip program, their fruit and vegetable intake increased 110 percent. “This is not just some cute little program for kids; it’s actually working,” says Liz. In fact, Liz points out that last year, from late August until May, a whopping 12,879 youth and adults visited the garden.

Leza Carter, TVF’s Program Coordinator, keeps an eye on her green-thumbed charges.

What distinguishes TVF from other community gardens is that “90 percent of what is growing now on the farm has been planted by kids,” says Leza. Seventy-five percent of the schools and youth that they serve are from low-income schools and neighborhoods.

Other TVF programs include U-Pick Tuesdays, where staff and volunteers sell the food from the garden at market prices. And since TVF is a non-profit, all of the proceeds go towards programming, youth conferences, and scholarships for youth to attend TVF’s annual summer camp in June.

Through its many programs, TVF continues to expand its reach. The farm is currently partnering with 83 different community organizations and local businesses, showing that there are a variety of different ways to encourage kids to eat healthy foods.

And people—like the First Lady—are catching onto their programs. That’s right: Michelle Obama is a fan of TVF. “One of her reps from the White House called us a year ago, two years into our program, and invited us to meet and greet her at the Tucson

airport,” says Leza. Leza and Liz gathered many of their young farmers and volunteers, who all got to meet her. “She’s a big supporter of programs like ours,” adds Leza.

In addition to a healthy backbone of staff and volunteers, TVF couldn’t do what they do without their team of AmeriCorps volunteers. “It’s great working here because you can help out with any program you want, and also start your own programs,” says Matthew Lee, one of four AmeriCorps volunteers serving on the farm. “It’s not work; it’s enjoyment. I often work overtime because it’s so much fun.”

One of the students that Matthew taught at last June’s summer camp was 12-year-old Emmy Davis. In the week-long camp, Emmy tells me that she did a variety of activities. She did scavenger hunts and played in a harvest lottery; she winnowed and threshed wheat, made bread and participated in a series of eye-opening science experiments. She describes an experiment in which she measured out the amount of shortening that was in a bag of French EdibleBajaArizona.com 49

We invite mobile

kitchens to gather several

times a month, in one place, at different locations,

so that you can sample their innovative

menus with your family and friends. Pick from a

variety of menu options, while sitting together in one place.

fries. She scooped up five spoonfuls, piling them on top of a hamburger bun. “There was this big mountain of shortening on the hamburger bun,” she says, disgusted. “It was gross; it made me not want to eat French fries as much anymore.”

Another fun activity was the Tastebud Exploration, in which Emmy and the rest of the campers got to try a variety of exotic fruits and vegetables like dragon fruit, banana flowers, nasturtiums, raw coconut, and bok choy. “My favorite was the dragon fruit,” she says, smiling. Her least favorite? The nasturtiums and the banana flowers because they were “very spicy and bitter, which was gross,” she says. Emmy’s favorite food ever? “Avocados,” she answers in a beat. “I think avocados are amazingness.”

Back at the farm, Leza shows me the most exciting part: the garden. In her tour, she points out what’s growing: tomatoes, basil, peppers, cucumbers, corn, squash, eggplant, sweet potatoes, tepary beans, amaranth, herbs, and purslane. Looking at all these beauties, I have the sudden urge to pick and eat them. I feel like that bunny in the Trix commercial, as if I grabbed something, some kid would pop out of the corn stalks and yell, “Silly Rabbit. Trix are for kids!” Except, of course, these Trix are actually vegetables.

Except, of course, I’m actually not a rabbit. “I love it when a kid pulls a carrot out of the ground for the first time,” says Leza. “They might as well be pulling a rabbit out of a hat; some have never seen it before.”

Leza takes me over to one of her favorite parts of the garden; it’s a small plot called the “Soup Pot.” This space is reserved for the Owl and Panther Project, a group that helps relocated refugee families who have been affected by trauma and torture. Leza asked the group of refugees what kinds of vegetables they put in the soup in their home countries, and then they planted those vegetables in the “pot.” This winter, the group that came planted veggies like broccoli, kale, chard, onions, cilantro, garlic, and carrots, all in that small plot. When the group returned in March, they harvested all of the crops in their plot and brought them to their weekly gathering, where they made soup that fed 35 people, including Leza.

Afterwards, they had 10 resuable shopping bags filled with leftover produce lined up at the door to go home with the families. As Leza recalls this story, it’s clear just how passionate and proud she is of this program. “These are kids and parents who are displaced and living in urban apartment complexes without yards or gardens,” she says. “It’s a chance for them to get their hands down in the soil again, like many of them they did in their home countries.”

After the grand garden tour, Leza has to hurry off. The rain starts drizzling again. I’m about to leave when Matthew returns.

Handing me some gardening shears and an empty paper bag, he says, “You should grab some veggies before you leave.” The rabbit in me jumps at the chance. My beauteous bounty? Three eggplants, two peppers, and a handful of sweet basil. I hop away happily.

For more information, visit TucsonVillageFarm.org. 4210 N. Campbell Ave., 520.626.5161. ✜ Allie Leach works and writes in Tucson.

50 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

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51

youth

Future in Hand

Building connections and community with Earth Care Youth Corps Text and photo by Rafael de Grenade

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n a grassy slope

in the record of everything from sore muscles to profound epiphanies. hills above Patagonia, a series “We started off the day by pulling amof rock gabions have gathered brosias out of the garden beds,” wrote sediments from a recent rain. Carlos— Carlos. “It was hard for me to tell apart a wiry young musician with short black the weeds from the plants. They all hair, a baseball cap and an earring—exlooked the same to me. We also helped plains that these lines of rock slow the David build a rock filter which was a pain water down “so that it isn’t as destrucin the everywhere.” Jodie Quiroga wrote, tive.” The idea was to make a “water fil“I think schools need to serve local food ter,” allowing runoff to permeate the soil, to support our local economy.” Felix Cloreduce erosion and foster the growth of vesko Wharton wrote of his “joy building young plants on the steep hills. rock filters, hoop houses, seed balls and Carlos is one of four high school stuflats, as well as learning the importance of dents from Patagonia who participated watersheds and the water table.” in the five-week Earth Care Youth Corps Carlos said that the thing that struck pilot program this summer, and this is him most was Evan Sofro’s tour of the Deep Dirt Farm, one of many locations Native Seeds/SEARCH farm. “He exwhere the youth spent sweltering morn- At Deep Dirt Farm Institute, the students helped build a plained how the industry is messing with ings, reshaping the landscape with their hoop house to protect crops from excess cold, sun, and wind. the foods using chemicals and harmful hands, heart, sweat and new ideas. pesticide and how it affects our food,” said Carlos. “The other part Anita Clovesko Wharton, one of the local organizers, explained was the ways we can grow our food without having to use so many that the project focused on offering young adults—many of whom chemicals or any at all. Down there they don’t really use that much struggle to find even seasonal employment or dream of seeking highwater, and look at what they are growing.” er education—a chance to experience the land-based side of restorProject mentor Kate Tirion of Deep Dirt Farm Institute said, “If ing habitats and participating in a local food system. For many of the we do things with our hands, we realize the power we have as indilocal mentors who worked with the youth, agriculture and ecological viduals. We use our hands to support ourselves and other people. We restoration are part of the same vision, one that includes teaching need to engage people in the community and give them a sense of youth how to make a difference in the world as land stewards. ownership in the process, in the place and the landscape.”

Local mentors included Ron Pulliam and David Seibert of the These students might continue to pursue employment or eduBorderlands Habitat Restoration Initiative—who taught the stucation in agriculture and environmental restoration, or the experidents how to make and disperse “seed balls” to jumpstart range and ence might only be one summer memory of exposure and hard work. arroyo restoration—and Caleb Weaver, who brought the students Whatever their future direction, they’re one step closer to spanning onto a Bureau of Land Management-sponsored native plant presthe ever deepening arroyo between those who work as land stewards ervation and restoration project. “They figured out what we were and the youth who will inherit it. ✜ doing incredibly quickly,” said Weaver.

Whether it was sweating in the high erosion channels above the Patagonia valley, or pounding metal stakes into the solid rock for a greenThis project was supported by the W.K. Kellogg Program at the University of Arizona, G.a.r.d.e.n. Inc., the Borderlands Habitat Restoration house, the four students worked to make a difference in their commuInitiative, and donors from Santa Cruz County. nity. They wrote about their experiences in daily journals, keeping a

52 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

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EdibleBajaArizona.com 53

Where The Frogs Sleep

The four young owners of Sleeping Frog Farm are a part of a national movement of young people deciding to commit their careers to growing food.

By Lisa O’Neill Photography by Jeff Smith

54 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

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earing overalls

and resting her young son, Elijah Blue, on her hip, Debbie Weingarten points to the place between two mesquite trees where she married Adam Valdivia almost three years ago. Now, in that same spot, rows of sweet potatoes are planted, the stalks rising green from the ground. “I remember thinking during the ceremony that I wasn’t only marrying Adam, I was marrying this land, this farm.” And this: the life of a farmer.

In September 2008, Weingarten, 30, and Valdivia, 31, started Sleeping Frog Farms with C.J. Marks, 36, and Clay Smith, 28, on a fourth of an acre of land in northwest Tucson. Their first row was fava beans and the drip irrigation left puddles at either end of the row where frogs liked to sleep. Sleeping Frog Farms was born.

Since that time, they’ve moved to the Cascabel corridor of the San Pedro River Valley, 60 miles east of Tucson, and have grown to 75 acres, with 14 under production.

Sleeping Frog Farms is just one of many small farms within the past decade started by young people, those raised on farms and those raised far from them, who have decided to commit their time and energy to growing food.

The aging of farmers nationwide mimics aging patterns in the entire population. And with a quarter of current farmers, a half a million in total, slated to retire by 2030, the nation is left with an urgent need for young farmers to move in and take the reins.

The National Young Farmers’ Coalition was formed in 2010 with the mission to “ensure the success of today’s young and beginning farmers and that of future generations of farmers.” The coalition builds networks of farmers, offers practical and technical assistance, and does advocacy work on a state and federal level to encourage policies that support beginning farmers (those who have been farming for ten years or less). According to a 2011 NYFC report, those beginning farmers made up a quarter of all operators in 2007. Of the farmers surveyed, 88 percent of them were 40 or younger.

“I remember thinking during the ceremony that I wasn’t only marrying Adam, I was marrying this land, this farm.”

One and a half year old Elijah Blue, the youngest of the young farmers, wanders through rows and takes care of the goats like every other member of the team.

EdibleBajaArizona.com 55

Finding a Vocation on the Land

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arista, hotel desk clerk, carpentry apprentice, human rights advocate, activist, deli worker, waiter, mail sorter, labor union organizer, social worker, farm hand, farm manager, produce manager, small business owner, sports photographer, retail manager. These are just a few of the previous occupations of Sleeping Frog Farms’ owners. Although they share many core values, each took a different path to the farm.

Weingarten was born in rural Alabama but raised in the suburbs of Cincinnati. Growing up, her family ate convenience foods out of cans and boxes, though she always had animals and a garden. At Warren Wilson College in North Carolina, where students work to grow much of the school’s food, she began to learn agricultural skills and developed a love for growing, cooking, and eating “real food.” She moved to Tucson to study the border and began working in social work. When she did family home visits, Weingarten saw the clear connection between access to quality food and quality of life. “I was seeing so many instances of Type 2 Diabetes, chronic diseases, cancer. These parents were forced to make hard choices.” Infuriated at a food system that encouraged cheap fast food and passionate about everyone having access to nutritious whole foods, Weingarten made the choice to go back to farming.

According to the National Young Farmer’s Coalition, 78 percent of farmers surveyed were not raised on a farm. Western Organizer for the NYFC Kate Greenberg suggests many reasons why young people not raised on a farm are attracted to farm life.

They get to live where they work, to work outside, to be their own boss, to manage their product and packaging, and to farm in a way that expresses their values for both the community and the environment. She says, “Young farmers say, ‘Let’s put [our values and knowledge] to work and build soil. Let’s feed our communities.

Let’s have the freedom to live and work outside, to engage with the natural world and engage in community by the thing we do every day, which is to grow good food.’”

Sleeping Frog Farms’ partner C.J. Marks was raised on a farm in Louisiana to a legacy of farmers. He remembers traveling throughout the state as a child, making deliveries with his father. An agriculture teacher, his father was emphatic about his son learning all aspects of running a farm. As a young man, C.J. began to resent farming—the rigorous labor, the all-encompassing nature of it. He tried other occupations, working in retail management for years, but he says, “the reality of other jobs—being inside all day, disconnected from the earth—set in.” Eight years ago, he returned to his family’s legacy of farming.

Clay Smith grew up in Tucson with a large extended family: his mother, a Rondstadt, is one of 12 children. Food was central to his family, from making tamales together to cultivating backyard gardens. But Smith had no intentions of being a farmer. He attended the University of Arizona for business, planning to go into corporate or nonprofit law. In college, he noticed the absence of the homegrown food and rituals surrounding eating that had always

56 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

(Above) In the protection of a greenhouse, seedlings emerge, ready to plant.

(Left) The Sleeping Frog partners stand strong on their land. From left, Clay Smith, Adam Valdivia (with Elijah Blue), Debbie Weingarten , and C.J. Marks.

been present in his life. When his father and brother moved to Hawaii to remediate old sugarcane fields, he went periodically to help and learned about beneficial bacteria and the living element of soil. Still in college, he started a small urban soil horticulture and landscaping business, making his own fertilizers and probiotics. Soon, he began creating fertilizer for the original farm in northwest Tucson, where one farmer was his friend from growing up, Adam.

Adam Valdivia started his journey as an eater and “got continually closer and closer to the source of [his] food.” He was born in Illinois surrounded by corn fields but his family moved to Tucson when he was small. He was exposed to farm life at an early age.

His parents had sharecropped in exchange for their Illinois home, and his first job, at 13, was detassling corn. At 18, he moved to the Boston area and was living with roommates from Senegal and the West Indies, who were talented cooks and piqued his interest in cooking. Valdivia began doing volunteer work, volunteerships, and worked with farms through the Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF). Before he and his co-owners started Sleeping Frog Farms, he managed Agua Linda Farm, where he, Debbie, and C.J. were all working. There, they began plans to start their own farm.

WHAT STARTING A FARM LOOKS LIKE:

Planning with friends, finding land, finding ways to pay for land · Borrowing four thousand dollars from a parent · Working full-time jobs and odd jobs for money, putting every bit of money earned—20 dollars here, three dollars there—back into farming · Ordering seeds · Digging your hands in the earth, planting seeds, building soil · Building irrigation systems · Checking the weather four times a day · Harvesting · Reaching out and feeling the support of local restaurants and the community · Working seven-day work weeks from five a.m. until midnight with no days off and no pay · Staying up until four in the morning to prepare harvested food for the farmers’ market, engaging in conversation with people at the market · Laughing with delirium from lack of sleep and the sweetness of community · Finding out you need to move from the land you started on and remembering a farm sale video you saw on YouTube · Contacting these aging ostrich farm owners who are encouraged by your plans (the ones they always dreamed of doing themselves) · Developing a plan where the previous owners carry the loan from the bank and you pay to purchase the land each month · Moving to the new land and starting over again · Transporting plants but leaving the soil you worked on for two years · Building plants in greenhouses · Experimenting with changes to the soil · Bringing in a soil scientist · Starting a row · And then another · And then one more · Growing from one acre to four to 14 · Picking food · Feeding chickens · Breeding goats · Fixing tractors · Teaching volunteers · Hiring employees · Guiding tours · Starting relationships · Starting a family · Eating meals together with food you planted and harvested ·

Looking out on the fields you created and continue to create.

EdibleBajaArizona.com 57

58 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

Although the work was hard, especially in those first years, the partners found it invigorating. “Everyone cared and wanted to feed people and contribute to our community,” Marks says. Finally, they were creating their farm from the ground up in the way they wanted to.

While some underestimate the rewards and beauty of farm life, the owners realize that many also idealize what it looks like. “Some people come for a few days and leave. They say, ‘You are insane to do so much work,’” Weingarten says, laughing. “And it is hard, relentless, and exhausting.” But, in Valdivia’s opinion, farming is also one of the most deeply rewarding jobs there is. “I feel pride,” he says. “Many other things in life have left me with emptiness. I was making money but not fully spiritually or emotionally satisfied.”

After years of seven-day workweeks, each of the partners now has two days a week off, but still, at least one of these days involves farm work. They now have help: four hourly employees, three salaried employees, and between five and seven long-term volunteers at any given time. The farm owners are able to pay their bills, pay their employees, and pay themselves a small stipend, but everything else goes back into the farm operation.

Challenges: Capital, Cash Flow, and Health

A

cquisition of land is one of the biggest challenges to young farmers. Between 2000 and 2011, the national per acre farm values doubled, according to the National Young Farmers’ Coalition. Sleeping Frog Farms’ current 75 acres was purchased from the previous land owners, an older couple excited to sell to young people starting the farm they always envisioned on the property. Without the previous landowners carrying the loan, the partners would not have been able to acquire the land.

Still, they are only currently farming a fourth of the land they pay for each month. The partners would like to have 30 acres of vegetable production, but they have to be mindful of how much and how quickly they grow. Each new acre requires more infrastructure: labor, storage, refrigeration, transportation. They’ve talked about ways to maximize their usage—trying to grow more in the summer, for example, or preserving or pickling vegetables.

However, that too would require more infrastructure.

And more infrastructure requires more income. Another major obstacle for small farms is access to capital. In the last 50 years, the dominance of large farm enterprises has shifted agriculture and made it harder for small farms to start and thrive. While government subsidies are available, many of them are geared towards large-scale production. These subsidies often have requirements about which crops are grown and how they are grown, requirements that are often incompatible with Sleeping Frog Farms commitment to growing their crops in a sustainable, ecologically friendly way, consistent with their certified naturally grown status.

According to the NYFC, 73 percent of beginning farmers deCuring onions: The farmers work on preserving a winter’s rations.

pend on off-farm income. And in 2007, according to the USDA, most beginning farmers lost money from farms. Sleeping Frog Farms hasn’t taken out any bank loans but has benefited from local private loans and from their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, which provides funds in advance of a growing season. Kate Greenberg says the NYFC is working with the Farm Service Agency to develop microloan programs. Small loans have been a challenge in the past because of the amount of paperwork required, so these agencies are working to adapt the requirements so that small farms have easier access to microloans.

Clay Smith, who manages the farm finances, says that having a clear budget and plan is vital for a business that has as many variables as farming. “I don’t think a lot of farmers understand margins and costs,” he says. “Many small farms have a lot of heart and a lot of passion but not willingness to be business-minded enough to make it. You can have a great crop but you have to have somewhere for it to go.”

As is a trend for many small farms, none of the owners of Sleeping Frog Farms have health insurance. Farming is backbreaking work, and there is a learning curve for young farmers as they find the safest, most efficient ways to use equipment and their bodies.

Over the past years, the Sleeping Frog partners have suffered a broken arm, a hand infection, a forehead split open, smashed fingers, concussions, infected teeth, twisted ankles, and many wrenched backs. Illness and injury are already stressful but they become even harder to face without access to affordable healthcare.

Farm, Family, and Partnership

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ne and a half year old Elijah Blue’s face turns concerned as he points to the stereo. “He does this every time the music stops,” Weingarten says. “He is worried the music has disappeared.” But then his brother Ihler, 7, clicks the button on Pandora and the next Macklemore song comes on. Elijah begins to bend his knees and roll his head, continuing the dance party.

Debbie feels grateful that the kids, both her son Elijah and stepson Ihler, are being raised on a farm. “They have a different connection to life and death and see it as part of a cycle,” Weingarten says. She and Adam are also mindful though that some farm kids end up resenting the life that requires such hard work. So they don’t want to force the kids to work on the farm. “We want them to want it, to choose it,” she says.

Working parents always have to balance the demands of home and work but when these are intertwined, it can be tricky. Sixteen months after he was born, Elijah is finally sleeping through the night. Weingarten initially found it challenging to adapt to her role after becoming a mother. She cannot be in the fields as much and had to reconcile that as a new and temporary situation. “I pull my weight but in a different way than before,” she says.

As we talk, Ihler comes out of his room to ask for Weingarten’s help on a homework problem. Later, the whole farm family watches music videos on YouTube as the boys dance. Many young EdibleBajaArizona.com 59

farmers are recreating the American definition of family, wherein the people they live and work with become as vital and essential as those related by blood. The demands of farm life encourage a kind of intimacy, a willingness to work through difficulties and work out communications that allow relationships to constantly meet challenges and grow from them.

At Sleeping Frog Farms, all four owners have an equal stake, and each partner has a role that builds on their personality and skillset. C.J. is in charge of the greenhouse, where plants get started, and taking care of mechanics of farm machinery. Adam works with production, planting, and fertilizing. He and Clay share the duties of harvest, and Clay also takes care of the accounting and working with restaurant clients. Debbie works with the CSA program that distributes at five locations. She is also the voice of the farm: writing the newsletter, running the website, and handling communications for the farm.

Weingarten says, “We’ve become like family to each other, and we wouldn’t be here without each one of us. The partnership between the four of us is the heart and soul of our operation.”

Growing the Next Generation of Farmers

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eingarten believes that young people are craving work with their hands in a world where we are increasingly devoid of knowledge of tactile skills. They are also becoming aware of a food system where larger corporations are controlling more and more of the food. “It’s political to secure the food system,” she says. “Somewhere along the way it felt like the most political thing I could do.”

Sleeping Frog Farms partners believe everyone should have access to healthy food, that food should be raised in an ecologically sound way, that everyone should have a right to see how their food is grown (they have an open door policy, with notice given, for community members to come see the farm), and that it is their responsibility to provide the community with education and employment.

This fall, Sleeping Frog Farms and Walking J Farms will officially launch FERN, the Farm Education Resource Network.

FERN, an extension of the existing volunteer program, is an educational program committed to offering knowledge for those who want to farm in the Southwest. In the program, apprentices commit to six to 12 months of work with a stipend. Besides benefiting the apprentices who learn hands on the skills and knowledge needed for climate farming, Weingarten says FERN is a way of giving back, both supplying skills to future farmers and supplying farmers to the community. FERN was awarded $1,000 from Slow Food Southern Arizona and is seeking additional funding and materials for their pilot year of apprenticeships.

The NYFC continues to work for changes that will allow small farms to thrive. Beyond working for modification of loan policies, some of these include encouraging student loan forgiveness for

60 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

farmers and offering tax credits for leasing or selling to beginning farmers. In the west, Kate Greenberg says the future of farming depends, too, on how resources—like water—are managed.

Moving forward requires community investment in local foods, but luckily there is no shortage of this in southern Arizona. “What people are always looking for is connection,” Greenberg says. “The desire to connect to community is innate in us. And what this new movement of local agriculture is offering is a very close connection to community, to food, to families, to the land.”

In Sleeping Frog Farms’ big red barn, hundreds of bushels of yellow onions hang from the ceiling, curing. And next door, Dora Martinez, the field manager, bundles carrots for the CSA, placing them in boxes headed to Tucson.

“Community is everything,” says Smith. And community support manifests in a million ways: CSA members who are in law or medicine or business providing advice that the farm would not otherwise be able to afford; community alternative medicine practitioners offering acupuncture and massage for trade; restaurants using their labor and certified kitchens to can and preserve Sleeping Frog vegetables so little goes to waste; marketing professionals assisting with logo design and printing. Sometimes community members cook meals for the owners. Other times they help harvest.

The CSA, now at 150 members, helps the farm’s financial security tremendously. Those CSA members who have been there since the first season have become part of the farm family. “We’ve seen

Elijah Blue provides on-the-farm entertainment.

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their kids grow up and they’ve seen us starting families and growing as a business,” Weingarten says. “And we’ve seen each other through life changes. We are invested in each other.”

This fall, Sleeping Frogs Farm will grow okra, eggplant, tomatoes, basil, peppers, winter squash, summer squash, sage, thyme, turnips, radishes, kale, carrots, collards, beets, melons, cilantro, chard, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and sprouts. Crops will be planted, cultivated, picked, packaged and sent out into the community where they will be turned into meals.

Valdivia says, “Some of the hardest days we’ve had, it’s the community support that’s kept us going. So many people have said, ‘If things ever get bad, let us know.’ I think people want to see the farm succeed.” ✜ Lisa O’Neill originally hails from New Orleans but has made her second home in the desert, where she writes and teaches writing. Her favorite food to make is lemon icebook pie.

62 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

FOR MORE INFORMATION Sleeping Frog Farm 4510 N Cascabel Rd., Benson, AZ. 520.212.3764. sleepingfrogfarms.com.

Find their produce at the Food Conspiracy Co-op in Tucson, at the St. Philips Plaza Farmers’ Market, in restaurants around town, or join their CSA program.

National Young Farmers Coalition. YoungFarmers.org, info@youngfarmers.org.

EdibleBajaArizona.com

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CARRYING CAPACITY 64 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

The story of this desert is one of survival, and migrants survive—or succumb—because of what they can carry.

By Megan Kimble | Photography by Michael Wells

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ne green polo shirt. Five slices of Bimbo white

bread in the bottom of a twisted plastic bag. Half a jar of McCormick’s strawberry jam. Two cans of Tuny-brand tuna, one of Rancherita refried beans. A liter bottle of Coke, five inches of dark fizz remaining. Two bottles of water. The bottles are full and the water is yellow.

Erica Loveland removes each item in this dusty black backpack and sets it carefully on a table. “It’s pretty typical stuff,” she says.

There’s no compass, no map. There’s a cell phone charger, but no cell phone—the only object that likely remains with this backpack’s owner after a Border Patrol agent found him and two others walking through the mountains north of Arivaca, 60 miles southwest of Tucson.

If you’re crossing the desert from Mexico to the United States and you’re found by a Border Patrol agent, you’re told to drop your things—or you drop them so you can run faster. If you’ve been crossing through the desert and fatigue weighs you down, you drop your things and hope for the strength to take a few more steps. If you’re border archeologist Jason de León, or one of the 20 college-aged students enrolled in his five-week summer field school, you pick up those things and try to piece together the stories of this space, the desert south of Tucson, and the people that cross through it.

(Left) De León and his students often come across arroyos filled with hundreds of abandoned backpacks. (Above, from left). A baby bottle, found in the field; rows of electrolyte water sold in convenience stores south of the bortder; a migrant’s abandoned campsite.

The story of this desert is one of survival, and migrants survive—or succumb—because of what they can carry.

Founded in 2009 by University of Michigan professor Jason De León, the Undocumented Migration Project is an attempt to tell that story through the archeological record of objects left behind from the hundreds of thousands of people who attempt to walk into the United States every year. The story of these objects—the story of this crossing—is supported by the interviews De León and his students conduct with recently deported migrants in shelters in Nogales and Altar, Sonora. The purpose of the interviews is to find out “what happens to them out here,” De León says. “We ask them: How are they preparing for the desert? What have they brought with them? Why are they migrating? If they’ve gone into the desert, what happened to them?”

D

e León grew up in the borderlands of south Texas before moving to Long Beach. His Ph.D. took him to the Northeast, to study archeology at Pennsylvania State University and then down to Mexico, where he spent eight years working on his dissertation—a study of ancient stone tools. One day in 2001, one of his friends, a guy about De León’s age, told him a story: of being robbed by border bandits, almost dying of thirst, getting kidnapped by a smuggler, being held for ransom in a Phoenix safehouse. As he continued to do excavations in other parts of Mexico, De León continued to hear the same kinds of stories, stories of movement, of migration and deportation, of suf-

EdibleBajaArizona.com 65

Desperate for water and deep into the desert, migrants will often drink from cattle tanks. De León has tested this water and found it full of harmful bacteria.

fering and resolve. And he started questioning his choice to study ancient stone tools.

After he and his wife moved to Seattle, his wife’s friend—another archeologist and a fellow University of Arizona alum—came over for dinner and told them about how she’d often come across arroyos full of discarded backpacks and belongings while hiking through the borderlands. “She said, ‘I bet someone could do some sort of archeological study of this stuff,’” De León says. “I bought a plane ticket and was down here a month later. I remember standing on this pile of backpacks and thinking, here’s a way for me to work on a contemporary social issue and use archeology to understand this really clandestine, hidden process.”

The hidden process he’s referring to is the mass movement of people through the Sonoran Desert south of Tucson. In 2012, the Border Patrol apprehended 120,000 people in the Tucson corridor, which means that many more, perhaps triple that figure, are making the trek every year. Although that number is half of what it was three years ago, “People are still coming,” De León says. “Today, some of the people coming through here are some of the most desperate migrants I’ve ever encountered.”

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those willing to embark on the journey have narrowed to the most determined subset of migrants, many coming from as far as Central America. “You’ve got people coming who can’t afford a guide, who have minimal equipment. There are people who go into the desert without water or food because they can’t afford to buy it,” says De León. “It’s gotten more dangerous. Apprehensions are down but fatalities are up, and I think it’s because people are getting pushed into deeper areas and walking for longer distances.”

According to the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, more than 2,100 migrants have died attempting to cross the border in the Tucson corridor since 2001. In 2012, 179 remains were found in the Tucson corridor; as of June of 2013, that tally had already hit 129.

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f you’re lucky, if you don’t get lost or sick or noticed—if you’re in good shape and your shoes, water, and food hold up—you can cross from Altar, Sonora to just north of Arivaca, Arizona in six days. What do you subsist on during those six days? “For the most part, it’s beans, sardines, tuna, tortillas, maybe a few limes, bread, chips, crackers,” De León says. “Lots of salty foods to retain hydration. People have gotten smarter over the years about what to bring and what not to bring. Beef jerky has become increasingly

more common. Which is funny, because you don’t see people eating speckled with spines and up a steep slope of loose, ankle-wobbling rocks. After five weeks of hiking together, the group moves quickly. beef jerky anywhere else in Mexico.”

But hunger isn’t really the issue. “We know that there’s no way Students slide seamlessly around the same palo verdes that detain you can carry enough water,” De León says. “There’s really no way. me. I stop to take a picture and when I look up, I’m at the tail end of If you’re going to do an intense summer hike and cover a lot of the group. I don’t see anyone until I do—a bobbing baseball cap— ground, you need to be drinking six liters of water a day.” A gallon and then I don’t and so I jog, pulling aside mesquite branches and and a half of water every day, and it’s a six-day hike—if you’re lucky, dodging prickly pear pads, until I see the hat again. The terrain is ten gallons of water would suffice. “The most you can possibly carry unforgiving, but more than that, it is vast, deceptive in its distance.

After we return to the cars, I ask a couple of the students what is four gallons,” says De León, “and it’s rare to see someone with they’d carry, if they had to cross the desert, if they had to hike for six four gallons.”

Most migrants set out with a gallon or two of water. When days instead of four hours. They pause, as if, after finding so many they’ve exhausted it after a day, when the severity of dehydration backpacks with the same thing, there would be an option besides begins to set in, many turn to the cattle tanks scattered through- tuna and beans and tortillas.

“Water,” says Olivia Waterhouse, an archeology student at Barout the open rangeland. “Drinking this water will at least keep you alive for a little bit but the intestinal stuff it can cause can be pretty nard College. “I’d know I could survive without food. I’d just carry rough,” De León says. “If you get a stomach bug, and then all of a some water. And maybe a jar of peanut butter.” Energy bars, elecsudden you’ve got diarrhea and you’re becoming even more dehy- trolyte packs; not Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Of course, these students have studied the terrain and know what the human body can withdrated.” stand.

This desperation for waThe question of what exter—and the impossibility of actly a body can withstand carrying all you need—has while walking through the driven many humanitarian desert piqued the interest groups into the desert carof Kansas State graduate rying clean water supplies Emily Butt, who spent her for migrants. “During the summer compiling research summer, we’re typically disabout how many calories the tributing 1,000 gallons of average migrant woman or water a month,” says Sarah man usually consume during Launius, a media voluntheir crossing and compared teer for No More Deaths, this against how many caloa Tucson-based humanitarries that person might burn ian organization. “For the during a six-day trek. Uslast 10 years or so, we’ve had ing the artifacts collected in volunteers that go out and the field—backpacks found walk the remote desert areas A migrant’s last stop before crossing the border is often a convienence store like this intact; food wrappers and of the Altar Valley to provide one; many have begun catering their wares according to migrants’ needs. trash—as well as the topogdirect assistance to people in need.” Although these volunteers will leave food packs and water at raphy of six typical routes across the desert, Butt estimated that a designated stations, the goal is to actually find those in need. “We 175-pound man would burn 18,417 calories on his journey and concarry it so when we see them, we can give it to them,” Launius says. sume only 5,954.

“These people are starving, and it is severe,” says Butt. “It is not In addition to water, No More Deaths hands out about 300 food packs every month. “The food packs that were assembled earlier just that they are not eating enough, but they are hiking across an today had a Capri Sun, fruit cup, two granola bars, a can of Vienna average of 70 miles of mountainous desert. Add that to carrying sausages, and a bag of chips,” Launius says. “Cans of beans are typi- bags, wearing improper clothing, being dehydrated, and sustaining cally handed out with the food packs and also stashed in storage bins injuries. When we understand their level of suffering, we get an idea near water. We try to provide a mix between sodium and protein. of how desperate these people must be in order to have taken on those dangers in the first place.”

But our number one priority is providing clean water.”

Given this 12,000-calorie discrepancy, it might seem surprising that De León and his students find any intact food artifacts in the n a migrant trail north of Arivaca, near Lobo Peak, De field. But, De León says, “The hunger usually doesn’t hit en route.

León’s students eat individual bags of Sweet n’ Salty You’re too thirsty. I think that’s why we find a lot of unopened cans. trail mix, cherry-red fruit roll-ups, Corn Nuts, and—the Because the weight becomes too much. It’s when they get here that group favorite—Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. We’re hiking to a migrant they’re completely famished.”

Some migrants do forage for wild foods en route, says De León, shrine that the group built the summer before, across a wide wash

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especially if they’re fortunate enough to travel with a guide who knows the landscape. “But most of the time, these people have never even been to a desert, so they’re really unfamiliar with what they can and cannot eat.”

Many migrants are also unfamiliar with how to get to where they’re trying to go, as fewer and fewer are able to hire a guide to help them across the desert. Although there are many established migrant routes to follow, the reason most of the backpacks recovered in the field are absent of compass or map is because the Border Patrol has decided these navigational aids signify the presence of a drug smuggler. Waterhouse tells me that a water bottle company south of the border prints an image of the iconic—and easily identifiable—Baboquivari Peak on the front of their label to help orient migrants towards north.

This intense drive to cross such unforgiving terrain may be motivated by economics, but it’s also intensely emotional. “Increasingly, many more of the people we encounter are trying to reunite with people in the United States,” says No More Death’s Leunius. “With their spouses or parents or children. These are people who aren’t going to give up.” No More Deaths has started working in Nogales and Altar, Sonora, handing out dehydration kits before migrants become desperate in the desert. “It’s prevention work. People can use the materials to clean water while en route, if, say, they come across a cattle tank,” she says.

Those working on the Undocumented Migration Project see this desperation to cross in clear plastic bags—the Border Patrolissue plastic bags given to migrants to store their belongings, if they still have any, while they’re being deported. “We find a lot of those bags,” says Waterhouse. “Which means they try to cross again almost immediately.”

“These are individuals who have recently pushed their bodies to the limit,” says Leuinus. “Part of our prevention work [in Mexico] is in understanding that if people don’t have an opportunity to recuperate before trying to come again, they’re far more likely to die.”

Often on their second and third attempts, with the knowledge of what awaits them, migrants will carry provisions better suited to their trek. Many of the markets supplying these migrants have also started tweaking the provisions they offer in response to this unique demand.

“Some companies have started producing tuna and beans in plastic pouches instead of a can, because it reduces the weight so much,” says De León. And, instead of carrying clear plastic gallons of water— which might catch the glint of the sun and so the eye of a Border Patrol agent—migrants now carry opaque black bottles.

“If you ask people today, they’ll say, ‘Yeah, they’ve always sold black water bottles,’” Waterhouse says. “But we know, from what we’ve collected, that only a few years ago, migrants were carrying water bottles wrapped in black bags, or covered in black grease.

There’s a short social memory at the border.” A migrant’s discarded artifacts tell a story that isn’t susceptible to human memory and, more importantly, cultural erasure.

“This stuff is disappearing and I worry that we might sanitize this history a hundred years from now,” says De León. This is the history of demographic change, of the population movements that have occurred so many times before in U.S. history. “We’re assembling good, systematic, scientific data about what happened out here, and I think that’s hard to argue with.”

He says that the one goal of the Undocumented Migrant Project is to offer an alternative to the story issued by the government

“At some point we need to decide how much suffering we will or will not permit on American soil, regardless of nationality or proper documentation.”

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or mainstream media. “It’s either that the border is out of control and it’s chaotic, or it’s the simplistic portrait of the tragic migrant story,” De León says. “There are a lot of tragic migrant stories, but there are also a lot of stories that don’t get told.”

For some of his students, the project becomes about more than just storytelling. “I think the reasonable response is to take a step back and reconsider our trade, border, and immigration policies, to try to address the root of the problem rather than amp up the Border Patrol and make the dangers for migrants even more violent and traumatizing,” Butt says. “At some point we need to decide how much suffering we will or will not permit on American soil, regardless of nationality or proper documentation.”

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n the last of the three backpacks being catalogued at the Arivaca Field Station, Erica Loveland pulls out a toothbrush and tells me they also often find razors packed in among food, water, and clothes. These artifacts puzzle the students. Why waste precious water on hygiene? “We talked about it in one of our group discussions and decided maybe it was a peace of mind thing,” she says. “Or maybe they’re bringing them for later.” Maybe the only way to cross the desert is to imagine that you’ll soon be somewhere where the water for brushing teeth and shaving stubble does not come from a cattle tank.

Last summer, De León was hiking with two students when they encountered one of the 179 remains officially registered with the Pima Country Office of the Medical Examiner. A woman was lying facedown on a hillside, collapsed from heat stroke or dehydration. “We found her clutching an electrolyte bottle,” says De León.

“She’d been there for four days.” In the months following this discovery, De León and the students built a shrine for Marisela, carrying heavy bricks through the heavy terrain, leaving their own artifact in the desert to honor the life they found lost.

Of course, this story isn’t really about those who find a body in the desert—or those who catalogue that body’s belongings. But it’s the finders that keep that memory, that piece together that life.

After interviewing her family back in Ecuador—a family that includes two young children—De León is working on a book that tells Marisela’s story. She’ll be one of three stories in the book, one of the three that stand in for the thousands that could be told.

“It’s only when archeology is used along with migrant’s stories does this become insightful,” said De León. “Only when we hear what they say can we understand what they left behind.”

Backpacks, ripped and faded to grey, strewn over rocks. Caught on cacti. Heavy with provisions, discarded in a valley. Shoes, little and big. Pharmaceuticals—caffeine pills and aspirin. Water bottles.

A change of clothes. A baggy polo shirt. A tiny T-shirt, a rainbow swash of glitter across its front. “We’re just the collectors,” says De León. “We’re just storing their things for now. It’s their story.”

Visit UndocumentedMigrationProject.com. ✜

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EdibleBajaArizona.com

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Chiltepin Crush Text and photography by Bill Steen

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rowing up in Tucson, the salsa we ate at home was almost always made from chiltepines. With family roots in Sonora, my mother made salsa the same way that it is still made south of the border today. For the most part, it seemed like something rather ordinary. It wasn’t until the mid-80s, when I read about chiltepins in Gary Nabhan’s Gathering the Desert that I realized these tiny chiles, which grow wild in northern Sonora, Mexico, and a very limited area of southern Arizona, were something rather unique. However, at the same time, I was immersing myself in Mexican cooking and was more intrigued by what I perceived to be the more colorful and complex salsas of southern Mexico.

70 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

And then, things changed. About five years ago, perhaps due to improved and refined culinary sensitivity (or age), I awakened to the fact that these tiny, red, super-hot chiles had a marvelous flavor that I had previously never appreciated. Indeed, most people who write about chiltepins rarely talk about their flavor, focusing instead on the ferocious pungency of the tiny fruit.

Perhaps one of the reasons one does not find a great diversity of salsas in Sonora is because chiltepines have such a unique and distinct flavor that the Sonoran people may never have had the desire to look for something else. Apart from chiltepin salsa, the only other salsa that I recall as a traditional part of Sonoran cuisine is one made from green chile and tomatoes, made only in season.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that the chiltepin is virtually synonymous with Sonoran culture and, for that matter, the Sonoran Desert. Anyone who comes to appreciate this fantastic chile has to become part Sonorense as well. It is almost inconceivable to imagine sitting down to eat in Sonora and not finding chiltepines on the table in one form or another. If not in salsa, you’ll find dried chiltepines in a jar; you can crush these red orbs into soups like cocido or menudo. Occasionally, you’ll find a bowl of freshly picked green chiltepines, as well as those that have been preserved in brine or vinegar.

Chiltepines are harvested in the fall, typically over a one-month period that typically begins the middle of October. The plants are commonly found growing under the cover of leguminous nurse plants like mesquite and can be difficult to access. When planting them in the Tucson area, they do best when those conditions

are replicated. They prefer shade and are frost sensitive; planting against a south facing wall can help create an ideal microclimate for the plants. Nonetheless, chiltepines are very resilient. In Sonora, many plants were severely damaged by freezes in 2011 and many locals thought they would not survive. However, two years later, most of these plants have recovered from their roots and are producing once again.

If you would like to try growing chiltepines, Desert Survivors Nursery typically has plants for sale. You can also try growing them from seed, but it can be difficult. In the wild, the chiltepines depend upon birds to scarify the seed by allowing it to pass through their digestive system; the hard outer covering of the seed is broken down so water can enter. To successfully germinate the seeds, you can scarify the seed yourself in order to facilitate the seed’s ability to absorb water. Keeping the seeds well-watered may also be sufficient.

Why grow them? Well, for one, you can enjoy the plants and leave the fruit to the birds. You also might find an economic motivation, as chiltepines are very expensive to buy because they are harvested by hand in remote locations where the plants are often far apart. In addition, their annual availability can vary greatly due to an increasing frequency of climatic disruptions such as drought and extreme frost.

I am aware of only one person that has really had any success growing chiltepines commercially. For over ten years, Francisco Alfonso Lopez of the tiny town of San Jose de Baviacora, in the Rio Sonora Valley, has been experimenting with domestic and wild va-

In the Rio Sonora, two women sort wild chiltepins before setting them out to dry.

EdibleBajaArizona.com 71

rieties. Despite many failures and setbacks, he has enthusiastically continued his efforts to develop plants that will produce bountifully; that are stable when grown in fields with irrigation; that can be harvested easily; and that have the flavor and pungency resembling the wild chiltepin.

Every year Francisco’s chiltepines get a little bit closer to being virtually identical to the wild ones, but with the added benefit of being able to be grown under controlled conditions where they are less susceptible to climatic extremes. He employs more than 30 local people during planting and harvest times and his products are marketed in various locations in the state of Sonora under the label of Don Tepin. For more information, visit chiltepin.com.mx.

In Tucson area, chiltepines can be typically found at Food City markets or through Native Seeds/SEARCH’s retail outlet on Campbell Avenue. For a better price, hop in your car and take a leisurely drive down to Imuris, 43 miles south of Nogales, or continue an additional 15 miles down the highway to Magdalena, where some of the best roadside stands in Sonora are found.

In addition to the common uses, chiltepines are also combined with dried red chiles, green chiles, and even desserts like flan. It might be a good idea to become familiar with some of the traditional recipes first before branching out into a flurry of creativity.

With that in mind, here are a few basic recipes to introduce you to a true Sonoran Desert treasure. ✜

Crushed Chiltepines Nothing complicated here; just keep a jar of chiltepines on the tabletop that can be added to soups or any other dish of your liking. When added in combination with a little lime juice, they can transform almost any dish.

Note of caution: Chiltepines need to be handled with care. Either use the fingers of your left hand or a small crusher, which are easily found in Sonora. If you touch your skin—or eyes—the residue oils can be quite irritating.

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.”

Green Chiltepines Preserved in Vinegar Chiltepines en Escabeche If you happen to have access to green chiltepines before they turn red on the plant, they can be preserved in vinegar and are great with tacos and soups.

Green chiltepines, enough to almost fill a pint jar 4 cloves of peeled garlic 3 tsps salt 1 cup of vinegar (again, rice vinegar is good) Water 1 pint sized Mason jar

Fill the jar about a third of the way with chiltepines. Add one garlic clove, 1 tsp of salt and 1 tbsp of vinegar. Repeat this process a couple of more times and then fill almost to the top with water. Store in a cool, dry place.

(Left) Chiltepin salsa is a staple at most meals in Sonora. (Right) Fresh, green chiltepines preserved in brine are common in Sonora.

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Basic Chiltepin Salsa When it comes to chiltepin salsa recipes there is no such thing as an exact recipe. Individual recipes vary widely, but the basic ingredients remain more or less the same. The recipe I’ve given below is what you might call middle of the road, one that will not scorch your mouth when eaten and that will be enjoyed by most.

2 tbsp of chiltepines 2 medium tomatoes 1 to 2 cloves of garlic 1 tbsp of vinegar (rice vinegar is nice although in Sonora apple cider vinegar is 1 common) ½ tsp of crushed Mexican oregano 1 tsp of salt 1-3 tbls chopped cilantro (optional) cups of water, depending on water content

Remove the center core of a tomato and boil it with the garlic and Mexican oregano. When the tomato has softened, remove the skin. Another option is to blacken the tomato in the oven or on the grill instead of boiling. Toast the chiltepines lightly on the stove top, being careful not to burn as it will turn them bitter. Blend all the ingredients, adding some of the cooking water as needed until the desired consistency is achieved. Finally, add the vinegar, salt, and chopped cilantro.

Chiltepin Salsa with Quince/Membrillo The town of Arizpe is famous for their chiltepin salsa that is made with quince/membrillo. It is occasionally made in other parts of Sonora, sometimes with apple. One variation on the above recipe is to cook equal parts of quince with tomato and add them to above ingredients. The quantity of vinegar might be increased slightly; otherwise all else is the same. A small amount of crushed black pepper is optional.

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Chiltepin Flan Text and photography

by Megan Kimble

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lthough flan flavored with chiles is common throughout Latin America, the use of chiltepines in this recipe not only enhances and mellows their spicy kick, it also elevates the flan’s smoky caramel flavors. The drive down to Banámichi, a town in the Rio Sonora valley, is worth it just to try this flan at its source.

Find it at La Posada del Rio Sonora, where Pati Galvez continues to make the recipe she created.

You’ll need:

Chiltepin and Garlic Soup Caldo de Chiltepin y Ajo This simple broth-based soup packs a punch. Like the variations in salsa found around Sonora, there are many simple variations of this soup.

1 1 8 3 1 8-10

can evaporated milk small can (356 ml) of sweetened condensed milk ounces of cream eggs tbsp of vanilla dried chiltepines

1 8 1 10 1

quart of water or chicken broth to 12 garlic cloves, slightly mashed tbsp of oil to 15 chiltepines tbsp or more of Seville (bitter) orange juice or Mexican lime.

3 sprigs of cilantro

Lightly sauté the garlic, add the water or broth, cilantro, and salt. You can add a vegetable or two, but the classic simple broth is nice by itself. Traditionally, this soup is eaten with the large, very thin Sonoran tortillas known as tortillas de agua.

Mix all ingredients in a blender for 1 minute.

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Add ¾ cup of sugar to a heavy pan—steel or cast iron—over medium heat and stir constantly. It’ll take several minutes for the sugar to caramelize; keep stirring until you have a dark brown liquid.

Pour the hot caramel into an 8-9” tin mold and rotate around until it coats the sides and bottom. Here, Pati uses a Christmas cookie tin, but you can use anything that has a secure lid, and that won’t melt or break.

Cover the water bath and leave simmering for an hour and a half. Remove from the water and chill in refrigerator; once cool, invert the flan onto a serving platter. Garnish with chiltepins.

Pour the prepared batter on top of the caramel, secure lid, and place in a simmering water bath. Place a towel or canning rack below to secure the tin; the water level should come halfway up the side of the tin.

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buzz

Bacon Seeks Bourbon Following the trail of Tucson’s liquor infusions, from bar to kitchen

By Dave Mondy | Illustration by Chris Gall

With bacon in one hand and bourbon in the other, you’d think I’d be a happy man.

But I wasn’t. I was worried. The bacon and bourbon weren’t the problem—I loved each one; the problem was that I was trying to combine the two. Like some addled alchemist, I was standing over my stove attempting to conjure bacon-flavored booze.

Liquor infusions have become increasingly popular over the past decade, and why not? If you’re a savvy bartender, you might think: Why buy flavored vodka from some corporate behemoth when you could just toss fresh fruit in a bottle for similar/cheaper/ tastier effect? But I’m old school in my liquor tastes—I generally like whiskey to simply taste like whiskey—so unless I found an infusion unique, I rarely tried it.

A few Tucson tastes led me to rethink my position—led me, in fact, to the awkward position of pouring hot bacon fat into a jar of bourbon. I was reasonably certain the jar wouldn’t explode—but I wasn’t absolutely certain, and it occurred to me that the difference between “reasonably” and “absolutely” in this situation was a kitchen afire. I was suddenly recalling a sixth grade fire safety video: Hot fat plus water fomenting a font of flames. But I had other infusions lined up—peaches and peppers sat waiting on the counter—so I swallowed my panic (with a bit of bourbon) and poured away.

P

Looking for Infusions

itch a Mason jar in the air and it might just land on a bar with house-infused liquors. Luckily for me, several of the best examples were within walking distance of my El Presidio apartment in downtown Tucson. Pro tip: When tasting dif76 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

ferent liquors at different locales, you definitely want to be on foot.

Scott & Co. has a well-earned reputation in Tucson’s booze vanguard—indeed, it was their bacon-washed rye Bloody Mary that launched my quixotic quest. “Rye!” you might exclaim. “In a Bloody Mary?” Yes, I’d reply, and it’s delicious. Rye’s spice, mashedup with tomatoes and married to bacon-y goodness, makes for the best hair-of-the-dog on any given Sunday.

According to Karl Goranowksi, Scott & Co.’s bar manager, infusions are both more simple and complex than I initially imagined. At heart, “infusions are basic: a water with lemon in it, that’s an infusion,” he noted, adding, “and anyone can make liquor infusions.” Goranowski was highly encouraging, urging people to create their own seasonal concoctions. “If there’s a flavor you taste, and you want to share it, [to] give it out to friends, you can make an infusion,” he said. Scott & Co. has featured many compelling versions—gins merged with snow peas and lapsang tea come to mind.

But instead of just speaking of liquor infusions, Goranowski shifted the conversation to a variation on the theme: The Shrub. A “shrub” isn’t just a diminutive lawn bush; it’s also a term for infused vinegars oft-used as a mixer for liquor or sparkling water. If you’ve got a Soda Stream or simply some soda water, you can use shrubs as flavoring to make a great replacement for soda drinks. Shrubs have a cool history, too, originating in ye olde American pharmacies.

Much like the handlebar mustache, shrubs are a piece of Americana Past resurfacing in hip bars (but aren’t nearly as ostentatious).

Goranowski’s enthusiasm proved evangelistic—I suddenly resolved to make shrubs myself—and that was before he talked of tinctures, another sort of self-made flavoring liquid. He’d already illuminated how an embarrassment of fruits and vegetables could create vinegar syrups, but it turned out that similar suspects could be added to high-proof liquors and aged slightly longer to create eyedropper-allocated additives, called tinctures. My head was swimming, but there were more infusions to investigate.

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Next up: Elliott’s on Congress boasts over 16 vodka infusions for every palate/personality, from strawberry/sweet to horseradish/ ornery. My server told me that fanaticism for their infusions has fostered enough fans to ferry the new business through the lean times downtown during the streetcar construction. Their happy hour certainly facilitates a lot of tasting. And though I didn’t love every infusion (whatever personality type I am, it turns out I’m not blueberry), their habañero margarita beguiled. I’d previously tried jalapeño-infused margaritas, but the sugar always smothered the spice. Here, Elliot’s habañero delivered.

Last stop: La Cocina. I didn’t drop by just because it was the closest bar to my abode—no. La Cocina regularly rotates 12 to 18 house-made infusions which vary with the season, along with many of their own syrups to sweeten drinks (and soothe the stomach; their ginger syrup—created with ginger, sugar, cayenne pepper, and a mélange of secret spices—mixes with whiskey for a perfect palliative at the end of a gut-busting evening). I’ve tried many of their infusions in the past; for example, they have a drink named The Hemingway that I—as a writer writing about booze—am contractually obligated to imbibe. It utilizes a house-infused cucumber gin, reminiscent of Hendrick’s, yet with a hint of rosewater. But La Cocina’s most intriguing infusion, for me, was their hibiscus tequila, used to make a bright magenta margarita.

Churchill Brauninger, La Cocina’s bar manager, told me they use dried hibiscus flowers for the infusion. “Some infusions take a while,” he said, but when adding the hibiscus to liquors, “in the first minute, you see the transformation, the color comes out… tastes great, looks great.” But of course, it’s a little more complicated than that—because, for the hibiscus margarita, they also use the dried flowers to make a hibiscus syrup.

“Making all this in house is a lot more work,” I said. “Why do it?” He replied that it elevates the sort of cocktails they can make, and that patrons definitely notice the difference. “You buy flavored Stoli strawberry at the store… you have a scientist somewhere replicating the flavor for your palate. But [at La Cocina] we actually have strawberries, it’s actually a strawberry-infused tequila.”

T

Bacon Meets Bourbon

he next morning, as you might imagine, liquor infusions were the last thing I wanted. Yet I’d already purchased all this bourbon and bacon, among other ingredients—so I forged ahead. In the end, I was glad I did, but never let it be said that I was unwilling to sacrifice for the greater good.

The bacon bourbon didn’t explode—as you already surmised.

I simply shook up the odd admixture and set it aside, as per Goranowski’s recipe, making a murky mess. But I wasn’t out of the woods—peppers were ready to impress, specifically serrano and habañero.

When working with hot peppers, you’ll hear a lot of recommendations to “wear plastic gloves,” which seems a bit overcautious/ unadventurous. I’ll only add that “just being sort of careful” while

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DIY INFUSIONS What’s important with infusions are ratios; you can halve or quarter these recipes if, say, you’re low on bacon or bourbon. Also, you needn’t buy expensive booze–the infusions provide much of the flavor.

SERRANO-INFUSED TEQUILA For a 750 ml bottle of tequila, you’ll need 3 serrano peppers (and the good sense to not touch your eye while cutting peppers). Cut away the heart of the peppers; cut the skin into 3 or 4 long strips. Add the peppers to the tequila. Let the mixture sit for about eight hours (the longer it ages, the hotter it gets). Remove the peppers and enjoy the heat!

BACON-WASHED BOURBON You’ll need a 750 ml bottle of young American bourbon (or rye or whiskey). On low heat, fry a package of bacon to render out the fat; cook until you have about ¼ to ½ cup of liquid. Combine bacon fat and bourbon in a glass storage vessel, like a Mason jar. Let mixture sit for 4 hours at room temperature, then put in the freezer for about 8—this will help separate fat from liquor. Finally, run the bourbon through 2 or 3 layers of cheesecloth to filter out some of the greasiness. While most infused liquors have a long shelf life, with bacon-washed bourbon, fat can eventually go rancid—storing it in the freezer will help extend the shelf life, but it’s best consumed within a week. Thanks to Karl Goranowski at 47 Scott.

PEACH SHRUB You can use whatever fresh fruits, vegetables, or herbs you have lying around; this recipe calls for peaches.

You’ll also need vinegar—white vinegar is the standard, but you can experiment with various varieties—and sugar. For ease of preparation, use a 1 to 1 to 1 ratio of fruit, vinegar, and sugar. Cut up the peaches, put them in a jar, and fill with enough vinegar to cover. Let the mixture age for at least two days at room temperature. Remove the peaches from vinegar; you may wish to strain with cheesecloth so you can squeeze the juice from the peaches. In a saucepan over medium heat, mix sugar in with vinegar mixture. Let cool in the fridge; add a tablespoon or two to soda water or other beverages for flavor.

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thinking “quickly washing my hands will be fine” could lead to “intense burning sensations” and “misty eyes” and other “unmanly displays of low pain tolerance” which, were they caught on video, could be a YouTube sensation. Also, don’t touch any other part of your person—I can’t, in this purely hypothetical situation, stress this enough, especially if one’s significant other is present.

Don’t get the wrong idea. Assuming you’re not idiotic during the preparation phase, infusing tequila with peppers is really easy.

Avoid the heart and stem, cut the rest into strips, and put it into the booze for eight to 24 hours—the longer it sits, the hotter it gets.

Maybe it was the local sourcing of the serrano peppers from the San Xavier Co-op Farm, but I must say: the serrano infusion was my unexpected favorite. The bacon bourbon made for a tasty brunch beverage and the habañero pepper infusion was suitably spicy; but it was those San Xavier serranos that provided both heat and flavor to make the best margarita I’ve tasted—the thing tasted like a spicy and sugary pepper, in liquor form. For me, that’s exactly what I want in a margarita.

Also, the peach shrub I made was damned delicious—though for the next iteration, I’d probably age the mixture longer and use more sugar. I was reminded of something Goranowski told me, regarding both shrubs and infused liquors: They can be a great use of extra produce left over from a CSA share. Say you have a bit too much fennel for some damn reason. Why not make it into a fennel shrub, or fennel vodka? In fact, a friend of a friend did exactly that, made fennel vodka, and has been able to brag about it ever since.

Overall, I’d say: Go for it. Make your infusions, and even if they don’t all work out, some will; when they do, it’ll be supremely satisfying, and when they don’t, well, you’ll still be surrounded with Mason jars of modified liquor—you’ll feel like a devilish apothecary.

There are worse feelings. ✜

Assuming you’re not idiotic during the preparation phase, infusing tequila with peppers is really easy.

For more information: Scott & Co. 49 N. Scott Ave. 520.624.4747. 47 Scott.com/scottco.

Elliott’s on Congress. 135 E. Congress St. 520.622.5500.

ElliottsonCongress.com.

La Cocina. 201 N. Court Ave. 520.622.0351. LaCocinaTucson.com.

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

booze news

All the news that’s fit to drink Congress Street just got a bit more boozy. Starting in September, the Good Oak Bar will be serving all Arizona beers and wines; owner Derrick Widmark of Diablo Burger will also be serving up locally sourced pub food. In August, Travis Reese and Nicole Flowers, owners of 47 Scott and Scott & Co., opened the doors at Saint House, a restaurant/bar featuring Caribbean cuisine and over 40 kinds of rum. Good Oak Bar, 316 E. Congress St., goodoakbar. com; Saint House, 256 E. Congress St., sainthouserumbar.com.

Over in midtown, keep an eye out for the opening of Sentinel Peak Brewing, slated for late September. Founded by three firefighters, the brewery has already tapped its Hero 19 Brown Ale at Tap&Bottle; all proceeds benefit the fallen members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. 4746 E. Grant Rd., sentinelpeakbrewing.com.

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Big news for fans of local liquor: Tucson is getting its very own Scotch distillery. Hamilton Distillery will be Tucson’s first (legal) distillery, producing a Scotch flavored with mesquite and Baja Arizona terroir. Look for the smoky spirit in local restaurants this fall. hamiltondistillers.com.

Born & Brewed: Tucson’s Beer Cup returns to town on September 20 at 7 p.m. at Hotel Congress with a slew of local brews battling head to head for the title/trophy. $30 ($35 day of) buys you beers and—like in any democracy—your money also buys you votes. 311 E. Congress St., hotelcongress.com.

Are you of a mind to stomp some grapes? (Or perhaps “feet” is the operative anatomy.) Check out the 31st Annual Harvesting of the Vine Festival at the Village of Elgin Wineries on Sept. 28 and 29 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. There will be live music and, for the more competitive amongst us, a crowning of the King and Queen of Grape Stomping. May their reign be long and peaceful. $15. 471 Elgin Rd., elginwines.com.

For those that prefer their viticulture mixed with a bit of gunplay, Tombstone is hosting its first festival of the vine in conjunction with Helldorado Days, the town’s oldest festival that celebrates its gun-slinging days of the 1880s. Oct. 18–20; helldoradodays.com.

—Dave Mondy

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ink Brewing Arizona: A Century of Beer in the Grand Canyon State by Ed Sipos (University of Arizona Press, 2013). Arizona history always delivers colorful characters and stories; the history of beer brewing makes no exception. Although Arizonans historically lacked the resources for brewing beer—water, grain, bottles, yeasts—when people arrived to the Southwest from elsewhere—the East Coast, Europe, California—they brought their beer-brewing habits with them and made do. Brewing Arizona is a thorough chronicle of beer brewing in the Grand Canyon State, documenting crude and craft beers alike. Ed Sipos begins with stories of the pioneer brewers working with limited resources in the late 1800s, covers the massive commercial beer production that occurred in the mid-twentieth century, and finishes with the current renaissance of inventive craft brewing occurring throughout the state now. As the current local food—and drink—movement sweeps throughout the United States, it’s worth remembering that localizing our food and drink is nothing new. Painstakingly researched and accompanied by about 250 photographs, this book belongs on the shelf of any beer brewer or enthusiast—or anyone interested in Arizona’s story-worthy history.

—Jared R. McKinley

Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss (Random House, 2013).

Turns out the secret behind the rising rate of obesity in the U.S. really is no secret. Having recently won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for his investigation of the dangers of contaminated meat, Michael Moss turns his attention to the ingredients that processed food magnates have been manipulating for more than 50 years, creating, literally, the tastiest—and most addictive—treats possible: salt, sugar, and fat. While explaining the science behind industry lingo like “bliss point” and “mouthfeel,” Moss explores the often-deceptive tactics industry profiteers have employed to carve out a supermarket niche worth “$280 billion in annual sales,” and reveals that our cultural culinary habits are not so much decided as coded

by Ph.Ds in food laboratories, and by insidious advertising.

The statistics on hand—that the average American consumes upwards of 60,000 calories worth of sugary drinks and as much as 33 pounds of cheese each year—both frighten and fascinate. Like much of the processed food it describes, this book is at once mouth-wateringly delicious—a read rich with insider info and muckraking reportage—and, once ingested, thoroughly stomach-churning.

—Craig Reinbold

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The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World’s Great Drinks by Amy Stewart (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2013). New York Times bestselling author Amy Stewart follows her horticultural curiosity— from Mexico to New Zealand, from apples to walnuts, from gin to absinthe to Douglas firinfused eau-de-vie—on a quest to answer every question you’ve ever had about the origin of the world’s most famous, infamous, and exotic drinks. Creating the ultimate mixologist’s field guide, Stewart organizes her findings into three sections, employing her barstool wit and connoisseur’s knowledge to decipher the nuances of fermentation and distillation, bare the secrets of suffusing alcohol with nature’s flavors, and finally, to unlock the mysteries of the garden, “where we encounter a seasonal array of botanical mixers and garnishes to be introduced to the cocktail in its final stage of preparation.” Cocktail recipes accompany each entry. Following the author’s notes on Mentha spicata, one finds writer Walker Percy’s renowned formula for the perfect Mint Julep, “one large, powerful drink that grows gradually sweeter.”

Following Stewart’s advice, carry your julep—and this book—to the porch and remain there until bedtime: “There will be nothing else to your day but the slow draining of the glass and the pleasant drone of the cicadas.”

—Craig Reinbold

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PLANT NOW THE GREENS AND BRASSICAS There are endless greens to choose from in the cool season: lettuces, cab-

Seasonal Guidelines for Home Food Production

bages, the leaf chichories (radicchio, escarole, endive, frisée), asian greens (bok choy, garland greens), kale, collards, arugula, mustards, mache, orach, cress, miner’s lettuce, salad burnet,

By Jared R. McKinley | Illustration by Danny Martin

spinach, chard, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, rapini.

THOSE OF US WHO REALLY LOVE Arizona want to say, “We live here because of the summer not despite the summer.” But to be honest, we all—people, plants, and animals—welcome fall weather.

Gardening becomes much more pleasant and the cool season delivers fewer challenges to growing food in our arid climate.

Warm Season Spillover Many crops bounce back in the fall. Also, you may have planned for a fall crop of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant and other warm season crops and have young plants ready to do their thing in the fall as they did in the spring. If you have some leftover plants that are just too beat up from summer, pull them out. If you are just sick of squash and cannot give any more away, yank out and compost those plants. Make space for the new season’s flavors.

The SpaceEfficient Cool Season While summer crops tend to sprawl, vine and spill, many cool-season crops are predictable, efficient users of space. In fact, cool-season crops produce much more food per square inch of plant. Sometimes summer can make you feel like a terrible gardener due to the challenges the heat poses to edible crops. In contrast, cool season gardening builds confidence because it is relatively easy and takes a lot less resources (especially water).

Preparing the Soil When you plant cool-season crops, remember that root crops, some herbs, and legumes don’t want soil that is too rich, and it should be well-draining. Most other crops like a good helping of manure, compost and organic fertilizer. If your goal is to be an organic gardener, stay away from synthetic fertilizers. They kill the organisms that feed your plants.

Planting Most cool season crops can be directly sown into the ground and thinned as they come along (you can eat the young seedlings as “microgreens”). Eventually you want to give each plant the space to develop into its mature size. You can cut the tops off some varieties of greens (leaving the base) and they will grow back. Check seed catalog descriptions for varieties that can be handled this way.

You can start the lettuces, cabbages, and cole crops (brassicas such as broccoli) in trays and small pots or purchase them from the nursery, already started. Root crops, legumes, and annual herbs are best directly sown into the ground—they tend to bolt (go to flower prematurely) when started in a tray or pot. Don’t plant legumes next to root crops; legumes have a relationship with soil organisms that produce nitrogen in the soil, and this will make root crops grow very leafy, but not produce great roots.

Also, don’t let the tough summer sun make you think your winter garden needs just as much shade. Over-shaded plants are more

THE ROOT CROPS Root crops are easy to grow, so long as the soil is loose and well-drained: radishes (don’t forget the delicious daikon radishes), beets, turnips, parsnip, carrots, root chicory, burdock.

LEGUMES Beans are not just for summer: peas, garbanzos, fava.

HERBS You can plant most perennial herbs (omitting the frost-tender crops) and many annual herbs: parsley, dill, chervil, cilantro, fennel, borage, and salad burnet.

CROPS WITHOUT CATEGORY Some don’t fit neat into a category: celery, artichoke and cardoon, onions, garlic, strawberries, grapes, most fruit trees and perennial crops (if you plant citrus or other frost-tender crops, have a good plan for frost-protection).

prone to pests and other problems and the sun in winter is not so brutal as the summer.

Mulching & Feeding Once you have thinned your seedlings, mulch thickly with straw. Shading the ground from the sun helps to prevent bolting and saves water. Apply finished compost between rows (under the straw) when needed. This top dressing of compost will help feed plants. If plants are slow to develop you may need to apply some organic fertilizer.

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Remember good garden soil takes care and time to build.

Frost Yes, sometimes in October we get an early frost, especially at the higher elevations of Baja Arizona. Cabbages, kale, and Brussels sprouts love frost and actually develop good flavor from the cold snaps. Most other crops can survive the frost but benefit from a cover on the coldest evenings. Protect strawberries, peas, artichokes, cardoon, and burdock from all cold snaps. When covering plants, cloth works better than most other fabrics because it insulates. If you use plastic, make sure it is not touching the plants and remember to take it off during the day where temperatures in our region can warm up and bake the plants under that covering.

VEGETABLE FEATURES Radishes Probably the easiest crop to grow, radishes are great for beginners. Plant from seed and thin to allow roots to grow to mature size. Radishes love loose, well-drained soil, especially the daikon varieties. Do not feed fertilizers high in nitrogen; the result will be lots of lush foliage and thin, underdeveloped roots. Japanese daikons take a lot longer to develop and need very nice, loose soil. Prepare the soil deeply if you wish to grow these.

Swiss Chard Extremely productive, Swiss chard is also gorgeous. Some varieties (like the popu-

THE COOP SCOOP

By Renee Bidegain F ALL IS THE IDEAL SEASON to start your poultry flock. All winter they will acclimate to their new home. Most hens mature after four to six months, and by spring, you will get eggs.

Tips for raising fall chicks A brooding pen is a small chicken coop to keep chicks warm, dry, and protected from predators. Keep it draft-free, clean and dry.

Brooders can be fashioned from recycled boxes, plastic tubs, galvanized troughs, or your own bathtub. Chicks should have enough room to get away from the heat source and stretch their legs. Red light bulbs keep chicks warm without stressing them out.

Day-old chicks without their mothers love to make flock friends—remember, two is better then one—and need to be warm, between 90°–95°. Reduce 5° each week until the coldest part of the day is 65°.

Chicks can go without water for only 48 hours after they hatch. Make sure they know where the water stations are. One way to help them acclimate better is to dip their beaks in the water. Remember, the size of your waterer changes as they grow. You can get a health booster that can be added to water, or just use sugar water to give droopy chicks a burst of energy (a half cup per quart of water). You can also add probiotics or live-culture yogurt to water or feed for better digestion.

lar “bright lights”) splash the garden with exquisitely colorful stems—pink, lavender, red, and yellow. Plants take up quite a bit of room; seed at about a foot per plant and make sure they don’t shade out neighboring plants. They grow about 20 inches tall.

Chard is best direct-seeded, and successional planting will keep you provided with younger, tender seedlings. Provide plants with average garden soil.

Bulb Fennel Bulb fennel requires very little to grow, except space. Soil can be average or even below average so long as there is regular water and the ground is loose. However, fennel grows best by itself, as other plants don’t like the chemicals fennel emits into the soil.

Protect fennel from any hard frosts. Florence fennel is a good variety, producing meaty bulbs that are delicious roasted. ✜

Chicks do not need to eat for the first two days of life because they survive on residual yolk. You should still keep their feeders full of feed with an 18 percent ratio of protein.

No feed on hand? In a pinch, you could use mashed hard-boiled eggs, uncooked blended oatmeal and cornmeal, or ground up scratch grains.

Poopy bottoms—a.k.a. pasting—is a common occurrence. Carefully remove the hardened dropping with warm water, dry the chick completely, and coat the tender bottom with Vaseline or Neosporin.

Chicks grow fast, so make sure the outside coop is ready when they are. If introducing new pullets to an existing flock, make sure they’re big enough to defend themselves; slip into the coop late in the evening or before their new friends wake up in the morning. ✜ Renée and her husband, Aaron, are “do-it-yourself” homeowners in Armory Park. Contact her at rbidegain@afcountrystore.com or find her at Arizona Feeds Country Store in South Tucson.

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Illustration by Paul Mirocha

By Jacqueline A. Soule

Illustration by Paul Mirocha, from Desert Terroir: Exploring the Unique Flavors and Sundry Places of the Borderlands. By Gary Paul Nabhan. University of Texas Press (2012)

HERBS ARE A GREAT way to ease into gardening; they’re simple to grow and are durable plants. Here in Baja Arizona, there are a number of attractive native plants that have been used to flavor food for thousands of years. An easy one to start with is Mexican oregano or Aloysia wrightii.

Aloysias are graceful, vase-shaped, subtropical shrubs that are right at home in any xeriscape. Flowering throughout the warm season, from April into October, their fragrant blooms attract butterflies and native bees. As temperatures dip below 25º, aloysias lose their leaves, so ideally plant them in the background of your landscape.

Choose your Mexican oregano from one of these three species. White flowered Aloysia wrightii, also called Wright’s bee bush or oreganillo, reaches around five feet tall.

From the canyons of the Rincon Mountains, this species is the most cold tolerant.

Reaching around eight feet in height, also with white flowers, Aloysia lycioides, also called beebush, is from warmer canyons in Sonora. Schultz’s beebush (A. lycioides var. schultzii) offers pale lavender blooms.

Aloysias do best in well-drained, not clay soil. Amend clay soils with a blend of compost and sand. Aloysias thrive in filtered shade or part shade, especially on summer afternoons in a hot urban environment.

Although Aloysias can survive on rainfall alone, they’re usually found growing along washes where they get extra water. In a densely planted urban environment, water once a week in summer for best bloom and foliage; no water needed during winter dormancy.

This desert native does not require fertilizer. If desired, a flowering fertilizer or “bloom food,” can be applied once a month in the warm season. In the winter, Aloysias can freeze to the ground at 15º, but often come back from the roots. Aloysia leaves can be used fresh but may taste bitter. Drying eliminates bitter flavor.

I dry all my herbs in large terra cotta plant-pot saucers. Harvest anytime, selecting leafy branches and twigs. Rinse, pat dry, and strip leaves to lay one layer deep in the saucer. Dry out of direct sunlight. Once dry, you can use just like dried oregano, but cook with less at first because homegrown and freshly dried herbs have stronger, richer flavors than store-bought.

Not only can you enjoy the amazing Aloysias for their fragrant, pollinator-attracting blooms, it is also delightful to enjoy your own homegrown Mexican oregano in your food. ✜ Jacqueline Soule is an award-winning Southwest garden writer. Aloysias and other native herbs are discussed in her book, Father Kino’s Herbs: Growing and Using Them Today (2011).

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PLANTING ABUNDANCE Text by Brad Lancaster

Illustration by Joe Marshall

From left:

Scarcity, Water runs off.

Abundance.

Water is retained.

I N TUCSON, AS IN MANY communities in Baja Arizona, in an average year, more rain falls on the surface area of the community than all its citizens consume of utility water in that same year.

This rainwater is the best water for our plants and soil. It is salt-free, unlike much of our groundwater and imported surface waters, such as those from the Colorado River, that carry salts which can build up in irrigated soil and impede plants’ ability to photosynthesize and utilize water. Rainwater is a natural fertilizer, containing sulfur, beneficial microorganisms, mineral nutrients, and nitrogen. And it’s free.

Nonetheless, because of mound-like landscapes, soil scraped and raked bare, and excessive paving, we drain the vast majority of that high-quality rainwater out of our communities almost as quickly as it arrives.

The unnaturally exposed soil and pavement of our streets and backyards, along with the sun-baked exterior walls of our homes, schools, and other buildings, drains still more water by absorbing the heat of the sun during the day and reradiating that heat back out at night, increasing temperatures up to 10˚. This leads to another drylands

90 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

statistic, one that may shock you—but can also empower you: Our average annual rainwater income/ gain is about 11 inches of rain a year.

But our potential water loss to evaporation is about 100 inches per year.

What can you do about it?

1. Improve your water gain by planting the rain before you plant any vegetation (or plant the rain beside vegetation if the plants are already in the ground). Capture rain in bowl-like—as opposed to mound-like— shapes in your landscape to capture and infiltrate, rather than drain, the rain.

2. Emphasize the placement of these basin-shaped rain gardens next to and below impervious surfaces like roofs, roads, and patios from which water runs off. That way you can double or even triple the available rainfall in the basins by capturing both rainfall and runoff, which becomes runon, and that’s right on!

3. Decrease potential water loss by planting shading vegetation, like low-water-use,

native, food-producing trees that will then grow to shade and cool roads, patios, and the east-, west-, and even north-facing walls of adjoining buildings. This will reduce unwanted sun exposure on our buildings’ walls and windows in the morning and afternoon of the hot months. (Leave the south-facing wall, beneath an appropriately-sized roof overhang or awning, open to the winter sun, which hangs low in the southern sky, so you can get free heat, light, and solar power when you need it most.) The runoff from the buildings and paved surfaces then freely runs into the rain gardens to irrigate the trees, while the trees passively shade and cool the pavement—reducing water loss both to runoff and evaporation. The City of Tucson just passed an ordinance that all new city streets must be designed and built to harvest at least a half-inch rainstorm’s worth of water to freely irrigate street-side vegetation shading the street and walkways.

4. Mulch the surface of the soil to make it more porous to speed up the rate at which water infiltrates, which also reduces the loss of soil moisture to evaporation. Com-

Illustration by Joe Marshall

Left:

Street water to mulched basin Bottom:

Water flows from streets to sunken beds Illustration by Ann Audrey

post and woody organic matter are the best mulch as they increase the fertility of the soil and plant growth. Furthermore, this mulch feeds beneficial soil microorganisms, such as mycorrhizal fungi, which tap into and expand the surface area of associated plants’ roots. The plants can then more efficiently uptake harvested water, as the fungi give the plants water and minerals, while the plants give the fungi carbohydrates and sugars. At the very least, don’t rake up and throw away your fallen leaves. (They’re called “leaves” because you are supposed to leave them as mulch beneath your plantings.) Fallen seedpods of mesquite, ironwood, palo verde and other trees also make great mulch.

5. If you want any higher-water-use plantings such as fruit trees, be sure to plant your graywater before you plant your fruit tree(s). (Or if your fruit tree is already planted, then plant the greywater next to the fruit tree.) Graywater is the drainwater from household bathroom sinks, showers, bathtubs, and washing machines. The volume

of graywater running down the drain of the average Arizona family household is enough to meet about half of the average family’s landscape irrigation demand. If you use non-toxic, salt-free soaps and detergents, your greywater can be directed to the same mulched basins that capture your rainwater. No tanks, pumps, or filters are needed. In times of rain, the basins act as rain gardens. In times of no rain, they act as graywater gardens. As long as you are home, that graywater flow to your plants can be perennial—even in the driest of times.

See the “Graywater Harvesting” page at HarvestingRainwater.com for information on what ingredients and products are good or bad to use.

6. If you have an air conditioner, direct its salt-free condensate water to the rain gardens instead of the sewer. You’ll only get about a ¼ gallon per day of condensate from a home air conditioner in the dry season, but it can be as much as 18 gallons a day in the humid season. Condensate from commercial air conditioners can be as much as hundreds of gallons of water a day.

Taking these steps which harvest, rather

than drain, free, local waters transform dehydrating landscapes into rehydrating landscapes that provide myriad additional benefits such as more local food, enhanced flood control, diverse wildlife habitat, beauty, and more life which can also lead to more rain.

This is because clouds are more likely to form from cooled atmospheric moisture evapotranspired through plant leaves than the warmer moisture evaporated from bare soil. In addition, raindrops are more likely to condense around tiny, richly-textured, air-borne particles of organic matter generated by the vegetation (such as pollen) than the less textured and less cool particles of dust from exposed dirt. We can choose to work with these natural systems or against them. I think you’ll find going with the flow is always the easiest and most abundant path. ✜ Brad Lancaster is the author of the award-winning books, Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volumes 1 and 2, and manages HarvestingRainwater.com, which show you how to make the most of the water in your landscape—even if you are renting your home and don’t have a yard.

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Backyard Q&A Homesteader TINA FEMEYER is the general manager at the farm-to-table restaurant Proper in downtown Tucson. BRANDON IKER holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from the UA’s Soil, Water and Environmental Science department and is an active intern in the UA’s Community Garden Program and works with staff and students at Manzo Elementary. Tina and Brandon maintain their backyard urban garden and homestead and document their experiences on their blog UrbanDesertGarden.Wordpress.com.

How long have you been growing edible plants?

Brandon: Since I was able to walk.I grew up on a six-acre farm in Ohio. But I have only about two years of experience in the desert, which is really different. Tina: For me intensive gardening is more recent; I’ve been growing about four years. Brandon: We learn a lot from working together. She will often ask, “Why do you do that?” and I will stop and think, “Why do I do that?” Since a lot of my experience comes from another climate, it helps me evaluate whether or not my garden practices are appropriate for this climate.

What plant is a staple in your garden?

Brandon: Oh we are both tomato plant freaks! We love heirloom tomatoes and seem to do really well with them. And we really prefer the old French style of gardening which aims to produce high quality vegetable heirlooms.

Brandon: But we keep doing it, and really like to grow the greens because there is nothing like eating greens picked minutes before they are eaten. The nutritional qualities and flavors—there is no way you could get those other than growing your own [greens] in your backyard. Tina: We are definitely specific about what we are going to grow based on what we are going to do with each crop in the kitchen. We find this is opposite to what most people seem to do, which is grow stuff and try to figure out what to do with it. Our kitchen determines what we do.

Which of your crops has the biggest influence on your kitchen?

Tina: Probably the greens. Obviously we grow and preserve a lot of tomatoes, which is pretty straightforward, but the greens require more planning and are more of a challenge to not waste.

Do you have a new or current obsession in your garden?

Tina: Mexican sour gherkins. They are so good, they don’t even make it into the kitchen. Brandon: I have artichokes in my veins right now—artichokes and their cous-

92 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

ins, cardoons. I recently discovered that you can eat the buds of cardoons, too. So if artichokes are the lobster of the vegetable world, the cardoon is the crayfish. The flavors are just out of this world.

Besides gardening, what other homesteading projects have you experimented with?

Tina: Beekeeping, chickens, adobe brick building—we have a backyard bread oven— canning and preserving, furniture building, beer and yogurt making, solar drying, smoking in flowerpots. Brandon and I both love to cook. We make lots of jams, relishes, chutneys, pickles. Most of our tomatoes are blanched, peeled, and frozen. We dry most of the herbs and make bulk batches of pesto. Asian greens like komatsuna and spinach we blanch and freeze as well. Artichoke or cardoon dip is one of the easiest things to make and later pull from the freezer to take to a party. ✜

EdibleBajaArizona.com  93

THOUGHTFUL DESIGN FOR THE DESERT DR. ANDREW WEIL RESIDENCE

Rob Paulus Architects www.robpaulus.com

Visit Tucson’s closest winery.

Enjoy handcrafted Arizona wines with breathtaking mountain views.

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1702AZ.com • 520.325.1702 • 1702 E. Speedway 94 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

Goat

Both male and female goats can have horns.

Goats’ horns are used for self-defence, but also act as a radiator to keep the animal cool in hot weather

GOATS HAVE SQUARE PUPILS, WHICH MAY IMPROVE DEPTH PERCEPTION REQUIRED FOR CLIMBING STEEP, ROCKY CRAGS

worldwide, the most-consumed milk comes from goats

Caper: a playful romp. From the Latin caper, goat.

Goat cheese is called chèvre, which is the French word for goat

MOHAIR and CASHMERE ARE BOTH SPUN FROM GOAT HAIR

Legend has it that coffee was discovered when goatherds noticed their flocks becoming energetic after eating the berries of the coffee plant.

A group of goats is called a trip...

A BABY GOAT IS A KID

The Greek god Pan, the god of shepherds and flocks, had the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat. He was also the god of theatrical criticism, which is why critics are said to pan a poor performance.

Goats live an average of 15–18 years GOAT’S MILK IS NATURALLY SELFHOMOGENIZED

bambiedlund.com

The Yule Goat, made of straw or wood, is one of the oldest Christmas symbols in Scandinavia (which, oddly enough, is one of the original habitats of the reindeer).

EdibleBajaArizona.com 95

96  September - October 2013

where 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.

GRASSFED NATURAL BEEF PASTURE RAISED PORK & POULTRY ORGANICALLY-GROWN PRODUCE

ARCHITECTS & BUILDERS BAER JOINERY Fine architectural woodworking. Specializing in the use of real wood, traditional joinery, and non-toxic finishes. Artisancrafted doors, windows, cabinetry, and furniture. 520.358.0911 BaerJoinery.com ARTISAN PURVEYORS & DEALERS

WalkingJFarm.com

Amado, AZ

520.398.9050

F E AT H E R E D R E P T I L E S FA R M Organically Grown Heritage Turkeys, Chickens & Eggs Ready-to-cook birds & eggs for your table.

Live birds for your flock.

Now taking reservations for holiday turkeys. www.featheredreptilesfarm.weebly.com

ALFONSO OLIVE OIL A world of flavor, locally owned. We invite you to a unique tasting experience of the freshest, first cold pressed, Extra Virgin Olive Oils and flavored olive oils from around the world, and all natural Traditional Aged Balsamic Vinegars from Modena, Italy! “Taste first…buy when the excitement becomes overwhelming.” 4320 N Campbell Ave., Suite #40, 520.441.9081 AlfonsoOliveOil.com CHOCOLÁTE All our boxed truffles are handmade with the freshest ingredients and fine chocolate. We use regional ingredients whenever possible. We use no chemicals, preservatives, additives or artificial flavorings.134 Tombstone Canyon, Bisbee 520.432.3011 SpiritedChocolate.BusinessCatalyst. com GRAMMY’S JAMS Grammy offers artisan jams, jellies, chutneys, mustards, and pickles.

Habanero Dills, Dilly Beans, Rolling Thunder and Habanero Jams are favorites. Backyards, our trees, local farms and orchards 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 started 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 harkens back to a time when flour still was full of nutrients and flavor. 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 consumer. 2516 E. Sixth St., 520.628. 2952 SevenCups.com BAKERIES BARRIO BREAD Barrio Bread is Tucson’s first Community Supported Baker. Don Guerra’s artisan breads, prepared with wild yeast cultures, long fermentation and hearth baking create a truly inspired loaf. Crafting top quality bread and supporting local foods in Tucson since 2009. www.BarrioBread.com LA ESTRELLA BAKERY at the Mercado: A Tucson staple with yummy traditional Mexican pastries and pan dulce you won’t find anywhere else in town. MondaySaturday, 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 collective 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’ markets.

411 N. 7th Ave., 520.884.9313 SmallPlanetBakery.com

beautifully tended nature paths, artful galleries and shops, and tasty meals at the full-service Garden Bistro. Discover the breath of regional 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 respected as the best small public garden in America. Open daily 8:30am-4:30pm, 2150 N Alvernon Way, 520.326.9686 TucsonBotanical.org BEER, WINE, & DISTILLED LIBATIONS ARIZONA HOPS & VINES We’re a small winery that’s awesome!

One of many great Sonoita-area wineries in Southern Arizona, our family farm is a fun, warm place for families and wine aficionados alike. Come in and enjoy our patio, tell some stories, and explore the wonders of a winery that has free Cheetos. 888.569.1642 AZHopsAndVines.com BORDERLANDS BREWING COMPANY A wholesale production microbrewery, 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 brewery hosts live local most nights. 119 E. Toole, 520.261.8773 BorderlandsBrewing.com

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

CALLAGHAN VINEYARDS Located in the rolling oak-dotted hills of southeastern Arizona, at an elevation of 4800 feet, we produce rich, complex red and white wines from its 25 acre vineyard. Mediterranean and Spanish varietals - Tempranillo, Mourvedre, Petit Verdot, Petite Syrah and Grenache - are the basic building blocks for our red blends, while Viognier and Riesling are blended for our estate white wine. 520.455.5322 CallaghanVineyards.com

TOHONO CHUL PARK A 49-acre botanical garden and nature preserve, Tohono Chul has

CHARRON VINEYARDS & WINERYLocated ¾ of a mile off scenic highway 83 between Tucson

BOTANICAL GARDENS & MUSEUMS

EdibleBajaArizona.com

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SOURCE GUIDE

SOURCE GUIDE

SANTA CRUZ RIVER

FARMERS’ MARKET THURSDAY 4-7

EL MERCADO

CONGRESS, WEST OF I-10 REAL FOOD. REAL FARMERS. ON YOUR STREET.

& Sonoita, Charron Vineyards is a small boutique winery producing hand crafted Arizona wine. The winery’s signature White Merlot is made from grapes that are grown on the property. Pima County Arizona’s only Winery tasting room.

520.762.8585 CharronVineyards.com CORONADO VINEYARDS We believe that whether your palate prefers sweeter and fruitier wines, or dry complex sophisticated wines, you only should consume wine which you enjoy. 520.384.2993 CoronadoVineyards.com FLYING LEAP VINEYARD With developed acreage in both Sonoita AVA and Cochise County, Flying Leap offers a diverse portfolio of ultra premium, carefully crafted wines from tasting rooms at its estate vineyard as well as in Willcox. 520.954.2935 FlyingLeapVineyards.com HAMILTON DISTILLERS Whiskey Del Bac is handmade by Hamilton Distillers in small batches using a copper pot-still and house-malted, mesquite-smoked barley. Three desert single-malt whiskeys made in Tucson. Contact: Stephen Paul info@hamiltondistillers.com

www.communityfoodbank.org

KIEF JOSHUA VINEYARDS A small family business with 20 acres in beautiful Elgin and 40 acres in Willcox Wine Country. Our Elgin tasting room is open daily and is situated right in the middle of what is know as “winery row.” The Sonoita Arizona Wine Tour boasts of ten different tasting rooms and was selected by USA Today as one of the top ten wine trails in the United States. 520.455.5582 KiefJoshuaVineyards.com LIGHTNING RIDGE CELLARS A small family winery proud to offer wines based on our Italian heritage.

Our estate wines are made from classic Italian varietals: Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Montepulciano, Primitivo, Malvasia and Muscat Canelli. Clay soils, long warm summers, cool nights and an old world style of winemaking provide the perfect combination to produce rich, full-bodied wines. 520.455.5383 LightningRidgeCellars.com

SAND-RECKONER VINEYARDS Located on the Willcox Bench at 4,300 feet in elevation, Rob and Sarah Hammelman tend to the Vineyards.

Our name Sand-Reckoner, means ‘sand-calculator,’ and references Archimedes’ revolutionary and thought provoking 3rd century B.C. writing. In this text, Archimedes calculates the size of the universe by figuring the number of grains of sand that will fill it. The name alludes to our sandy loam soils, our connection to the cosmos, and the infinite calculations required to create a true wine that expresses the very sand into which our vines’ roots grow deep. 303.931.8472 Sand-Reckoner.com SENTINEL PEAK BREWING COMPANY A nanobrewery offering a rotating selection of craft beers along with a few house favorites.

Our inspiration comes from many sources including, but not limited to, travels we’ve had and suggestions from friends and family. 520.977.3611 SentinelPeakBrewing.com TAP & BOTTLE A craft beer and wine tasting room in Downtown Tucson featuring hundreds of beverage options to enjoy on site or carry out.

Look forward to beer flights, events and merchandise. 520.344.8999 TheTapAndBottle.com TEN FIFTY-FIVE BREWING A small Batch Brewery catering to Tucson Arizona. we like beer, and we really like good beer. We want to put good beer in reach of those that want to enjoy it, and help nurture the developing brew culture in Tucson. We want to make beer for beer drinkers like us; adventurous beer drinkers that are just as likely to try something new as they are an old favorite. 520.461.8073 1055brewing.com VILLAGE OF ELGIN WINERY The largest producer of wine in the Sonoita AVA. This family owned winery still produces wines in the traditional manner. Classically styled and aged in fine European wood, the wines reflect the subtle grace of Arizona terrior. The winery produces a wide range of wines to please all of its customer’s tastes. 520.455.9309 ElginWines.com

Available at these locations in Tucson:

SOURCE GUIDE

Santa Cruz Farmer’s Market on Thursdays§ Saturday Farmer’s Market at The Loft§ Food Conspiracy Co-op§ Aqua Vita* Time Market Maynard’s* St. Phillips Farmers’ Market every other Sunday Sprouts and Whole Food Stores Rincon Market Albertson’s on Silverbell Safeway on Broadway And downtown at our bakery on 411 N. 7th Avenue§ §

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

September - October 2013

Conscious Design For Our Future Permaculture Design · Water Harvesting Edible and Native Landscapes · Greywater 928.830.8045 bramhall.justin@gmail.com facebook.com/AhimsaLandscaping

BOOKSTORES BOOK STOP A Tucson institution for decades (since 1967!), the Book Stop stocks thousands of quality used and out-of-print titles. MondayThursday: 10am-7pm, FridaySaturday: 10am-10pm, Sunday: noon5pm. 213 N. 4th Avenue, 520.326.6661 BookStopTucson.com COMMUNITY EDUCATION COMMUNITY FOOD BANK GARDEN WORKSHOPS Enjoy fresh, organic food from your own backyard! Free garden workshops with the Community Food Bank cover planting veggies and grains, soil fertility, water conservation, worm composting, beekeeping, cooking and sprouting, fruit trees and much more! 520.882.3303 CommunityFoodBank.org/ GardenWorkshops EVENTS TUCSON FOOD DAY Food Day is a nationwide grassroots effort to increase accessibility and affordability of healthy and sustainable foods. Celebrate Food Day at the University of Arizona on October 23, 10-2 pm on UA Mall, and be inspired by healthy and sustainable foods. More information is at UAFoodDay.com TUCSON MEET YOURSELF An annual celebration of the living traditional arts of Southern Arizona’s and Northern Mexico’s diverse ethnic and folk communities. Each October, the three-day event features hundreds of artisans, home cooks, dancers, musicians and special exhibits.

520.792.4806 TucsonMeetYourself.org 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 local foods and artisan crafts. Choices for Sustainable Living booth features

just west of I-10 at Mercado San Augustín, 520.882.3313 CommunityFoodBank.org

by appointment. 2074 Pendleton Dr.,Tumacácori, 520-603-9932, AvalonGardens.org

FOOD CONSPIRACY COOP Food Conspiracy Co-op: Located on funky Fourth Ave., the co-op is a natural foods grocery store that has served the Tucson community since 1971 and emphasizes organic, local 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. 520.624-4821 FoodConspiracy.coop

SHOPORGANIC.COM An online retailer of carefully selected Organic and Non-GMO products.

Local Tucson customers can shop online and pick up at our facility.

We offer shelf stable groceries, bulk foods, personal care, household items, gluten free, raw, and more.

520.792.0804 ShopOrganic.com

CHIVA RISA We make artisanal, all natural, European-style cheese on an off-grid, sustainable site situated in the upper San Pedro Valley near the Mexican Border. We treat our animals, land, and cheese with the utmost care and respect.

Sharing nature’s bounty with our community through finely crafted cheese is Chiva Risa’s primary goal.

520.901.0429 ChivaRisa.com

HEIRLOOM FARMERS’ MARKETS Four local farmers markets that support of our region’s farms by: connecting consumers directly to local food producers, strengthening urban-rural agriculture and small food businesses. Heirloom Farmers Markets dedicated to the benefits of local food. 520.882.2157 HeirloomFM.com HIGH DESERT MARKET Gourmet food and gift market and cafe. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with indoor and outdoor seating.

We do all our baking on premises, serve generous gourmet salads and sandwiches, quiches, pizzas, desserts and more. 520.432.6775 HighDesertMarket.com MATT’S ORGANICS Dedicated to providing convenient home delivery of top quality organic fruits and vegetables. You have the satisfaction of supporting organic farmers and the knowledge that you are eating the healthiest food free of pesticides. We guarantee 100% satisfaction on all purchases.

520.790.4360 MattsOrganics.com

TIME MARKET A neighborhood market since 1919, we bring specialty goods to the table: craft beers, esoteric fine wine, woodfired pizza, espresso, and artisan handcrafted organic natural yeast breads. We sell organic produce and use it for our restaurant in sandwiches, salads and pizzas.

We are committed to honest communication about sourcing, and enjoy featuring local farms in our menu. 520.622.0761 TUCSON CSA Offering weekly boxes of local, organically-grown produce since 2004. We also offer pasture-raised eggs and chickens, grass-fed meats, cheese, and bread (from Barrio Bread). Pickups are Tuesdays or Wednesdays, 4:00-7:00 pm, The Historic Y, 300 E. University Blvd., TucsonCSA.org FARMS & RANCHES AVALON ORGANIC GARDENS & ECOVILLAGE Avalon Gardens practices traditional permaculture principles and time-honored techniques of organic gardening, as well as new sustainable technologies, and promotes seed-saving and the cultivation of heritage varieties of produce provided to our local area through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Tours available

FEATHERED REPTILES FARM Local hobby poultry farm raising heritage and standard breed chickens and turkeys on organic feed. Taking reservations now for holiday turkeys. Show quality and backyard flock birds, processed chickens and eggs sold. Farm pickup near Ina & Silverbell Rds. featheredreptilespoultry@gmail.com FeatheredReptilesFarm.Weebly.com OSWALD CATTLE COMPANY 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 Tubac 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, traditional Pima recipes for tepary beans, corn and wheat. Shop at our online store. Wholesale + food service prices. Sacaton, 602.322.5080 RamonaFarms.com RIO SANTA CRUZ GRASS FINISHED BEEF Our farm on the Santa Cruz River 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 finishing farm on the Santa Cruz River. Here they live peacefully and naturally on forages sustained by irrigation

Guest Ho s t s i u rt

se

A

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 workshops. A great place to get to know your community! West Congress Street,

SIERRA VISTA FARMERS’ MARKET Open Thursdays at Veterans’ Memorial Park in Sierra Vista, AZ. Meet local growers, ranchers, beekeepers and bakers. Take home some of the bounty of southern Arizona! Grass-fed meats, desert heritage foods and plants. Contact sierravistafarmersmarket@cox.net SierraVistafarmersMarket.com

SOURCE GUIDE

workshops for healthy lifestyle changes. 9am-1pm, Saturdays, BisbeeFarmersMarket.org

520 882 0279

Learning. Growing. Eating.

520.375.6050 · facebook.com/NogalesMercado

Charming historic home for short stays & vacations Walking distance to everything downtown artistsguesthouse@gmail.com

EdibleBajaArizona.com

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TUCSON HERB STORE

Located in the Heart of Downtown since 2003. Dedicated to serving a variety of ethically wildcrafted and botanical products of the southwest desert.

We carry bulk herbs, teas, herbal tinctures, beauty care products, soaps, books, incense, and much more!

408 N. 4th Ave. 903-0038 TucsonHerbStore.com

and summer rains. 520.394.0243 RSCGrassFinishedBeef.com STARBAR RANCH Natural grass fed beef - Lovingly and humanely raised in beautiful Southeast Arizona.Our beef is dry aged 28 days - Saturdays at the Oro Valley Farmers Market.

Online & phone orders.The way beef used to taste! 520.805.3345 StarbarRanch.com SUNIZONA We are a familyowned, certified organic farm in Willcox, Arizona growing fruits and vegetables with sustainable, veganic practices and greenhouse technology. CSAs available all over Baja Arizona. 5655 E Gaskill Rd. Willcox 520.824.3160 SunizonaFamilyFarms.com WALKING J FARM A polyculture farm specializing in grass fed, pasture raised beef, poultry and pork, and organically grown vegetables. At Santa Cruz River Farmers’ Market on Thurs, Nogales Farmers’ Market on Fridays, and Heritage Farmer’s Market on Sun (St. Philips Plaza).

520.398.9050 WalkingJFarm.com WHOLESUM FAMILY FARMS In 2012 the Crisantes family began farming in Southern Arizona after farming for generations in Mexico.

The greenhouses built here are of the finest quality and latest technology available anywhere in the world. With three generations of experience, Wholesum Family Farms is producing outstanding quality

organic tomatoes. 816.522.8262 WholesumFamilyFarms.com HEALTH PROVIDERS WENDY BRITTAIN, LMT Allow your body to fill with spaciousness and light. My work is based on Swedish massage and may also include the use of balsaltic stones, reflexology, breath awareness and other energy modalities. wdbrtn@msn.com 520.884.8226 HERBS & HERBALISTS DESERT TORTOISE BOTANICALS We provide handcrafted herbal products from herbs wild-harvested and organically grown within the Sonoran desert bioregion.

Owner John Slattery conducts the Sonoran Herbalist Apprenticeship Program, wild foods class, private plant walks, and individual wellness consultation services.

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 botanical products of the southwest desert.

We carry: bulk herbs, teas, herbal tinctures, beauty care products, soaps, books, incense, and much more! 408 N. 4th Ave., 520.903-0038 TucsonHerbstore.com

INNS AND B&BS ARTIST’S GUEST HOUSE Charming guest house on quiet street in Armory Park, Tucson, Arizona, within walking distance to everything downtown. Please contact artistsguesthouse@gmail.com for reservations and availability.

CAT MOUNTAIN LODGE A bed & breakfast in the desert! Featuring eco-friendly accommodations in a vintage ranch setting with five unique spacious rooms that provide Southwestern comfort—mixed with modern conveniences. Enjoy free full breakfast on-site at Coyote Pause Cafe. Reserve on-site Star Tours at Spencer’s Observatory.

2720 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, AZ, 520.578.6085 CatMountainLodge.com LA POSADA DEL RIO SONORA La Posada del Rio Sonora is a boutique 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 Sonora” with nearby hot springs. 70 Calle Pesqueira, Banámichi, Sonora, Mexico, MexicoEcoResort.com SUNGLOW RANCH A relaxed atmosphere with distant mountain views, charming one and two bedroom casitas, dark skies at night for incredible stargazing, a birder’s paradise, plentiful breakfasts and Cochise County wines served with

WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADVERTISE WITH

?

SOURCE GUIDE

DEMONSTRATE YOUR SUPPORT OF THE LOCAL FOOD MOVEMENT! 25,000 copies distributed throughout Pima, Graham, Santa Cruz, Cochise, and Yuma counties (Baja Arizona). advertising inquiries: jared@edibleBajaArizona.com 100

September - October 2013

LANDSCAPING AHIMSA LANDSCAPING Ahimsa Landscaping is an ethically focused, small design + build business specializing 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 ecosystems with a focus on food production. Aquaponic system sales, live fish, heirloom seedlings, consulting, site assessments, pool/pond conversions, tours, workshops, speaking events and more. 765.276.6427 LocalRootsAquaponics.com RED BARK DESIGN, LLC Landscape Design + Consultation. RedBark Design offers regionally and ecologically appropriate landscape design services for residential, commercial and consulting projects. P.O. Box 44128 Tucson, Arizona 85733, 520.247.2456 RedBarkDesign.com SW GARDENWORKS A full vegetable garden service that installs and revamps existing gardens. Our gardens are built to last! Using bio intensive methods and soils we insure the best results with your backyard garden.3661 N. Campbell #312, 520.419.2886 SouthwestGardenworks.com PLANTS, SEEDS & GARDEN SUPPLY ARBICO ORGANICS Arbico Organics has been providing organic solutions for homeowners, gardeners, farmers and pet, horse and livestock owners since 1979.

Products include beneficial insects and organisms, natural fertilizers, amendments, composting supplies, weed and disease controls, critter

control and more. 800.827.2847 Arbico-Organics.com NATIVE SEEDS/SEARCH Revered Tucson nonprofit and world-class seed bank saving and sharing the seeds of the desert Southwest since 1983. Classes, tours, seeds, native crafts and more! 3061 N. Campbell Avenue (store) and 3584 E. River Rd. (Center). 520.622.0830 NativeSeeds.org RILLITO NURSERY & GARDEN CENTER An independent familyowned business that has provided our customers 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 ARIZONA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY A statewide nonprofit organization devoted to Arizona’s native plants. Its mission is to promote knowledge, appreciation, conservation, and restoration of Arizona native plants and their habitats. AZNPS.com COSECHANDO BIENESTAR An initiative to renew food traditions in Nogales so that locally-grown food is enjoyed by all for better health.

We do this by improving access, building residents’ capacity to grow food, supporting sound policy and promoting local business.

520.375.6050 Facebook.com/ NogalesMercado FOOD TRUCK ROUNDUP Helping independent chefs do what they love to do: cook great meals in their motorized, mobile kitchens, or full-size trailer. Gathering 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 urban food systems for Earth, wherever people go! Popular programs with UA-CALS Center for Controlled Environment Agriculture Center at BIO Expo

2013 and Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago seen on YouTube.com/SciTechReports.

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART The MOCA inspires new ways of thinking through the cultivation, interpretation and exhibition of cutting-edge art of our time.

MOCA inspira formas nuevas del pensamiento por medio de la cultivación, interpretación, y exhibición del arte innovador de nuestro tiempo. 265 S. Church Ave., 520.624.5019 Moca-Tucson.org SLOW FOOD TUCSON More than 200 local chapters of Slow Food USA Believe in Good, Clean, Fair Food for Everyone! To become a friend on our event mailing list email Don Luria at dsluria@aol. com. To become a member ($25.00) Join at SlowFoodSouthernAZ.org SONORAN PERMACULTURE GUILD The Sonoran Permaculture Guild’s vision is to make our Southwest Drylands region more sustainable through Permaculture education, design and implementation.

We are an IRS 501(c)(3) non profit organization, and over the past twenty years we have become well established in the Southwest sustainable communities movement. We offer classes, courses, and workshops on Permaculture design and related skills and ally with other organizations that plan and create a sustainable future.

SonoranPermaculture.org

STARBAR FA RM & RANCH

SOURCE GUIDE

delicious meals in the Sunglow Cafe. A talented staff will make your stay an enjoyable and relaxing experience! (520) 824-3334 SunglowRanch.com

McNeal, Arizona

NATURAL GRASS FED BEEF Lovingly and humanely raised in beautiful Southeast Arizona.

Our beef is dry aged 28 days.

Find us on Saturdays at the Oro Valley Farmers Market or Thursdays at the Sierra Vista Farmers Market. The way beef used to taste!

520-805-3345 StarbarRanch.com

TUCSON CACTUS AND SUCCULENT SOCIETY The Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society provides activities for people interested in cactus and succulents from around the world. Meetings are on the first Thursday of each month at 7 pm at the Junior League of Tucson, 2099 East River Road, unless otherwise noted online. TucsonCactus.org TUCSON CLEAN & BEAUTIFUL A non-profit organization with the intent to preserve and improve our environment, conserve natural resources, and enhance the quality of life in the City of Tucson and eastern Pima County.

These goals will be achieved through initiating educational and participatory programs

OSWALD CATTLE CO. AMADO, AZ

Not All Beef Is Grown Equal Irrigated-grass fed beef Available at Tubac Market and Walking J Farm TASTE THE DIFFERENCE

EdibleBajaArizona.com

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Grow With Us,

Naturally!

Your Local Source From Seed to Table.

• Beneficial Insects & Organisms • Seed Care & Propagation • Fertilizers & Amendments • Easy-To-Use Tools • Weed, Disease & Critter Control

t

10831 N. Mavinee Dr. Suite185 Oro Valley, AZ 85737

520-825-9785 • 1-800-827-2857 • www.arbico-organics.com

Residential and Commercial

Vegetable Gardening Service

TUCSON ORIGINALS Tucson Original restaurants share one common bond – they exemplify the independent spirit and culinary heritage that is Tucson. Formed in 1999, the Tucson Originals have been the driving force and model for similar groups all across America who are working to preserve the culinary spirit of their communities. This alliance has helped many of Tucson’s signature restaurants survive and thrive.

520.343.9985 TucsonOriginals.com UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES The college studies our connections – with each other, our past, and the world around us. We share our knowledge to help make our communities - from the local to the global - healthier, safer, and more prosperous. 520.621.1112 Web.SBS. Arizona.edu WATERSHED MANAGEMENT GROUP Helping you with water harvesting, soil building, edible and native gardens, and watershed restoration. We’re a Tucson-based non-profit serving the community by sharing our technical expertise and offering hands-on workshops, training programs, custom property consultations, site plans, and

CALL FOR A FREE CONSULTATION!

REED PORTER (520)419-2886 southwestgardenworks.com

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TUCSON HISTORIC PRESERVATION SOCIETY Proud to present Tucson Modernism Week 2013: October 4, 5 & 6. The three day extravaganza is a series programs, film, lectures and events highlighting and celebrating Tucson’s Mid-century Modern design and architecture. The programing emphasizes the Modernist Buildings of Broadway Boulevard between Country Club and Campbell Avenue.

PreserveTucson.org TUCSON ORGANIC GARDENERS A club where people who chose to use organic methods to maintain their gardens could exchange ideas and enjoy fellowship. Today almost 200 members, associates and friends continue this tradition through frequent lectures, potlucks, and hands-on advice in the monthly newsletter, The Composter, all for a modest membership fee.

TucsonOrganicGardeners.org

Visit Our Store Today!

als

implemented with broad-citizen, multicultural support. 520.791.3109 TucsonCleanAndBeautiful.org

Desert Tortoise Botanicals Tucson, AZ

*Wild harvested Herbals from the Sonoran Desert

* Wild harvested Herbals Tucson, AZ the Sonoran Desert *Herbalfrom Education * Consultation Services * Herbal Education www.desertortoisebotanicals.com www.sonoranherbalist.com *Consultation Services

DeserTortoiseBotanicals.com SonoranHerbalist.com 102 September - October 2013 Tucson, AZ

project implementation. 520.396.3266 WatershedMG.org REAL ESTATE JILL RICH, REALTOR I am dedicated to our Long Realty mission: To create an exceptional real estate services experience that builds long-lasting relationships. “It’s like having your grandma in the real estate business.” Email at (520) 349-0174 JillRich.LongRealty.com RESTAURANTS, BARS & CAFES 1702 A pizzeria and craft beer bar extravaganza. On tap, 46 craft beers from the all over the 50 states and world complement our fresh hand tossed pizza made with the very best ingredients. 1702 E. Speedway Blvd.

520.325.1702 1702AZ.com ACACIA Located in the Catalina Foothills, Acacia offers an exquiste panoramic view of the city and features award winning cuisine

by Chef Albert Hall. Enjoy fresh, natural and local ingredients lovingly prepared in the friendliest and most comfortable setting in Tucson. Join us for Lunch, Dinner, Sunday brunch and Happy Hour daily. 3001 E Skyline Dr. 520.232.0101 AcaciaTucson.com AZUL RESTAURANT & LOUNGE 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 foothills in the Santa Catalina Mountains, our guests experience picturesque mountain and golf course views from 3-story arched windows while savoring the culinary creations of Chef Russell Michel. 3800 E. Sunrise Dr., 520.742.6000 AzulLaPaloma.com CAFE 54 We are an urban bistro serving lunch in the heart of downtown Tucson at 54 E. Pennington Street and featuring imaginative “ American Fusion” cuisine using only the finest and freshest ingredients. Café 54 also functions as a unique employment training program for adults recovering from mental illnesses.

520.622.1907 Cafe54.org

CAFÉ PASSÉ Dedicated to serving great coffee and coffee drinks, locally sourced organic food whenever we possibly can, craft cocktails and an eclectic beer menu.

It is also home to Tucson’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 Celebrating 20 years of serving the Bisbee community and Baja Arizona. Our goal is to create a wonderful dining experience for our guests, providing delicious food, beverages & warm hospitality.

Reservations recommended. 35 Main St., Bisbee, 520.432.5153 CafeRoka.com CHEF’S KITCHEN & CATERING A family affair, owned and operated by husband and wife, Chris and Mary Cryderman and son Ivor Cryderman.

Chris and Ivor have a combined 50+ years experience as chefs involving a wide spectrum of upscale cuisines.

They use this knowledge and their love of making fresh, healthy food from scratch to provide excellent, flavorful mobile dining and catering like one could expect in a high quality restaurant. 520.903.7004 COYOTE PAUSE CAFE Enjoy healthy innovative food with a Southwestern twist! Cheerful unique atmosphere.

Breakfast & lunch daily 730a-230p.

Omelets, salads, sandwiches, vegetarian choices, beer, wine.

Located in west Tucson at Cat Mountain Station with shopping, art, antiques. Arts & Crafts Fair October 6th! 2740 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, AZ 520-883-7297 CoyotePauseCafe.com THE CUP CAFE The signature Hotel Congress restaurant, attracts every walk of life for its eclectic American fare served seven days a week in downtown Tucson.

“The Cup” is an award winning destination for locals and visitors alike, complete with a full bar, dining room and plaza seating. 520.798.1618 HotelCongress.com/Cup CUSHING STREET Uptown comfort food, garden patios, full bar and live jazz have made this 1860’s historic landmark a local favorite for forty years. Book an intimate party in a private dining room or a wedding for 100 guests. Family owned since 1972.

DELECTABLES International selections in a casual atmosphere.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner & late night. Dog-friendly patio dining, Live music every Friday & Saturday.

Full bar, excellent wine list. Homemade 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 cocktails from James Beard Award Winner Janos Wilder in an art filled, urban setting with roomy outdoor patio. Dinner, Happy Hour, Bar Menu seven nights and Late Night Friday and Saturday. 135 S. 6th Ave., 623.7700 DowntownKitchen.com

EXO ROAST COMPANY Exo seeks out the world’s finest coffees, craft roasts them in small batches, and distributes them in limited quantities to ensure unequaled quality.

Roastery and café open MondaySaturday, 7am to 7pm, Sunday 7-3.

Come by for free twice-weekly tastings. Custom wholesaling for area cafes and restaurants. 403 N. 6th Ave. www.exocoffee.com FALORA In the historic Joeslerbuilt Broadway Village, Falora builds pizzas & salads anchored in tradition, with a sharply creative angle. Ingredients are simple, fresh; imported from Italy or brought over by local farms. Lunch/Dinner— charming patio or cozy interior.

3000 E. Broadway at Country Club, 520.325.9988 Falora.com FOOD FOR ASCENSION CAFÉ A new paradigm of sustaining community by providing pure food through fair systems that interact together and support a vibrant life,

vibrant community, and a vibrant self with the ultimate intention of reconnecting our body mind and soul. Opening Fall 2013. 330 east 7th street, 520.882.4736, FoodForAscension.org GOURMET GIRLS Tucson’s only dedicated gluten free bakery and bistro. Open everyday except Monday, 7am-3pm.

5845 N Oracle Rd. 520.408.9000 GourmetGirlsGlutenFree.com JONATHAN’S CORK a longtime Tucson favorite featuring Buffalo, Ostrich, Fresh Fish, Seafood, Game Meats (as available) and Angus Beef with a Southwestern flair. 6320 E. Tanque Verde Rd. 520.296.1631 JonathansCork.com KINGFISHER An American bar and grill specializing in regional cuisine from across the U.S. serving several varieties of fin fish, shellfish, and oysters. Great intimate bar with happy hours and late night menu everyday. Midtown at 2564 E. Grant Rd., 323.7739, www.

KingfisherTucson.com LA COCINA RESTAURANT CANTINA & COFFEE BAR Eat a meal in our beautiful courtyard, belly up to the bar and have a creative cocktail, listen 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 Cantina pours local beer, and we support our local farmers and ranchers. 201 N Court Ave., 520.365.3053 LaCocinaTucson.com LE BUZZ CAFFE “Sit. Feast on your life.” — Derek Walcott. We roast our own coffee and it’s some of the best in town. We offer fresh baked goods in the morning, crazy good breakfasts, and homemade soups, sandwiches, salads and quiches.

Got room? Oh yeah … we’ve got the goods when it comes to dessert. 9121 E. Tanque Verde Road.

520.749.3903 LeBuzzCaffe.com MARTIN’S COMIDA CHINGONA Nestled right on Fourth Avenue, Martin’s is fun, casual, and independent. Martin’s serves

traditional Mexican food. 557 N 4th Ave. 520.884.7909 MAYNARDS MARKET & KITCHEN We established the first downtown market, and paired it with a charismatic restaurant and bar.

Both are fueled by a passion for celebrating the best of place, product and service. 520.545.0577 MaynardsMarket.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 delicious, fresh homemade soups, salads, appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, hearty entrees and desserts. Patio dining and private dining facilities available. Open daily at 11 a.m. 1335 W. Lambert Lane, Oro Valley, 520.797.HOPS, NobleHops.com PASCO KITCHEN & LOUNGE Urban farm fare is how we describe traditional comfort food & drink, approached with an eye toward modern techniques and emphasis on fresh, local ingredients. Our menu is infused with the soul & passion that Chef/Owner Ramiro Scavo brings into the kitchen also into the lounge. Enjoy Chef “Miro’s” unique creations in our comfy neighborhood setting or grab & go from our curbside farm cart.

520.882.8013 PascoKitchen.com

SOURCE GUIDE

198 W. Cushing St. 520.622.7984 CushingStreet.com

80 happy goats, makes artisanal, all natural, European-style cheese on an off-grid, sustainable site situated in the upper San Pedro River Valley near the Mexican Border. We treat our animals, land, and cheese with the utmost care and respect.

ChivaRisa.com · 520-901-0429

PENCA Mexico City Cuisine and international Bar located in the heart of Downtown Tucson.

50 E Broadway, 520.203.7681 PencaRestaurante.com PROPER A casual, urban dining establishment serving contemporary, 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 REILLY CRAFT PIZZA & DRINK Offering reasonably priced modern Italian food in a casual urban setting. Our menu features artisan hand-made pizzas, as well as

Quality used and out of print books bought, sold, and traded.

214 N. 4th Avenue Tucson, AZ 85705 bookstoptucson.com M-Th 10am - 7pm F-Sat 10am - 10pm Sun 12pm - 5pm

520-326-6661 EdibleBajaArizona.com

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Photo by Lissa Howe

Tucson's Best Mobile Bistro We cater wedding, holiday party, picnics and office lunches

ChefsKitchenCatering.com

shop local. shop online. shopOrganic.

Organic, Non-GMO, Fair Trade and Eco-Friendly products delivered to your door or available for local pickup.

shopOrganicTucson.com

P O AL H S C Matt’s Organics LO

HOME DELIVERY

craft drinks. We also offer fresh baked sandwiches for lunch and fresh hand-made pastas for dinner.

520.882.5550 ReillyPizza.com

locations in Baja Arizona: 5350 E. Broadway, 2905 E. Skyline and 12120 N. Dove Mountain Blvd. (Marana).

SavayaCoffee.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 local and organic ingredients.

Everything 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 . Reservations encouraged, but walk-ins welcome! 7065 E. Tanque Verde 520.886.0484 ReneesOrganicOven.com

SPARKROOT A cornerstone of a burgeoning downtown, Sparkroot serves up Blue Bottle Coffee & vegetarian fare with flare, in a striking atmosphere. Vibrant community 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

SOURCE GUIDE

TAVOLINO RISTORANTE ITALIANO 2890 E. Skyline Dr. (Plaza Colonial) Specializing in simple, elegant food, Tavolino’s Northern Italian cuisine features: fresh salads, homemade pastas, wood-fired pizzas, succulent rotisserie meats and luscious desserts. Lunch: MonSat 11am-3pm, Dinner: 5:00-10pm (11pm Thu-Sat), Happy Hour MonSat 3-6pm and 9-11 pm 520.531.1913 TavolinoRistorante.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 Convento 520.777.1496 StellaJava.com

REVOLUTIONARY GROUNDS Your local source for shade grown, organic, direct-trade coffee; vegetarian & vegan sandwiches, salads and homemade desserts, with a great selection of books on local agriculture and sustainable living. 606 N. 4th Ave., 520.620.1770 RevolutionaryGroundsOnline.com SAVAYA COFFEE Our goal is to offer superior quality coffees available around the corner from where you brew at home: So the fresh flavors of the Americas, and Asia are The Africa Tasteful Kitchen right here for you to enjoy. Three

dining. Tue-Sat 5-9pm, 722 N. Stone Ave. Free parking at rear entrance. Reservations recommended 520.250.9600 TheTastefulKitchen.com

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THE TASTEFUL KITCHEN Modern vegetarian, vegan and raw food cuisine creatively prepared, farm-to-table fresh, supporting local organic growers. Inspired menu showcases Southwestern ingredients. Intimate dining destination at the crossroads of University & Stone. Dine in, take out, Baja weekly Edible - meal Septpickups, 2013.pdf catering, classes, private event

TUCSON TAMALE COMPANY Over 30 different kinds of incredible tamales. Mild to spicy, Meaty to Vegan to sweet, we have just about any kind of tamale you can think of andd then some! 520.305.4760 TucsonTamale.com

1

WILDFLOWER AMERICAN CUISINE This award-winning restaurant sets the standard for innovative, classic cuisine. With European and Asian influences, the New American menu changes seasonally.

Modern meets shabby-chic in the colorful sky-lit room; 8/14/13 8:59 dining AM or choose to dine in the climate

Landscape Design Darbi Davis, MLA, ASLA 520.247.2456 RedBarkDesign.com

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September - October 2013

WILKO A modern gastropub featuring inventive classic American comfort food in the Main Gate district at Park and University.

Everything on our menu is prepared on site and whenever possible we use local and organic ingredients.

We have over 30 wines by the glass, a craft cocktail bar, 11 quality brews on tap, and an extensive tasting menu featuring the best artisan cheeses and salume available from small local and regional producers.

520.792.6684 BarWilko.com ZONA 78 Tucson’s premier destination for artisan pizza, Italian specialties, and an eclectic selection of wines, spirits, and beers. Zona 78 sources many ingredients locally and has an inhouse charcuterie. Two locations: 78 W. River Rd., and 7301 E. Tanque Verde Rd. Zona78.com RETAIL SHOPS & PLAZAS MERCADO SAN AUGUSTIN Tucson’s first and only Public Market plays host to several locally-owned shops, eateries and incredible experiences.

Our beautiful courtyard is home to the award-winning Santa 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, mercadosanagustin.com 520.461.1110 MecadoSanAugustin.com ÓPTIMO HATWORKS We have original designs, both in contemporary and period fashions, along with cleaning and reblocking. The Hatworks is museumlike in its layout so the public can view hat-making in the Old World style. Óptimo—the best, the very finest. Known the world over. 47 Main St., Bisbee, 520.432.4544 OptimoHatworks.com POP-CYCLE A gift shop devoted to handmade items produced from recycled, reclaimed and sustainable materials. The products are fun and whimsical, with a little something for everyone. Many items are produced locally, some by the store owners. Treat yourself! 422 N. 4th Ave., 520.622.3297 PopCycleShop. com SERVICES ORDINARY BIKE SHOP Servicing bikes of all sorts and selling new and used bikes and parts. “Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving.” ~Albert Einstein 520.622.6488 OrdinaryBikeShop.com

SUN SPROUT DIAPER SERVICE Sun Sprout brings clean cotton diapers to your door every week and cleans the dirty ones for you.

Choose the ecological alternative to disposable diapers. Check out our free monthly presentations on topics important to babies and moms. 520.351.2370 SunSprout.us

Grammy’s

ARTISAN JAMS, JELLIES, PICKLES AND MUSTARDS, HEIRLOOM TOMATOES located in Cochise Arizona

TANLINE PRINTING Located in Tucson 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 VENUES, THEATRES & ENTERTAINMENT LOFT CINEMA A local nonprofit cinema dedicated to creating community through film, honoring the vision of filmmakers, celebrating ideas and promoting the appreciation and understanding of the art of film. Check out the Loft Cinema Farmers’ Market on Saturdays from 8am-12pm on the patio. 3233 East Speedway Boulevard 520.795.7777 LoftCinema.com

Grammys.AZ Always a great place to find Briggs and Eggers organic fruit.

BRING YOUR KIDS BY FOR A FREE APPLE!

Find us at all Heirloom Farmers’ Markets and the Sierra Vista Farmers’ Market

SUBSCRIBE NOW WHY SUBSCRIBE? SUPPORT OUR MISSION of celebrating the local food and drink community of Baja Arizona, enabling us to do more great stories.

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105

SOURCE GUIDE

controlled patio. 520.219.4230 FoxRestaurantConcepts.com

last bite

Along the Salsa Trail

By Howe Gelb

A

fter the rigors

of returning from another European tour, there’s only one local staple that easily allows giving up the palates of continental cuisine and stomaching a 20 hour flight: salsa de sonora.

My first tortilla found me in 1970 back in Pennsylvania when my high school buddy Steve Pino’s mom plopped one in front of me. It was covered with melted butter—no sign of salsa yet.

When the floodwaters washed me to Tucson a couple of years later, my first discovery of the stuff was at Casa Molina. It instantly began mixing with my DNA. It’s a clever and insidious program to offer up chips and salsa so far ahead of the meal, when hunger reigns rampant. That’s how it begins. Before your butt hits the chair, the salsa hits the table, and the chips begin to dip themselves.

Thus begets the long lineage of salsa investigations for years to come. It’s beguiling once realized that every restaurant offers unique family recipes. It will take decades to follow this trail.

Once I got my driver’s license, we discovered El Dorado on South Fourth Avenue, with $1.25 burros as big as adobe bricks. El Minuto was another great stop back before the remodeling, serving up its lava plunk. The trail then headed us for a long spell to The Crossroads in South Tucson when they offered curbside dining.

Once we could order beers, we discovered how they never soothed the singe of the salsa spoink—not even the mysterious XXX cerveza found back then.

We migrated for awhile to the Hacienda II, south of the freeway on Sixth Avenue; that was with Rainer. Eventually we found a new joint called Rosa’s in the strip where Bentley’s is now on Speedway.

Another pretty hot tongue teaser. We followed them when they first moved next to De Grazia’s little gallery on North Campbell, and eventually to where it is now on Fort Lowell Road. And then

106 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

finally realized we were so far north and too far from home.

Along the trail, La Indita on North Fourth Avenue nailed us back when my 26-year-old daughter was still in the belly. And that salsa hooked us bad. Some say the secret is the cilantro, but I think it rests in the hands of Paco, the artisan dishwasher who’s been making it for forever and a day. When we were living a block over from El Charro downtown, we occasionally tolerated the tourists there, and wanted to believe they really did invent the chimichanga.

Maybe it’s because I’ve perfected the art of “lazy bastard,” but when a new source of salsa perfection was detected closer to home, it has held me to this day in its relentless grip. Conjured by the Davila sisters at the little Cafe Poca Cosa, that stuff has the power to tear me away from the best of what Europe has to offer.

And it’s not just me. I constantly tease my Euro visitors here in town with the stuff, knowing full well they will head home with severe salsa withdrawals. It has such mystical powers embedded that when Sandra asked me to invite Bob Dylan to dinner back in 2006—to which I retorted a vehement “impossible”—I soon found out that nope, it wasn’t. He came for the salsa.

It’s the stuff of legends, that salsa. It satisfies like nothing else. It tears up the eye returning home after every tour, and not because it gets in the eye, but how it delights the tongue.

Dripping little white shirt salsa stain…long may you run. ✜ A Tucson resident since the early 1970s, Howe Gelb has become an elder statesman of free-wheeling Americana. A genre-defying genius and bonafide local treasure, he lives with his family in Barrio Santa Rosa.

Gelb has released some 40 albums. His newest, The Coincidentalist, was recorded in Tucson with contributions from Thøger Tetens Lund, Steve Shelley, M. Ward, the Silver Thread Trio, Bonnie Prince Billy, KT Tunstall, Jon Rauhouse, and Andrew Bird. Look for it Nov. 5.