Here come the monsoons!

It looks like the monsoons are back on schedule here in Tucson. Which means we really need to get our monsoon gardens going to take advantage of all that glorious moisture falling out of the sky.

Last week we started on a kitchen garden in a planter box along the back of the house. It didn't really have anything growing in it, but there was some good soil there and it was right next to one of the downspouts from the roof. Problem was, the downspout was pointing the wrong direction and just dumping water on the sidewalk!

Off to Ace. Time to get some elbows and a straight section to get that water closer to the ground and headed in the right direction.

That's better! Now to start digging a catchment basin to plant our kitchen herbs and veggies in.

Woops! What's that? Huh...the earth ground for the house electrical system is staked out in the planter box! Weird.

Time to move the ground wire to the outside of the planter as best I can. The catchment basin should still fit inside of the loop...I hope.

That works. Now to resume digging.

Ugh. Now what? Ah, it's one of the old irrigation pipes that criss-cross the yard. I probably should just take it out, but it won't do any harm as long as I keep it below the slope of the basin. (The irrigation pipes were disconnected from the house mains long ago.)

The basin is done...finally! That was a more difficult job than it should have been!

Now to get some tasty kitchen plants in there. It looks like the Pima County Seed Library and Native Seeds/SEARCH are both recommending tomatoes, chilis, and basil for the upcoming monsoon season. After a quick stop by the library to check out some seeds, it's time to get them in the ground and make use of the rains.

First off, plant some tomatoes in the deeper end of the basin, since they prefer a bit more water than the others.

Next up the slope - some chilis.

Finally, broadcast an amaranth/basil seed mix we picked up at a seed saving event at The Loft Cinema last year in the shallow part of the basin. (We might plant some more basil with the tomatoes once they start, to try to keep hookworms away.)

Now for a little bit of mulch to hold the moisture in.

Just have to wait for a bit of rain... Wow! That didn't take long.

Stay tuned. We'll be posting updates here to let you know how things work out with our monsoon kitchen garden!

Obsessed with Purslane

If you've been following my blog awhile, you might recall how I weeded the garden just to have Dan come along and plant weeds in it. One of those weeds was purslane, (also known as pigweed or verdolagas in Spanish.) We heard that they could grow in harsh conditions, so Dan tried transplanting some in the gravelly dirt to the right of our garden. They immediately wilted and died.

To be honest, I have been kind of obsessed with this delicious, healthy (rich in Omega 3) weed since I found it growing abundantly on the service road behind our next door neighbors' fence. Free food! One day, I saw Dave weeding his yard so I asked him if he ever sprayed Roundup outside his fence. I was delighted when he said he hadn't. I took him on a little tour of the alleyway and showed him the purslane and asked if it was alright if we picked it. He said sure. I started weeding the burmuda grass to keep the city or another "helpful" neighbor from poisoning the area. A while back I had found a pile of dead bees by our gas meter. Since then I have been diligently weeding the area to keep the city from spraying it with poison. (Good news, the bees are back!)

Soon after our failed attempt to transplant the purslane, the purslane in the alleyway got bitter. (I think it went to seed...) Recently, I've noticed purslane popping up between the road and the side walk. It was often by some sort of water source - run off from the roof or an irrigation system. About  two weeks ago, I found a nice patch by the bus stop where there was a drip system watering the median strip. I picked a huge handful, carried it home (muddy roots and all) on the bus, and picked up some tomatillos and cilantro for Mexican verdolagas stew. As I washed the dirt off, I could almost taste the craveable stew. That's when Dan informed me that he wouldn't be eating that because it could be poisoned with Roundup. Determined that my effort not go to waste, I grabbed up my purslane and planted it (burying each plant a few inches away from each other) in the garden along side of some browning turnips. I figured it might come up next year or at least nourish the soil. Dan sporadically watered the few veggies left in our garden.

After a light rain, I was surprised to find the purslane growing where I planted it in the garden! I still had the tomatillos and cilantro, so I grabbed up a handful to make a small batch of the stew! It was as tangy and delicious as I remembered it. 

Here is my version of verdolagas stew slightly adapted from the traditional Mexican version. I love this just the way it is, but meat lovers can add pork. 

along with the purslane, we had fresh chard from our garden

MEXICAN VERDOLAGAS STEW FOR TWO

4 tomatillos 

A large bunch of purslane (verdolagas) 

2-3 cloves of garlic 

1/4 of a medium onion

1/2 bunch of cilantro (optional) 

1 small chile serrano (optional)

2 slices of lime (optional)

queso fresco (optional) 

serve with tortillas 

Grab as much purslane as you can from your garden or backyard. (Leave some of the plant in the ground if you want it to continue to grow.) Wash it well. You might as well wash the cilantro now too. Chop up the purslane and the top of the cilantro separately. Set aside.

Peal the garlic, cut a quarter of an onion, simply remove the tough covering off of the tomatillos and cut into easily blend-able wedges. Throw all but purslane into the blender or food processor until it is liquidy (is that a word?) Cook in small pot or skillet for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the cilantro in blender. Add the purslane to stew. Cook until tender. Add cilantro just before serving. You can also melt a little queso fresco in the stew if you like. It's good either way. 

Serve with tortillas, add a squeeze of lime, crumble on some queso fresco. Yum! 

What we ended up having for dinner: fish rubbed with chili powder and topped with mango salsa, roasted corn with chili power, butter and lime, steamed chard from our garden and verdolagas stew on a flour tortilla.

Find a quicker version of this recipe on this blog. 

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IDENTIFICATION AND PREPARATION HINTS: Purslane is considered a succulent. The tear shaped leaves are smooth and thicker than a tree leaf. The stems are pinkish or light green. The stems have a nice tangy, crisp bite when raw. They are best eaten soon after picked. You probably don't want to eat it when it's gone to seed or has flowers because it gets bitter.  You can add it raw to salads, sauteed (good in an omelet), stir-fried, in soups, hidden in tomato based sauces, or in most recipes where you would use leafy greens. It has a milder taste than most leafy vegetables.  

If picking purslane in the wild, don't confuse it with spurge. You can tell the difference because spurge is woodier, branches spread out from the middle along the ground. It is sticky to the touch and has a white sap if you break the stem.

More PURSLANE RECIPES.

Pulverizing Bricks that Dam the Flow

At a Watershed Management Group workshop, we learned that the first step in passive rainwater harvesting is to go outside when it rains and watch where the water flows and gathers. It was no surprise that our backyard patio flooded. When my kids were little they used it for a wading pool. But it also kept valuable water from flowing to our garden and it was a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

I observed that there were two rows of bricks keeping the precious water from our wilting Mexican Honeysuckle. I concocted a plan. After studying the two rows of bricks, I decided that I would take out two parallel bricks that were closest together and nearest to the desperate plants.

After days and days of scorching heat, an overcast sky beckoned me to work on removing the bricks.

I sat on my multi-purpose sometimes writing table, sometimes gardening stool and started digging on one side of the brick with a sturdy garden spade. Then I dug on the other side.

I had no idea how deeply embedded in the ground the brick was. But I finally hit some roots that were going under the brick. So I scraped under it.

Lucky for me the part of the bricks that interlocked was worn away. So I chipped away at it with my spade. I tried kicking it down but it didn't budge.

I squeezed a square ended shovel under the brick and (amazingly) it came loose!

Here I am frantically trying to get out the brick before it rained. 

Unfortunately, the line of bricks along the patio was more difficult to get out.

I couldn't dig on both sides of it because one side was brick. So I dug as deep as I could. I was surprised how far down the gravel went. In fact, I uncovered a second layer with green rocks under the red rocks. I widened the hole big enough for the shovel to fit under it, so I could pry it up. No go. It wouldn't budge. Dan suggested that I wait until he could get to the hardware store to purchase the right tool for the job (a pick), but I was determined to get it done right then and there. (Sometimes ya gotta go with the flow, baby!)  

I searched the shed for a sledge hammer, but it must have gone to my ex in the divorce. I managed to find an old hatchet. I kept the cover on, and used the back side of the ax to break up the brick. (Dan insists that I could have saved the brick with a pick.) I would suggest you use a pick or at least wear goggles. I was hitting the brick with my eyes closed. 

Here are the two holes that were left after I took out the parallel bricks. Now all I had to do was dig a channel between the two holes. I knew the water had to go downhill, so I filled part of the hole with the gravel and dirt I had removed before. On the end of the channel by the plants, I dug a deeper hole to take advantage of gravity. There were already roots there to make the water sink in like a sponge.

With bricks removed and channels built on both sides of the patio, all I had to do was wait for the rain, and wait, and wait...

Today the rain finally came. The patio filled with water and it flowed down both channels!

A toast to our first, however short-lived, monsoon rain.
And making channels to nourish the Mexican Honeysuckle.. 

Food Security in the Desert

I attended the Sustainable Tucson meeting on "Food Resilience in 2016 — Learning to Adapt, Survive, & Thrive in the 21st Century." I was shocked to hear that about 96 percent* of Tucson’s food comes from other places. What?! What about all that agriculture that is using up 74 percent of our water? Colorado River water is transported over 300 miles to reach farms in Arizona. 

I decided to do some quick fact checking. I called the big grocery stores in my area. I asked produce managers if they had any local produce (clarifying that I meant from Arizona.) Keep in mind that it depends on the season.  When I called Whole Foods, they had tomatoes from Wilcox. Fry's had lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, and oranges from Yuma and Payson. Sprouts (my neighborhood store) had melons, heirloom and organic tomatoes and hydroponic sprouts. Food City didn’t have any produce grown in Arizona; it all came from California and Mexico. There wasn't much local produce to be found at my neighborhood supermarkets.

Julie Murphree from the Arizona Farm Bureau said that most of our greens come from Yuma, Pinal and Maricopa County. She guesstimated that 80 percent of our produce is exported. 

According to the AZDA Guide to Arizona Agriculture: The state ranks second in production of lettuce and spinach in the country. Yuma farmers annually produce enough iceberg lettuce for every man, woman and child in the United States, Canada and Mexico to have their very own head of Yuma-grown lettuce. And there would still be nearly 90 million heads of lettuce to send to other countries in the world.  

Arizona’s durum wheat grain is known as Desert Durum®... Approximately 50% of each Desert Durum® crop is exported.

If only 4 percent* of our food comes from Arizona, where are we getting our food? Thirty-five percent of Tucson’s produce comes from Mexico. It is an understatement to say that our food system is inefficient. The people in Sonora can’t afford to eat any of the produce they grow, yet thousands of pounds of produce is dumped into landfills after arriving in Arizona. Part of that is damaged during transport, but another 120 thousand pounds may be dumped when prices go down in Florida. (Borderlands Foodbank of Nogales has taken on that challenge. The non-profit organization saves 30-40 million pounds of produce annually and distributes it to families in 20 U.S. states. At Market on the Move you can get 60 lbs. of produce - that would otherwise end up in a landfill - for $10!)

While much of our produce comes from Mexico and California, food is also shipped across our country or even the world. Imagine how much energy is expended just transporting food to Tucson (not to mention the energy used to manufacture the packaging.)

Besides the environmental impact of transporting our food, there is the question of food security. As resources continue to diminish, we won’t be able to keep this up. What would happen if we were cut off from the food superhighway? Big grocery chains only keep 2-5 days’ worth of food in their stores and warehouses. Most households have less than two weeks of food in their pantries. There are no protections if this system shuts down.

Data shows nearly 94,000 Tucson residents live in a food desert; those are low-income neighborhoods where the closest grocery store is at least a mile away - according to the article, New research finds rainwater harvesting could be solution to Tucson food deserts by Jamie Warren. 

But the article goes on... Researchers with the University of Arizona and Arizona State University say rainwater harvesting may be the answer to eliminating them.

On a normal year, our annual rainfall supplies enough water for all of our citizens. Unfortunately, our current system doesn’t utilize that water. Our streets and washes are designed for flood control. All that water that could seep into our aquifer evaporates on its way out of town. Despite that, Tucsonans still use 40% of our water for landscaping.

Fortunately, the solution is in the problem. We can cut down on our water use by transitioning to desert landscaping and by watering low water plants with rainwater redirected from our roofs! Brad Lancaster of Desert Harvesters and the Watershed Management Group teach Tucsonans how to replenish our aquifers and rivers by harvesting rainwater! Tucson Water even offers rebates to encourage rainwater harvesting! Some city officials are starting to catch on too. Outside of the new municipal buildings green infrastructure including curb cuts have been incorporated to use street water to irrigate roadside trees.

Of course, to be self-sufficient, we need water to grow food. At Watershed Management Group’s workshops, you can learn how to harvest rainwater for your gardens or greywater from your washing machine and sink to irrigate your fruit trees.

WMG has worked with the Community Food Bank and several schools to capture rainwater for their gardens.

Led by visionary educators like Moses Thompson of Manzo Elementary, students are taught practical science by growing crops to feed fellow students and their families. Students also learn valuable business skills by selling extra produce at farmers markets. One thing that TUSD is doing right, is that they are purchasing food from local farmers and allowing school cafeterias to serve the produce that is grown in their gardens.

Some ways for Tucson to become more self-sufficient in food production

We need to pull together as a community and take care of our neighbors by:

1) Supporting local farmers

• Shop at farmers markets
• Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) 
• Buy local produce at the Food Conspiracy Co-op and ask markets to carry more local produce
• Eat at local restuarants and bakeries that use locally sourced food
• Eat local fruits and veggies as they come into season  

2) Growing our own food

• kitchen gardens and raised gardens 
• community gardens 
• school gardens
• hydroponic and aquaponic systems 
• green houses 

Tucson CSA's basket of the week by Sleeping Frog Farm of Benson

3) Growing more durable desert adapted food plants

• Use dry desert gardening techniques like covering the ground with organic mulch and cardboard
• Fertilizer made from composting kitchen scaps, leaves and other organic matter can help retain moisture in the soil 
• "Plant" ollas in your garden to save water on irrigation
• Use diverse heritage seeds found at Native Seeds/SEARCH or Seed Libraries (ex. amaramth)
• Ensure future diversity by seed collecting
• Grow edible desert plants like prickly pear cactus and mesquite. 

4) Conserving Water

• Plant edible native and drought tolerant trees that don't need much watering once established
• Direct rainwater to gardens and greywater (from washing machines) to heritage fruit trees 
• Put in catchment basins filled with organic mulch and native grasses to hold the water like a sponge
• Plant native trees in the high end of catchment basin 
• Water your garden or landscape in the early morning or evening so water doesn't evaporate
• Find out how much water your plants and trees require so you don't over water them
• Plants take 3-5 times LESS water in the winter  

5) Making our yards into shady edible forests using rainwater harvesting catchment basins

6) Harvesting our desert bounty in a responsible way that preserves the plant for future use

• Desert Harvesters leads workshops in harvesting native foods responsibly
• Don't poison edible weeds with pesticides or herbicides 
• Edible weeds information and recipes 

7) Avoiding food waste

• Harvest unattended fruit trees in your own yard & around town. Learn what is edible
• Arrange for Iskashitaa Refugee Harvesting Network to pick unused fruit rather than throw it in the trash to end up in a landill 
• Restaurants and schools can arrange for UA Compost Cats to pick up their kitchen scraps
• Encourage our City Council Members to start a curbside compost pickup program
• Get 70 lbs. of produce that would otherwise end up in a landfill for a $15 donation at P.O.W.W.O.W. or 60 lbs. for $10 at Market on the Move
• Have a plan for how you will use your rescued produce 
• Check what is in your fridge before shopping and make a list for foods to supplement what you already have 
• Use kitchen scraps to make broth 
• Compost your kitchen scraps
• Find out what your local grocery store does with it's "ugly" produce and expired food
• Start a neighborhood produce exchange program (Share your bountiful tomato harvest while your neighbor shares their chard) 
• Share what you can't use with your neighbors in a little free pantry or produce stand  
• Check up on elderly neighbors and share your food with them

8) Raising chickens for eggs

• Chickens process food scraps into the best fertilizer
• Chickens eat bugs near garden 
• Crush egg shells to add calcium to homemade fertilizer with dirt, banana peels, used tea and coffee grounds 
• Compost egg shells  

Note: many areas of Tucson have plenty of calcium in their soil so they don't need more from egg shells.  

9) Eating a (mostly) plant-based diet or sustainably produced beef 

The area needed for animals to graze and grow feed is huge. It takes up about 80% of all agricultural land. Researchers found that the switch to plant-based diets would reduce annual agricultural production emissions by 61%. Additionally, converting former cropland and pastures to their natural state would remove another 98.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by the end of the century. 

The rapid growth of animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation. Up to 70% of the Amazon Rainforest has already been destroyed and is now occupied by pastures and feed crops. One of the main crops grown in the rainforest is soybeans used specifically for animal feed.

However, there may be a solution... 

A 2018 study by researchers in Michigan and Washington, D.C., entitled "Impacts of soil carbon sequestration on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in Midwestern USA beef finishing systems," showed that intensive, rotational grazing could offset greenhouse gas emission through carbon sequestration that will result to a carbon sink. The researchers noted that grasslands could become highly efficient carbon sequesters that can be maximized using management practices for livestock grazing.

You can help by: 

• Cutting back on how much meat you eat
• Buying environmentally sound, sustainably produced beef 

By making these positive changes at our homes and neighborhoods, we can show our governing officials how we can be more self-sufficient by maintaining our own ground water and food supply (rather than transporting so much from far off states and countries).

Combating Food Insecurity

The Community Food Bank collaborates with organizations like P.O.W.W.O.W. and hosts a community garden and desert gardening classes.

We need to support organizations like the Community Food Bank and advocate for easier ways for those who are food insecure to access the help they need.

But mostly we need to advocate for a living wage so people can afford healthy food.

Community bike tour held by WGA

So… what are Dan and I doing in the way of food and water sustainability? A while ago we began composting and we started a desert garden (experimenting with durable heritage plants.) I began with simple water harvesting by digging up a few bricks that blocked water from flowing to our Mexican Honeysuckle. Then Dan removed gravel and dug a street side catchment basins to water drought tolerant, fast growing and super nutritious moringa. We planted edible native trees in our front yard basin. We also planted jujubes in a basin watered by runoff from our roof. We harvest fruit and pads of our spineless prickly pear. We finally adapted the plumbing on our outdoor washing machine to irrigate some drought tolerant heritage pomegranate and fig trees. We installed two big cisterns to water our backyard garden. A kind neighbor offered to let us collect the run-off water from his huge roof. for the garden too! It’s all a process.

Our future plans:

We'd like to build a chicken coop near that garden and a green house. Dan dreams of installing a composting toilet. We'd also like to start a neighborhood association with the idea of having a neighborhood garden and sharing our own produce at neighborhood potlucks or a produce exchange.

There is so much inspirational work being done around Tucson. The Tohono O’odham are teaching volunteers at the Mission Garden to use their ancient dry desert farming techniques and how to grow sturdy heritage crops. Tucson was the first city in the United States to be recognized as a UNESCO World City of Gastronomy. “The Tucson Basin deserves this honor not only for having some of the oldest continually farmed landscapes in North America, but also for emerging as a global hotbed for ideas on relocalizing food economies and growing food in a hotter, drier climate,” says Gary Paul Nabhan, an ethnobotanist and professor at the University of Arizona’s Southwest Center. “From food banks, seed libraries, and farmers’ markets, to community gardens, community kitchens, and literary luminaries writing on food and culture, we are serving as a nursery grounds for new innovations, not merely for preserving our food heritage.”

*See Tres' comment for clarification on this percentage.

More Information:

The Secret of P.O.W! Reducing Food Waste During Covid

Minimizing food waste - UN Environment

New research finds rainwater harvesting could be solution to Tucson food deserts - Feb 09, 2021

Planting & Maintenance of tree - Trees for Tucson

Watering Trees and Shrubs - UA  Cooperative Extension 

Recommended Native Tree & Understory Plant Lists - Desert Harvesters 

9 desert plants you can turn into cookies, candy and margaritas

The Changing Faces in Arizona's Food System 1.pdf

How to nurture your small piece of the Earth, without harming the rest of it

What Kind of Climate Champion Are You?  (Desert Adapted Gardeners section) 

2020-21 State of the Tucson Food System Report.pdf

Good Food Finder -  go-to source for locally grown and produced food

https://www.fillyourplate.org/

Imagine this Place

Imagine this place…

Where we live in harmony with nature

Landscaping reflecting the natural beauty of the Sonoran desert

Instead of gravel and cement; agave, mesquite, palo verde flourish

Rainwater washes down roof tops to nourish fruit trees and fill aquifers

When we no longer obstruct the flow but go with it

Rivers surrounded by cottonwood and oak

Flow

Imagine this place

Where we live in harmony with others

Nurturing, inspiring the individual gifts everyone has to share

Instead of TV and Youtube: family, neighbors, community connects

Supporting local farmers, artisans, craftsmen, passionate entrepreneurs

When we no longer obstruct the flow but go with it

Talents developed with encouragement and love

Flow

Imagine this place

Where we live in harmony with the dirt

Harvesting nourishing, heritage crops for everyone to share

Instead of teaching lack and fear, we teach love, justice, environmental respect

Restoring local rivers, aquifers with berms, water tanks, catchment basins

When we no longer obstruct the flow but go with it

Desert crops sprout in the dirt, roots reaching for the

Flow

Imagine all the time

Time to live in the present, fully alive

To soak in the brilliance of our sunsets during an evening stroll

To feel the wind in your face as you coast down a hill

Time to take in the fragrance of creosote after the rain

To toast the spectacle of monsoon storms with your love

Time to dig in the garden with your children

To settle back and watch things grow

Time to share your harvest at a neighborhood potluck

 To paint, to read, to bake, to sing, to dance, to play…

Imagine floating on your back, you are part of the flow

Imagine this place

Flow