Agave Heritage Festival Tucson

Cheering with Agave Spirits!

/ Savor Blog Partners / 1 Comment

Tia Marta here, tipping a glass to Mayahuel, Goddess of the Agave, for her many gifts–and, in addition, I’m toasting the current voice of Agave: Southwest native foods author/philosopher Gary Paul Nabhan. Heads-up for a not-to-be-missed event SOON!! — Make plans for Saturday, October 21 to meet Nabhan at a totally celebratory book-signing in downtown Tucson for his latest book, AGAVE SPIRITS!

More than just literary, this event will be laced with enlivening tastes of small-batch mezcales! So take note: NOON til 3pm THIS SATURDAY at PETROGLYPHS EMPORIUM at 160 S.AVENIDA DEL CONVENTO just north of El Mercado along the trolley route west loop.

I just got a copy and can hardly wait to dive into Gary’s special way of weaving us into a sensual and spiritual world of amazing culture, botany, cuisine, all with such humor and human sensitivity. Yay another gift from the Guru! There will be plenty of copies of the book for sale at the event, but just in case, you can also find it available at Antigone Books on 4th Ave. Tucson..

Many native species of agave–known as A’ut to Tohono O’odham ancestors who cultivated them long before European colonists arrived in the Sonoran Desert–were and can still be used for food, fiber, drink, and landscaping. To grow your own, check out the agaves for sale at Mission Garden (such as this Agave murpheyi).

For celebrating–yea honoring–mezcal and other agave spirits in their many forms, here is my very local idea for a Century Plant toasting:

The Torch-bearer Mezcal-Saguaro Sunrise–Tia Marta’s recipe

1–In the bottom of a lovely glass, pour 1 TBSP precious thick saguaro syrup (if you have been so lucky to have bought some from a traditional saguaro harvester, or to have made your own syrup last June).

2–Reserve a jigger of small-batch-mezcal (bought or smuggled from a grower, fermenter, or trader.)

3–Dilute 1 jigger mango juice (available TJ’s, Natural Grocers) with 1/2 jigger drinking water to thin its density.

4–To garnish rim, slice a lime harvested from your own tree or a neighbor’s…

5–(a secret from my formerly-bartender partner): Gently pour the diluted mango juice atop the saguaro syrup layer by placing a spoon upside down to slow the flow against the glass interior, thus preserving the horizonal layers of different densities.

6–Similarly as illustrated over clean inverted spoon, gently pour jigger of mezcal for the top “layer.”

7–Salud! a toast to Agave and its Spirit

A step above and beyond the traditional “tequila sunrise,” this glorious libation is named for the Torch-bearer, who, I was taught by O’odham mentors, lights up and brightens the eastern horizon every dawn with the glowing red, orange, yellow of his solar torch…. This drink helps us rejoice in our local saguaro fruit and spirit of Sonoran agave with its colors, flavors–even nutrition.

Celebrate agaves also with notecards of my painting “Sacred peak with Agaves,” available at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge visitor center and at Mission Garden. For 11″x17″ matted prints, call Flor de Mayo, 520-907-9471.

More mezcal ideas await…. Check out SavorSister Carolyn Niethammer’s post about the yearly Agave Heritage Festival in Tucson– with agave roasting at Mission Garden– late April. For specialized mezcal tastings locally, visit ExoBarTucson for Thursday evening samplings–It’s an “educational experience.” And stay tuned for more Agave Spirit posts as the holidays approach. Cheers to Mayahuel, to Nabhan’s new book, and indeed to the patient and giving A-ut plant!

See you at Petroglyphs Emporium this Saturday!

Get Gardening! a Post-Turkey Exercise Plan

/ Savor Blog Partners / 7 Comments

When you’ve barely slept off your Thanksgiving feast, while deep thanks are still in your heart and your significant other is deeply absorbed in TV football, here’s an option that can lead to joy, nutrition, productivity, fulfillment, and calorie burning:  planting a little winter-spring garden!

Seasonal seeds and I’itoi onion starts for your winter garden in low desert.  Check out the seed-ideas for winter veggie gardens at the NativeSeedsSEARCH store.

Young I’itoi’s onions emerging. Use them this winter and spring for chives or shallots–indeed the gift that keeps on giving!

Peas love desert winters and will give wonderful pods next spring. So easy to grow! O’odham Wihol (peas) have become well-adapted to low desert since their welcome introduction about 350 years ago.

Tia Marta here to encourage you to think FUTURE FOOD!  That is, take the simple steps–right now–to envision food from your own little piece of earth.  Time to simply put some seeds or starts into the ground.  Now–while the desert is rejoicing in rain!  Now–before your to-do list or other emails divert your better intentions.!

Your little desert plot of good soil need not be spacious.  It can even be in lovely or homely pots on your patio.  Hopefully this post will fill you with inspiration, motivation, and access for planting your own food!

Little   bulbils from the bloom-stalk now ready for planting….

 

Begin gardening with the end in sight!  We must believe in the FUTURE of our FOOD then take steps to make it happen.  Gardening is an act of FAITH and HOPE, so let’s get down on our knees and do it!

For seasonal gratification, try Tohono O’odham peas, either in a pot or a garden edge where the vines can climb a wall or trellis. For the much longer view of gratification, try planting agave clones.  It may be 10-15 years before they are ready to harvest but the wait will be a sweet, nutritious gift for you, or your grandkids, or some other hungry desert dweller dealing with global warming.

Hohokam agave (Agave murpheyi) bulbil clones planted in pots for growing out and sharing….

Desert Laboratory Director Ben Wilder and Desert Ecologist Tony Burgess sampling sweet roasted agave heart at Tucson’s Agave Heritage Festival, Mission Garden

Winter/spring is grain-growing time in low desert!  Organic heirloom White Sonora Wheat-berries are ready for planting or cooking, available at the NativeSeedsSEARCH Store, 3061 N.Campbell Avenue, Tucson (locally grown at BKWFarms)

White Sonora Wheat kernels –so easy to plant in crowded pots or in small garden plots

Young White Sonora Wheat sprouts enjoying the rain–and ready to harvest for juicing–healthy local food right from your patio!

Young starts of heirloom Magdalena acelgas (chard) grown from seed available at Mission Garden or NativeSeedsSEARCH store or online www.nativeseeds.org

Heirloom Magdalena acelgas will give you sumptuously delicious harvests of greens all winter–as these at Tucson’s Mission Garden.

Colorful rainbow chard in handsome pots grown by herb-gardener-alchemist-friend Linda Sherwood.  Isn’t this a stunning ornamental –and edible–addition to the patio?!

These are just a few fun ideas of the veggies suited for planting this season.  Find lots more ideas by visiting Tucson’s Mission Garden , the NativeSeedsSEARCH Store , and Flor de Mayo website.

There’s no finer way to express Thanksgiving, or to exercise off your feasted calories, than to be outside in the dirt.  So I’m wishing you happy winter gardening on your patio, backyard, or why not your front yard!!  Now get out your trowel and pots, and those seeds you’ve been accumulating, get your hands dirty and sing a prayer-song as you plant your future food with faith and hope!