Participating farms are diverse and include: Avalon Gardens in Tumacácori, Forever Yong Farm and Walking J Farm in Amado, and Arivaca Community Garden in Arivaca.  New this year is a Patagonia loop including: Patagonia Community Garden, Deep Dirt Farm Institute, Native Seeds/SEARCH Conservation Farm, Almuña de los Zopilotes Experimental Farm in Patagonia and Chivas Mias goat farm in Sonoita.

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Participating Farms

 

Walking J Farm is a diverse, sustainable farm nestled in the watershed of the Santa Cruz River Valley in southern Arizona - a true polyculture farm.  We envision our farm as a self-sustaining entity feeding local families and communities in the area with farm fresh meat products and produce.  We also see our farm as an educational opportunity to all those interested in learning about living off their land, and making a living from their land.  The health of our soils is the foundation of the health of our animals and plants.  We manage our pastures with rotational grazing of our cow herd, pastured poultry, and aerating with the pigs.  We have been slowly rebuilding our soils in our 1.5 acre garden with compost, effective microorganisms, and manure from the animals. 

Address and Directions: Take Interstate 19 south towards Nogales, Arizona. Take Exit 48, Arivaca Road Turn right (west) at the bottom of the off-ramp. Turn right  (north) at the stop sign onto frontage road. Take your first left (west) onto Arivaca Road between the Cow Palace Restaurant and the gas station.
 Drive for approximately 8 miles to mile post 15.  We are on the south (left) side of the road.  Address is 10461 Arivaca Road

Forever Yong Farm  We are an “all natural” family farm located in the pristine and beautiful Southern Arizona borderlands. Our wonderful bottomland soil and pure water enable us to produce high quality fresh chemical free produce for local markets. We use a variety of methods to combat the challenging growing conditions of the Sonoran Desert including greenhouses, shade clothes, mulches, row covers, and drip irrigation. These techniques will be seen and explained on tour day. Also, in season produce will be made available for sale.

 

Address & Directions: From Tucson, take I-19 south thru Green Valley. Exit at Arivaca Rd. (48). Go west on Arivaca Rd., which starts directly across from the Longhorn Grill landmark. Follow the mile marker signs that decrease as you proceed west. After mm 12 but just before mm 11 take a left on Moyza Ranch Rd. We are the last place on the left (about 1.5 miles.) Address is 33225 Arivaca Rd.

 

The Arivaca Community Garden is a project of PPEP Inc., a Tucson based, state wide non-profit corporation committed to improving life in rural Arizona.  The ACG began in 1996 to increase the availability of locally grown produce for the communities of Arivaca, Amado, and Green Valley.  It is funded by local and federal grants and from the sale of produce.  The ACG is a 3 acre staff run farm producing between 10,000 and 20,000 pounds of food a year which is sold locally and donated to food banks in Amado and Green Valley. To help get the work done it relies on local volunteers who are rewarded with fresh produce. The ACG is a certified organic operation using no chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides and required to use growing practices that improve farm fertility rather than deplete it.  We encourage populations of beneficial insects to control the bad bugs, have chickens and guinea fowl to eat them, produce large amounts of compost and plant nitrogen fixing cover crops that are tilled into the soil. During the winter the main crops are snow peas, carrots, lettuce, spinach, chard, kale and turnips.  Summer time crops include tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beans, squash, watermelons and eggplant.  A tractor is used for field preparation as well as the turning and screening of the large piles of compost and two large greenhouses for winter and summer production. There is an extensive underground irrigation system. Produce from the garden is also used by a food preservation cooperative of Arivaca volunteers who get together to can tomatoes, make pickles and pesto at the Arivaca Community Center’s certified kitchen which are also which are also sold along with the produce at two farmers markets. To support our program buy our locally grown fresh produce at the Green Valley Farmers Market on Wednesdays at the Green Valley Mall. 

 

Address & Directions:  Take I-19 south from Tucson. Take exit 48, Arivaca Rd. Amado. Take a right off the ramp and a right at the stop sign onto the frontage road. Take a left onto Arivaca road and go 23 miles to the town of Arivaca.  At the end of town take a left onto S. 5th Ave that turns into Fraguita, which turns into Ruby Road.  Follow Ruby Road until you come to Wedgeford Rd. on the left, there is a sign for the garden.  Follow Wedgeford to the end and go through the left hand gate, there is a sign for the Arivaca Community Garden.

 Avalon Organic Gardens, Farm & Ranch Our 165-acre ranch land was continuously farmed for many centuries and we are honoring this tradition and plan on annually increasing the quality of its products and the beautification of all its special places. Our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program delivers weekly harvest shares to Tubac, Patagonia, Green Valley, Tucson and many pick up onsite. We offer seasonal organic vegetables all year.  You can sign up anytime at www.avalongardens.org/csa. 

 We offer a Personality Integration Rehabilitation Program for challenged teens and adults (www.pirp.info), with agricultural training as a major part of the healing process. We are a thriving Eco-Village and intentional community of 100 individuals of all ages from 5 continents with many sustainable building and living practices. You will see Cal-Earthdomes and other alternative building sites; Rain and Greywater harvesting techniques; greenhouses and extensive gardens;  pasture grazed cattle, horses, chicken, emus; geese and a large goatherd which gets milked twice a day.

Water harvesting and water conservation techniques including greyater systems, drip irrigation will be highlighted. Free hayrides, lots of food as well as all of our seasonal produce (and Garlic braids) for sale.

 Address & Directions: If it’s raining please call 520-603-9932 for different directions.

From Tucson, Take I-10 East to I-19 south towards Nogales. Take Tumacacori/Carmen Exit # 29. At stop sign off Interstate ramp turn left and pass under the Interstate to the stop sign at the East Frontage Rd. Turn left (north) on East Frontage Rd. Drive less than ½ mile north; turn right on Santa Gertrudis Lane (under big archway). Drive approximately ½ mile on the dirt. You will go through a low-water crossing. (Usually about six inches of water—don’t stop in the middle—just keep moving through the water. This time of year it can be soft, but don’t stop.). Our ranch is on the left just before the railroad tracks. Gate will be open. Once you come in our gate, our lane is about one mile long. At one point the lane turns 90 degrees to the right and you need to stop at the railroad tracks please and check for a possible train both ways!  Pass by the first white house on your right and continue to the designated parking area after the last building on the right. www.avalongardens.org, 520-603-9932

 

Patagonia Loop

Patagonia Community Garden From its inception, the intent of the garden has been to stimulate community-wide sustainability through local food production. Experiential education about water harvesting (growing beds are depressions that hold rainwater), growing food in arid lands and associated health benefits, both personal and environmental, are at the heart of the project. Our growing methods are organic. Beauty is also fundamental to the vision; beauty inspires and invites our engagement with place. The Garden demonstrates what is possible here.  An orchard, planted in 2000, providing habitat, fruit, shade for growing beds on hot summer afternoons whilst preserving heirloom varieties.  There are more than 30 apple, pear, European plum and cherry trees, as well as pomegranate, Emorii oak (for traditional native food: bellotas), grapes and black currants. The inclusion of guilds of native species attracts an array of birds, insects and soil micro flora thereby increasing the overall diversity of the Garden.  A 4H garden for younger children, the Clover Club, has been increasingly successful over the years. This work has been further enhanced through a direct relationship with the Patagonia Schools and a satellite garden program, funded in recent years by State grants through the Mariposa Health Center. That 90% of the children in our schools today have knowledge of soils, growing food, and an understanding of healthy bodies in relationship to healthy food is something we are truly proud of.   The Community Garden’s expanding vision invites deeper interaction with place. There are places to sit in sun or shade, a rosy bower and bench, the Contemplative Garden, and a shrine dedicated to La Guadalupana.

 

Address & Directions:  (From Nogales) turn right on 4th Ave.; pass Mc Keown to Smelter Avenue. (From Tucson) Turn south off Highway 82 on to 4th, pass Mc Keown (by the restrooms) then right on Smelter.

 

Native Seeds/SEARCH Conservation Farm On December 19, 1997, NS/S and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) each purchased a portion of a 160-acre farm in Patagonia, Arizona. NS/S bought 60-acres of rich flood plain fields away from the creeks and TNC purchased the remaining 100 acres of farm, including the creek bottom and neighboring corridor of native Sacaton grass and cottonwood trees. While TNC would work to preserve the Sonoita Creek riparian corridor running through its newly acquired land, NS/S would use the flood plain fields to grow and conserve native crops.  Native Seeds/SEARCH grows out hundreds of varieties of plants for seed at our Conservation Farm. It is the site for numerous celebrations including the annual San Juan's Day and Harvest Festival.

Address & Directions:  Take I-10 east for 25 miles, take exit 281 “Highway 83/Sonoita/Patagonia.” Continue south for 25 miles; in the town of Sonoita turn right at the stop sign towards Patagonia onto Highway 82. After approximately 12 miles look for milepost 21 and the green “Welcome to Patagonia” sign on your right. At this sign turn left into the San Antonio Rd/Red Mountain Ranch (this is our farm entrance), drive through the wash and turn right down the dirt driveway, park by the barn. If you get to the high school you missed the turn. 42 San Antonio Road, Patagonia, AZ 85624

 

Almuña de los Zopilotes, The Turkey Vultures Experimental  Farm serves to connect to the thousand year legacy of such biodiverse farms in Andalucia Spain, North Africa and the Middle East. More than a thousand years ago in Moorish Spain, farmer-scholars developed private experimental farms called almuniya to introduce new crop varieties, adapt and select ancient ones for new uses, and implement water- and energy-saving cropping strategies. Today, inspired by his fiend Juan Estevan Arrellano’s book, Ancient Agriculture, Gary  Nabhan is developing the first-ever almuniya on Arizona soil. A five and a half acre farmstead above the Native Seeds/SEARCH growout farm, demonstrating how desert-adapted agro-biodiversity can be integrated into water-conserving farming systems for climate-friendly food production. Featuring 45 heritage fruits, 15 heirloom chiles and 40 other varieties in water harvested orchard-gardens on ridges above Native Seeds/SEARCH.  To date, they have planted Mission olives, Mission figs, Mission grapes, Texas Mission almonds, Santa Barbara Mission pears, Sonoran pomegranates, Sonoran quinces, Indian cling peaches, Black Sphinx dates, Baja California Mission guavas, in addition to Kanal Sinap, Black Oxford, Yellow Bellflower and Winter Banana apples, pistachios and apricots. Using the theory of nurse plant ecology these tree crops shelter an understory of globe artichokes, perennial chile peppers, onions, shallots, bay leaves, rhubarb, purslane, amaranth and asparagus.

 

Deep Dirt Farm Institute~ Setting the stage for growing a vibrant future.

Nested in, and bisected by, the Stevens Canyon watershed, Deep Dirt Farm Institute is evolving the potential of place through a regenerative partnership with the land and community. The name, Deep Dirt Farm, reflects the true gold of this place: Grabe Loam soils that are six to eight feet deep!  In our future is a Bio-Dynamic, 28 acre community farm, Permaculture school & smithy, as well as diverse habitat for pollinators and our other wild, Sky Island, neighbors.

Deep Dirt Farm Institute offers visitors an opportunity to learn about the deep process of regenerative development, and how it is applied in practical ways:

•   Demonstrating creative reuse of waste materials ~ garden structures, rainwater management etc.

•   Orchard ~ first phase planted: heirloom fruit trees, nuts and other seed producing trees.

•   Cultivating old varieties keeps critical DNA viable & vital, and at the same time, offers a diversity of flavors to the palate.

•   Hydrological restoration and rainwater harvesting earthworks, are an essential part of our foundation.

•   Earth sheltered, temperature modified storage for seeds, and eventually, crops.

•   Adobe brick making. All buildings will be built primarily of adobe bricks, made from materials found on the site.

•   Adobe duck house: our first building is rising thanks to some very excited & energetic children.

•   750 gallon culvert cistern, phase one for well water storage, that gravity feeds for low psi irrigation.

•   Passive solar choices for building sites.

•   Other considerations for living in an arid land and a changing climate.

•   Planning for fire in a fire driven landscape.

•   The benefits of pollinator habitat.

•   Next infrastructure: Solar pumping system; greenhouse.

 If you are interested in learning about Permaculture and how to start a fooding project, this is it!

** Site tours at Deep Dirt are at scheduled times only: 9am, 11 am, 1 pm, and 5 pm. Allow 1.5 hours per tour.

 Address & Directions:  From Patagonia, Stevens Canyon is one mile North of Patagonia’s schools.

(Stevens Canyon is an improved dirt road & Penny Lane is a dirt road.)

Stevens Canyon intersects with Highway 82 just south of mile marker 22, and opposite from the entrance to Rail X Ranch estates.  Take Stevens Canyon, .3 mile to Penny Lane. Right on Penny Lane and follow to the end.  Look for parking signs.  You will cross a wash on Stevens Canyon shortly after you turn onto it.

You will cross a smaller wash on Penny Lane, after you pass through the iron bar gate.

(Both roads are car accessible. Drive slowly please.)

Chivas Mias has an Alpine dairy goat herd and a few meat goat Boer goats that can be raised together. The total herd includes 14 milkers, 12 does kids, 8 pack goats, and 4 breeding bucks.  Chivas Mias also raises pack goats breeds that are suitable for packing. Milk and cheeses are made from does milk and are sold locally to families and local farmers’ markets.   Tour goes can taste goat milk and cheeses, see milking room set up and even try their hand at goat milking.   Chivas Mias also runs a 4-H Youth group for children 9 years and older in Santa Cruz County.  Youth participate in dairy project, meat project and pack goat project.

Address & Directions:  Take 83 through the intersection at 82 (from Patagonia take a right onto 83) 

Stay straight onto Papago Springs Road.  Papago Springs Road sign in front of old gas station.  About a mile and half down windy paved road, Papago Road dog legs to the right.  Road will turn into dirt at dog leg.  Go .8 miles from  dogleg, Roland Lane will be on the left. Chivas Mias is the 1st house on Roland Lane on the Right.  Three tan block buildings with blue metal roofs.  #2 Roland Lane, Sonoita

 

Links

http://www.arivaca.net/

http://www.nps.gov/tuma/index.htm

http://www.nogalesaz.gov/

http://www.patagoniaaz.com/

http://sonoitaaz.com/

 

 
Past Events

Sunday, September 12, 2010
9am - 6pm