Saturday, August 29, 2009

Urban Agriculture

Even when it's going to be 115 degrees, things are still growing and ripening out here. Spotted lately are ripe olives falling onto sidewalks, the way mulberries fall back east and mess the sidewalk. Olive trees are a common landscaping tree out here, and out in Queen Creek there's an olive mill that presses local oil. If you have an olive tree on your property you could harvest and cure them yourself. The other thing that has started to ripen and fall is palm nuts. I spotted a bunch on the apartment complex property this week, large tan nuts that you think would be eaten by squirrels if we had any out here. And of course, we have purslane growing out of the cracks in the sidewalk.

There was a heat advisory yesterday that continues through tomorrow. I am sick of 110 degree days.

I also wanted to mention 2 bits of regional awesomeness: the seed bank in Patagonia, AZ and Mexican style hot dogs available at Tucson street carts. I may brave the college students to take a trip down to Tucson to sample. Or just go to South Phoenix to see if I can find some (along with some of the best doughnuts ever!).

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