Like Water in the Desert

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Over the past century, we've transformed the arid lands of the American west into year-round, well-irrigated agricultural powerhouses. Today, fruits, nuts, and nearly all of our leafy greens are grown in the desert, using water diverted, stored, and supplied at taxpayer expense. This intense irrigation is having an impact: Reservoir levels are dropping, rivers are drying up, and the state of Arizona is literally sinking. With the help of agroecologist Gary Nabhan, farmers Ramona and Terry Button, and others in the region, we ask the big questions: Should we be farming in the desert? What would a water-saving system even look like? And does a tiny bean that smells like desert rain hold the secret to survival in a hotter, drier world?

Green farmland against a backdrop of low, brown mountains and bright blue sky
—Conventional farmland in Maricopa County, AZ

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the mesquite milling process you heard in the episode, with many thanks to Juliet Jivanti of the Borderlands Restoration Network for these photos and her help gathering sound.

  • Scenes from an outdoor mesquite milling event, with a large mill on the back of a trailer parked in front of a home, participants in masks, and mesquite being sorted, roasted, milled, then sifted into a fine, pale sand-colored flour.
—Mesquite milling this fall in Patagonia, AZ. Photos by Juliet Jivanti.

Where to buy tepary beans and other desert products: We got our tepary beans from Ramona Farms, which also sells heritage corn and wheat products. Our cholla buds and mesquite flour come from San Xavier Co-op Farm, run by members of the Tohono O’odham nation, and our prickly pear syrup comes from Native Seeds/SEARCH, a seed-saving non-profit.

Episode Notes

Brad Lancaster

Brad Lancaster is a permaculture designer known for his work in rainwater harvesting and water management. After years of covertly cutting curbs to redirect rainwater, Brad convinced the city of Tucson to pass an ordinance requiring new street projects to do the same. Brad is the co-founder of Neighborhood Foresters and Desert Harvesters and author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond.

  • Scenes from a prickly pear harvest: Brad holds a metal bucket with bright magenta fruit inside against a backdrop of several cacti outside; then we see prickly pear fruit cut open on a wooden cutting board, their deep magenta juices staining the board, and then we see the fruit being strained over a metal colander, with the hand holding the colander stained pink from the fruit juice.
—Brad's prickly pear harvest and juicing process.

The Button Family and Ramona Farms

Ramona and Terry Button have been farming in the Gila River Basin since 1974, on the ancestral land of Ramona’s people, the Akimel O’odham. Through decades of work, they’ve helped revive the tepary bean and reintroduce it to the community. Their eldest daughter, Brandy Button, is a chef who travels with the family to schools and community centers teaching people about traditional Native American foods.

A pile of small, white dried beans spills out over a dark brown wooden table.
—White tepary beans, or Stotoah bavi, from Ramona Farms

Gary Nabhan and The Nature of Desert Nature

Gary Nabhan is a desert agroecologist celebrated for his work on the biodiversity and cultural diversity of the arid Southwest. He is a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius Grant” and author of 26 books, including Mesquite: An Arboreal Love Affair, and most recently, The Nature of Desert Nature. Gary co-founded the non-profit Native Seeds/SEARCH, which preserves and distributes indigenous seeds, and he tends a farm and orchard of desert-adapted fruit trees in Patagonia, Arizona.

Sterling Johnson, Nina Sajovec, and the Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Sterling Johnson and Nina Sajovec are partners who run the Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Sterling is a member of the Tohono O’odham nation and Ajo farm manager. Nina is the founder and executive director. Through the Ajo CSA, they preserve agriculture traditions like ak-chin irrigation, teach community members about traditional crops, and run a food pantry and farmer’s market.

Erick Meza and Las Milpitas

Erick Meza is the farm education coordinator at Las Milpitas Community Farm, a six-acre space for residents of Tucson on the banks of the Santa Cruz River. Erick's immersion in desert agriculture started by accident with a small compost pile, which grew into an interest in permaculture and rainwater harvesting. Las Milpitas offers garden plots, supplies, and educational workshops at no cost to low-income families.

Sonja Swanson

Sonja Swanson is our fabulous Gastropod fellow; she pitched this episode as part of her application for the fellowship. She lives in the Mojave Desert in Las Vegas, writes about food and culture, and was a 2019 recipient of the UC Berkeley Food and Farming Journalism fellowship.

Abe Sanchez and the Chia Café Collective

Abe Sanchez is a founding member of the Chia Café Collective and co-publisher of Cooking the Native Way, a book of essays and recipes exploring the Native cuisines of Southern California.

Tilia Klebenov Jacobs

Tilia Klebenov Jacobs is the super generous Gastropod listener who helped fund our reporting for this episode. She's also an award-winning writer and the author of two crime novels and one middle-grade fantasy book. Check out her books here!