Food / Native Plants

Sources of locally grown organic produce and other foods:

Food Conspiracy Co-op. 412 N. 4th Ave. 624-4821. A great member owned co-op offering organic and natural foods/products. They support local growers and suppliers by carrying their goods, and they generously sponsor local organizations and events.

Source of locally and organically raised free-range beef: Chet and Debbie with the Saguaro/Juniper Association. 520-212-4769. They raise the cattle and then take them to slaughter. The animals never leave local hands as all the meat is processed by a local butcher. The meat is very lean and in 2001 averaged just over $3/pound of mixed cuts.

www.DesertHarvesters.org. a grassroots organization promoting the sustainable
growing, harvesting, processing, and eating of native foods.

Source for information on organically grown foods and policy:

Organic Consumers Association (OCA). www.organicconsumers.org.

Sources of grain mills (for grinding mesquite pods and the like): R & R Mill Company, Inc. PO B0x 187, 48 West First North, Smithfield, Utah 84335-0187. (435)563-3333. A good supplier of hand and electric powered grain mills.Local source of a hammermill for use of grinding your own mesquite pods:

Once a year David Omick and Pearl Mast host a mesquite bean milling day in Cascabel, Arizona (just north of Benson) with the community hammermill (a mechanical mill that easily breaks up the mesquite pod and some of the hard seed to produce quality flour). It’s a small, but festive, event, usually held in late September/early October, so we’re out of the humid monsoon weather and the beans have a chance to dry well. They send out a notice a couple weeks before the event. The only stipulation is that the milling be for home consumption (non-commercial) use only. Bring as many beans as you like. Contact them via email at david@omick.com. or regular mail at David Omick and Pearl Mast, 5780 North Cascabel Road, Benson, AZ 85602. phone (520)-212-4628.
Here are their mesquite harvest recommendations:

– Pick beans off the tree rather than the ground to help prevent getting moldy beans. Ripe beans will come off the branch easily, with just a gentle pull.

– Wash beans (we dunk them in a tub of water).

– Spread beans out thinly on a clean surface to dry for several days in direct sun. (It’s important that the beans be crispy dry for milling - they should snap in two if you try to bend them.)

– In storage, the beans may hatch insects, but we mill them anyway (it’s just a different form of protein). Some folks prefer to store them in the freezer or heat them in an oven and then seal them to prevent insects.

– After milling, put the meal into jars and heat (we use a solar oven) to about 150 degrees for a couple hours to kill insect eggs. Seal the jars with a tight fitting lid, and the meal will last indefinitely without bugs.

– About 30 gallons of plump dry pods will mill down to about 5 gallons of seed coats/chaff and 5 gallons of mesquite meal (which you quickly and easily separate from the chaff with a window screen).

Sources of native edible foods:

Native Seeds/SEARCH, 526 N. 4th Ave., Tucson, AZ 85705, ph. 520-622-5591 They have packaged mesquite flour, tepary beans, cactus jelly, chia seeds, and more!

San Xavier Farm Cooperative Association, Inc., 8100 S. Oidak Wog, Tucson, AZ 85746. 520-295-3774. A great local source of native mesquite flour, tepary beans, roasted wheat flour, corn meal, roasted corn, squash, and more!

Bake Mixes by Junie. Junie Hostetler, Owner, POB 41591, Tucson, AZ 85717-1591. 520-360-7613. Email: bakemix@bakemixesbyjunie.com. Junie specializes in quality dry baking mixes using Southwest ingredients such as
chile poweders, blue cornmeal, mesquite flour, native herbs, and popped amaranth.

Hot Springs Canyon Herb Co. 6055 N. Canyon Rd., Benson AZ 85602. Organic, hand processed prickly pear syrup along with organically grown exotic veggies and fruits.