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Desert Harvesters Events 

Desert Harvesters typically hosts a full calendar year of events and activities, including free native desert foods and desert living demos at Santa Cruz River Farmers Market, free Delicious Desert presentations at local library branches, trainings, festivals, guided harvest walks, hands-on workshops, and cooking classes. Please contact us if you would like to collaborate or invite Desert Harvesters to participate in your event on unscheduled dates in 2024! (see Upcoming Events at right).

Desert Harvesters is not currently holding community mesquite millings, but consulting services are available to community millers for best harvest and safety practices.

If you would like to share your milling event, please let us know.


Upcoming events

2024 EVENTS/ACTIVITIES:

Demos @Santa Cruz River Farmers Market, at new location @MSA Annex, 276 S Avenida del Convento, Tucson AZ)

February 8- Delicious Desert Demo: Early Spring! Sonoran Desert plants and foods (chia, wild greens, berries, etc), 3-6pm

February 22- Place-Based Living Skills: Food Preservation- learn to ferment, pickle, salt-cure, dry, and smoke desert and other foods, 3-6pm

March 7- Delicious Desert Demo: Spring Equinox Bounty (desert greens and herbs, flowers), 3-6pm

March 21- Place-Based Living Skills Demo: Make Your Own Self-Care Medicinals  (tincture, salve, tea, scrub, fire cider), 3-6pm

April 4- Delicious Desert Demo: Spring Flowers (palo verde, ironwood, desert willow), agave, nopal, cholla buds, 3-6pm

April 22- Place-Based Living Skills Demo: Desert Gardening, Sonoran Desert Food Forests, 3-6pm

May 2- Delicious Desert Demo: Bean Trees! (mesquite, ironwood, palo verde), 4-7pm

May 4- Pima County Public Library presentation: Samples and Stories from the Delicious Desert @Miller/Golf Links Library, 10:30-11:30

May 16- Place-Based Living Skills Demo: Solar Energy (cooking, electricity, sun prints, sun dials, etc), 4-7pm

May 31- ReWilding Taste Buds & Neighborhoods Video Series viewing and native foods sampling, tentative scheduling @EXO Roast/Crisol Bar, TBD

June 6- Delicious Desert Demo: Bean Trees, Mesquite (grind into flour, simmer into broth), 4-7pm

June 13- Delicious Desert Demo: Saguaro! (tentative, depends on heat), 4-7pm


SUMMER HIATUS, NO DEMOS-- July, August, September


October 10- Delicious Desert Demo: Prickly Pear Fruit, 3-6pm

October 24- Delicious Desert Demo: ReWilding, Sonoran Desert Food Forests, Rainwater Harvesting, 4-7pm

November 7- Delicious Desert Demo: Bean Trees- Mesquite flour, 4-7pm

November 21- Delicious Desert Demo: Berries, Chiltepin, Stored Foods, 4-7pm

December 5- Delicious Desert Demo: Barrel Cactus Fruit and Seeds, 4-7pm

December 12- Delicious Desert Demo: Buy or Make Desert-Based Holiday Gifts, 4-7pm


DH partner BASA (Baja Arizona Sustainable Agriculture) offers mesquite milling and other educational events in south/east AZ in 2024:

September or October TBD - Mesquite Milling @Sierra Vista Farmers Market, ~10am-2pm

October TBD-  Mesquite Milling @Bisbee Farmers Market- ~9am-1pm

October TBD- Patagonia- Borderlands Restoration Network's Mesquite Pod Milling & Food-Safe Processing - 9am-2pm


-------------PAST EVENTS---------------------------------------

DESERT HARVESTERS EVENTS CALENDAR 2023

(SANTA CRUZ RIVER FARMERS MARKET/SCRFM  is located at 221 South Avenida del Convento, Tucson, AZ)

March 23:  SCRFM- Delicious Desert Seasonal Foods & Living Demo, 3-6pm

March 29: Green Valley Library- Stories from the Delicious Desert presentation, 2-3:30pm

April 3: Southwest Library- Stories from the Delicious Desert presentation, 3-4:30pm

April 6:  SCRFM- Delicious Desert Seasonal Foods & Living Demo, 3-6pm

April 15: Boyce-Thompson Arboretum- Flavor of Arizona, 10am-3pm (NEW cookbook sales) (not a Desert Harvesters event)

April 20: SCRFM- Delicious Desert Seasonal Foods & Living Demo, 3-6pm (NEW cookbook sales)

May 9: Sounds of the Sonoran Desert, an Immersive Audio Event by Thomas Weiwandt, 6-9pm @Fox Theater, tickets @ https://foxtucson.com/event/sounds-of-the-desert (not a Desert Harvesters event)

May 10: Sam Lena Library- Stories from the Delicious Desert, 3:00-4:30pm

May 23: NEW COOKBOOK RELEASE PARTY @La Cocina!, 5-8pm, specialty cocktails, book sales, excellent food, fundraiser!

June 3: Las Milpitas Farm- Mesquite Tree Workshop Series- Mesquite: Ethnobotany and Medicine (not a Desert Harvesters event)

June 9: Murphy-Wilmot Library- Stories from the Delicious Desert, 2-3:30pm

June 10: Las Milpitas Farm- Mesquite Tree Workshop Series- Mesquite: Pod Harvest, 10-11am  (not a Desert Harvesters event)

June 16: Eckstrom-Columbus Library- Stories from the Delicious Desert, 2-3:30pm

June 22: Wheeler-Taft Abbot Library- Stories from the Delicious Desert, 2:30-4pm

June 24: Las Milpitas Farm- Mesquite Tree Workshop Series- Mesquite: Art and Food, 11am-12pm (not a Desert Harvesters event)

June 24: Scottsdale Farmers Market- Mesquite Milling by Sonoran Desert Scavengers, mesquite pancake breakfast, 7-10am (not a Desert Harvesters event)

July 1: Mission Garden, 946 W Mission Lane Tucson AZ- Mesquite Milling, 7-11am (not a Desert Harvesters event)

July 8: Roadrunner Farmers Market, 3502 E Cactus Rd Phoenix AZ- Mesquite Milling by Sonoran Desert Scavengers, 7-10am (not a Desert Harvesters event)

July 15 Bisbee Farmers Market, BASA (Baja AZ Sustainable Agriculture) offers info and answers questions on mesquite harvesting and more! 9am-noon  (not a Desert Harvesters event)

---------SUMMER HIATUS: July, August, September---------

October 5: SCRFM- Delicious Desert Seasonal Foods & Living Demo, 3-6pm (NEW cookbook sales)

October 19: SCRFM- Delicious Desert Seasonal Foods & Living Demo, 3-6pm (NEW cookbook sales) and PCPL Delicious Desert presentation @Woods Library, 10:30-11:30.

November 2: SCRFM- Delicious Desert Seasonal Foods & Living Demo, 3-6pm (NEW cookbook sales)

November 4: Mesquite Milling @Las Milpitas Farm, 8-11am @2405 S Cottowood Ln Tucson. Bring 5-15 gallons of clean pods to be milled, sliding scale fee for milling, event is free to attend. Vendors, food and beverages, music, education and more! (not a Desert Harvesters event)

November 12: Mesquite Milling & Potluck in Silver City NM @The Commons Center for Food Security and Sustainability, 9am-1pm. Free mesquite pancakes and coffee, plus a garden and native plants exchange. (not a Desert Harvesters event)

Novenmber 16: Santa Cruz River Farmers Market/SCRFM- Delicious Desert Seasonal Foods & Living Demo, 3-6pm (NEW cookbook sales)

November 30: SCRFM- Delicious Desert Seasonal Foods & Living Demo, 3-6pm (NEW cookbook sales)

December 7: SCRFM- Delicious Desert Seasonal Foods & Living Demo, 3-6pm (NEW cookbook sales)

December 14: SCRFM- Delicious Desert Seasonal Foods & Living Demo, 3-6pm (NEW cookbook sales)

-------------

BASA (Baja Arizona Sustainable Agriculture) offers mesquite milling and other educational events in south/east AZ:

September 21 (or October 12th) - Mesquite Milling @Sierra Vista Farmers Market, 10am-2pm

October 7 (or 21st)-  Mesquite Milling @Bisbee Farmers Market- 9am-1pm

October TBD- Patagonia- Borderlands Restoration Network's Mesquite Pod Milling & Food-Safe Processing - 9am-2pm

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