I’m passionate about growing heirloom (antique) vegetables in my organic garden. Many of my seeds are borrowed from the ancestors of the Native American tribes that lived upstream of the Gila River, where my small homestead now sets.

A large number of the plants are endangered. I want to help save these living treasures from extinction, but my garden struggles in the Arizona heat . . . and I make so many stupid mistakes . . . I’m still learning how to work within nature’s ecosystem.

I yearn for a wise mentor.

Do voices of the ancient ones whisper down the dry river bed?

There is only silence. So I make a wish under a magical mesquite tree.

The art of garden storytelling is as endangered as the seeds themselves.

Tohono O’odham I’itoi Multiplying Onion
Its name means “Elder Brother,” creator to its people. This sacred onion grows wild on Baboquivari Mountain.