Small Farms in the West Valley
When I first began growing food at home I had some questions, like, can you grow food in the desert? Does this clay dirt have any nutrients? How does the grocery store have perfect lettuce year around? How do I get rid of these bugs? Why does a home-grown watermelon taste soooo much better than the ones I buy? Is this what Grandma meant when she said, ‘food doesn’t taste the way it used to.’?
Those were just a few of the thousands of questions swirling around in my mind. But it prompted a bigger question. Where does our food come from? And a thought… Some people go their entire lives never thinking beyond the grocery store.
If you live in the west valley of Arizona, you know the Loop 303. If you’ve lived here a long time you know it used to be a 2-lane highway, where everyone would have to slow to a complete stop every time someone was turning onto Peoria or Glendale Ave, passing was dangerous, and you were surrounded by farmland.
Fields of Roses, watermelon, corn and cabbage lined the highway from Bell Road to the I-10.
I didn’t live here before that, but my husband will tell you that there were orange groves as far as the eye can see and watermelon fields where they used to play as kids… even though they weren’t supposed to.
When you drive down the 303 now, … you’ll see some desert and a field of corn or cabbage planted by a farmer, hanging on as long as they can to what used to be. But mostly what you see is buildings and warehouses rising from the dirt. To me it symbolizes the changing of an era here in the Valley, stirring up a bit of sadness and a bit of excitement for this growing place that we call home. You might find yourself in awe at the amount of progress they’ve made since the last time you passed through or excited about what new company just made the west valley their home. When I look at all the change I wonder, where they moved those farms too? If they are gone, where do we get our produce from? How far does it travel to get here? Are we getting any nutrients from that tomato after being plucked off the vine green and transported for days or even weeks to make it to our local grocery stand?
Have you ever bought a vegetable or two at the store for a dinner you wanted to make and then life gets in the way and two or three days goes by before you finally get to that dinner but when you pull it out of the vegetable tray its soft or beginning to mold already?
The truth is there are several small-scale local farms growing fruits, vegetables, raising chickens and caring for honeybees right in your own backyard. You don’t have to wonder how long it will last or what may have been sprayed on it.
Every time we grow something new, we find ourselves in awe of how good it tastes, how beautiful it looks, and how long it lasts. Right now, we have beautiful bushes of fresh tomatoes ripening on the vine. Our artichoke plants produce more artichoke than we can manage, opening to huge violet flowers when left on the stock. Garlic so fragrant It fills up the entire room when you mince a clove. Vines of watermelons sprawl out across the lower front yard accompanied by honeydews and summer squash. Our red leaf romaine bulks up in beds that get a little extra shade, and our walls our lined with Blackberries and tomatillos bursting with flavor.
Small local Farms like Daisy Mae’s are the future of farming. We never use pesticides on our farm, nor do we use any synthetic fertilizers. For us and many small farms like us this is a way of life. A way we can make the earth we stand on stronger than it was yesterday. We can feed our communities fresh nutritious fruits and vegetables that are fresh picked from plants that are well loved.
It may be a little less convenient than popping into your local grocery store to pick up the ingredients for a salad you plan to make but in a world built for convenience perhaps we should hold onto a little bit of the past.
