Saturday, August 24, 2013
Torta de huevo, Sonoran-style tepary beans, homemade tortillas, fruit salad, pan dulce, coffee and horchata are on the menu for a Tucson's Birthday breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m., Sunday, Aug. 25, and a short walk takes you to the place where the Old Pueblo's earliest residents made their home.
That site is the recently opened Mission Garden on Grande Ave., just north of 22nd Street at the base of A Mountain, or Sentinel Peak. The early natives called that place something that sounded like "Chuk-son," and meant, approximately, "at the base of black hill."
It's a project to love, for history buffs and hipster home gardeners alike. Urban farmers can take home descendants of trees and plants brought from Italy by Padre Eusebio Kino, the Franciscan priest who founded San Xavier and several other missions in the Southwest. Other heritage seeds for sale have been culled from other plants known to have been cultivated by different cultures along that river. At build out, sections of the gardens will illustrate agricultural practices and plants widely used in each major era of the site's 4,000 years of agriculture.
But Sunday is a party. It's a chance to break bread and get acquainted with fellow Tucsonans ancient and new.
Sunday, August 25th, 2013
from 7am to 10am
Mercado San Agustín
100 South Avenida del Convento
Corner of Congress & Avenida del Convento, west of I-10
Tickets are $25, which helps support educational programming at the site..
Please RSVP: (520) 777- 9270 or missiongarden.tucson@gmail.com
For more information (520) 241-1230
Visit friendsoftucsonsbirthplace.org for a fascinating history of, not only agriculture along the Santa Cruz, but also the 20th century story of the site and the people and efforts involved in redeeming it.
Tags: Mission Garden , Tucson's Birthday , urban garden , ancient agriculture , Padre Kino , quince , pomegranate , fig , torta de huevos , tepary beans , Urban farm , Sentinel Peak , "A" Mountain , Italy , heritage seeds , Santa Cruz River , Mercado San Agustín , Avenida del Convento