About the Garden

Current weather at Mission Garden

Mission Garden Essential Facts (document developed for Mission Garden docents summarizing all aspects of the garden and its history)

Educational and fun videos are on our YouTube Channel.

Mission Garden Educational Video made by Pima College (54 min.)

Some of the Flowers of Cultivated Plants at Mission Garden

Native American Crops

Centuries after their loss and theft, Native American seeds are reuniting with their tribes

In Search of Prehistoric Potatoes (Solanum jamesii in the US Southwest)

Little Barley, a new ancient crop at Mission Garden

Regional and World Crops

Local and Regional

Prehistoric and Early Historic Food Crop Diversity: Nourishing Tucson, a UNESCO City of Gastronomy, Gary Paul Nabhan and Julia Glennon, Eds.

What the Ancestors Ate–Some local weeds that were important food sources, from a September 2015 Tumamoc Sketchbook blog post

Photographic Tour of some local ancient foods–Arizona Daily Star

Oranges for Southern Arizona (University of Arizona Cooperative Extension)

Chapalote Corn and White Sonora Wheat

World Crops

Food Timeline–One effort at documenting the origin dates and earliest recipes for many crops

Sonoran Desert Cuisine

Tepary beans, cholla buds and yeast bread prepared at Mission Garden Kitchen: Tucson Meet Yourself Culture Kitchen online

Resources for Children

The Garden Song

Celebration of Gardens

The Garden Remains–Baron Wormser, Orion Magazine


Ceramics

Tucson Meet Yourself (virtual) discusses Native American pottery

History & Archaeology

Archaeological Investigations in 2007 and 2008 at the Mission and Mission Garden Loci of the Clearwater Site

Archaeology Southwest virtual reconstruction of  early Tucson

The Spanish Colonial Experience and its Effects on the Indigenous Community of San Agustin del Tucson: A Case Study of Spanish Colonial Failure. Masters Thesis by Monica Zappia Young. 2010.

Menlo Park Neighborhood History by Greg Smith (an extensive history of the neighborhood that contains Mission Garden)

History of Honey Bees in America (Los Angeles County Beekeepers Association document)

Flora and Fauna

Flora of the Tucson Mountains (adjacent to Mission Garden)

Wildflowers of Mission Garden

Birds of Mission Garden

Mammals of Mission Garden

Regional Analysis and Vision

Man in the Maze: A short documentary video about restoring the southern Arizona food system selected as a finalist at Sundance Film Festival

Mesquite Manifesto: A Collaborative Vision for the Borderland, by Gary Nabhan