Our Story, Our Purpose
Bean Tree Farm is located in Dancing Rocks Community, a residential development nested in 20-acres of lush Sonoran Desert food forest featuring Saguaro, Ironwood, Foothills Palo Verde, Mesquite, Prickly Pear, Cholla, Ocotillo, Acacia, perennial and annual herbs, vines and more.
Our farm's name raises awareness that virtually all native Sonoran Desert trees and many large shrubs are legumes which fix nitrogen and shelter hundreds more food and medicine plants.
Bean trees provide nutritious, tasty seeds and pods, and thrive on seasonal rainfall.
The desert food forest we are nested in has been here for centuries, as have the Tohono O'Odham
and Hohokam people before them, sharing with all life in a dynamic culture of interdependence.
We are grateful for their legacy, and take seriously our mission to respect, care for and share this place. Truth, reconciliation and reparation are a constant concern as we continue to be the current dwellers and stewards of this place.
Present community residents originated from a care-taking position that started in 1985. In 1990 the first passive solar rammed-earth home was built next to a 1930's stone well house.
After permaculture studies and practice in the early 1990's, the idea of a small community began to take shape. Between 2003- 2006 the community grew to five rammed-earth solar homes, a barn and outbuildings, clustered on 15% of the 20 acre site. Conservation covenants promote ecological practices, and 16 acres is a designated natural conservation area.
At Bean Tree Farm, there are no row crops or irrigation lines- the desert is the farm.
Small household gardens and historic fruit trees are maintained with harvested rainwater from roofs and pathways.
As present day residents, our work is to take good care of this place and enhance its health by welcoming rainwater into the landscape through gently placed earthworks, cisterns, and organic mulches, increasing soil health and habitat for native and drylands-adapted species.
Bean Tree Farm blends desert foods, earth care, rainwater harvesting, natural building and education in a hands-on artisan way. We aim to explore and share a way of living that honors the nature and culture of this place, inspiring the "rewilding" of urban and suburban communities to build resilience and food security, and empower folks with creative pathways to do so.
We offer what we have learned through:
- hands-on workshops feature seasonal desert foods & herbs, natural building, earth-care and creative arts
- farmstands and tastings
- desert walks, tours and harvests
- public demos and talks in and around Tucson in collaboration with like-minded organizations
As we grow, harvest and teach about the cornucopia of delicious and nutritious foods and herbs that grow in the Sonoran Desert, we find that customers, students and visitors try new foods and recipes, savor the flavors and benefits of eating and living in relationship with Sonoran Desert rhythms- and are inspired to re-wild the landscapes of their homes and neighborhoods.
Seasonal workshops, tours, desert food events and natural building projects have been held with:
- Desert Harvesters
- Community Food Bank
- Sonoran Permaculture Guild
- Pima County Public Library
- Prescott College
- ECOSA
- Borderlands Restoration
- University of Arizona
- Pima Community College
- University of New Mexico, and others
Bean Tree Farm is a United Plant Savers Botanical Sanctuary.