Out Arizona Way

[ezdays]

Been hesitant about posting this because of it's rather mundane subject, but here it is anyway, it came from an article I wrote back in 2010... hmm, did I say, “back in”?:

Farming in the desert

Thinking about development and “progress”, we see how our farming industry is being reduced or pushed further and further away. Yes, we are in a dry area and rainfall is frequently below ten inches a year, but ever since the days of the Hohokam Indians, we have been very resourceful about obtaining and conserving water. Arizona is a state of extremes. Just about 100 miles north of us you will find the largest forest of Ponderosa pines in the world, along with a vast area where temperatures fall below zero and there is much snow. We here in the desert rely on the snow melt each year for a source of water that we lack in our rainfall. There are a number of rivers that run though the area including the Salt and Gila rivers. Canals were the most common way of getting water from these rivers to where the water is needed. The Hohokam had a network of canals that can be traced back to over 1000 years ago, and many of the canals we have around the area today follow those same routes, I guess some people were too lazy to dig new ditches... don't know that for sure.

Citrus groves have been around our valley since early in the past century and we grow just about every type of melon imaginable. It’s hard to sustain these types of crops without a lot of water. Cotton is another crop that you used to see outside the city limits in just about any direction. Unfortunately, growth and urban sprawl is taking much of the land once used for farming and converting it to a sea of houses and shopping malls. These areas are not hard to spot; many housing developments retain a lot of the citrus trees that were part of an active grove. You’ll find tall date palms throughout a development where a date palm grove once stood. The man that landscaped our new house a few years ago said that he had helped farm on the very spot that our house stood on.

Anyway, just about a mile west of where we live is an area of a few square miles still being farmed. I can’t always identify the crops, but I have seen trucks loaded with carrots and radishes and do see corn, lettuce, cantaloupe and flowers growing. Yes, I said flowers; many of the flowers you find in your local florist shop are grown right here in Arizona. Where do you think a lot of the fresh flowers come from in December? Back some 50 years ago we had what we referred to as “Japanese Gardens”, a beautiful attraction, acres and acres of flowers, now replace with progress. The thing that I wonder is just how far out can we push these farmers since every time they start a new farm beyond the urban areas, they are removing pristine desert. I guess development cannot be stopped and one day, the ever-growing concrete jungle will consume even these farms. Oh, and that area to the west of us, well, it’s already on the books for commercial and housing.

Just one more strange sight, many older developments that were built on farm land that had water rights, and still maintain those rights. Front yards there are surrounded by berms. Periodically, these homeowners open vales and flood their lawns, much like the farmers did there for their fields. Fortunately, newer developments don't have those same rights, many think this practice is a waste of precious water, but that's how things are living in Arizona.