St. David, Arizona is a little over an hour from Tucson; it’s a Mormon community with lots of water due to the San Pedro River. On the edge of town is a Catholic outpost, the Holy Trinity Monastery; the lovely small church (which you’ll see if you click the link) there was built by my grandfather, who’s buried there, and my 2 uncles, who still live in St. David.
One of those uncles, Christopher, lives across the street from the monastery in a rammed earth home he built, with a large solar array outside; next to his home is an irrigation ditch–these ditches are the source of the southwestern myth of La Llorona–which he’s cultivated with fruit trees and a jungle of indeterminate tomato vines.
I paid a quick visit today, hoping for some tomatoes. Here’s just a small part of the elaborate vegetable terraces:
Above, a close-up of tomatillos, and below, lots of tomato vines, recently picked clean so I’d have a big bucket of tomatoes to take home!
I know this may not seem very significant to those of you who live in a milder climate, where you can garden, but in Arizona, this is a spectacular vegetable garden. Check out the watermelon and cantaloupe:
A fallen cottonwood trunk is a pedestrian bridge over the ditch:
Can’t wait for dinner tomorrow….which will be a giant Caprese salad!
