Mesquite education & Milling Program
Mesquite is a multi-functional tree, native to the southwest desert and certain similar climate zones in South America. The locally native trees have been a valuable resource for area residents for more than a thousand years. Known for their tasty and nutrient- packed seed pods, even some wild animals will have their seasonal routes on the locations of these trees.
We’ve put together an annual program with online education, in-person classes & harvest events, and community milling events.
Current events listed first, and some resources below.
Please join us in enjoying this tasty and nutritious native resource.
First Sign up for this Live Class:
Mesquite Basics
Tuesday, June 4th, 2024 at 6pm AZ/Pacific
with Peggy Sue Sorensen & Mike Clow
Join us for our first Mesquite Zoom Class of the season with guest presenters Peggy Sue Sorensen and Mike Clow, as we look forward to our local Mesquite Pod Milling Event at the end of the month.
Then... Collect and Mill your Seed pods:
Harvesting
Mesquite Walkabouts
2 locations Tempe and Phoenix
These are walking tour & harvest opportunities of the mesquite trees in, or near, some of our local parks. See, smell, touch, and taste mesquite beans as you take our walking class and learn how to collect mesquite beans. Harvesting depends on weather.
Bring your collection supplies and gather your own mesquite pods, then dry them a little bit more and turn them into flour later this month.
Rio Salado Park
in Tempe
with Don Titmus & Jordan Stejskal
Saturday, June 22nd at 8am
Granada Park
in Phoenix
with Peggy Sue Sorensen & Mike Clow
SUNDAY, June 23 at 8am
Milling
Two LOCAL Pop-Up Milling events at at a Location to be announced!
Individual and Bulk Milling appointments
Bring your prepared pods to our community milling days at:
a location to be announced soon.
We will inspect the pods, then mill them in our awesome hammermill, usually while you wait. Your pods are turned into your own flour for a mere $7.50 per lb – a great value!
Mesquite Milling Days
The date we’ve been waiting to turn
YOUR pods into YOUR flour!
Choose your appointment slot, and bring us your buckets of dried mesquite pods.
HUMIDITY NOTE: Milling depends on dry weather.
Saturday, June 29th
and
Sunday, June 30th
Appointments coming soon
We’ve partnered with The Mollen Foundation to run this event.
AND... watch these videos:
We have hosted several classes on: How to choose the tastiest mesquite pods, How to safely harvest, How to get them ready for milling, and even How to store pods if you can’t get to a milling right away. We are adding related videos and information as we collect it. Check these out!
Mesquite: Harvest it, Mill it, Eat it!
with Peggy Sue Sorensen and Mike Clow
This is the class we held in May 2021. Peggy & Mike discuss several elements of proper harvesting, preparing for milling, and some tasty examples of how to add mesquite to your menu.
