Desert Awareness

The Desert Awareness Committee is a community service organization made up of individuals who care about the Sonoran Desert and share this with others through educational outreach programs, local trail and park building and husbandry, community involvement and hiking. Our publication, The Fragile Desert,
available through local merchants, is filled with fascinating information about this fragile ecosystem. Come and join us on one of our hikes. You can find out more by attending a meeting...the 3rd Thursday of each month held at the Cave Creek Museum. The DAC does not meet during the months of June, July and August.


Native Edibles and Medicinals: How you can benefit

Thank you for the standing room only response to our May 7th program. Due to the amazing turnout we are planning a Fall program. Posted below are the recipes and references-Enjoy!


Mesquite Cookies

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups mesquite flour or meal
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
2/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup brown (or white) sugar

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all purpose flour, mesquite meal, baking powder together in medium bowl. In another bowl beat eggs until well blended. Stir in oil and vanilla. Add sugar and stir until mixture thickens. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture & stir until well blended.
Drop dough by rounded teaspoon 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten, just a little and bake 8-10 minutes.

Lynne's Famous Desert Granola
1 cup Trader Joe's High Fiber cereal (or other comparable cereal)
4 cups oats
1 cup nut pieces (AZ nuts like Jojoba or Pinyon Pine or almonds, walnuts or pecans)
1 cups mesquite flour*
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup saguaro seeds (or substitute-poppy,sesame or flax seeds)
1/3 cup oil (canola or other)
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup hot water

optional dried fruit

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl except fruit.Combine oil, water and vanilla and pour over dry ingredients. Mix. Bake at 275 degrees for approximately 45 minutes stirring every 15 minutes. If you want a drier consistency, leave in (turned off) oven to continue drying until it's your desired consistency.The granola will dry out some as it cools
Store covered at room temperature.

Serve with milk or yogurt.

* Mesquite Flour, also called meal, can be purchased at Case de Fruta


Medicinal Desert Plants
Diane Vaszily

Medicinal Desert Plants

Creosote Bush: Larrea tridentata
uses: antioxidant, antiseptic, anti-microbial, hair tonic, arthritis, blood, skin, tumors, cysts
used by: Pima, Papago, Seri, Cahuilla

Mesquite: Prosopis julifera, glandulosa, pubescens
uses: anti-microbial, astringent, demulcent, nutritive, eye wash, fuel, chewing gum, dye
used by: Pima, Papago, Seri

Prickly Pear: Opuntia phaeacantha
uses: nutritive, demulcent, first aid, anti-inflammatory
used by: Aztex, Pima, Papago, Seri, Navajo

Ocotillo: Fouquiera splendens
uses: pelvic lymphatic, benign cysts & tumors, shelter, fencing
used by: Pima, Papago, Cahuilla, Apache

Globe Mallow: Sphaeralcea ambigua
uses: demulcent, colitis, ulcers, sore throats, mild urinary tract irritations
used by: Seri, Pueblo, Navajo

Mormon Tea: Ephedra spp.
uses: bronchial dilator, decongestant, coffee replacement, stimulant
used by: Pima, Papago, Navajo, Zuni

Jojoba: Simmodia chinensis
uses: astringent, sore throats, colitis, vaginitis, ulcers, hemorrhoids, coffee replacement,nuts are high in oil, great for skin, scalp & hair
used by: Seri, Pima, Papago

Brittlebush: Encelia farinosa
uses: analgesic, expectorant, incense
used by: Cahuilla, Mojave, Pima, Papago, Seri

Buckwheat Bush: Eriogonum
uses: colds, coughs, sore throats
used by: Hopi, Zuni, Pima, Papago, Navajo, Seri

Bursage: Ambrosia deltoidea
uses: cramps, allergies
used by: Seri

Desert Mistletoe: Phoradendron californicum
uses: nervine, anti-spasmodic, tonic
used by: Seri, Pima, Papago, Zuni, Navajo

Juniper: Juniperus monosperma
uses: urinary tract infections, cystitis, saunas, incense
used by: Tewa, Zuni, Navajo, Seri




BIBLIOGRPAHY
Brown, Tom, Jr., Tom Brown's Guide to Wild Edible & Medicinal Plants, Berkley Books, N.Y. 1985

Gilmore, Melvin R., Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region, University of Nebraska Press, revision of author’s thesis of 1914.

Hutchens, Alma R., A Handbook of Native American Herbs, Shambhala Publications, Boston, 1992

Joyce, Christopher, Earthly Goods, Little, Brown & Co., 1994

Kay, Margarita Artschwager, Healing With Plants in the American and Mexican West, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1996

Mayes, Vernon O. & Lacy, Barbara Bayless, Nanise', A Navajo Herbal, Navajo Community College Press, AZ 1989

Moore, Michael, Los Remedios, Traditional Herbal Remedies of The Southwest, Red Crane Books, NM, 1990

Moore, Michael, Medicinal Plants of the Desert & Canyon West, Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, 1989

Moore, Michael, Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West, Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, 1979

Murphey, Edith Van Allen, Indian Uses of Native Plants, Meyerbooks, Glenwood, IL, 1990

Murray, Michael T., The Healing Power of Herbs, Pima Publishing, CA, 1992

Nabhan, Gary Paul, Gathering the Desert, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1985.

Ody, Penelope, The Complete Medicinal Herbal, Dorling Kindersley, Inc. London, 1993

Stevenson, Matilda Coxe, The Zuni Indians & Their Uses of Plants, Dover Publications, 1993 (reprinted from an accompanying paper "Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians", taken from the 1915 publication Thirtieth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1908-1909.

Thomas, Lalitha, Ten Essential Herbs, Hohm Press, Prescott, AZ, 1992

Weiner, Michael A., Earth Medicine Earth Food, Ballantine Books, NY, 1980

Native Foods Books and Websites

Wild Foods of the Desert by Darcy Williamson (cookbook & plant info) available at the Desert Foothills Library.

Wild Foods of the Sonoran Desert by Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum: available at the Desert Foothills Library.

How Indians Used Desert Plants by James W. Cornett

Carefree*Cave Creek Foothills: Life in the Sonoran Sun by local residents & published by Foothills Community Foundation - chapter - The Food - available at the Desert Foothills Library.

Cooking with Sunshine by Lorraine Anderson w/recipes & instructions on how to build and/or use solar cookers!!

Website w/list of some desert edible plants:
Wild Foods Log

Native Foods Seed Source
Native Seed Search in Tucson, AZ (in person or online) Native Seed Search