Casual gardeners, organic enthusiasts, and quite a few Mother's Day weekend duos made their way to the Arcadia Edible Garden Tour over the weekend. From 9 to 1 on Saturday visitors explored the outdoor works of 9 green neighborhood homes including Sweet Life Garden and the Farmyard.
Overall, the tour did its part to raise awareness of CSA's, sustainability, and the home-grown movement as well as give guests the chance to ooh and ah over gardens that made our own green thumbs look more like a dull chartreuse.
See Also: - Singh Farms Farmer's Market in Scottsdale: What We Bought, What We Skipped, and What We're Still Lusting Over - Arizona Farmer+Chef Connection Conference on June 10 at Desert Botanical Garden - Arcadia Edible Garden Tour in Downtown Phoenix, 5/11/13 (Slideshow)
In-house gardeners, farmers, and residents were on hand to discuss techniques, tricks, and their own personal experience with trial and error. While no one seemed to be handing out samples of their own produce, plenty of local vendors including Simple Farm, Belight Tea, and Grano de Vida were on site to offer sweets, spreads, and of course, Arcadia citrus.
Though the venues themselves were well worth checking out, the overall layout of the tour could easily do with a few changes. With nine gardens to visit and only four hours in which to do so, there's hardly time for getting lost in the car -- thus our desire for more signage and perhaps more time in general.
Of course, when all was said and done, we conceded that spending our Saturday meeting local micro-farmers, learning to grow fresh produce, and playing with baby farm animals (backyard goats are the new chickens) was well worth the multiple U-turns.
