Credit: Richard Spencer
Kendall Kroesen, Outreach Coordinator for Mission Garden
Wednesday, October 26, 2022,
2:30-3:30 pm,
ASA Koffler Great Room
Kendal Kroesen returns to update us on Mission Garden, Tucson’s “living agricultural museum of Sonoran Desert-adapted heritage fruit-trees, traditional local heirloom crops and edible native plants” situated in the shadow of Sentinel Peak on Tucson’s west side.
The walls around the Spanish Colonial era Mission Garden were rebuilt in 2008, and replanting the four-acre garden began in 2012. In the ten years since, by growing the heritage crops of many cultures and eras, we have learned what the past must have been like on the rich historic floodplain of the Santa Cruz River in Tucson. We better understand the work, the challenges, the pests, the satisfaction, and the joys of harvest. We’re also beginning to understand the challenge we will confront here in the future. Soon we will begin to plan Tomorrow’s Garden, a plot within Mission Garden meant to adapt to hotter temperatures, more extreme weather events, and ever-scarcer water.
Kendall Kroesen grew up in Southern California and earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology at the University of California, Riverside. After working on archaeological and conservation projects, he continued his education and received a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California, San Diego. In February 2002, in a departure from social science, Kendall joined the staff of the Tucson Audubon Society, doing a wide variety of tasks, including communications, habitat restoration, and urban outreach, a program focused on bird-friendly and sustainable yards and neighborhoods. Kendall has served on a variety of community advisory committees, including the Tucson Parks and Recreation Commission.
As Community Outreach Coordinator at the Mission Garden, a living museum of 4,000+ years of agriculture in Tucson, he conducts tours of the Garden and gives talks such as this one at ASA. He enjoys gardening, birding, and walking dogs with his wife, Mary Beth Tyndall, a cellist and music teacher.
*A lecture in the “Sustainability” Series
Preview by Jerome West, Academy Village and Mission Garden Volunteer