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Traditional Foods and Medicine

Navajo Weaving

American Indian Tribes and Communities in Arizona

Basketry Treasured at the Arizona State Museum

The Craft of Basketry Basketry is among the oldest human crafts on earth. Both utilitarian and artistic, baskets served as transport, storage, and ceremonial vessels as well as decorative objects...

Hohokam Rock Art

The Hohokam Indians occupied the valleys around Phoenix and Tucson between 300–1500 C.E. Skilled and ingenuous farmers, these ancient people left numerous signs of their presence that can still be...

Arizona Wines

Desert Dairy

Believe it or not, dairy is Arizona’s highest grossing agricultural sector. Current revenue from the state's dairy industry totals about $871 million annually. Approximately 177,000 milk cows work...

Native Crops: Commercial Uses for Prickly Pear and Guayule

The desert offers abundance if you just know where to look. Cactus, mesquite, creosote, and other useful plant life thrives, untended, in the dry, rocky soil and scorching summers of Arizona’s...

Energy Farming: Sweet Sorghum and Algae

Think of Agricultural Experiment Stations as outdoor laboratories. Test fields bloom with experiments for citrus, produce, and commercially promising alternative crops such as guayule. But...

Yuma County: America’s Winter Vegetable Capital

Winter Produce Yuma County is the nation’s third largest vegetable producer! With rich soil, water access and more than 350 days of sunshine a year, Yuma’s produce feeds households nationwide...

Citrus

The faint fragrance of citrus blossoms is a common and beloved scent throughout Arizona’s warmer regions. Citrus groves in the warm climates of Yuma, Mohave, Maricopa, and Pinal counties produce...

The Pima Cotton Boom

Around 1910, a revolution took place in a remote, dusty area known as Sacaton in Pinal County. A new type of cotton grew on a sun-drenched field in the Gila Indian Community. Outstandingly durable,...

Cotton Today

As one of Arizona’s Five Cs, cotton has helped shape our cities and our economic structure. At its peak of cultivation, about 800,000 acres of cotton grew on Arizona fields. Though cotton farming...

Cattle Ranching

Arizona’s Cattle Community Like mining, cattle ranching brought people to Arizona. Also like mining, it is an industry that must constantly adapt to a changing environment and limited resources....

Farming and Ranching

Long before statehood, there was agriculture. One thousand years ago, the Hohokam people supported a thriving farming community through an elaborate network of canals. In the 1860s, farming near the...

Cowboy Music