Vistancia's Desert Dwellers Weekend to Decode the Sonoran Desert and Its Native Cultures

Date Published: Oct 5, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 5, 2005

VISTANCIA'S DESERT DWELLERS WEEKEND TO DECODE THE SONORAN DESERT AND ITS NATIVE CULTURES
- Interpretive Walks, Wildlife Display and Mountain Biking Clinic Scheduled -
A variety of activities and clinics designed to decode the mysteries of the Sonoran Desert for brand new residents and long-timers alike will highlight Desert Dwellers Weekend from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 12-13 at Vistancia.
All activities, which are free and open to the pubic, will originate at the Discovery Center at Vistancia, located west of Lake Pleasant and north of Happy Valley roads in north Peoria.
Saturday's events will begin with David Morris, a Native American ethno-botanist at the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park in Phoenix, leading 90-minute, two-mile walks on which he will reveal the dietary, medicinal and religious uses of desert plants by Native Americans. The walks, scheduled at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., will be held on Vistancia's Discovery Trail, a 3.35-mile linear path that follows a natural desert wash and offers a rich variety of flora and fauna through several themed gardens and wildlife-watching areas.
"This wonderful trail is lush with native plants and shrubs that were and continue to be used in a variety of ways by those who live close to the land," said Morris.
"For example, the leaf of the jojoba bush makes a tea that calms stomach aches while the bean can be roasted or ground into "pioneer coffee" or pressed and used as cooking oil."
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DESERT DWELLERS WEEKEND AT VISTANCIA

Morris will also introduce visitors to the very large and spiky agave, a distinctive plant that offers many gifts from fiber for twine and beans for flour making to roots for soap. The towering saguaro cactus also serves as a food source and holds great spiritual significance for Native Americans.
"The creosote bush, often called the drug store of the desert, is considered by some Southwestern cultures as the first plant created," said Morris. "Over the shrub's 11,000-year-history, many health benefits have been discovered including a tea made from its leaves that has anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties."
At 11 a.m. Southwest Bicycle of Peoria, will present a 45-minute class on mountain bike safety and maintenance as well as an introduction to bike styles.
Join Morris at noon for his Harvest of the Desert talk, a hands-on presentation on the traditional uses of desert plants. Visitors can sample such organic foods as amaranth graham crackers and jojoba beans, try their hand at grinding mesquite beans to make flour, and learn about ceremonial plants like desert tobacco along with stories of how certain foliage came to be.
Sunday's activities begin at 10 a.m. with a two-hour hike, led by Morris, to the Discovery Trail's furthest edges and back, a three-mile trek. Again, Morris will discuss the uses and legends of the plants that populate this desert community.
From noon to 3 p.m., the state's premiere wild creature rescue organization, Liberty Wildlife, will display some of the critters currently under rehabilitation with an educational program on Sonoran Desert wildlife scheduled at 2 p.m.
At 1 p.m., Morris will shift from ethno-botany to the archaeology of the ancient
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Hohokams who lived in this Valley from 200 B.C. to 1450 A.D. during a cultural presentation that will be illustrated with pottery shards, stone axes, arrowheads, stone tools and other artifacts from this region's early history from the Pueblo Grande Museum collection.
"This is a great opportunity to see different styles of pottery as well as the development of tools and weapons," he said.
For more information about the Desert Dwellers Weekend, call 623-933-6233 or visit www.vistancia.com.
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