An urban microfarm seeds delight and community in the heart of Prescott
It started as a drive-by dream.
“I had always loved that property,” says Delisa Myles. “I even stopped to take pictures of the daffodils and just felt connected to it.” She learned in 2014 that the 100-year-old farmhouse and its acre parcel were up for sale. Listening to her instincts, she crashed a showing already in process. The realtor, who happened to be the seller’s daughter, graciously allowed her to join. Putting her feet on the ground was all it took. She knew this would be home.
So she took a leap of faith and began persuading her husband, Earl Duque, to buy the farm. The two initially met because Earl taught tango—a stark contrast from his day job as an aeronautical engineer executing multimillion-dollar Department of Defense contracts. It didn’t take long before, as Duque says with a smirk, “I yielded.” Good dancers know that sometimes you lead, and sometimes you follow.
With that, Myles and Duque became stewards of Delicious Earth. The land occupies a prominent corner of a residential thoroughfare just a stone’s throw from the Prescott Rodeo Grounds. Passing by, one witnesses a vibrant patchwork of passion: Myles’s cut-flower garden, rows of napa cabbage, sculptural towers of gracefully decaying plant matter, an experimental plot of dry-farmed perennial grain called Kernza from The Land Institute.
A few dozen fruit trees and guilds of perennial herbs and flowers weave around wood-chip-mulched pathways. In peak summer, rogue sunflowers grow so thick they get thinned by the dozens. From the road, you can see a high tunnel, a recent addition made possible through the Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). It sits on ground that used to be “overgrown, disorganized, and compacted from 60 years of being a horse pasture,” according to Duque.
From the beginning, the couple has used beyond-organic practices. To manage the soil, Duque uses broadforking and compost made on site or purchased from Wilby’s or the neighboring Prescott Community Compost. Water-saving drip irrigation is implemented for crops, rainwater is harvested for use on landscaping and trees, and selective cover crops are grown, all to be both efficient and environmentally responsible.
Other features of this thoughtful urban farm are berms of lavender. This water-slowing technique strategically traps runoff from monsoon deluges to irrigate vegetables in the adjacent swales. A string of hops planted to the west of the greenhouse provides a respite in the heat of summer and is sold to a local business for their herb mixes. Row covers help tender crops survive early and late frosts and retain humidity during dry, windy times.
Myles and Duque are artists with their harvest. Recent changes in Cottage Foods law opened the doors to selling products like Myles’s kimchi and Duque’s kraut, which feature Delicious Earth cabbage, garlic, chilis, and coriander. Black garlic, which they affectionately call “candy for adults,” is also available.
In the spirit of bringing in community, Myles’s workshop offerings grow every year. Always popular is her course on oxymel, an infusion of herbs and fruits in equal parts apple cider vinegar and honey. The ample, diverse, and ever-ripening offerings on the farm serve as a great base for refreshing beverages and reflect each unique creator and moment in the season.
A separate workshop will be devoted to harvesting and braiding sweetgrass. The patch of traditionally American perennial grass started small but, due to demand from herbalists around the region, has more than tripled in size. Ritual braiding and burning of sweetgrass have brought together communities on this continent for centuries. With care, intention, and permission from local tribal members, Myles honors this ancient contract between plants and people.
A welcome yet unexpected accelerant helped catalyze an infrastructure and energetic makeover this year: Earl hung up his engineer hat after 40+ years. Now, he’s “farming in a fishbowl” full-time and taking horticulture classes from Yavapai College. For him, retirement is a dirty word. The farm’s irrigation system received an overhaul, saving time and precious resources. Electrification of the wash/pack area, greenhouse, hoophouse, and compost zone is another game-changing upgrade. Most of the improvements were funded using NRCS reimbursements slated for climate-smart and urban agriculture.
To call it a diversified urban microfarm is accurate, though a bland understatement. What Myles and Duque cultivate on this square of soil is much more than the quality calories it provides its stewards and neighbors. When you put your feet on the ground, you can’t help but sense the joy, hope, and connection rooted there and spreading far beyond the fences.
Delicious Earth, indeed.
Delicious Earth is located at 530 Fairgrounds Ave. in Prescott. The seasonally operated farmstand is open on Wednesdays from 4 –6 pm, May–October. There you’ll find tomatoes, greens, squash, onions, garlic, chilies, and corn along with cut flowers, medicinal and culinary herbs, fresh bread, eggs, and other delicious items.
