The year of the Dragon was celebrated at Mission Garden’s Lunar New Year event on Saturday, February 3.
The celebration took place in the Chinese Garden which has very specific vegetables planted and growing.
“The Chinese farmers are the ones who actually started bringing in the vegetables and growing more of the western vegetables in Tucson that were not available to the Tucson people,” explained Mission Garden volunteer, Nancy Tom.
She and Board Member Fe Tom explained that the history of the items planted dates back to the 19th century.
“We got the seeds from those families who have been here for so many years,” Nancy Tom said. “They’re unadulterated seeds, they’re seeds that are used to being in the hot desert and that’s what we’ve planted here at Mission Garden.”
Fe Tom explained that part of the reason they do it is to help educate younger generations.
Fe Tom said, “We just want to bring back these vegetables so that even the Chinese kids can go and look at what a bitter melon looks like, what the leaf looks like and how it tastes.”