Meet Trailblazer Nicole DeVito

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole DeVito.

Nicole, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started becoming interested in agriculture about 14 years ago while living in New York, where I grew up. I was working at a small health food store on Long Island at the time and while I was stocking the organic produce I got to thinking about where it came from and how much work it took to get it into our produce case. I began volunteering at an organic farm on the island for a few months that Spring and really got a taste of the farm life. Living on Long Island I knew I would never be able to afford land to start my own farm but I enjoyed the work immensely. That summer, I started massage school and agriculture was put on pause while I immersed myself in bodywork.

Fast forward a few years and I found myself working in another small health food cafe in a small ocean town on the tip of Long Island. It was there I met my partner, Andrew, a chef at the cafe. He went to high school in Tucson and we took a road trip to visit his family and decided to relocate back to the desert. In addition to being an excellent chef, he also has a green thumb and we embarked on learning the ins & outs of growing in our desert climate. We started with small apartment balcony gardens and volunteered at our friend’s farm in Catalina. In fall of 2013, we attempted to grow oyster mushrooms in our small adobe house in Tucson. It was a success! From there, we formed a business plan, bought a shed to grow mushrooms in and started selling at local farmers markets. Within a year, we grew out of the shed and the rental property we were on and started the search for land.

In 2014, we found a beautiful piece of property at the mouth of Aravaipa Canyon. Plentiful water, rich soil and not too far from the city so we could still easily do farmers markets. We diversified our farm to offer vegetables and flowers in addition to mushrooms and also began to manage an orchard nearby. Each year we have been growing our business and trying out new things to see what works best on the farm.

Has it been a smooth road?
Farming is never a smooth road. The learning curve has been steep especially being a first-generation farmer. It’s all about balancing priorities and understanding most things will not happen as you imagine. Luckily, there is a vast amount of knowledge available today, from YouTube to online groups you can figure out just about anything. A challenge I am learning to overcome is analysis paralysis. You can analyze a situation or idea for years and wind up not doing anything. If you have an idea, just do it! Whether it’s wrong or right, you will learn something from the experience.

We’d love to hear more about Aravaipa Creekside Growers.
Most people know us for mushrooms. We were the first growers in our area to sell them at the farmers market and we figured out a way to grow them in harmony with our desert environment without using many artificial influences. Mushrooms are not only an amazing protein source but they also pack a punch with vitamins and minerals. They are excellent super food.

I am also very proud of our flower production. We are just starting to delve into cut flowers and it has been a great success. I am experimenting with heat tolerant varieties to see what grows best on the land and you would be surprised what does well here! Zinnias, sunflowers, amaranth, statice, cosmos, calendula, the list goes on and on. It feels good to be providing nourishment to pollinators and joy to customers who pick up a mason jar bouquet from our stand.

So much of the media coverage is focused on the challenges facing women today, but what about the opportunities? Do you feel there are any opportunities that women are particularly well positioned for?
I feel like the world is our oyster. Any and all opportunities are available to women today, especially in the entrepreneurial sector. If women can dream it then it can happen. Did you know Arizona has the highest amount of women farmers in the country? Pretty awesome!

Contact Info:

• Email: opmushrooms@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aravaipa_creekside_growers/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aravaipacreeksidegrowers/

Image Credit:
Nicole DeVito

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