Written by Julie Polovitch, Wild Stew Field Crew Member.
This past hitch, a small team of us returned to Superior, AZ and scoured one mile of Queen Creek’s riparian corridor in search of a series of invasive plants. Following up on previous hitches in 2024 and early 2025, we were on the hunt for any surviving tree of heaven, Mexican palo verde, African sumac, Chinese pistache, Canary Island date palm, oleander, and tamarisk. Surviving plants were herbicidally retreated accordingly.
While meticulously seeking out these target species, we observed numerous frogs, a coachwhip snake, a javelina carcass, a fox, and a band of coati. Unfortunately, amongst the riparian wildness, we also discovered a disheartening amount of trash.
After work on Friday, we set out to the local Save Money Market to gather provisions for a friendly cook-off. Capped at a strict $10 budget, each contender’s dish could only be made using Save Money Market items (plus oil, salt, and pepper). The results were impressive. Between Eric’s broccoli pesto pasta, Grace’s golden curry, Max’s Serrano Oaxaca quesadillas, Davis’s deviled eggs, and my sweet potato quesadillas, it was difficult to choose a winner. I humbly accepted victory, though Davis’s eggs were deserving of their own categorical win, as it was clearly the boldest dish. The ingenuity involved in their making was highly praised.
Overall, our thorough comb through of Queen Creek resulted in the retreatment of 323 tree of heaven, 2,910 Mexican palo verde (most of which were small new sprouts from seed that got hand pulled), 107 African sumac, 3 Chinese pistache, and 4 small Canary Island date palm sprouts. Much to our delight, no surviving oleander or tamarisk was found.
On our final night, most of us slept through a stunning show of northern lights. Max and Davis, however, were awake to bear witness and shared some epic photos the following morning.
We completed our last sweep on the final day of hitch, sure to double check some of the more obscure niches along the creek. Satisfied that we had done our due diligence to stave off the further spread of our targeted species, we headed back to Tucson and considered one last triumphal Save Money Market sandwich for the road.
