PATAGONIA, ARIZ. (KGUN) -- — Living in Arizona, people know that, for much of the year, water feels like the precious resource it is.
For thousands of years, flourishing agave plants have adapted to save every drop. It's one of the many unique qualities that inspired writer and botanist Gary Nabhan to dedicate his life to protecting agaves and preaching about their invaluable benefits to humans.
After co-writing his latest book, 'Agave Spirits: The Past, Present and Future of Mezcals,' more national groups, like the James Beard Foundation, are recognizing both the species' long history and its potential as a major crop.
But first, each agave starts as a seed. Nabhan tends to 55 different species in the carefully designed garden he has on his homestead in Patagonia.
"The plant will get as tall as you and me," he said — you just have to give it time. Sometimes, Nabhan said, he'll come here to just marvel at each plant's unique shape. If he has guests over, he also has a roasting pit ready for cooking.
"If you meditate on (agaves), just reflect upon it, your blood pressure goes down, your stress levels go down," he said. Nabhan's fascination with agaves started when he was a child, and saw his grandfather distilling a drink from his native Lebanon.
"They knew how to distill from grapes and anise seeds, a drink called 'arak' that's like the Greek ouzo."
In his 50 year-career, Nabhan has worked with all kinds of scientists to unearth the history of agaves in Southern Arizona.
In their collaborations, Nabhan said they've also learned how Native communities from further south gradually brought these sacred seeds to grown them in the Tucson basin.
"We're blessed in southern Arizona" he said, "with the most interesting archaeological history of agaves anywhere in the world."
In our conversation in the garden, Nabhan elaborated on how tribal communities harvested different agaves, and even kept certain supplies for special ceremonies.
"Agaves that were grown in the Tucson basin were primarily used for food and fermented drink, and for fiber: belts, bags, ropes were made from agave pre-historically and up through the century."
In this new book, with co-author David Suro Piñera, Nabhan also lays a timeline of how agave's prime uses evolved to be the key ingredient in drinks we know: tequila and mezcal.
This pats June, Nabhan and Suro were the first writers to receive a James Beard Foundation award for a work focusing on a spirit other than wine; a drink that is native to North America.
"The tradition of wine-making only goes back here for 450 years. The tradition of agaves being fermented goes back 8000 years."
Nabhan is quick to share credit with peers and colleagues who've not only researched the plants, but also started the Agave Heritage Festival in Tucson. "That is indicative," he said, "of the wonderful collaborations that scientists here, who love these plants, have had with chefs, distillers, bakers, landscapers and archaeologists."
As for the future, Nabhan makes the case agaves will be essential to our future food supply, by giving farm workers relief from oppresive summer heat, and saving companies and the state water and money.
"We need to get serious about a hotter, drier world," he said. "The fact that agaves use a fifth of the water that corn does, to produce the same amount of edible or drinkable biomass, is not without merit for our future here."
As he continues to travel to more festivals and seminars around the country, Nabhan also has his eye on a project happening right next to his home.
A nursery in Patagonia, he said, is tending to about a dozen species of agaves. The staff want to bring the fully-grown plants back into the wild; in turn, native bats, bees and hummingbirds will pollinate them and help the agave population grow.
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