Photos: Stella Tucker, Tohono O’odham keeper of Saguaro Fruit Harvest, dies at 71
Stella Tucker, a Tohono O’odham elder and teacher, passed away on January 9, 2019 at the age of 71, surrounded by family. Tucker was known publicly for her work upholding the tradition of the annual baidaj, or saguaro fruit harvest, a tradition she learned from her parents, grandparents, and her late aunt, Juanita Ahil.
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Stella Tucker, who will come out to the saguaro fields for as long as she's able, laughs with friends and family during end of the harvest party in 1998.
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Stella Tucker, 49, does not mind the 100-degree days picking saguaro fruit and remains very upbeat as one of only a few Tohono O’odham people keeping the tradition of harvest each June.
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Stella Tucker and Anna Gomez, Tohono O’odham Tribe members, finish cooking a small amount of saguaro fruit into a syrup at their small camp in the Saguaro National Park near the Tucson Mountain Park. Stella and Anna have been out here since the first of June when the harvest began and lasts about 30 days.
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Stella Francisco Tucker looks for saguaro fruit to harvest in Saguaro National Park July 5th, 2007 in Tucson, Ariz. Tucker is a member of the Tohono O’odham nation, has harvested saguaro fruit for more than thirty years. The area that she camps at every June used to be her grandmother's camp. "Parents have to get their children involved in harvesting, otherwise we will lose this and it will be forgotten" Tucker said.
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Stella Francisco Tucker gets coffee at her saguaro harvest camp in Saguaro National Park July 5th, 2007 in Tucson, Ariz. Tucker who is a member of the Tohono O’odham nation, has harvested saguaro fruit for more than thirty years. Tucker and other campers get up early in the morning to pick their fruit before it gets to hot. Once their done picking for the day, the long cooking process starts.
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Stella Francisco Tucker pours fruit into a bucket in preparation for it to be cooked at her camp in Saguaro National Park July 5th, 2007 in Tucson, Ariz. The fruit is soaked in water before it's cooked. The fruit is cooked once and then sifted twice (first through a screen, and then sifted using cheese cloth). The leftover contents are then cooked for a second time after which you end up with syrup.
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Stella Francisco Tucker separates seeds from the fiber of saguaro fruit which has been boiled and dried at her saguaro harvest camp in Saguaro National Park, Thursday July 5th, 2007 in Tucson, Ariz.
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Stella Francisco Tucker places boiled saguaro fruit through a cheese cloth screen at Tucker's Saguaro harvesting camp in Saguaro National Park July 5th, 2007 in Tucson, Ariz. Saguaro fruit is soaked in water before it is cooked. The fruit is then cooked once and then sifted twice(first through a screen, and then sifted using cheese cloth As in this photo). The left over contents is then cooked for a second time after which you end up with syrup.
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Stella Francisco Tucker bottom right, picks up saguaro fruit that has blown off a saguaro overnight in Saguaro National Park on July 5th, 2007 in Tucson, Ariz.
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Stella Francisco Tucker, right, hands Justin Manuel coffee in the morning before going out to harvest saguaro fruit at Tucker's camp in Saguaro National Park, July 5th, 2007 in Tucson, Ariz.
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Stella Tucker uses a kuipaD, lengths of saguaro ribs bound together with a branch of creosote bush, to harvest saguaro fruit in the Saguaro National Park, Tucson, AZ., June 16, 2005. During the early summer Tucker camps out in the park to harvest and refine the fruit as her Tohono O'odham ancestors did.
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Stella Tucker uses the sharp edge of a stem of a saguaro fruit to slice the husk to get to the sweet meat inside as she harvests saguaro fruit in the Saguaro National Park, Tucson, AZ., Thursday, June 16, 2005.
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Stella Tucker, working in her Saguaro National Monument campsite filled with pots and pans, babies her brew through each step of the process, making sure it doesn't burn in 1998.
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Stella Tucker uses a harvesting pole made from two saguaro ribs held together with metal twine to knock down the ripe fruits bursting from the tops of the saguaros in the Saguaro National Monument in 1998.
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As her morning harvest ends Stella Tucker gathers her things and heads off back to her camp, alone, but with her pail full in 1998.
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When Stella Tucker is making jam as instead of just syrup, she adds the fruit fiber she strained out earlier when collecting seeds to thicken it into jam. 1998.
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The Tohono O'odham elder spread her knowledge about the harvesting art to all who wanted to learn. She died Jan. 9 at 71.
