The Fresh Chile Company Podcast

Think of how far growing Chile has come over the years. Today it is a major crop in New Mexico with thousands of acres. A long time ago it was a family garden staple that most families in Southern New Mexico grew, one family at a time. Long ago each family who year after year grew Chile in their garden did so by keeping some of the seeds from the last Chile harvest. Those seeds were kept safe over...

Here it is, my friends, April fifth and as you are listening to this Podcast, Chile Plants are going into the ground in the Hatch Valley Chile growing areas. In the growing areas, some of the Chile plants are started as seeds. That is happening right now and some Chile Plants were planted some weeks earlier in greenhouses since Chile (how should I say this?) well now Chile Plants just doesn’t like...

While we are thinking about March madness, I think back to the most dominate coach in New Mexico high school Boys’ Basketball. Even though he died at age 80 in 1999, you still see the Ralph Tasker name since the Hobbs High School gymnasium is the Ralph Tasker Arena. And I have interviewed several of his former players who to a man started talking with the term: Full-Court Press. What that meant wa...

It was 42 years ago today that the eyes of the world were on Southern New Mexico and the landing of STS-3 Columbia. Like much else in New Mexico, it wasn’t easy. The day of return from low earth orbit the Columbia was supposed to land in California but the weather there was such that landing Space Shuttle Columbia was not possible and while the Kennedy Space Center return landing strip was finishe...

I’m talking today about Glen Campbell, the famed musical artist, television, and movie star. He was the seventh of twelve children in Arkansas living a sharecropper’s family life. Growing up he shared a bed with three brothers. When he was four years of age his Uncle Boo got him a $5 Sears Roebuck guitar and taught him some chords and they became a musical group. Both were natural musicians and we...

There are Southern New Mexico students in one town who can spell the word consequences with no trouble. The time was March 29, 1950, and the leaders of the New Mexico town of Hot Springs, New Mexico, decided to get national attention. The town of about ten thousand was mostly known for two things: the Elephant Butte Dam and the medicinal hot springs in the area. Founded in 1880 and called Palomas...

I want to tell you about Edwin Mechem who lived a full active life of service in New Mexico. He was born in Alamogordo on July 2, 1912, six months after New Mexico statehood. He died ninety years later after an extraordinary life. He was the first New Mexico Governor to have been born in the state of New Mexico, not territory. I have talked about many Extraordinary New Mexico People, but I believe...

It was 108 years ago this week that Columbus, New Mexico in Southwestern New Mexico was squarely in the national and international news due to a raid by Mexican soldiers under the command of Pancho Villa in the middle of the night on the town of Columbus just over the border with Mexico and about 30 miles south of Deming, New Mexico. The title of the event is often called the Columbus Raid or the...

I’m talking today about New Mexico rural one room schoolhouses from the year 1900 to perhaps 1940 or so. It did several very important things in the Territory of New Mexico and then in 1912 we became a state. One-room schoolhouses did some things that are not talked about these days. First, it allowed very rural families to have education for their kids in reading, writing and arithmetic. Often, t...

I got an interesting email from a listener planning a trip back to Southern New Mexico after almost 50 years of being away. His grandparents lived in Deming, New Mexico. He was able to visit while his grandfather was alive. He lives about forty miles east of Flint Michigan. He asked about the Chino Mines at Santa Rita and about the Gila Cliff Dwellings. First, let’s talk about the Gila Cliff Dwell...

Literally thousands of people in New Mexico saw him play basketball for the University of New Mexico Lobos myself included. There was something that he didn’t know at the time nor did any of us. As Paul Harvey had a Rest of the Story series years ago and I’ll tell you the rest of the story before I am done talking about Tony Snell, Jr. We who follow New Mexico sports for the Lobos and the Aggies f...

How do you choose between Red Chile or the Green Chile? That is a good question with an easy answer. We try both and even try when both are together and whatever makes us smile, that’s our winner. And importantly, sometimes after I have declared one, I try the other and it hits my taste buds just right and I revise and extend my choices in Hatch Valley Chile Peppers. Truth be known, I like Green C...

The other day I was asked about growing your own Chile Peppers. I immediately replied that it is a great thing to do. I think the person was expecting me to say just get your Chile from the Fresh Chile Company in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Nope. I think it is a great thing when you grow your own garden. It is a great thing to teach to your children. However. I guess you knew there was going to be a h...

This third week of February I see that the New Mexico Onion crops are just starting in the Mesilla and Hatch Valley fields. Onions come in several varieties which researchers aim at markets. Best known are the Onions that are not as pungent, we call them Sweet Onions. The Fresh Chile Company has Hatch Sweet Onion Dressing with Sweet Onions. The Hatch Valley is known for its Chile, but it also grow...

The month of February is Black History Month. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote these words: We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.  That statement is exactly true in New Mexico. Each family came either a long time ago or recently. The history of New Mexico lets us understand that we are all in New Mexico together, all of us living in this great state. An...

Glad you could join me today for a Podcast about the History and Culture of New Mexico with an emphasis on Agriculture since at least three times a day I use Agriculture. I don’t always think about myself using Agriculture. Mostly, I think it is time for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Or maybe it is time for a Fresh Chile snack in between one of the meals. While I like almost every Agricultural produ...

Today I’m talking about Donald Anthony Perkins. In those days it wasn’t unusual that he played both offense and defense, so he really had to be in shape since he was on the field the whole game. On offense, he was a running back and a defensive back for the UNM Lobos along with being a kick returner. In 1958 he led the nation in kickoff returns. And he had a great National Football League career....

I was talking with some visitors to our area of Southern New Mexico the other day. One person asked, Is Green Chile a food, a condiment, a spice, a trade good or a medicine? I answered, Yes to all and more. First off it is a food and it is spreading across the taste buds of America. Years and years ago not that many people had the good Chile Pepper smile after a meal. Then people would bring some...

Let us talk about an Out of this World Chile Pepper experience. A couple of years ago the NASA astronauts on the International Space Station ate Space Tacos with New Mexico Chile Peppers. You see, the NASA Astronauts grew their own New Mexico Chile Peppers. The variety they grew was NuMex Española Improved . In July 2021, the astronauts started an experiment with seeds that had been packaged in so...

I’m talking today about Hall of Fame golfer Nancy Lopez who graduated from Goddard High School in Roswell New Mexico after playing golf on the boy’s team since there was not a girls team. She got a scholarship to the University of Tulsa where that team exploded onto the collegiate golf scene and then after two years of college, she went professional and had an incredible first couple of years. Wel...

A little Pluto history is in order today. Pluto, the ninth planet, no, not the ninth planet, yes, the ninth planet. You hear the people arguing. Me, Michael Swickard, I look up in the sky and while I can’t see more than the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, I can’t see Pluto. But I know it is out there three to four billion miles from the sun. I know light takes about five ho...

Last year the New Mexico Legislature made Chile Pepper Roasting the official smell of New Mexico. They were just catching up to the citizens who have prized the smell and taste of Chile Peppers. The village of Hatch is known as the Chile Capital of the World. It holds the annual Chile Festival on Labor Day which started in 1972. But the roasting smell and taste of Chile Peppers have been a part of...

It was at this time in 1898 that the very first film shot in New Mexico was released. This was epic film was done by Thomas A. Edison and his company and it was shot in the New Mexico Territory, since New Mexico wasn’t a state yet. Now if you decide to make some popcorn and sprinkle some good Chile seasoning on it and then make some Hot Chocolate and settle down to watch this film, I must warn you...

I am talking today about Rudolfo Anaya who wrote the story and legends of New Mexico in ways that most people had not seen. Over his almost sixty years of writing, it is his legacy that he spoke for the voices of New Mexico that had not been heard. More than that, his legacy is that he is the master storyteller of New Mexico. The story of Rudolfo Anaya is almost as interesting as his stories that...

One of the commonalities of the Chile Farmers is that most of them are multi-generational. Of the ones I know, most are third, fourth and even fifth generation farmers. They went to the university of dirt and plants to learn their craft. Speaking of Chile Peppers, the things they know about growing Chile will not be found in books. They have a degree in plant growth that is simply amazing. Another...