Let me tell you about someone who had an enormous impact upon New Mexico Agriculture. While there are others with a claim to the title I think of him as Mr. New Mexico Agriculture. The Agriculture Building on the campus of New Mexico State University is Thomas Hall named for Dr. Gerald W. Thomas, the 17th NMSU President and the 2nd longest serving president. Agriculture was enhanced so much by Dr. Gerald Thomas. 

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When talking about the development of agriculture in Southern New Mexico I always like to talk about military forts 150 years ago like Fort Selden just north of Las Cruces. While we all have watched Hollywood movies of forts, they are not true to what made a huge change in Southern New Mexico. Let me tell you about the agriculture of crops in 1880s New Mexico.

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This is Memorial Day 2025 week and I want to celebrate someone special. When I interviewed people from World War Two there was a bad week in April 1945. On the 12th President Roosevelt suddenly died and six days later Earnie Pyle was killed on by a Japanese sniper. Both deaths were devastating. Especially war correspondent Ernie Pyle who I think of on Memorial Day.

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Here on the last Monday in May is the United States Federal holiday, Memorial Day. It honors and mourns those U. S. military personnel who died while in the service of their country. Importantly, it also honors the families of those service members who died for our country. I want to talk about some of those New Mexicans and remember their family and friends.

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Do you like chile? I certainly do and I also spend lots of time thinking about chile. I tell everyone about Southern New Mexico's goodness of chile. In the last few years there's been a new wave of flavor to enjoy. Previously chile tasted precisely like chile, nothing more nor less. It was and is good. Then regular great tasting chile was combined with other flavors to make a blend of flavors. Let's talk about the new chile flavors

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An interesting fact came out of the recent Kentucky Derby and it connect in an odd way with New Mexico chile and onions. Sounds like a stretch but every horse running in the race could trace lineage back to Secretariat, the famous Triple Crown winner. Likewise, every bit of New Mexico chile and onions goes back to work done by Fabián García a hundred years ago.

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There was a time when New Mexico didn’t have any businesses, no corner markets, restaurants, dry goods stores, nothing at all other than an individual here or there might barter. Today we have lots of businesses. When did New Mexico commerce begin and what kinds of businesses were they? I have some good stories to tell about how those first businesses came to be.

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As youngsters we played Cowboys and Outlaws. As the Outlaw we shouted, “You got me" and fell to the ground. Cowboys always got the outlaws. I think of Old West writer Eugene Rhodes who was asked why in 1895 he let outlaws stay at his ranch in Southern New Mexico. First it isn’t healthy to refuse armed men and more importantly, he said, Outlaws are more interesting than in-laws. Let's talk about some of New Mexico's Old West outlaws.

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One day I was asked about the Carson National Forest in Northern New Mexico. “I thought Johnny Carson from the Tonight Show was from Nebraska." Yes, Johnny Carson was from Nebraska. However, The Carson National Forest in Northern New Mexico is named for Christopher Houston Carson, better known as Kit Carson, frontiersman, fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent and lastly U. S. Army Officer in the Civil War, part of which was fought in New Mexico. Let me tell you about Kit Carson.

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Southern New Mexico has proudly been in movies but there is one movie that local film people have not mentioned. It is a 1991 Mexican film directed by Nicolas Echevarria call Cabeza de Vaca. It is based on a real person. In 1535 Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, and three companions were the first Europeans to travel through Southern New Mexico. Let’s talk about those tourists.

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Later this year, when you bite into some delicious Hatch Valley grown chile, think back to the first week in April of 2025. This week starts the chile planting season which features many innovations in the process of commercial Hatch red and green chile production. Let’s talk about the incredible innovations that provide outstandingly wonderful Southern New Mexico red and green chile.

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This is an odd question for New Mexicans: did you realize that Billy the Kid made you some money this last year? I mean how could he since he died a hundred forty years ago? Well, my friends Billy the Kid, the Old West outlaw did make people in New Mexico richer long after his death by Lincoln County Sherriff Pat Garrett. Let me tell you how this happens for you and I to get money about them.

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We in New Mexico live completely differently than in the 1880s though there is a similarity that I want to talk about today. We travel without much effort all over the state and if we need to travel to Albuquerque from anywhere in the state it is just hours away. The change in New Mexico started with trains and that is the topic today. Trains were the change agent.

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We all enjoy gold, yes, real gold. In New Mexico there are several ways to get yourself some gold. Buy it – costs money, trade something for it or, find it. Yes, in New Mexico you can find it either by prospecting in a stream with a pan, cold work or even better would be to find some gold that has been hidden for at least a century. Let’s do that. New Mexico has some hidden gold for you to find.

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When March comes around, well we have March Madness with the wind but the other March Madness of basketball - those of us in New Mexico who enjoy College Basketball are thankful for a 2015 member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, one of 89 coaches in the Hall of Fame. If you attend a basketball game at New Mexico State University’s Pan American Center, you will see the court is the Lou Henson court. Let’s talk about him.

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When people look at Elephant Butte Dam in southern New Mexico it looks like it has been there forever. Not so. It is a little more than a hundred years old but it took thousands of people a very long time to complete the dam. And I look at it and think of green and red chile. YUM! There is a very good reason for this. Here is the story about Elephant Butte Dam and Hatch chile.

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Many things have changed over the years, especially in our kitchens. Many years ago, there were absolute vegetable and fruit seasons. In the 1960s citrus was a treat at Christmas usually sold in boxes by the local High School band as a fundraiser. Now perhaps we can say there are no absolute season except Hatch Valley grown chile only grows without freezing temperatures. But it is available every day, 365 days a year which is wonderful.

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New Mexico is the land of enchantment. Oh, yes, I don’t to tell you that, we all know about the very enchanting New Mexico. But what I find enchanting is some of the place names that are in New Mexico and here are a couple: Bug Scuffle, one of my favorites along with Candy Kitchen, Carrizozo and Tucumcari. Let’s talk about unusual place names in New Mexico.

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When the planet Pluto is mentioned, it isn’t often that someone says, oh yes, New Mexico’s Clyde Tombaugh found it 95 years ago February 18th. Is Pluto a planet? It is with me. Not that I spend time looking in the night sky for Pluto. Nope, Pluto is about three billion miles away from the sun so even with a powerful telescope it is not easily seen. Let’s talk about Clyde Tombaugh and Pluto.

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Let’s talk about the red, of the red or green question. The official New Mexico question is, red or green? The 1996 New Mexico Legislature passed that Red or Green was officially the state question. It put a spotlight on the New Mexico chile pepper industry. We hear about green in roasting but what about red chile? Let’s talk traditional red, fresh red and the new red chile.

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When talking about the great state of New Mexico, green and red chile are central in its identity. Where are you from? I’m from New Mexico. Oh, I love the Green and Red chile. You hear that often. But Green and Red chile in the preparation of food used to be very far apart even though they come from the same plant. The culinary use of these green and red chile peppers has changed over the last hundred years or so or even in the last twenty year.

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Tourists come to New Mexico for many reasons. Some destinations are New Mexico unique such as the Taos Hum, the Roswell Space Aliens museum and festival, the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, the White Sands that cling to visitors and the Carlsbad Caverns with all that spectacular space underground. Let’s talk about some unique New Mexico destinations.

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Since New Mexico is a big part of the Old West, there are questions about New Mexico gunfighters. Truth be known the people in New Mexico and the Old West didn’t spend their time in bars and getting in gunfights. But there were a few unusual gunfights unlike what Hollywood would put in a Western movie. Let’s talk about some unusual Old West gunfights.

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When it comes to commercially grown chile peppers, there is a special label Hatch Chile. Some people think Hatch Chile is a specific variety of chile peppers like Big Jim or Sandia chile. It is not. Rather, Hatch chile reflects the place in Southern New Mexico where very tasty chile peppers are grown. Hatch Chile only describes the unique Hatch Valley grown chile peppers. There is even more to consider after the chile peppers are harvested. 

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Today, January 6, 2025, is the 113th anniversary of New Mexico becoming a state. It was a Saturday at 11:30 a.m. in Washington, D. C. when President William Howard Taft signed the statehood bill officially making New Mexico the 47th state in the United States. I want to talk about people who were there in 1912.

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