Someone asked me about the history of Las Cruces. I could talk for hours, but in the next 15 minutes I will mention some stories, good and bad that locals know and some that they do not. Certainly, Las Cruces has quite a history. When the Sun is rising or setting, it often looks like a picture in an art gallery. Las Cruces is a City of Enchantment …

Today I want to tell you how I learned to have a terrific day every day. It came from knowing Ed Foreman who served as a congressman twice, once from Texas and once from New Mexico. After politics he became a motivational speaker helping people live the good life. He grew up in Portales and maybe that is the secret of his success. He always started…

Every February the 8th we in Southern New Mexico specifically and all of New Mexico in general celebrate the establishment of the White Sands Missile Range which took a huge amount of cattle grazing area and taxes out of the local coffers but provided several interesting attributes including spreading the taste for Hatch Green and Red Chile over ou…

Let us talk about Mining and Mining towns of New Mexico. Let us look at the effect of mining in New Mexico from single miners to big operations. First off, mining is a completely different activity than agriculture. Let me give an example: I love Green Chile and can grow it and onions in my backyard. But I cannot grab a shovel and dig in my backyar…

Today I’m going to talk about a strange New Mexico story that happened forty some years ago involving two very popular politicians. One, Harold Runnels, died suddenly, and the other Joe Skeen had to run for the U. S. Congress in New Mexico’s Second Congressional District as a write-in against the replacement for Runnels, David King. Then the incred…

Today I want to do several stories about New Mexico. First up is about the company Kodak and New Mexico in 1945. Leaders of the company, Kodak, were not at the first Atomic explosion in New Mexico at Trinity Site July 16, 1945. The Kodak organization had to find out about the Trinity atomic explosion in an unusual way. Also here is a question: what…

Today is the Federal Memorial Day 2024, the designated federal holiday to honor those who died in defense of our nation. We should honor those who died and honor those who were left behind by the death of a loved one. Example: if you are driving in Las Cruces near Picacho Hills there’s Quesenberry Lane. For most people it is just a place name, but …

In Southern New Mexico, up on the Sacramento Mountains Southeastern slope is a small town or rather a hamlet called Weed, New Mexico. Founded in 1884, I think of it when I catch reruns of the television series Gunsmoke. Weed today has less than a hundred people. And there isn’t a monument to Gunsmoke, the twenty-year television series starring Jame…

I want to talk today about Fabián García. I think of him usually with a mouthful of Hatch Valley Green or Red Chile. He is often given the title, The founder of New Mexico Commercial Food Production. While we think of him for his work on Chiles Peppers, he was instrumental in the research on Pecans, Onions, Alfalfa, and Cotton. Importantly, he was …

After the Mexican-American War ended in 1848 Congress wrestled with the slavery issue. The compromise addressed slavery in the newly established territories. President Millard Fillmore signed five bills that first allowed California to enter the United States as a state without slavery. The state of Texas had its northern and western borders define…

This last weekend I was thinking about an interesting surprise in the history of New Mexico. Saturday, May 4th, the Kentucky Derby was run. There was a surprising Kentucky Derby fifteen years ago. New Mexico was front and center of that surprise. Let us look back 15 years to a tough little gelding named Mine That Bird that oddsmakers had at 50 to 1…

The Fresh Chile Company in Las Cruces, New Mexico, according to owner Randy McMillan, started from a culinary family tradition. One year it was Red Chile season in Hatch, New Mexico, and Randy’s father, Arnold McMillan, who loves food and loves to cook came up with the idea of using fresh, crisp Hatch Red Chile right off the Chile Vine instead of t…

Chile and Onion Farmers in Southern New Mexico have faith in many ways. I think of this fact as I munch on the world-famous Hatch Valley Chile and Onions. Day after day the farmers get up and do what has to be done, They have faith in several things beyond traditional religion. Don’t get me wrong, they are on their knees often in prayer to the good…

There are several stages of being a Chile and Onion farmer in the Hatch Valley, the Chile and Onion capital of the world. Many are multi-generational, so they were born into the farmer role from having a toy shovel when they were small to driving a real tractor as a teenager as part of their learning. I asked one what was the most important part of…

Most people visiting New Mexico are not aware that they are walking on Gold some of the time. It is true. Because of the volcanic activity for millions of years there is Gold all over the great state of New Mexico. What’s the problem? Finding it. Let us talk about “Get rich in New Mexico with gold” efforts. I am mostly talking about the second half…

Today I’m talking about Sid Gutierrez, who had a dream and then did so much more afterwards. What he knew was that he wanted to go into space as an astronaut and that there were steps which must be taken. First was to be the top of his high school class at Valley High School in Albuquerque and get an appointment to the Air Force Academy in Colorado…

For ten thousand years people have been walking in and around what is now Southern New Mexico. Paved roads are a luxury of less than a hundred years, but the improvement was great. The Interstates 10 -25 and 40 are just over 50 years and now Southern to Northern New Mexico is quick. Before that it was travel New Mexico on dirt trails. Some trips to…

There are some people who you know not so much individually but as both of them. Like my Mom and Dad. People referred to them as George and Joan. Or Randy and Carol McMillan, the owners of the Fresh Chile Company. They sponsor these podcasts and many Fresh Chile Company videos have both of them or Randy and daughter Jenna. In that manner I say form…

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 l…

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 …

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 w…

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 Ken…

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…

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 spring…

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 m…

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 t…

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…

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 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 follo…

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 Va…

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. 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 Hat…

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 t…

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 m…

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. An…

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…

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 e…

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 professiona…

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 mi…

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 sm…

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 a…

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 A…

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 degr…

What role do we Chile users have? We are the end users of the Agricultural Researchers and Commercial Farmers. We must arm the growers with what we liked the best out of the 2023 Hatch Valley Chile Crop. I know that the Chile Farmers are planning what to do for 2024. Researchers and Farmers have been planning the next crop at this time of the year …

Let me introduce you to Elfego Baca who on October 29, 1884, was a participant on one side of what is called the Frisco Shootout involving about 81 men. It was him against 80 mad cowboys since he arrested one cowboy who was firing a pistol in a bar and making holes in the ceiling and roof so that the bar owner was going to have to patch the holes b…

A comparison of New Mexico Ranchers, and here I am speaking of Cattle Ranchers and New Mexico Farmers, and here I am talking about commercial crops such as Chile, cotton, alfalfa, and the like that is shipped to market each year. The number one commonality is a tie between that both work seven days a week and do not work off a clock and both much h…

This is the last 2023 Enchanting People of New Mexico Podcast. We will start the 2024 Enchanting People of New Mexico next week. We started doing these Podcasts in June, three 15-minute Podcasts a week with Monday and Friday being History and Culture of New Mexico which mentioned people, of course, and each Wednesday focused on one person, or a cou…

Today I’m talking about a 2015 member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He is 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. Know this: there is another Lou Henson floor, and it is at the University of Illi…

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that in the late 1970s a television series, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams was shot one season in Lincoln County New Mexico, due to it having snow and the principle site for the show in Utah not having snow. It all started as a 1974 independent film of the same name and same title character played by Dan Haggerty w…

I’m talking about several people directly and half a million people, many in New Mexico, indirectly. I’m talking about Apollo 17 which 51 years ago was on the Moon with Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt. That’s Jack Schmitt who was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico and graduated from Western High School in Silver City. Apollo 17 was the culmination of fort…