A Southwestern Point of Pride

A SOUTHWESTERN POINT OF PRIDE

FEATURE PHOTOS AND ARTICLE BY HEIDI CRNKOVIC

Although “red or green” is the question of choice when dining in the Land of Enchantment, pecans surpass chile as one of New Mexico’s top-dollar agricultural crops. It’s no surprise that these crunchy delights come paired with a green or red chile powder in ready-to-go containers at novelty shops along the state’s well-traveled highways. In fact, you’ll often find your red or green chile enchiladas followed by a slice of pecan pie especially when visiting Doña Ana County, where 70 percent of the state’s industry acreage lies. The more temperate climate of Southern New Mexico coupled with enough below freezing days, a helpful factor in the harvest process, makes this area of the state an ideal candidate for raising North America’s only native tree nut. In fact, New Mexico ranks second only to Georgia in pecan production, but has the distinct advantage of a dryer climate that spares the trees from the fungus that Georgia pecan farmers combat.

The Mesilla Valley is home to such commodities as chile, cotton, alfalfa, onion and lettuce, but as you travel through the valley, passing tidy rows of pecan trees, it is obvious that yet another crop is a point of pride. Following the Rio Grande, you’ll find a set of orchards heavy-laden with a bountiful harvest. There, hauling “chile trash,” (a high protein chile byproduct that can be fed to cattle) to his herd of commercial Angus who forage near their home and orchard, you’ll find Michael Salopek, owner of Five Friends Farms, third-generation pecan farmer and agronomist. Michael resides in the first Earthship home built in this Southern New Mexico county. His picturesque house took nearly four years to build and speaks volumes of Michael’s thrifty, yet effective nature. The home boasts exterior walls crafted from repurposed tires and aluminum cans and the interior decorated and structured with lumber recycled from livestock handling facilities. Michael’s wife, Charlene is responsible for the pecan farm’s accounting, but also has adorned their beautiful home with historical and unique décor, which almost always has a story and sometimes incorporates pecans.

The name Salopek is synonymous with pecan farming and true to tradition, Michael’s daughter, Karajane now manages the majority of her father’s acreage and is the family’s fourth generation to raise pecans in the area. Originating from Croatia, the Salopeks migrated to the United States to work in the coal mines. Much like many of the families who relocated to the arid Southwest region during this time, the original Salopeks moved West hoping the dry air would help relieve some of the symptoms of Black Lung and Tuberculosis which were common at the time in mine employees.

Michael’s great uncle relocated to the area and began farming pecans. As his health deteriorated, he encouraged other family members to move to the area and take over the orchards thereby acting as the catalyst for the Salopek’s passion for growing pecans. True to his heritage, Michael recounts, “My life depends on production and people love pecans. Doña Ana is the best producing county in the country and I’m fortunate to live in this beautiful place.” Despite a lineage of pecan farming, Michael stresses the importance of “sending kids away from the farm for a while to develop skills and a broader understanding.” Upon graduating, Michael found his way to Denver, Colorado beginning his career in a lawn care business and eventually stepped into a management role with a separate company. Later, he returned to New Mexico to sell fertilizer and credits his experiences traveling across the state for showing him different management methods he could use on his family’s pecan farming operations.

New Mexico fails to escape water challenges much like the rest of the Southwest. Those who cross the Rio Grande are often stunned by the lack of water in the river and because of lower levels of ditch or pump water available for more traditional irrigation strategies, Michael has begun converting his pecan tree watering arrangement to sprinklers from the original flood irrigation system. Focusing on soil quality, the fatherdaughter duo also utilizes a minimum till method in their orchards, putting an emphasis on mowing rather than Roundup use thereby saving the soil microbiology allowing it to naturally aggregate while also avoiding the compaction of the soil by heavy machinery traffic. “The soil looks healthy, it smells good and we’re saving the tree’s roots by allowing water to filter through this healthy soil that’s not compacted,” says Michael. Again, crediting his exposure to different pruning methods while traveling throughout the state consulting growers as a fertilizer salesman, Michael chooses to utilize less-traditional, selective pruning strategies. He works to keep branches as close to the ground as possible, trees under 30 feet tall and the interior and limbs viable. Pruning is a method critical to maintaining spacing, size of tree and the ability of sunlight to penetrate through the orchards thereby keeping production up. “You’d better prune, because If you don’t, you’re on limited spacing…you’d also better be out looking at your trees,” Michael passionately recommends.

Although some trees in the county have reached 80 plus years old, most of Michael and Karajane’s orchards include trees that are 16 years old with younger trees ranging from 9-10 years. Battling the original tight spacing in some of his orchards, they have transplanted nearly 1,000 trees in the past few years to provide a more adequate 20x40’ row spacing. Unlike annual crops, progress is more slowly measured in the pecan industry, but through these strategic management methods and focusing on the best yields with the least impact, the family is reaching their goals. Michael has also recently purchased pecan and pistachio orchards in Tularosa where he looks to expand and increase tree production within the next 3-4 years. These trees are managed by his stepson, Mac Griffin, a Tularosa native who also owns Griffin Brothers Construction and the Copper Penny Ranch in Alamogordo. Looking forward, this multi-generational agriculture family is always working to improve how they raise their pecans so that the fifth generation can continue the family business here in New Mexico.

Enjoy the toils of our Southwest lands with a time-honored Pecan Jubilee Cookie recipe from author Heidi Crnkovic!

PECAN JUBILEE COOKIES

A TIME-HONORED RECIPE FROM HEIDI CRNKOVIC

My grandma, Mary Eleanor Pretzel used to make these cookies for our family. She was born in Kent County, Michigan in 1917, but married andraised her three children in Los Alamos, NM. She passed away at the age of 94 in 2011, but these cookies are still a favorite holiday memoryfor many of the grandchildren.

INGREDIENTS: 1 ½ cups flour 1-2 tsp instant coffee 1 tsp baking powder ½ tsp salt ½ tsp cinnamon ¾ cup sugar ¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar ½ cup butter 1 egg 2 tsp vanilla 1 cup chopped pecans Solid chocolate kisses or semi-sweet chocolate chips

GET COOKING: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F 2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except nuts and chocolate and blend at a low speed 3. Stir in a ½ cup of nuts and mix well 4. Chill dough for 20-30 minutes for easier handling 5. Shape into balls using a rounded tsp 6. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes 7. Remove from oven and press a candy kiss or 5 chocolate chips into center of each hot cookie 8. When chocolate has softened, spread as if frosting cookies and sprinkle remaining nuts on top

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: With an innate fondness for Western heritage and a lifelong passion for the ag industry, Heidi Crnkovic spent much of her later childhood on the Pecos River Ranch in Northern NM. After graduating from New Mexico State University with her B.S. in Agricultural Science, she went on to co-manage a commercial Angus ranch in central Montana. Returning to the Southwest, Heidi continued to work for ranchers with the Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association and as an ambassador for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Today, she is a consultant for AC Nutrition, helping build customized nutritional programs for AZ and NM ranchers. She and her husband live in Tularosa, NM with their daughter Abigail where they raise a few horses and also farm pecans and cattle for a local grower.