Saturday, October 4, 2008

Rosales Produce Stand produces a big bounty

Argen Duncan El Defensor Chieftain Reporter, aduncan@dchieftain.com

Smoke and the smell of roasting green chile waft through the front rooms of plywood and over bins of melons, bright red ristras and boxes of peaches, garlic and vegetables at the Rosales Produce Stand.

Through their hard work on 75 acres, the Rosales family — Mario, Linda and all three of their grown sons — have enough produce for not only the stand in Escondida, but also the Socorro and Belen farmers markets and an Albuquerque produce stand. Linda Rosales manages the Escondida stand, while her husband takes care of the Albuquerque operation.

Linda Rosales said the family's produce has sold at the Socorro Farmers Market for around five years. Sylvia and Junior Garcia, her employees, sell chile, tomatoes, corn, watermelons and more at the market on Tuesdays.

"Chile's our main product," Rosales said from the wooden kitchen table in the back of her produce stand.

The farmer pauses occasionally to tend to customers, reply to her grandchildren or speak in Spanish with her employees.

Chile and alfalfa account for 80 percent of the Rosales' production, she estimated.

The family has pecan and fruit trees in addition to the vegetables. They grow green chile in varieties ranging from extra hot to mild, plus jalapenos, yellow-hots and pequins, which mainly go into ristras.

The Rosales family plants crops between the end of March and April 15. They use a machine for chile seeds, but other produce they plant by hand.

Rosales said nothing special goes into raising the crops.

"Just lots of tender loving care. Lots of prayer," she said.

The family fertilizes, sprays for pests when the plants are young and, of course, irrigates.

When the harvest rolls around, the farmers work 10 to 12 or even 15 hours a day, Rosales said.

"You have to have a little bit of sleep time in there so you'll have energy to go the next day," said Rosales.

The chile harvest starts between Aug. 1 and 15 and continues until about Oct. 15. Hired workers pick the pods.

The growing season ends with the first freeze, and Rosales sells fresh red chile and ristras until the stand closes at the first of November.

In the winter, the Rosales men plow and laser level the planting areas to prepare them for the next growing season.

Rosales said she farms because she likes it and her family has lived that way all their lives. The Escondida produce stand has opened each year for 26 years, while she and Mario have been farming since their marriage 34 years ago.

"My father-in-law started with probably 50 acres, and we've expanded," Rosales said.

The family increased their land to 100 acres in the last five years, but cut back to 75 acres this year due to the high price of inputs such as tractor fuel and fertilizer.

Rosales said farming is becoming more fast-paced with increased demand for chile and rising expenses.

"You wish you could enlarge, but you just have to deal with what you have, and hopefully that will give everybody a chance to have a sack of chile," she said.

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