EAGLE BRAND PISTACHIO GROVE

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!

And we hope you had a wonderful one!!

Just before Thanksgiving Gary and I went to

Eagle Ranch Home of Pistachios, Heart of the Desert just about a quarter mile from our RV Park. We stopped to take the tour of their plant.

Carolyn was our tour guide who has worked for them for six months now. She said that she practiced her monologue by sitting her three chiuauas up in a row to listen to her practice!! Do you suppose that they sat still??

We began the tour in the orchard where she explained that this farm began with just four hundred trees and is now eighteen thousand!! The owners were nearing retirement from the military here in NM and trying to decide what he would do next. He grew up on a farm in Nebraska and was still interested in agriculture, but they wanted to re-main located here in NM after retirement. So his wife and children did a lot of research to see what agricultural products would be best grown here. Thus they came up with pistachios!!

Pollination requires that there would need to be one male tree to every eight female trees. You can tell by the size which are male. The nuts grow in clusters and are removed by shaking the trees. This next picture is an actual cluster on the trees as they appear at this time of year.

The nuts are put on trays and roasted in the ovens twice before any seasonings are added.

When a flavor is added they are then roasted again.

They are stored in controlled temperature warehouses until they are all toasted and packaged.

They also have a 48 degree room where finished, packaged products are stored awaiting sale and shipping. They ship their products all over the world. Maybe you have seen their name out there.

Their engineer son designed this first separator that they used.

These two pictures are separators used later where nuts are sorted by size, and any foreign objects are removed that the employees miss when sorting by hand.

This round drum separates the open shelled nuts from the closed nuts and has pins along the inside to grab the open nuts while the closed ones fall to the bottom and are sent to bins. There were two girls weighing each package to then send them on to bagging in decorative packaging for the specific buyers or plastic bags for store shelves.

Several years ago their grandson, then 4 years of age, posed for their advertising. This has definitely been a family business.

At the end of our tour we just happened to be in the right place at the right time to meet the owners. The employees were joining them in the customer service area to celebrate a special birthday.

This was the birthday lady and we got to be in on the singing as we were in the room placing an order.

We then returned to exit through the gift shop. Many gifts could be bought there in addition to the nuts, candy and pistachio wine. There was a wine tasting counter also.

Our only problem with most gift shops is that most of the items are from China, rather than locally made. Here in the south west that should not be so, as there are still Indian and southwest crafts being made.

On several occasions we have spent time with Gary's cousins in their home. They have so many stories to tell of the southwest, especially NM. This has helped us determine what to go out to see.

Then Gary and Mildred have also spent some interesting time on family history and photographs. This is a passion for both of them. On Thanksgiving we took Mildred and Zollie through the San Andres Mountains to Las Cruces for Thanksgiving dinner. We passed the Organ mountains on the south side of the highway(called that because of their distinctive shape). They are very picturesque and have been painted by Don, a friend of theirs. We got to meet Don and Pat at dinner also.

Mildred and Zollie's daughter and son-in-law, Barbara and Jim very graciously invited us to share Thanksgiving dinner with them. It was fun to meet this extended family and their friends, Don, Pat, Michael and Jenny and their children. There were many interesting stories shared. They are all very interesting!!

The boys came back after their scavenger hunts in the desert, so I was able to get their picture. But I missed getting a picture of Emily and her friend. Next time!!

Thank you very much Barbara and Jim!!

Stay tuned!

NEW MEXICO - Space History Museum and White Sands Monument

Sacramento Mountains as seen in the east from our motorhome in the morning at Boot Hill RV Park.

Beautiful, yes?

Some homes and yards in Alamogordo.

No need of a lawn mower here!! But we did see a man in front of his garage with a hand mower. Hmmm???

Gary's cousins have sprinklers and a green lawn, but those are few and far between. It is a different environment around here for sure!! But beautiful also!!

We spent a day going to the International Space History Museum east of Alamogordo. It was interesting and had a beautiful view of the city below from their parking lot.

The world's first astro chimp is buried next to the flag pole on the grounds of this museum. This was a rocket track for testing gravitational forces on a human being. The first experimental sleds used on these tracks were completed in August of 1962.

They also had an IMAX Theatre that showed pictures very similar to what we had seen at Cape Kennedy in Florida. But it was just as interesting the second time around!!

Even more fun than the Space Museum was the White Sands National Monument to the west of our location here at the RV Park. This National Monument is eight miles of driving and we enjoyed every minute of it. There was quite a wind that day so we took plenty of the while sand home with us. Gary filled a pill bottle with what was inside of his shoes which he will send to our grandson. Actually it is not sand, but gypsum that has been ground into sand texture over the years by the winds of the prairies here. However, it looks like and is fun like snow!!

Enjoy the pictures and Gary's fun!!

Upon entering the museum we saw another RV from Australia. They are so noticable as different from any made in the US. We did not get to see the people driving this though.

We then went on to enter the grounds with the San Andres Mountains in the background to the west.

Here water is on the sands that must evaporate as the sand is too dense for it to soak down into the soil beneath.

Audrey standing beside the road we traveled through the monument grounds. The roads looked to have been plowed each morning. It reminded us of the sand road that our friends in South Carolina live on. It was plowed also and looked like snow at night even though it was not white.

Sandy and Mike we think of you often!!

Gary standing on the long nature study boardwalk in through the dunes.

These are a FEW of the many plants of the prairie that are throughout the sands. There are even trees that are nearly covered with sand and only the upper branches show!!

Going farther into the grounds there are some picnic tables for people to use. At first I thought the cover was for the sun, but thinking about it now, I do believe that it is probably protection from the blowing sand. All I can think of for picnicing would be a mouth full of sand. Ughhh!!

We stopped to watch the kids play on the dunes and Gary decided to climb one.

Magnificent drifts!!!!!!!!

Then on down the road when Gary spotted a neglected sled, the real fun began!!

And all good things must come to an end, or so they say!!

Stay with us and see what else we find to do. Take care and God Bless.