Photo courtesy of julianmeade via Flickr

I lived in Alaska for a few years, where almost everything is a lot bigger than Texas. The sight of 800 pound (and heavier) pumpkins at the State Fair in Palmer is simply astonishing. Kitschy postcards of pumpkins the size of tool sheds date back to the 1950s, at least, and show up yearly in local newspapers. How in the world, I wondered, is it possible for a pumpkin to attain the heft of a horse? As I was soon to learn, cool weather crops such as pumpkins and parsnips attain gigantic girth in the long daylight hours of the growing season at such high latitudes. In the more temperate latitudes of Tennessee, where I also lived, farmers were justifiably proud of their 180 pound pumpkins, and even they were the very devil to move out of the field without the help of a mule or a sturdy field hand with a wheelbarrow.

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The roaster is turning ‘round and ‘round and the Hatch chilies go up and down. Standing in front of the drum roaster, with its dragon’s breath bursts of propane and flame, I’m almost mesmerized by the rhythmic movement of the darkening chili pods as they drop damply to the bottom and slowly spin back to the top of the drum. These aren’t just any vegetables, as those of you who chase the ephemeral Hatch chili know. The meaty chili pods, about the size of a child’s slipper, provide a tantalizing hint of fire and satisfying substance for New Mexican cookery for a few brief weeks at the end of summer.

Harvested in the Mesilla Valley of New Mexico for a few weeks of the late summer, Hatch chilies are a cultivar of the common New Mexico green chili developed at the Chile Institute at New Mexico State University in the 1920s. The Mesilla Valley runs from Las Cruces north to Hatch, nearly forty miles, in the south central part of the state. The Hatch Chile Festival occurs annually each Labor Day weekend and draws up to 30,000 people from around the world to the tiny town of less than 2,000 residents.

Grown nowhere else in the world, the large, almost leathery chilies feature a vigorous, earthy flavor unlike any other chili. Although there are several varieties grown, the types found in Central Texas, where I shop, are typically the milder “A-8″ and the fierier “Big Jim.” Read the rest of this entry »

On a Saturday promising to top 103 degrees, I arrived early at our local Kyle Market Days, conducted monthly in this former railroad town 15 miles south of Austin. I stopped off for a few minutes to visit with Tim, our local organic farmer, who had culinary herbs and plants, plus tiny amounts of garlic and peppers on offer. The big rain associated with Hurricane Dolly last week dampened the soil enough to allow his late summer/fall crop seedlings to sprout. We’re all crossing our fingers that the 2008 hurricane season doesn’t further damage any of our coastal towns, but will bring welcome moisture from the Gulf of Mexico to central Texas. We’re already matching the record-setting temperatures of year 2000 for days above 100 degrees, and we’re only in early August.

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About the only things sprouting up on lawns this summer in central Texas are “Alarm Stage Drought” signs. The grass is crispy, some trees feature the yellow hues of autumn, and county officials and parents will be closely monitoring the few fireworks used by neighborhood kids this year. Our typical blast-furnace-August weather started in mid-May this year, and we’ve not had more than a flirty little spatter of rain since. Our June was the hottest recorded in Austin since 1854, with an average high of 99.4 degrees. Even our scrappiest cur-dogs won’t go out in this year’s noon-day sun.

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I’m not talking about what it looks like when I’m left in charge of the grill at family summer cookouts. Tongs in hand, I typically try really hard not to think about the pig lips my brother assures me are in the 12-for-a-dollar hot dogs that Aunt Minnie brought—and they end up neglected and charred.

No, I’m pondering our current food system and agricultural production methods that are big contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Over the past three or four years, I have been working hard to reduce my own footprint across many fronts and I realize how many trade-offs we all wrestle with as we consider behavior and lifestyle changes. Read the rest of this entry »