The Mesilla Valley
Las Cruces sits in the middle of the Mesilla Valley, the Rio Grande’s floodplain. Chile, pecans, alfalfa, cotton and onions grow here, and so does wine, a tradition older than the town.
Discover The Mesilla Valley
The Mesilla Valley runs from Radium Springs, New Mexico, to the west side of El Paso, Texas. Alfalfa, cotton, chile, onions and corn are cash crops, and Stahmann Farms, south of Las Cruces, owns the world’s largest pecan orchard. The valley is also known for wine, which began with the Spanish. (Wikipedia)
The chile on the plate has a local pedigree. New Mexico’s modern chile varieties were developed by horticulturist Fabián García and his students at what is now New Mexico State University, beginning in 1894; his New Mexico No. 9 followed in 1913. (Wikipedia)
A publisher’s history of 1895 praised the valley’s alfalfa, orchards and vineyards and quoted a visiting French professor of viticulture, who said it “really makes me homesick to see these vineyards.” (An Illustrated History of New Mexico, 1895)
Each year the fairgrounds host the Southern New Mexico Wine Festival around Memorial Day and the Harvest Wine Festival at Labor Day, and Lyles Farms holds a Pumpkin Harvest Festival in October. (Wikipedia)
Las Cruces magic: Desert peaks, valley farms and a chile that drops at midnight
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