Willcox Greenhouse

Our class had an optional visit today to the Willcox Greenhouse in the agricultural-based town by the same name. It is run by a Dutch family from Rotterdam that has been tending this greenhouse since 1997. I was impressed with the operations of this place, and learned a lot by watching and listening to Jacques, the primary manager, talk about the day-to-day ops of the place. Various varieties of tomatoes grow here, from Roma on 30-foot stalks to more bigger varieties on bushier plants. About 32 people are employed at this place.

Most of the tomatoes are sold in the Denver area, since the local tomatoes come mostly from Mexico. Jacques said the price of energy has shot up a truck load of tomatoes from the old price of $1300 for a truck to drive to Denver to around $2,200-$2,400 a truckload.

Many of the older plants were stricken with leaf miners but the fruits themselves were healthy-looking. Jacques let us each take home a cluster of toms as a souvenir.

After the greenhouse we toured a few organic orchards nearby growing apples and pistachios, and it was in one orchard in the Sulphur Springs Valley, overlooking the northern Pinaleno Mountains, that I saw my first pistachio tree, a very elegant tree I'd love to see growing in my back yard.

"Do you know how to tell a male tree from a female tree?" asked Rob, our class instructor who is also the County Extension's Horoculturist who wrote the CCMG manual. "The male tree doesn't have any nuts!"

"The male doesn't have any nuts?" I replied. "Now there is reverse biology!" but everyone remained calmed.

The field trip was over with by 1pm, as we stopped briefly at the Stout's Cider Mill, a place famous for its six-pound apple pies and apple cider grown locally. I bought a small pie for us for $14 (!) and some syrups for Mom on Mother's Day. (That won't be all she's getting, but the syrups are unique enough.

We split from the Mill and drove home in separate vehicles, thus ending the field trip. I now had time to drive back at a leasurely pace.

I drove through Willcox, a town that reminded me of Van Horn, TX, as well as Benson that looked just as bland. I even stopped at the new WalMart there with the hopes of finding a pistachio tree there. They had none, but they had plenty of apple and cherry trees.

From Benson I continued on south on AZSR80 through St David and Tombstone before turning off on Charleston road back to Sierra Vista and home. I made it back home by 5pm, as the last of the shadows covered my container garden in the back yard.