The 2021 landrace chile crop is doing wonderfully. The green chile matured midway through the third week of September and the plants have not stopped growing and producing. The individual pods that grew on the plants this year were nearly double the size of the larger pods that grew last year, therefore the yield will probably be double that of 2020. El Vecino is ecstatic.
Carmen, El Vecino’s wife, was very happy with the crop because the larger sized pods translate to lesser and easier peeling to put away the family’s store of green chile. El Vecino was happy too because it meant less work in being stooped over to pick each bushel of chile. Larger yield, less work, and early maturation make for some very happy growers.
An unusual change occurred this year as a result of the chile’s early maturation. Much of the chile ripened and has been turning red very early. As of Sept. 1, finding green chile has turned into a scavenger hunt amidst all of the red chile. Good thing the younger green chile has time to continue growing and mature so consumers can enjoy it freshly roasted.
The early ripening of the chile has been a bonanza for El Vecino. He has picked seven and a half bushels of red chile that he has tied into thirteen ristras of two and three foot lengths as of September 2nd. Never before has El Vecino tied so many this early, he is lucky to have put one ristra together by this date.
El Vecino believes the summer rains and the unusually cool nights have combined to bring on the onset of early maturation followed by rapid ripening. This is a boon to El Vecino’s crop because he is afforded the time to harvest and tie into ristras. Usually he is pressured to harvest and tie in a very short window by the fall frost that renders pods unusable.
The red chile being strung into ristras is happening very fast, 13 surpasses half that of the previous high number El Vecino has ever tied. Pods are sorted by size, shape, to some degree, and skin texture. They are then tied and sun-dried on the porch and in direct sunlight and breeze. It is imperative that as many as possible of the ristras be dried in the hot temperatures of September.
Por que se requiere tanto trabajo para cosechar, El Vecino quiere lograr todo su chile que puede (because it requires so much labor and work to cultivate, El Vecino wants to save/use as much of his chile that he can). Dios le he dado tiempo y exito para lograr su chile (God has given him time and success in cultivating and harvesting to save/use his chile). Ahora, tiene que ser su parte (Now he has to do his part).