Peanuts hold historical value for me, Portales

CMI Columnist

Growing up in Goober Gulch you learn things can get a little nutty, especially in the month of October when the legumes ripen.

Not only did I grow up in Goober Gulch, the story goes my mother actually found me under a peanut vine. That’s a pretty incredible story since my birthday’s the first of April.

My dad and both grandfathers grew peanuts on their farms. I was around peanuts on the farm during my grade school years.

I remember playing in peanut trailers (both empty and full).

I remember city kids questioning whether peanuts really grew under the ground.

I remember watching my dad bent over and scratching the ground a few days after planting peanuts to see if things were sprouting. I remember him shoveling up a vine or two in the fall to see if the nuts were maturing in time.

I remember the smell of the dirt and the peanuts after the fields had been dug and the vines left inverted to dry.

I remember sitting in a line for what seemed like forever with a mother or grandmother as we waited for trailers to be unloaded at the peanut mill. The trailers would be needed back at the field before the night was over. Peanut threshing didn’t stop when the sun went down, it often didn’t even stop at midnight.

I remember getting back to the field after dark and seeing the dust reflected in the lights trained on the thresher from the tractor. Dust was everywhere at harvest time, in the fields on the roads and in town near the mill.

I remember picking up peanuts in windrows after we moved to town. Peanuts were needed for roasting, baking and just because it was that time of year.

I remember the smell of roasting peanuts. At home in our oven in cake pans, atop the heater at the Sweet Potato Association office and in Portales when the processing plants started their roasters. You could smell those peanuts all the way to the school grounds at recess. When the wind is right if you stand outside you can still experience that aroma.

I remember riding in an old moving van truck with my dad after the harvest was done to Albuquerque and El Paso with bags of peanuts and boxes of sweet potatoes to deliver to folks in the city craving them for the holidays.

I remember a lot of the sights, sounds and smells of peanut harvest but my knowledge of peanuts pales in comparison to the folks who pioneered the business and made their living for years from the crop.

This year marks 100 years since John M. Bradley took a chance and planted 100 pounds of peanut seed near Portales. His legacy along with numerous other men and women have made Portales’ name synonymous with peanuts.

I’ve spent a little time pulling together some of that legacy this fall and plans are to have a slide show to mark the occasion at the 41st annual Peanut Valley Festival Oct. 18-19 at the Roosevelt County Fairgrounds. Hope to see you out there.

Karl Terry, a former publisher of the Quay County Sun, writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

[email protected]