Yes Virginia. You can use your Garden Rewards Points on our Hatch, NM green chile.
Hello, again!
During the summer of 1999, Jeremy and I made a trip to Colorado for our annual ferti-lome meeting in Denver. While visiting the Front Range, we stopped and visited Mike Spencer at Spencer’s Garden Center in Colorado Springs. It's common when traveling that we visit other garden centers to see what other businesses are doing in terms of marketing. One thing Spencer’s was doing was roasting green chile. Mike explained the process to us, and the rest is history. We decided to purchase a chile roaster in Albuquerque as well as 75 bags of Hatch chile from an Albertson’s store to roast that first year at Johnson’s. Once set up and roasting, I was amazed at how many people commented on how glad they were that we offered fresh roasted Hatch green chile. It was saving them a trip west to pick up the best chile available!
Things have certainly changed since 1999. While we are still using the same roasters, and offering the same green chile from Hatch, New Mexico, the interest has boomed. Traditionally, we bring in chile the first week of August and continue bringing in chile for the entire month. We’ve had our annual ChileFest since those early days. This year’s ChileFest event will be held August 30 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at both Johnson’s locations and will include food samples of dishes that contain green chile. We’ll also have the 10-gallon cast iron pot cooking up my Pork Chile Verde as well as grilling up our famous ‘Smokin’ Joe’s’ Hatch Green Chile cheeseburgers. If you haven't heard the story of Smokin’ Joe’s - check it out here.
Another favorite part of ChileFest is sampling the green chile dishes our friends and employees prepare for you to sample. We have the new and updated Hatch Habit Cookbook available for pre-order (coming very soon!) if you are wanting recipe ideas.
On the gardening side, our industry's tagline for promoting fall planting years ago was ‘Fall is for Planting’. The statement remains true today, especially with the recent moisture we’ve received. This year we have an expanded offering of vegetable plants that will gain you a year on the production cycle, as well as a crop of strawberry plants in jumbo 6-packs. We also have asparagus in both bare root and gallon containers with established plants in both Millennium and Purple Passion varieties. By planting now, you’ll be a year ahead of those waiting to plant next spring.
Your friend in the garden,
Marty Johnson
Owner - Johnson's Garden Centers
P.S. - Hatch, NM green chile peppers just came in, so it's a bit like Christmas around here. We wanted to let you know that you have one more weekend to use your Garden Rewards Points and YES, you can use them to stock up on green chile.
