MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — "Those pecans, I don't know what it was about my dad planting, but they are the best pecans I've ever tasted. But many other people say they buy them too," Rascoe Pecans Gail Blanpied said.
Gail and Mark Blanpied are now the faces behind Rascoe Pecans, an organic orchard on the banks of the Brazos River.
It's a dream that started with her father—Frank Rascoe—and his wife Sue.
"They were both retiring," Blanpied said. "They started planting trees in 1986 right after they bought the property. He passed away the first year of the first crop, but at least he got to know that there was a harvest."
Typically, pecan trees thrive on their property.
"It's great for pecans. It's super sandy, loamy, wonderful soil," Blanpied said.
But this year, they won't have a harvest.
"We had two years of drought here in a row, and that followed that horrible freeze," Blanpied said.
She told 25 News that the weather in recent years—including the severe storms this past Spring—has resulted in total crop failure.
"We lost about 50 trees totally to drought, completely dead, and then another 80 are super stressed," Blanpied said. "It is sad, and a lot of people love the pecans, so it's hard,"
Right now, they have fewer than 500 trees remaining.
She said they typically sell to more than 150 customers online and at farmers' markets.
