FEATLREZ

Friesenhahn FarmProduces Pecans AplentyJack of all trades...and master of many!BY Jim Webb, photos t>y Diana Webb

34 NOVEMBER 20131 SCHERTZMAGAZINE.COM

MARK FRIESENHAHN IS thefifth generation of his family tofarm land on the Dry ComalCreek near FM 482. The firstgeneration of Friesenhahns toemigrate to the United Statessettled on this land in the 1850's.Through hard work, determina-tion, and perseverance they suc-ceeded and prospered. Over theyears, major crops have includ-ed cotton, corn, grain sorghumand hay. They also raised cattleand sheep.

Mark is the oldest of four chil-dren and has two (grown) sonsof his own. He vividly recallshow, at age 12 and in 6th grade,he became aware he wanted tobe a mechanical engineer andbuild cars. True to his calling,he graduated from the Univer-sity of Texas at Austin with a de-gree in mechanical engineering.However, when offered a jobwith General Motors he chose,instead, to join the ExxonMobilcorporation in the upstream oiland gas business. In the courseof his 38-year career with Exx-onMobil, he was assigned toprojects all over the world. Oneof his most challenging projectswas as the chief logistics manag-er for the clean up of the oil spillfrom the Exxon Valdez tanker inPrince William Sound in Alaska.

For nearly two years he spentthree out of every four weeksin Alaska, meeting the manychallenges presented by the af-termath of this oil spill. An an-ecdote Mark shared was how,when the Alaska cruise ship sea-son opened a couple of monthsafter the spill, the team workingon the clean-up was summarilyevicted from die hotels wherethey were staying because therooms were needed for the tour-ists! As die lead logistics officer,it fell to Mark to devise quicklyan alternative lodging solution.In just a few short weeks, hehad built a 250 site RV park forteam members. One of his last

projects before his retirementin 2010 was working with dieCanadians on the extractionprocess for Alberta oil sands,a type of unconventional oildeposit produced via surfacemining.

In die 1970's, Mark decided hewanted eventually to return todie Comal area where he wasborn and raised. He found forsale approximately 25 acresthat included land previously

• owned by his great-uncles.I During die next diree decades,; he and his family would make: many weekend trips from dieir: Houston home (leaving around; 4 AM!) to their farm to work• on die endless tasks facing ai farmer and a homeowner. They; would return to Houston late: Sunday evening and he wouldI be back at work at ExxonMo-; bil on Monday morning. In die; 1980's, Mark made die decisioni to have pecans as his main crop.

lop photo - shaking pecan tree. Bottom photo - Harvesting pecans.

In 1989, he began planting pe-can trees in some of die fields.Five years later, he had complet-ed die planting. Today, he has50 acres of pecan trees in fourdifferent varieties - Wichita,Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Pawnee;and is in business as die ComalPecan Farm (www.comalpecan-farm.com).

Mark explained diat pecanfarming is not a gendemanfarmer's activity. Nor is it for diefaint of heart, die weak of body,or for diose who like to get alot of sleep each night. Duringharvesting season, he is out indie field around 4 each morn-ing mechanically shaking dietrees to dislodge die pecans sodiey are ready for pick up by hiscrew when diey arrive. All dieprocessing of die pecan crop isdone on-site. Mark has all dienecessary equipment and sup-plies, and it is housed in build-ings he constructed or renovat-ed. One of die keys to die pecanfarm's success, in addition todie hard work and dedication

continued on page 36

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FriesenhahnFarmProducesPecans Aplentycontinued from page 35

by all involved, is that Markhas an Edward's Aquifer irriga-tion permit. This enables himto keep his fields sufficiendyirrigated, which is essential inproducing a good crop yieldannually. Anodier ingredientin the success formula is hav-ing the four varieties of pecans.In any given year one variety'sproduction may be down, butanodier's might be up. Thishelps avoid wide differences inyield from season to season.

Mark and his wife, Jackie, re-cendy moved into a restoredfarmhouse originally built byhis great-uncle Ferdinand Fri-esenhahn in 1911. The restora-tion project took diree years,and some smaller elements ofit are still in progress. Workingwith an architect experiencedin restorations of older build-ings and property, Mark, hishelpers, two carpenters anda stonemason, did much ofdie work themselves. Most ofthe restored buildings containwood and features from die

Shaking Ircctifrom another aide.

original buildings and/or frommaterials in odier buildings ondie farm and elsewhere thathad been razed over time. Therestored property even has acentral geo-diermal heat pumpdiat provides FfVAC to all diebuildings.

Today, die Comal Pecan Farmcovers about 105 acres. If youinclude adjacent land ownedjointly widi his siblings, Larry,Marty, and Theresa, die Fri-esenhahns farm 200 acres ofpecans, hay fields, and pastureland. They also raise catde andsheep.

Mark considers himself a mostfortunate person. He was ableto have a very challenging andrewarding 38-year career do-ing what he had decided hewanted to do while still in ele-mentary school. Now he is ableto indulge in what has alwaysbeen his odier grand passion -farming. And he looks forwardto indulging in diis passion formany years to come.