LOCKHART, Texas — Thanksgiving might look a little different this year, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy your favorite foods.
If pecan pie is on the menu, Swift River Pecans says you'll have no problem finding them. The crop was good this year because of the weather.
Every fall for the last 20 years, Troy Swift harvests pecans on his farm. He has several hundred acres filled with nearly 2,000 pecan trees and 15 different varieties.
"I came to school in San Marcos in 1978. I went on a canoe trip, actually it was a river clean up. And we got out at Staples, Texas, and I was just struck by the beauty of the river and I liked to canoe," said Swift. “So when I got out I said man if I even had the money I would buy a place like this. So in 1998 I bought that place."
The property had pecan trees, so he learned how to harvest. His operation kept growing, but then came the natural disasters.
"We had two of the biggest floods in 2015," said Swift. "And prior to that we had the worst drought from 2009 to 2011. It killed trees by the millions and on this property by the hundreds," said Swift.
That left him with thousands of washed up logs and dead trees that were 200 years old.
"So I decided to go into the sawmill business to take advantage of a disaster," said Swift.
"None of the wood we have here is cut down," said Charleston Jackson, lead sawyer at Swift River Pecans. "All the wood we sell is brought down by natural disaster, flood damage, storm damage, hurricanes. We do not cut down living trees. All of this is salvaged."
With addition to the sawmill, Swift was able to create a year-round operation. This year Swift was able to handle the weather conditions for the pecan crop, but sometimes it's not always easy.
"You can get mad and get frustrated," said Swift. "But the fact of the matter is if you get mad at the machine or the weather, it's not going to change anyway. So you just adapt, calm down and get your people together," said Swift. "Really what you gotta do is figure out how to succeed instead of letting yourself fail."
The weather can be nuts sometimes, but Troy finds a way to make it work.