My husband was very excited to be home and to have an entire day of College Football to watch, including his Michigan State University Spartans.
I wasn't as excited about football (but I do have my loyalties - Go State!) so I decided to spend the afternoon on a photo excursion. I haven't done much of that since I've gotten home from my road trip a month ago, so it was about time! I took a few unfamiliar roads and ended up finding Hastings - Florida's Potato Capital.
I had no idea what was to come just a mile into town...
The first place I stopped was the Florida Museum, which looked like it was probably a very cool place at one time. I would have loved to poke around here when it was open...if I'd only known.
Above the front door was this football player. He is in really great shape for hanging out over a door 24/7.
Farm machinery of all types were all over the place. These were the nicest of the bunch.
Now, right across the street from the Florida Museum was this place.
Bull's Hit Ranch and Farm.
Their big draw? (Besides their name)
They made potato chips!
Bulls Chips to be exact.
This was their production facility, store and amusements.
I looked them up online and it looks like they were open in 2010, but I couldn't find any mention of them being open at all this year. They'd been around for at least a dozen years and had their Bulls Chips in a lot of stores and had an online shop for awhile.
This was their truck out by the road.
I like the tag line on the truck, "From the little Chippery in Hastings...Florida's Potato Capital." Oh, actually I quoted that wrong. It's spelled Captal on the truck. ha!
Handmade potato chips from Bull's Hit Ranch and Farm.
What a treasure. I sure wish they were still open. I wanted to have a bag of chips at least!
I wonder what other sights there are to see in Unknown Mami's carnival, Sundays in my City? I guess we're going to have to go on over and find out.
Hope you have a great day!
Kristin
20 comments:
AWESOME POST! I loveeeeeeeeee all these photos! Nostalgic and so cool! LOVE the name of that place, lol!
looks like you had a great photo excursion.
Hasting is a treasure trove of photo opps. Too bad about Bull Chips, your post made me hungry for some too.
How fun! Definitely wouldn't want to be around those hanging farm tools when a good breeze comes along. I love the picture of the bull on the roof. :)
What wonderful pictures. I especially love the one of the truck with the bull holding the "Handmade Potato chips" sign!
We all want chips. We want chips, we want chips, we want chips!
Great photo excursion!!
Nice pictures of this interesting museum.
We pass that place every time we go to St Augustine. =)
Love these pictures. It does look like it was a cool place. Did you ever have their chips?
What great pics! My 1st thought was Bull Durham when he hit that home run and it hit the bull....I wonder if they made bull chips!
Great pics.
I'd love you to share your pics with me at Walkabout
Aw, now I want some Bull Chips. At first the sound of Bull Chips didn't seem to appetizing to me.
I'm sorry that you didn't get to have any of these chips. They are amazing and the owners are so very nice. They would be proud of your coverage. I was going online to see if they were still open and found your site/story. But it looks like they shut down for good. That is very sad. Their chips were like cape cod kettle chips except way better, I swear.
I've had their chips and they were awesome. I especially liked their datil pepper flavored ones. As another poster said, their chips were way better than Cape Cod Chips as they were thicker.
I had the opportunity to speak with the owner personally a few years ago, right after he stopped making his chips. He told me he had heart trouble and couldn't run the business any more. He asked me if I wanted to buy his business.
Every once in a while I wish I think of doing just that and resurrecting his chips, as well as making them under a more appetizing brand name.
I had Bull's Chips a few times between 1996 and 2002, and I thought they were the best potato chips I ever had. You could get them from Albertson's for $3 a bag at one point. Alas, I didn't even think the ranch was in business after 2002. I also wish datil peppers (which they used to flavor the chips) were grown outside of the St. Augustine area; those are a special treat as well.
I have...they were incredible. I'll never have chips like those again.
They were unmatched. I shipped them to Virginia by the case.
Another small, family owned operation killed off by excessive government regulations that only benefit the large ag. conglomerates.
This chips were amazingly good and the museum was a great way to spend a few hours.
Been trying to find info on this place and saw thisblog. Just discovered this place 3 days ago on Tues. When saw the sign we decided to check it out as it looked interesting. They were closed but we didn't know if it was closed permanently or temporary due to Corona Virus? Took pics as there was a slew of old farm eqp there too as it was so kool looking and it made me think of another time and of all the farming that must have been done there over the yrs. Really sorry to read they are permanently closed.
What a coincidence to see a comment from just yesterday. My wife and I recently bought some Lay's kettle cooked chips and my wife loves them. I told her about the best chips created right here in Florida, and was hoping she could try some. She wasn't sure if I was just making up a story, so I googled and stumbled upon this site.
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