We didn't set out to build a pecan company. We inherited one - planted in 1888 by an English cabinetmaker who fell in love with a Texas river valley - and we've been learning from its trees ever since.
- Winston & Kristen Millican
A Letter From Our Family to Yours
What You Hold in Your Hands Began Here
Every pecan we ship comes from a single orchard in San Saba, Texas - the same land E.E. Risien walked when he planted our first trees in 1888. Not sourced from suppliers. Not warehoused for weeks. Grown, harvested, and hand-packed by the fifth generation of one family.
We know the trees by their rows. We know the harvest by the year. And we know that when you send a Millican gift, you're sending a story that's been told one pecan at a time for over 135 years.
- Winston & Kristen Millican
The Short Version
One Orchard, Told Across Five Generations
1874
A cabinetmaker from Dover sets out for TexasEdmund E. Risien, an English immigrant, arrives in San Saba County looking for a fresh start. He finds a river valley he can't stop thinking about.
1888
West Texas Pecan Nursery is foundedOn land at the confluence of the San Saba and Colorado Rivers, Risien plants the orchard that becomes our home.
1893
The Mother Tree, and a trip to ChicagoRisien discovers a massive native pecan tree, nearly felled, with one surviving branch. He displays its nuts at the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition - where, by family legend, C.W. Post called them "grape nuts." The name stuck, on a cereal box anyway.
1938
The Millican name enters the storyElsie Oliver, Risien's granddaughter, marries Winston Millican Sr. Elsie bakes pecan pies and delivers them to every newcomer in town as a welcome gift. She lives to 101.
1965
A teenager takes over the orchardWinston Sr. dies suddenly. His son Bob, a sophomore in high school, takes over the farm at 16. Years later, with his wife Debbie, Bob begins planting new orchards again.
2002
The fifth generation launches MillicanPecan.comAs Texas A&M seniors, Winston and Kristen Millican launch the company online - one of the earliest pecan farms on the internet. A handful of gift tins in the first month; over a thousand orders a week today.
Today
The sixth generation is already helping outAnna, Abby, and Allison - Winston and Kristen's three daughters - each have a job at the farm. The oldest checks orchard trees. The middle one packs gift tins. The youngest is the official taste-tester.
The Tree That Almost Wasn't
A Single Branch, and a Thousand Failed Grafts
When E.E. Risien bought his first piece of land, the orchard on it had been cleared - all but one enormous native pecan tree, already half-cut. One branch remained. He left the tree standing.
Over the next decade, he tried more than a thousand times to graft its wood onto new seedlings. Most failed. A few took. Those few became the parent stock of pecan varieties now grown across the country.
Texas A&M would later call that one tree the source of "more important pecan varieties than any other tree in the world." We still have it. We don't let visitors near it.
San Saba ImprovedTexas ProlificOnliwonSquirrel's DelightNo. 60Western SchleyLiberty BondJersey
The Fifth Generation
Meet Winston and Kristen
Winston Millican · 5th Generation
He Knows the Trees by Name
Winston is the great-great-grandson of E.E. Risien. Texas A&M Class of 2003. Husband to Kristen since their senior year. Father of Anna, Abby, and Allison.
He took over what was a 500-acre operation and, over two decades, expanded it past 1,000 acres and more than 10,000 trees. He restores vintage pecan machinery in his spare time. He can tell you which tree had a rough year in 2011.
"Farming is in my blood. The land was passed down to me, and it's a responsibility I have - to take care of these trees, to leave them for the next generation."
Kristen Millican · Co-Owner & VP
She Writes the Way You Taste It
Kristen is Winston's high-school sweetheart, Texas A&M Class of 2003, and the voice you're reading right now. She runs brand, retail, and recipe development - and wrote the children's book, Abby and Her Curious Find, inspired by her middle daughter.
She columns for Pecan South Magazine and represented the U.S. pecan industry at the 2017 Food & Nutrition Conference in Chicago. Most days, though, you'll find her at the store in San Saba.
"We're not just creating food. We're creating memories - the kind that get passed down the way a recipe does."
The Sixth Generation
Anna, Abby, and Allison - Already on the Payroll
The three Millican daughters each have a role at the orchard. It was Abby's curiosity in the grove that inspired Kristen's children's book - a story about a little girl discovering her family's farm.
Anna · The Tree CheckerThe oldest daughter walks the rows with her dad, inspecting branch health. Planning to follow her parents to Texas A&M, Class of 2029.
Abby · The Gift PackerThe middle daughter hand-packs gift tins at the store. She is the namesake of Kristen's children's book and the reason we know pecans taste better when a kid watched them grow.
Allison · The Taste TesterThe youngest has the most important job: quality control. Every new flavor goes past her first.
The Orchard Today
Still in San Saba. Still by Hand. Still Only Pecans.
Our kitchen is one of the few in the country that processes pecans and nothing else. No peanuts, no other tree nuts, no gluten-containing grains anywhere in the building. Some allergy families trust us because of that. That trust is not something we take lightly.
The varieties on our land include Pawnee, Cheyenne, Western Schley, and native hard-shells. The natives are our favorites - they survive drought and heat that newer cultivars can't, and they have been here longer than we have.
1,000+
acres farmed in San Saba County
10,000+
pecan trees across the orchard
~10
varieties grown, including natives
100%
pecan-only kitchen - no cross-contamination
As Featured In
The Martha Stewart ShowFood Network · UnwrappedSouthern LivingBon AppétitTexas MonthlyAustin Chronicle
Come See It For Yourself
The Store Is Open to Visitors
The original E.E. Risien homestead is still standing on the property, and the store sits alongside the orchard he planted. Drop in for a tasting, pick up a gift, or just watch the trees do what they've been doing since 1888.
199 County Road 100 · San Saba, TX 76877 Monday – Friday · 9am – 5pm · Extended Saturday hours during harvest
