redlevel
Gold Member
My family has been involved in growing peaches and the packing industry in one way or another for 100 years or more. My grandmother, who was born in the 1880's, told me of working in a packing house during summers when she was a teen. During the depression, working for a few weeks in packing houses in our area was a way for farmers to make a little cash to help tide them over until the Fall harvest.
My daddy started growing peaches on our farm in the early 1940's. His first efforts were small, consisting of a few dozen trees ordered from the back pages of Progressive Farmer magazine. By the late 1950's his orchards had grown to several acres, and my brother and I spent a large part of our Summers operating "peach stands" beside US highway 19. This was before the days of Interstate highways, and 19 was a main route South for the Yankees, especially from Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. I think US 19's Northern terminus was at Erie, Pennsylvania and it ended just South of Tampa. At that time, we considered anyone from North of Atlanta to be "Yankees". I thought some of those people who stopped to buy peaches and watermelons from me were the weirdest creatures I had ever seen. Some of the accents were as unintelligible to me as if they had been speaking Greek. I can only imagine what they must have thought about the chubby little barefooted boy with the single-shot 12 gauge leaning in the corner of the plywood stand. The shotgun was actually for the rattlesnakes that tended to invade the immediate area, but it could have been used on the occasional rowdy Pennsylvanian if the situation ever called for such.
Anyhow, by the late 60's and early 70's we had expanded to about 60 acres of peaches and 10 acres of plums. This was a semi-big-time fruit operation, but we still tried to do it the old way, marketing our product locally and to chain stores in nearby Columbus, GA. It soon became apparent that we were too big to be operating the same old way, but not big enough to invest the money in the facilities needed to maintain the operation. By the late 80's we were out of the peach business, and within just a few years, there were no peach trees on the place.
Then, four years ago, one of the largest growers in the state approached us about leasing our property to plant peaches. He offered us more per acre to lease our property than we could have realized out of any crop or livestock. The trees are in their fourth year, the first good year of production. There are about ninety acres of trees on the place now. Here are some pictures I made of some peaches that were missed by the pickers. They are truly "tree ripe". You have never really tasted a peach until you have picked one like this right in the orchard.
The peaches in the above pictures are an old variety called Red Globe. As you can see, they are free stone, or clear-seed, as the old-timers called them. That means the seed separates from the meat when the peach is ripe. Peaches like those in the picture have to be consumed within about 48 hours, or they will go bad. They are beyond tree ripe; they are what my grandmother used to call "dead ripe". Those peaches were ready about three weeks ago.
The last variety on our farm, and in most of this part of GA, is called Flame Prince. They finished picking these about a week ago, and I searched the orchard yesterday and found a couple of dozen that the pickers had missed. Now I'll have to wait another year. These are pictures of the Flame Prince peaches and the picking and retail operation.
Most of the peaches are shipped to Northern markets, but they have a retail store at the packing house. This is a far cry from the old "peach stands" I used to run. There is an air-conditioned ice-cream parlor and gift shop that sells everything from pickled peaches to peach salsa. The lady in the picture is the mother of the men who now run the operation. They are fourth-generation peach growers.
Finally, a picture of the sign that lets you know you are on the road to my place. If you are ever down this way, drop in and have a peach.
My daddy started growing peaches on our farm in the early 1940's. His first efforts were small, consisting of a few dozen trees ordered from the back pages of Progressive Farmer magazine. By the late 1950's his orchards had grown to several acres, and my brother and I spent a large part of our Summers operating "peach stands" beside US highway 19. This was before the days of Interstate highways, and 19 was a main route South for the Yankees, especially from Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. I think US 19's Northern terminus was at Erie, Pennsylvania and it ended just South of Tampa. At that time, we considered anyone from North of Atlanta to be "Yankees". I thought some of those people who stopped to buy peaches and watermelons from me were the weirdest creatures I had ever seen. Some of the accents were as unintelligible to me as if they had been speaking Greek. I can only imagine what they must have thought about the chubby little barefooted boy with the single-shot 12 gauge leaning in the corner of the plywood stand. The shotgun was actually for the rattlesnakes that tended to invade the immediate area, but it could have been used on the occasional rowdy Pennsylvanian if the situation ever called for such.
Anyhow, by the late 60's and early 70's we had expanded to about 60 acres of peaches and 10 acres of plums. This was a semi-big-time fruit operation, but we still tried to do it the old way, marketing our product locally and to chain stores in nearby Columbus, GA. It soon became apparent that we were too big to be operating the same old way, but not big enough to invest the money in the facilities needed to maintain the operation. By the late 80's we were out of the peach business, and within just a few years, there were no peach trees on the place.
Then, four years ago, one of the largest growers in the state approached us about leasing our property to plant peaches. He offered us more per acre to lease our property than we could have realized out of any crop or livestock. The trees are in their fourth year, the first good year of production. There are about ninety acres of trees on the place now. Here are some pictures I made of some peaches that were missed by the pickers. They are truly "tree ripe". You have never really tasted a peach until you have picked one like this right in the orchard.
The peaches in the above pictures are an old variety called Red Globe. As you can see, they are free stone, or clear-seed, as the old-timers called them. That means the seed separates from the meat when the peach is ripe. Peaches like those in the picture have to be consumed within about 48 hours, or they will go bad. They are beyond tree ripe; they are what my grandmother used to call "dead ripe". Those peaches were ready about three weeks ago.
The last variety on our farm, and in most of this part of GA, is called Flame Prince. They finished picking these about a week ago, and I searched the orchard yesterday and found a couple of dozen that the pickers had missed. Now I'll have to wait another year. These are pictures of the Flame Prince peaches and the picking and retail operation.
Most of the peaches are shipped to Northern markets, but they have a retail store at the packing house. This is a far cry from the old "peach stands" I used to run. There is an air-conditioned ice-cream parlor and gift shop that sells everything from pickled peaches to peach salsa. The lady in the picture is the mother of the men who now run the operation. They are fourth-generation peach growers.
Finally, a picture of the sign that lets you know you are on the road to my place. If you are ever down this way, drop in and have a peach.
Here I was gonna post a picture of our Peach Tree with about a dozen peaches that may be ripe in several weeks time. Now I'll just forget it.
