Peaches, Peaches, and More Peaches at Dickey Farms in Musella, GA

    

There were peach jams, peach/fig preserves, peach salsa, peach hand pies, peach ice cream, peach slushies, and peaches by the peck or the bag. There were hats with peaches, tshirts with peaches, and earrings made out of grits in the shape of peaches.  There were peaches rolling along a conveyor belt and boxes of peaches being loaded into a truck bound for Boston.  White rockers lined the wide, shaded veranda of the Dickey Farms packinghouse and sales pavilion.  Huge ceiling fans provided a breeze as we sat in a rocker and enjoyed a just-picked, juicy, ripe Georgia Peach.

Started in 1897, Dickey Farms  is located about 45 minutes west of Macon, GA, on Old Hwy 341 in the small “blink and you’ll miss it” town of Musella.  The white, clapboard packinghouse is the oldest continuously operating packinghouse in Georgia, built in 1936. We stood on the veranda and watched as workers sat in the shade and inspected peaches for blemishes while the mechanical part of the system sorted for size and delivered uniform peaches to workers who boxed them up for shipping.  Once boxed up, the boxes of peaches were placed on pallets and a forklift loaded them into a Dickey Farms truck for shipping.  I watched one of those peaches enter the system and end up on a pallet, I would estimate it took less than 10 minutes to get packed and within an hour that peach had made it from field truck to shipping truck.

The farm maintains 110,000 peach trees in orchards sprinkled over a 20-mile area.  They have planted multiple orchards in varied locations to diversify exposure and safe guard against disastrous losses during late freezes.  They grow 19 different peach varieties which ripen at different times in the season. Each tree is picked three times, only picking peaches when they are ready.  From mid-May to Mid-August, you are pretty much guaranteed a ripe peach on the porch at Dickey Farms.

The third-generation peach grower Mr. Robert L Dickey greeted visitors to the veranda which overlooked the sorting and packing area.  He and his son, Robert L Dickey, III run the farm now. But we got the sense that Senior Mr. Dickey’s most important job now is greeting visitors and sharing his enthusiasm for peaches and peach products.   Mr. Dickey was clearly proud of his peaches and was particularly fond of the peach fritters available for sale.  The fritter was good, but the peach hand pies were exceptional (and it didn’t make it very far down the road).

Dickey Farm ships many of their products year round.  Fresh peaches are shipped starting around June 15 when the free-stone varieties ripen.  Peach season is usually over by the middle of August.

Did you know?

-The first known peach came from China.

-A medium peach has only 38 calories.

-The Georgia peach production started between 1870 and 1875

-There are three general varieties of peaches, clingstone (early in the season), semi-free stone (mid- season), and free-stone (from middle of June to end of season in August).

-When buying peaches you should avoid rock-hard peaches and select ones that yield slightly to pressure along the seam.

-If the peaches aren’t ripe, don’t put them in the refrigerator. Just put them on the counter at room temperature.  Once ripe, then you can place them in the fridge. To accelerate ripening, put the peach in a sealed paper bag.

For more information on peaches and on how to order products and peaches from Dickey Farms check out their website at www.dickeyfarms.com. 

Gators in the outhouse?

Gators in the outhouse? , originally uploaded by abaesel.

In June of 2008, Jerry and I drove from Nashville down to Florida. On the way we made a detour through the Okeefanokee Swamp in South Georgia. Had a nice walk on a boardwalk through a swamp area and noticed this sign near the "marina" and nature center. (we didn't see any gators...but we sure saw a lot of stinging biting bugs...lesson?....don't walk in a swamp in shorts!

Photos to Go with Trip Blog - Okeefanokee Swamp

Here are some photos that go with previous daily blogs.



Okeefanokee Swamp











Don't have photos of those darn little bugs that bit my ankles!!!

Okeefanokee Swamp - or how to get 14 bug bites in 30 minutes.

We entered the National Wildlife Refuge from one of 3 entrances - the West…leading to Stephen Foster Park…Did you know that the Suwanee River (that Foster wrote about) starts in the Okeefanokee swamp and then travels southwest through Florida? And did you know that Foster never actually SAW the Suwanee River? He just liked the name and wanted a river in the south!

Since it was mid-day when we got there and was about 96 degrees…we took just a short ½ mile walk on the boardwalk into the swamp…just long enough to a) get some pictures b) get really sweaty and c) get14 bug bites from some stupid little buzzy things that hopped on my bare legs (Okay…I know, just how dumb am I to walk through a swamp in mid-day without long pants and socks on!?!!! )

Despite the bugs, heat and sweat, it was really cool. The dragonflies (a myriad of different colors and sizes) and butterflies (also many different kinds) were flying around in great numbers…They were beautiful. The loblolly pines were in bloom (they have flowers that look just like small magnolias) and were dropping their pretty blossoms on the boardwalk. Didn’t see gators…but saw all the signs of what NOT to do (swim in the water, feed them, etc).

After grabbing a popsicle and hopping in the blessedly air conditioned car we were off for the last leg of the day…the drive to Jacksonville. Much of which was driven in a driving thunderstorm!!! Florida really knows how to do thunderstorms!!!!

Georgia - Not just Red Clay Dirt and Peanuts

We drove south from Nashville on Monday morning driving down the 65 where it met up with the 75 just outside of Chattanooga, TN. The drive was pretty: hilly with woods and fields. As we neared Chattanooga the hills became near mountains. We didn’t have to time to stop this trip but plan to return to see Rock City Gardens, Lookout Mountain, and Ruby Falls (“the world’s largest waterfall contain within an underground cavern). All three have been tourist stops since the 20s…we’re sure there is more than a little hokieness to go with them, but we want to see them anyway. Jerry remembers all the barns painted “See Rock City” when they drove from Ohio to Florida in the 40s…the barns were everywhere!!!! And many are still maintained.

From Chattanooga, we drove south on the 75 through Atlanta (Hotlanta indeed…it was almost 100) and Macon and stopped for the night in Warner Robins (about 30 minutes south of Macon). North of Macon it was hilly…the Chatahoochie River winds through Atlanta (the river of Alan Jackson song fame). Atlanta has some beautiful and interesting downtown buildings. Ted Turner’s broadcasting headquarters is located there. We are going to stop for the CNN Tour our next time through…I wonder if they give tours of the Weather Channel too?? Atlanta AND Macon are growing cities (if the amount of road construction on the interstates is any indication). Atlanta has 7 Costcos in the greater Atlanta area…we of course stopped at one…in Kennesaw (of Civil War battle fame).

The face of Atlanta is also changing if the waitstaff at the Sonny’s BBQ was any indication…2 southern women, a Hispanic woman, and 3 russian women provided service at Sonny’s…the new face of the south!!!

And Warner Robins was an odd (but pleasant) spot. We saw signs for hotels on the interstate and got off at the interchange expecting them to be right off the freeway. Nope…3 miles east we drove and then rising up out of red Georgia clay was the sea of new hotels, Hampton, Quality, Comfort, La Quinta, etc. etc. plus an assortment of new restaurants and suburban tracts. We had to ask at the hotel desk…what are all these hotels for? Answer, first..the Warner Robins airbase…must be doing a lot of business there!! Then agribusiness: Frito Lay, Planters, and ?. The essence of Georgia: corn, peanuts, and ? toss in pecans, tobacco, and peaches and you’ve got the agricultural history of Georgia…

Tuesday we headed down the 75 across much flatter land. It must have been the perfect weather to bring in the hay because fields were strewn with new round hay bales and trucks created to haul the big round bales were traveling off to the local farm supply store. We got off the interstate at Tifton and headed east and southeast to the Okeefanokee swamp. Gone was the deep red Georgia clay replaced by brown dirt. Pine forests mingled with fields of tobacco, corn, hay, and blueberries!!! Who knew blueberries in Georgia…there were a lot of fields at one point. Oh…and HUGE Pecan trees.

Jerry remembers driving across Georgia in the 40s and all he remembers is the heat and tar paper shacks. It is still hot, but the shacks are gone (mostly) replaced by mobile homes (mostly) and small tidy homes and fields.

Oh by the way, one of the many special license plates you can get in Georgia is apparently one that is the solid color of red Georgia clay