Story by Mary Dansak
There is nothing in the world like a fresh peach. As the kids say, #IYKYK, or “If you know, you know,” for the rest of us.
At one time, Rachel Wainwright, the Farm Girl, didn’t know. “I hated peaches,” she laughed. That’s a bold statement from someone whose life is elbow-deep in them. “Then I started dating Payton. He took me out to the fields, where I ate a peach right off the tree. I started falling in love with peaches and Payton at the same time.”
First comes peaches, then comes marriage.
Newlyweds Rachel and Payton were a busy young couple with Rachel working full-time in the waste-management business her family started in 1946 and Payton farming thousands of acres of orchards as his family before him did, plus owning and operating The Strawberry Patch at Taylor Orchards along with other family members. Then along came March 2020, bringing with it Covid-19 and a whole new world.
“People stopped coming to The Strawberry Patch,” Rachel explained. While some might have seen this as a chance to take a break from their demanding lives, Rachel thought otherwise. “If people can’t come to the strawberries, maybe we could bring the strawberries to the people.” She loaded up her truck with fresh-picked strawberries and hauled them to Columbus, Georgia, where she sold them out of the parking lot of a retail store.
Rachel’s roadside stand sold every strawberry they offered. When strawberry season ended in mid-May, Rachel, whose energy and enthusiasm shone like gold in our conversation, decided if they could do it with strawberries, they could do it with peaches.
“I asked my customers on Facebook if anyone was interested in peaches. It turns out there was a huge outpouring of people wanting peaches. Payton brought a truckload, and they sold out right away.”
I have to say, I get it. I remember that summer. The strangeness of this unknown virus and isolation was heavy. Biting into a fresh peach was a balm for the soul: a taste of long, barefooted summers; homemade ice cream and warm, gooey cobblers; rainbows sprayed from the watering hose. To bite into a piece of good fruit is to literally eat the sunshine that drives the process of turning carbon dioxide and water into the delicious sugar that sweetens our food. Eating a perfect peach was just what the soul needed that very strange summer.
Maybe it was Covid. Maybe it was Rachel’s personable presence. Maybe it was just the taste of fresh Georgia peaches plucked from the tree that very morning, but whatever it was, Farm Girl Fresh was off and running. The family flat-bed truck couldn’t haul enough peaches to keep the customers satisfied.
“We had to rent a Pinske refrigerated truck. It was as big as a semi. When we saw it out there in the driveway, taking up half the yard, we asked ourselves what we were doing. Is this real? Are we running a business?”
Indeed, they were. Farm Fresh Girl, with the tagline “From our orchards to your table,” kept customers supplied with not only peaches but other produce from local farmers as well.
Anyone who has ever eaten fresh produce understands that farm-fresh and grocery-store fresh are two different things. It all has to do with ripening. Ripening is a complicated science, and involves a perfect trifecta of the production of sugar, the production of aromatic compounds, and the breaking down of acids. The moment fruit is picked from the tree, sugar production ends. Although humans have gone to great efforts to mimic natural ripening, there is no recipe, including those that call for brown paper bags or placement near other fruits, that can replicate Mother Nature’s process.
Those “fresh” fruits in the grocery store bins are often picked in an unripe state, the firmness necessary to keep them from being damaged in all the handling and shipping. The peaches in the store might have been picked two weeks ago.
While Rachel may be the face of Farm Girl Fresh, she credits Payton for the superior product. “He knows the science,” she said. “There are over 40 varieties of peaches. Payton knows which variety is best each week of the summer. We pick the fruit in the morning, the exact variety for that day, and bring it straight to the customer, leaves and all.”
For the record, Rachel’s favorite variety, which she was able to tell me without a bit of hesitation, is the July Prince.
Of course, part of the allure of a fresh peach is its seasonality. We have nine months to dream about them, and only three months to gorge on them. Come mid-August, it’s too hot for peaches.
“Next it’s pecan season,” Rachel said with that same plucky energy. “In October we harvest pecans and send them out to be candied and packaged.” Just reading the names of the packages makes my mouth water: Chocolate Pecans, Praline Pecans, Glazed Pecans, Roasted and Salted Pecans, Cinnamon Pecans, and of course, Raw Pecans.
“Pecans are a huge hit. Individuals buy them, but it turns out corporations and businesses are some of our best customers. They love to give pecans as gifts.”
Pecans are in season through the winter, and then strawberries are back in the spring.
Rachel’s Farm Girl Fresh truck can be found on Saturdays, in season, in the parking lot of PetSmart and Steak-n-Shake on Bradley Park Drive in Columbus. That’s all well and good for folks living in that vicinity, but what about the rest of us?
Luckily, we can order fresh peaches, strawberries, and pecans to be shipped. “We ship all over the country,” Rachel reassured me. “I even sent a box of peaches all the way to Alaska! The shipping was a bit expensive,” she laughed. I conjured up an image of a weary, displaced Georgia girl all the way out there in Alaska, craving that perfect summertime peach. Shipping costs would not deter such a treat to oneself.
“What’s next for Farm Girl Fresh,” I asked.
“Oh, we’ll keep bringing our produce to the customer,” Rachel answered. “I don’t want to disappoint anyone, the customers or the local farmers.”
Although I live close enough to the orchards to get real fruit when I need it, I still breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that wherever I go, I’m not too far away for a fresh tree-ripened Georgia peach.
To keep up with the whereabouts of Farm Girl Fresh, follow them on Facebook @shopfarmgirlfresh, Instagram @shopfarmgirlfresh, or visit the website shopfarmgirlfresh.com where you can also place an order for delivery.
