Speaker 1: I Am all in.
Speaker 2: Let's just do I Am all in with Scott Patterson
Speaker 2: an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Hey everybody, Scott Patterson, I Am all in again a
Speaker 1: podcast one eleven productions, iHeartRadio, iHeart Media, iHeart Podcast Season
Speaker 1: one episode to lorelized first day at Chiltern one on
Speaker 1: one interview guest with Peaches. In the episode, we have
Speaker 1: very special guests. Mary Pearson is joining us. Hello, Mary,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us. And you're joining
Speaker 1: us from where? What part of the.
Speaker 2: Country We're in, Central Georgia.
Speaker 1: Central Georgia County, Peach County. Let me tell everybody a
Speaker 1: little bit about Mary. Very fascinating young lady, the wife
Speaker 1: of a fourth generation farmer, Al Pearson. She turned her
Speaker 1: husband's fresh peaches and pecans into cakes, pies, cookies, and jellies.
Speaker 1: She loved sharing these creations with friends and neighbors, sparking
Speaker 1: the creation of Pearson family's mail order business. Many of
Speaker 1: her original family recipes are still used today, continuing the
Speaker 1: tradition of homemade treats from Mary's kitchen. Pearson Farms, located
Speaker 1: in Fort Valley, Georgia, has been operated by the Pearson
Speaker 1: family for listening to this over one hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: five years one three five, that's right, one hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty five years producing high quality peaches and pecans. Handpicked
Speaker 1: peaches and farm grown pecans are central to their offerings,
Speaker 1: and the farm's mail order business allows customers to enjoy
Speaker 1: these products nationwide. Mary, welcome, thank you, honor to have you.
Speaker 1: So we're introduced.
Speaker 2: To suit.
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk a little bit about your background and
Speaker 1: what your day to day is over there. When did
Speaker 1: you sort of start getting your hands dirty in the
Speaker 1: family business and and and really growing this out as
Speaker 1: a mail order business.
Speaker 3: Well, we decided to open a store on I seventy five,
Speaker 3: the year of the Olympics that they were going to
Speaker 3: be in Atlanta, and I thought we were going to
Speaker 3: get a lot of business. And we always wanted to
Speaker 3: take our peaches to people that we could hear back
Speaker 3: from and say, oh wow, they were so good or
Speaker 3: they were terrible. You know, we never got any feedback
Speaker 3: because we didn't have computers, We didn't you know, you
Speaker 3: didn't do email any of that.
Speaker 2: So we just really wanted to take it to people.
Speaker 3: And the farm was not a place where you would
Speaker 3: come to buy, so we started this mail or business,
Speaker 3: and it just ended up being it was retail store,
Speaker 3: but it ended up being everybody wanted things that we've
Speaker 3: made in the kitchen there, and so we that's kind
Speaker 3: of how it got started. And so I started with
Speaker 3: recipes in my kitchen and then I would take those
Speaker 3: to the farm and we'd play around with it, and
Speaker 3: that's kind of how it got started. And everything was
Speaker 3: coming from my kitchen. So they named it Mary's Kitchen,
Speaker 3: and that's kind of how that got started.
Speaker 1: Fascinating. So that's nineteen ninety six, if I'm mistaken, Okay,
Speaker 1: So that was the Atlantic Limits nineteen ninety six, And
Speaker 1: so you nineteen ninety six just started off, you one person.
Speaker 1: Maybe I had a little bit of help. What's it
Speaker 1: grown into?
Speaker 2: No? I had a lot more help.
Speaker 1: You had a lot more help.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: We opened up a store, and as it turned out,
Speaker 3: the Olympics sent everybody down Alabama, not seventy five, so
Speaker 3: we could go stand on the interstate. There was nobody
Speaker 3: coming down there. But we had jellies and we ordered
Speaker 3: stuff out of house. We weren't making it then, but
Speaker 3: we changed that and then we got too popular and
Speaker 3: with the mail orders especially people wanting stuff once I
Speaker 3: got home, so we moved it to the farm and
Speaker 3: started cooking there and making everything we make comes from there.
Speaker 3: And I didn't want to use a lot of preservatives.
Speaker 3: I didn't know how to do that. So everything, really,
Speaker 3: even to this day, is just no corn syrup, no
Speaker 3: things that are unhealthy. Of course, you've got sugar, which
Speaker 3: is not healthy, right, that's all.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, well in the episode, we're introduced to Suki
Speaker 1: in this episode of Gimore Girls played by Melissa McCarthy,
Speaker 1: when she's a chef at the Independence in and then
Speaker 1: we meet Jackson Douglas who plays fruit Man, and he's
Speaker 1: a fruit supplier and he provides fruits and vegetables Suki
Speaker 1: and peaches. They're dealing with peaches in this episode, and
Speaker 1: Suki's very particular about her peaches, as she should be
Speaker 1: and her other produce. So we see Suki in the
Speaker 1: kitchen smelling and inspecting a batch of peaches, and Suki
Speaker 1: says they're smaller than the last batch, and Fruitman says, no,
Speaker 1: they're not, and Suki says, smaller means watery, no good
Speaker 1: peach taste. Fruit Man says, no, there's plenty of peach
Speaker 1: taste being as there you know peaches all right, Laura
Speaker 1: Lei takes a bite, she takes, she tastes and believes
Speaker 1: they taste watery as well. So Suki then takes the
Speaker 1: peach and rolls it along the floor. She claims they're
Speaker 1: rolling differently because of the extra water. First of all, Mary,
Speaker 1: can a peach be too watery? Can you determine that
Speaker 1: by rolling it on the ground?
Speaker 3: Now, I've never heard that, but I can tell you
Speaker 3: that peach can be too watery. In fact, I ask
Speaker 3: a group of peach farmers from some other state why
Speaker 3: their peaches were not very sweet, and they said, because
Speaker 3: we fill them with water the last ten days of
Speaker 3: growing seasons, so they get really big and pretty, but
Speaker 3: they're not sweet.
Speaker 1: Interesting do you go ahead?
Speaker 2: Sorry?
Speaker 3: Well, so this year in particular, we had such sweet
Speaker 3: peaches and big peaches because we irrigate, but they were
Speaker 3: so sweet because we didn't have any rain.
Speaker 2: They were so good.
Speaker 1: So the fruit itself struggles for relevance. I guess you
Speaker 1: could say it struggles to just kind of like wine.
Speaker 1: Grapes deprived of rain, right, are more flavorful, have a deeper,
Speaker 1: richer flavor and that's it very interesting. Do you grow
Speaker 1: other fruits or crops alongside the peaches? I mean, you
Speaker 1: know we mentioned pecans.
Speaker 3: We grow pecans, and we also are growing plums now,
Speaker 3: oh boy, which are really good because there it's like
Speaker 3: you grow them in your own backyard. It's not a
Speaker 3: it's they're not really big necessarily, but they are so sweet.
Speaker 1: What are we talking about? What kind of I mean?
Speaker 1: Is it acres and acres of of peaches? I mean,
Speaker 1: these are peach trees. These are these are.
Speaker 2: Yes, peach trees.
Speaker 3: And they're not tall, they're not grown like they are
Speaker 3: in California where they use ladders because it's more and
Speaker 3: California the land is is worth so much more per acre.
Speaker 3: And in Georgia, you know it's not that expensive. So
Speaker 3: you put more peaches peach trees on an acre. And
Speaker 3: so we picked my hand. We don't grow them tall,
Speaker 3: We grow them out in flasty interesting and there, how
Speaker 3: may we have probably twenty five hundred acres I guess
Speaker 3: of peaches?
Speaker 4: Oh my?
Speaker 1: And twenty did you say twenty five hundred acres of
Speaker 1: peaches of peach trees? And what is how many trees
Speaker 1: per acre? Would you say one hundred and twenty one
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty times twenty five hundred how many peaches
Speaker 1: per tree?
Speaker 3: Well, you probably knock off two thousand peaches before they
Speaker 3: get right, I mean when they're little, you'll knock them
Speaker 3: off because if you don't knock them off, then you'll
Speaker 3: have small peaches. And then we might get three hundred
Speaker 3: to four hundred peaches on a tree.
Speaker 1: Okay, sorry, sorry, So we're talking. So let's say, and
Speaker 1: my support stuff, please do the math on this, because
Speaker 1: I'm fascinated with this. Three hundred and fifty times one
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty five times twenty five hundred, and let's
Speaker 1: get that number. And that's and what is the peach season?
Speaker 1: What's the best season for these?
Speaker 3: We start picking peaches middle of May, okay, and we
Speaker 3: finished the first or second week in August, okay.
Speaker 1: And then they have to be and what's the processing, like,
Speaker 1: what do you have to do to prepare them for market?
Speaker 3: Well, we actually when we start we pick them all
Speaker 3: by hand of course.
Speaker 1: Right right, we're talking one hundred and five million peaches
Speaker 1: that need to be farmed approximately, that need to be
Speaker 1: that need to be picked right every season. Right, that's
Speaker 1: a lot of labor. How many people are you hiring
Speaker 1: to do that?
Speaker 2: There may be as many as two hundred two hundred
Speaker 2: and we have have housing, transportation, and but we when
Speaker 2: we pick peaches there one tree might get picked four
Speaker 2: or five times.
Speaker 1: In one season, right, because they're.
Speaker 3: All different varieties. We might have thirty five different varieties
Speaker 3: of peaches, and some produce in July August, some do
Speaker 3: in May, and so there might be that different period
Speaker 3: of time, like three weeks that these peaches are getting
Speaker 3: ready on one tree. If they all got ready at
Speaker 3: one time, if that, you know, we couldn't pick them all. Right,
Speaker 3: that's why we have different varieties that are you know,
Speaker 3: some are a yellow peach, some are more of a
Speaker 3: red peach. As you get into peace season by about
Speaker 3: the third week in June, then they're become freestone, which
Speaker 3: means they don't cling to that seed, and so they're
Speaker 3: easier to cut away from the seed from the cling
Speaker 3: to it.
Speaker 1: And then you you get these peaches, these one hundred
Speaker 1: and five plus million peaches processed, cleaned, packaged, and are
Speaker 1: you you you must have deals with all the grocery
Speaker 1: stores in the area and the region and probably shipping
Speaker 1: them out of state even I would, amae. So you
Speaker 1: have some kind of a serious operation over there.
Speaker 2: We do.
Speaker 3: And we have a wonderful nephew who is a born salesman,
Speaker 3: so when he graduated from college, he eventually came back
Speaker 3: to sell and so that's who sells all of our peaches.
Speaker 3: And he could sell anything. I mean, he is so good.
Speaker 2: And he is a year.
Speaker 3: Older than my son. Our nephew doesn't want to grow anything,
Speaker 3: and our son doesn't want to sell anything, so they
Speaker 3: work well together.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you're getting purchase orders from all over all
Speaker 1: the time. What's the largest purchase order you've received so far?
Speaker 1: How many peaches are involved in that purchase order?
Speaker 2: It's truckloads.
Speaker 1: So have you ever gotten a purchase order for let's say,
Speaker 1: one hundred two hundred thousand peaches going to one place?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 3: And one company that we that we've been dealing with
Speaker 3: for a long time is called Tree Ripe and they
Speaker 3: come down and get truckloads of boxes of peaches and
Speaker 3: take them back to Wisconsin, open up the back of
Speaker 3: the truck and people stand in line and just get
Speaker 3: those boxes of peaches. Every year they look forward to it,
Speaker 3: so they've been. We've probably sold to them thirty or
Speaker 3: forty years.
Speaker 1: That's fantastic.
Speaker 3: It's been really neat seeing people and becoming friends with them.
Speaker 2: We just go everywhere.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this, what are you most proud
Speaker 1: of in terms of the way your farm operates?
Speaker 3: Family, it's the way that we've had. The Pearsons have
Speaker 3: come down really since eighteen eighty five, so it's really
Speaker 3: more than one hundred and thirty five years when they started,
Speaker 3: and there were twelve original Pearsons, six boys and six girls,
Speaker 3: and then they followed down to my father in law.
Speaker 3: He was the son that farmed, and then it went
Speaker 3: to my husband and now it's to my son. Wow,
Speaker 3: so it's and now he's got two sons that are
Speaker 3: also interested in it. But it's hard work and it's
Speaker 3: my son is he's gone at six in the morning
Speaker 3: and he didn't get home till ten at night. And
Speaker 3: that's that's from the first of May to the middle
Speaker 3: of August. So it's not easy, but it's but it's
Speaker 3: very gratifying, even more now than it ever has been
Speaker 3: because the response that we get from people who just
Speaker 3: love the peaches, it's a very romantic fruit. And when
Speaker 3: you bring somebody a basket of peaches, they're like, wow.
Speaker 2: You know, that's beautiful. It's just different than a lot
Speaker 2: of other fruits.
Speaker 1: That's a great story. It's been in the family since
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty five. It stayed in the family. Just just
Speaker 1: a wonderful legacy and it will continue correct, It'll continue
Speaker 1: on to the next generation.
Speaker 3: And it's seasonal, you know, And I think sometimes that's
Speaker 3: what makes people love them so much is you can't
Speaker 3: get them all.
Speaker 1: Year, right, it doesn't mean you stop working right now,
Speaker 1: and there's there's always work to do, even off season. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: that's when the preparation is.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, So what.
Speaker 1: Are some of the biggest talent challenges you face in
Speaker 1: peach farming?
Speaker 3: Probably, well, frost and cold is one thing, because every
Speaker 3: year we're faced with, you know, the peaches will bloom,
Speaker 3: maybe the March the tenth is usually the peak of bloom.
Speaker 3: And then after that it's they have to get enough
Speaker 3: cold hours. And that's very scientific and different varieties will
Speaker 3: require a different number of cold hours and it has
Speaker 3: to be by February the tenth with degrees forty five
Speaker 3: degrees and under that they have to have that many
Speaker 3: hours and some will require eight hundred hours, some require
Speaker 3: twelve hundred hours. So it's just different. And year before
Speaker 3: last we had five percent of a crop because they
Speaker 3: all got killed with the cold came in like last
Speaker 3: week in March, first week in April, and that's you know,
Speaker 3: there's nothing we can do. We can put out fans.
Speaker 3: We have a couple of big fans that we can do.
Speaker 3: We can do some fires to warm it up, but
Speaker 3: nothing really with that many acred it's hard to contain that.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, well, hopefully not, Hopefully that's doesn't happen again.
Speaker 3: Right, It happened in nineteen fifty five and that was
Speaker 3: the last time.
Speaker 1: Oh really, Okay, well that's good. Are there any tips
Speaker 1: that you can share for selecting the perfect peach for
Speaker 1: you know some of your top recipes.
Speaker 3: Well, it probably needs to have Pierson Farm label on it.
Speaker 3: That's the guarantee right there. And then after that, you know,
Speaker 3: you can smell them. And a lot of people will say, well,
Speaker 3: the peaches I buy in the grocery store, they're so hard,
Speaker 3: I just I don't want to buy them. And my
Speaker 3: answer to that is that if they aren't hard when
Speaker 3: we ship them, then they'll be mush when they're in
Speaker 3: the grocery store. Right, But there's a difference in being
Speaker 3: being ready to pick and picking them green. So they
Speaker 3: have to be ripe, but they just can't be soft yet, right, So,
Speaker 3: and you don't want to squeeze them because that's not good.
Speaker 3: You'll just bruise the peach.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: What's your favorite peach recipe?
Speaker 3: I love kale salad with peaches and our peconds. I
Speaker 3: do a crumble pecond so I put that in there too,
Speaker 3: but you just besiage the kale and then you put
Speaker 3: the fresh peaches in there and it's all in vinegar.
Speaker 2: It's so good.
Speaker 1: Oh my, I haven't had lunch. You're killing me right now.
Speaker 2: And then the peach cobber.
Speaker 3: We do a lot of it, and that's it's a
Speaker 3: real simple recipe, but it's it's just good. It has
Speaker 3: been the same recipe for years.
Speaker 1: What did you have some unique savory dishes that feature
Speaker 1: peaches other than salads?
Speaker 3: I mean, there are lots of recipes out there, but
Speaker 3: I do a lot of the grilled peaches and you
Speaker 3: just put olive oil on them and then you grill
Speaker 3: them until they're brown and kind of soft and then
Speaker 3: you flip them over and put whip cream.
Speaker 2: Or yogurt in the middle. Oh, hello, that's good.
Speaker 3: And then there's I love the peach and avocado salad.
Speaker 3: And you know, you don't think about mixing those too,
Speaker 3: but when you slice them, they're they're just really good.
Speaker 1: Peach and avocado. Yeah, that answers my next question to
Speaker 1: surprising ingredients that pair beautifully with peaches.
Speaker 3: And there you go, avocado, avocado, and also mozzarella cheese.
Speaker 3: You know the capristi salad, you using tomatoes, you use
Speaker 3: peaches and mozzarella.
Speaker 2: Really good.
Speaker 1: I think I'm going to try that.
Speaker 2: Mm hmmm.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: Do you prefer using peaches fresh, grilled, baked, or preserved
Speaker 1: when cooking?
Speaker 2: Fresh?
Speaker 1: But always fresh.
Speaker 2: Always fresh? But I can.
Speaker 3: You can freeze peaches and they taste like fresh peaches
Speaker 3: when you saw them out.
Speaker 2: It's very different from a can peach.
Speaker 1: Mh.
Speaker 3: And a lot of people will use canned peaches in
Speaker 3: their cobbler, but it's not the same. I do freeze
Speaker 3: peaches because we do a lot of freezing of peaches
Speaker 3: at the farm, so we'll have enough coming into the season.
Speaker 4: Is that right?
Speaker 2: As we do ice cream?
Speaker 3: Okay, peach ice cream, and it's it's really good, but
Speaker 3: it has to have fresh peaches, and right, so we
Speaker 3: do a good bit of freezing of peaches in the
Speaker 3: summer when they get really, really really sweet in the
Speaker 3: middle of June July.
Speaker 2: I mean, they're really good.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw some recipes at you, peach recipes, and
Speaker 1: you tell me if this sounds familiar. Okay, peach combler
Speaker 1: classic dessert made with fresh or canned peaches. Right, Let's
Speaker 1: let's use Mary's peaches topped with a buttery biscuit or
Speaker 1: a cake like dough and baked until golden and bubbly,
Speaker 1: serve warm with ice cream. How's that sound?
Speaker 2: It sounds good. I've never made it like that. You made, no?
Speaker 3: I mean the one I use is just so easy.
Speaker 3: It's just a cup of flour, a cup of cup
Speaker 3: of silf rise and flour, a cup of sugar and
Speaker 3: a cup of milk, and you melt a stick of butter.
Speaker 3: You pour that with vanilla over the butter, and then
Speaker 3: you lay the peaches on top.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
Speaker 2: Couldn't be easier.
Speaker 1: Sounds great?
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: Speaking of surprising combinations, peach and prescudo pizza, an Italian
Speaker 1: twist on a classic pizza using sliced peaches, arugula, and
Speaker 1: goat cheese, all drives old with a bosama reduction. The
Speaker 1: sweet peaches and salty prescudo create a mouthwatering contrast of flavors.
Speaker 1: Does that sound That kind of sounds like what you're
Speaker 1: talking about with surprising combinations. Here's another one. Peach salsa
Speaker 1: a fresh fruit right, A fresh fruity salsa made with dice, peaches,
Speaker 1: red onion, jalapenos, cilantro, lime juice. It pairs well with
Speaker 1: grilled chicken, pork, or fish. Man, Mary, I'm getting so hungry,
Speaker 1: I just really getting hungry. And last, but not least,
Speaker 1: let's not forget about the peach billini, a sparkling cocktail
Speaker 1: made with pure aid, peaches and prosecco, perfect for brunch
Speaker 1: or summer parties. Yeah, my goodness, it was a pleasure
Speaker 1: speaking with you, Mary, and thank you for taking the time.
Speaker 1: I know you must be very, very busy, and gosh,
Speaker 1: I hope that somebody uh uh, Emma, can you can
Speaker 1: you get with Mary here so we can get some
Speaker 1: peaches and pecans for for God's sake, I'm so hungry
Speaker 1: right now that I'd just like to order directly from
Speaker 1: the source.
Speaker 3: Right now, I have to ask you, yes, you are
Speaker 3: you a good cook since you ran a restaurant in
Speaker 3: the in your program.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm a good cook at what I cook because
Speaker 1: I've been cooking for so long. It's it's it's the
Speaker 1: basis of my relationship with my wife, who I cooked
Speaker 1: for all the time when we were dating. Uh. I
Speaker 1: used to cook for myself when I was you know,
Speaker 1: pursuing uh things in my early life careers, in my
Speaker 1: early life. So yeah, I've always been fancied myf a little.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say chef level, but I make a pretty
Speaker 1: mean salmon a couple different ways. I love making chicken.
Speaker 1: I love a grill and a steak, you know. I
Speaker 1: make all kinds of different salads and things like. I
Speaker 1: just I really love to cook. I enjoy it so much.
Speaker 1: It relaxes me. My favorite time with my family is
Speaker 1: you know, five o'clock, I start, I start cooking, and
Speaker 1: everybody helps me out, and it's just I just love it.
Speaker 1: I love feeding people. I love sitting around with the
Speaker 1: people I love and eating and and just you know,
Speaker 1: tell them stories. And telling jokes whatever you know, how
Speaker 1: it is, it's just it's just there's nothing better in life.
Speaker 1: But it has been a pleasure of meeting you, Mary,
Speaker 1: and continued success with your wonderful business that's been around
Speaker 1: since eighteen eighty five. It's a family business and everybody
Speaker 1: check out the Pearson Farm located in Fort Valley, Georgia.
Speaker 1: Also visit Mary's Kitchen and you can get probably the
Speaker 1: best peaches in the United States, if not the entire
Speaker 1: world at Pearson Farm and Mary's Kitchen. And there she
Speaker 1: is right there, the one and only. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for spending some time with us and continued good
Speaker 1: luck and success with your business and best your family.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 4: All right, take care, Hey, everybody
Speaker 1: Don't forget Follow us on Instagram at I Am all
Speaker 1: In podcast and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.