Excerpt from the article from Macon Magazine: Family Trees: Peach Farmers Share Legacy Rooted in Midstate
By Sharon Yanish
Al Pearson of Big 6 Farm sold his first peach from a fruit stand along Highway 341 when he was 6 years old. The sights and sounds of growing up surrounded by orchards are some of his fondest memories.
“The orchards were harrowed to keep out grass, so there was an abundance of dirt clods for wars between neighborhood children,” he said. “The old farm bell rang out at different times daily to signal the start of the workday, lunchtime or emergencies. In the summer, my mother fed a table of people from the packing shed with the best cooking in the world—thin biscuits, country-fried steak, fried chicken, peach cobbler and fresh vegetables.”
Today as fourth-generation peach growers, Pearson along with his two sisters, Ann McGehee and Peggy Jerles, still farm much of the original acreage planted by their great-grandparents in the late 1800s. The three formed a partnership in 1973 calling it Big 6 Farm after the number of children their great-grandparents raised-six boys and six girls. They grow peaches and pecans.
“When I started farming 30 years ago, we had no secretary, no accounting department, no office,” said Pearson. “Bookkeeping was a checkbook on the seat of my truck and monthly visit by a part-time bookkeeper.”
“There is honor and responsibility attached to farming land where your great-grandfather farmed, maintaining their homes and even tending (pecan) trees they planted. We try to continue their work and respect the history of the place and hope to keep it profitable so we can hand it down to others.”
During peach season, Pearson spends much of his time inspecting the crop, deciding which orchard to pick the next day. And it’s there that technology always takes a back seat to tradition.
“A part of this decision is based on the firmness, appearance and taste of the fruit,” he said. “And for these measurements, I trust my mouth.”