Houston County Magazine December/January 2005
A Farmer’s Son and a Buckhead Beauty Turn Country Agriculture Into Upscale Gifts
Pearson Farm is about striving to be the best. Judging by the way Pearson Farm products sell and the fact that even home cooking guru Martha Stewart recommends their goods, you know something big is cooking in Fort Valley. The farm is an extension of the century-old Big Six Farms, which was a national and regional supplier of peaches and pecans that tie them to the past, but cook, prepare, package and proffer the fresh goods in an enterprise they call Pearson Farm, supplying gift baskets, tins, baked goods, and more through a thriving online and in-store business. “I’m usually in the kitchen with my hands in the grease,” Pearson says. “We do almost everything from scratch, whether it’s some of our peach cake or making a new batch of chocolate pecan bark.”
Her husband, Al, owns a share of the farm along with other family members. Several members of the family have left and come back, like her son, Lawton, who left for college but returned with a law degree, a bride and a desire to be the fifth generation to work the family farm. “Out of 35 peach growers, only four are left who have enough crops and a packing shed to allow them to ship out of Houston County,” Pearson says. Demand, however, has not ceases. “People like to have fresh things and it makes a very interesting gift,” she explains. “I am doing more and more corporate gifts and would really like to expand that part of the business. “
In addition, she’s always looking to expand her business with new products, so the company website, www.perasonfarm.com, is always changing. “I’m always trying new things in the kitchen,” she says, admitting that cakes don’t always set right and that some recipes don’t produce a good result. “But it’s great when it works. You find that special new recipe that you just know is going to be a hit. Seeing it fly off the shelves is incredible.”
One of her goals for the New Year is to create a monthly product that keeps giving long after Christmas is over, and to possibly expand her wholesale offering. For the Buckhead native who earned an education degree from the University of Georgia, nothing has been more meaningful to her than raising her family and continuing the traditions of faith, family and farm.