Your source for fruit and vegetable news

By Bobbie Whitehead

Some ripe peaches have arrived a bit early this year with a number of Virginia and North Carolina peach orchards already open or preparing to the first week in July.

In Hertford, N.C., Haven Acres Farm, opened June 26 and sells picked peaches by the bushel, half bushel, peck, half peck or bag, according to Tara Fowler, who along with her husband William Fowler, own and operate the orchard.

“We’ve been picking for about 10 days now,” Fowler said. “The peaches appear to have come in a little earlier this year.”

Haven Acres Farm, open for its second year, grows 32 peach varieties and will harvest white peaches this summer for the first time, Fowler said, though the white peaches are not available just yet.

Along with selling peaches, Fowler said she and her husband also sell homemade peach ice cream on Saturdays as well as other fresh produce in season.

J.M. Erwin, owner of Erwin Orchards in Zuni, Va., sells picked peaches and said his will be available the first week of July.

“I think the peach crop will be a good one this year,” said Erwin, noted the peaches had a better conditions this spring than last year.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services reports the state’s top peach growers anticipate a good crop this year with the 2010 harvest occurring about a week early. Recent hot weather enabled sugar level increases, and spring rain helped peach growth, according to the VDACS. Also, growers didn’t experience weather damage from a late frost, hail, wind or lightning, the VDACS report.

“This has been a strange year for weather,” said Matthew J. Lohr, VDACS Commissioner, in a press release, “and frankly, we didn’t know what to expect. But so far, it’s been a great year for peaches. With good rains followed by heat, and with no major natural disasters, Virginia growers have been able to produce a crop of large, sweet peaches with good color and great taste this year.”

State agriculture officials report that Virginia commercial growers have about 2,000 acres of peaches, though this figure doesn’t include growers who sell directly to consumers.

North Carolina, 16th in the nation for peach production, produced 4,200 tons of peaches in 2009. The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services lists Montgomery, Anson, Moore, Cleveland and Alexander counties as the top peach-producing areas in the state.

Some area markets selling peaches include the following:

1. Erwin Orchards, J.M. Erwin, 5206 Ducktown Road, Zuni, Va., 757-562-0156;
2. Haven Acres Farm, William and Tara Fowler, 1027 Beech Springs Road, Hertford, N.C., 252-209-1954 Open Tuesdays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
3. Sycamore Springs Farm Market, LaSonya Slade, 8348 Colonial Trail, Surry County, Va.
4. Wright's Produce Market, At the corner of Lake Prince Road and Route 460 across from Providence United Methodist Church in Suffolk, Va.

To find additional peach orchards and markets, visit the Virginia Grown web site, www.virginiagrown.com or the North Carolina Farm Fresh web site, www.ncfarmfresh.com/farms.asp.