{Foodie Travels} Lane Southern Orchards

First off, I appologize for being absent the past few days. I promise I have a great excuse. For those who don’t know, I also author a DIY blog, Sew Woodsy, with my husband, Jon. Last week we drove up to Atlanta to attend our first ever Home/DIY blog conference. Just like food blog conferences, the DIY blog conference was fabulous. It’s always nice to be able to connect face-to-face and actually get to know the authors behind the blog, learn new tips and tricks, and get hands on!

During our drive up to Atlanta I kept seeing road side stands and signs for orchards. I knew that I wanted to break up our drive on the way home and stop at an orchard. Luckily, I happened to be the one driving on our way home–passing sign after sign promoting Lane Southern Orchards. I was happy to know that I had control and that my husband was at the mercy of me (insert devious laugh voice). I say this because if he would have been driving it would have been a battle to get him to stop. So, like I had planned (in my head) we made our way off the exit and in route to Lane. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I’ll tell you after going their I’m so happy we stopped! The outside looked like a warehouse surrounded by fields of greenery (peach trees, blueberry and blackberry bushes, corn, etc).

Upon walking into the warehouse we were greeted by friendly staff and a country store of sorts. Rows and rows of peaches and other produce lined the shelves, along with pecans, jams, jellies, and spices. After convincing my husband to buy 2 large boxes of peaches to bring home we walked around the store, schlepping around the cart. That’s when we noticed a stairwell and people going in and out of the doors on the second floor. We left our cart near the steps and proceeded to the doors. So glad that curiosity got the best of us, because we got to see how the peaches are harvested!

First, crates of freshly picked peaches are placed in harvesting bins and dumped on to a conveyor belt.

I’m glad I thought to take a rapid succession of pictures because I was able to make a gif to show you what it looks like when 900lbs of peaches are dumped!

Next, up… the furry peaches get washed, waxed, and dried.

Next up, time to sort.

Next, up the peaches get sized!

Then it’s sticker time!

Lastly, they are boxed up and ready to be sold!

Shop at Lane Southern Orchards Online

I had no idea the tedious process a single piece of fruit went through in order to make it to store shelves! I enjoyed watching the process and I hope you did too. So as you may have already guessed–look out for a peach recipes over the course of the next month!

If you are ever passing through Fort Valley, Georgia make sure you go visit!

Website: Lane Southern Orchards

 50 Lane Road

Fort Valley, Georgia

Phone: 800-27-PEACH (1-800-277-3224)

Disclaimer: Lane Southern Orchards has no idea who I am. I simply wanted to stop during our road trip and pick up some fresh Georgia Peaches. All opinions are always my own.