Orchard offers sweet time, social distancing
GENTRY — Taylor’s Orchard in Gentry was a very busy place on June 6, with many coming to pick peaches and enjoy some family time out of the house during this time of shelter-in-place and social distancing. And, what sweeter way to spend time together with family while still practicing social distancing than picking peaches in an orchard!
The orchard opened earlier this month and there were cars parked in front of his fruit stand and on both sides of Marion Lee Road on June 6, the busiest he’s seen it, said Bill Taylor, the orchard’s owner and caretaker.
By afternoon, he had sold out of the already-picked fruit in his cooler and most of the ripe fruit was picked from the lower branches of the derby variety peach trees in his orchard. Of course, he’ll pick the rest of the ripe fruit and have it ready for those coming out for the taste of some sweet, ripe peaches.
Customers may buy peaches by the bag or the flat at the fruit stand, or they may go out into the orchard and pick their own.
The derby peaches are ripe now but it won’t be long until other varieties, like the red haven and topaz, will begin to ripen, according to Taylor, a fourthgeneration grower with a dozen varieties of peaches and nectarines, making it possible for him to have ripe fruit on hand through most of the summer.
The orchard offers blackberries for picking as well, and the bushes were full of blooms and green berries on June 6. Taylor says he should have an abundance of berries available for picking beginning at the end of June and through July and into the first part of August. And, with thornless vines and the grass neatly mown between the long rows, picking ripe berries is much more pleasant than wading through the weeds and reaching through thorny vines to pick the sweet fruit.
A couple of late freezes threatened his peach crop this year but Taylor was able to save his crop through the use of fans to move the air and keep the coldest air from settling in his orchard and freezing the blossoms and forming fruit. And the result is a season of abundant fruit.
Taylor’s Orchard is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday but is closed on Sunday. The orchard is located at 12801 Taylor Orchard Road (on the southwest edge of Gentry on Taylor Orchard Road at the corner of Marion Lee Road), and signs mark the way from Gentry and Siloam Springs.
From the intersection of Arkansas Highways 12 and 59, take Highway 12 west to Pioneer Lane or to Crowder Avenue south, to SWEPCO Road west, to Taylor Orchard Road south. Turn west on Marion Lee Road, and you’ll see the sign at the corner of Marion Lee and Taylor Orchard Roads. All the roads are paved until you reach the orchard.
Whether going out and picking your own in the well-kept and mowed orchard or buying freshpicked fruit at the stand, visitors can, as usual, expect sweet results when they visit Taylor’s Orchard. For more information, call Taylor’s Orchard at 479736-2004.