“Peach Run”

Last week’s column about Grandfathers had me thinking a lot about my family tree. And then last Tuesday I went to the grocery store and made my way to the produce section. A box was sitting on the floor and it quickly caught my eye. It was a box of peaches. But not just any peaches. It was a box of Chilton County peaches.

The roots of my family tree run deep in Chilton County (Alabama). My great great grandfather, Littleton M. Cox, moved his family there in 1870. Some contingency of our family has been there ever since. My folks left Chilton County and moved south of the border (Florida) in 1954. But they made regular trips back there to visit family. Growing up I can recall that any trip made during the summer meant the added treat of Chilton County peaches.

In my dad’s later years he began making a peach run each summer to Chilton County. It started out with a few baskets and each year the payload increased. By the end the payload was the bed of a truck full of peaches making their way back to the Sunshine State.

Upon seeing that box of peaches in the grocery store I picked out several and took them home to promptly devour them. One was sliced and eaten immediately. The others ended up in a cobbler. As usual they were delicious. Between that box of peaches and the reminiscing about my family, the light went on in my head. I realized that action was needed, and needed now. It was time for a mission. It was time for a peach run.

Contact was made on Thursday with my cousins Danny and Tim Carter, as well as my uncle Raymond Cox. Tim’s nephew works at a peach orchard and arrangements were made for five boxes of peaches to be ready for pick up Saturday morning. On Friday I called up my mom in Tallahassee and she accepted my spur of the moment invitation to join this mission.

The mission went off without a hitch. After picking up the peaches and short visits with my cousins, uncle and some of my mom’s family in Montgomery, we motored our way on back south of the border. Smokey and the Bandit would have been proud of this mission.

There’s an old country song that hails the wonders of home grown tomatoes. “Ain’t but two things money can’t buy, that’s true love and home grown tomatoes.” I don’t know of any songs about peaches but I do know that The Allman Brothers Band titled their 1972 album “Eat A Peach”. The Allman Brothers were southern rockers from Georgia and while Georgia peaches are okay, they don’t come close to Chilton County peaches. Simply Put, ain’t no peach like a Chilton County peach.

From the Front Porch: Uncle Bob said the key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate you away from the people who are undecided.