Cassie and Allie are two sisters who grew up on a farm and as adults have taken their love of agriculture to a whole new level.
Their story started on their family’s row crop farm, scouting cotton as teenagers and helping their dad at farmers markets with the peaches they grew. Then, degrees in agriculture and an interest in horticulture in college put more tools in their belt to help them move toward a farming future of their own.
The girls then started Backyard Orchards with the help of their father on the family land. Once they decided to start it, they jumped right into the deep end, planting strawberries, blueberries, peach trees, plums, squash, watermelon and more.
Because their farm was on a newly expanded 4-lane highway it was the perfect opportunity for them to open up the farm and help more people connect with it through a U-pick model. Then, they build their farm store, added bathrooms and eventually amped up their road signs and the rest, is history!
I arrived at Backyard Orchards on an unusually hot spring day in Alabama to a warm Southern welcome from the two sisters. After a quick look around their busy farm store, we jumped into the UTV for a tour and tasting of the farm.
The first stop was at the blueberry bushes. Allie, who is an extension agent in the county was able to tell me about the variety and a little more about the plant. Now, I’m not usually a blueberry fan, but I tried one…then another, and just kept going. I have never eaten a blueberry straight off the bush like that when it was perfectly ripe…but now I know how to eat them!
Next up was a trip to the huge strawberry patch where a mother and her son were picking the ripe red berries. The sisters explained that this was the end of strawberry season and that due to the early heat, there weren’t many good berries left. Despite that, I hunted around and gathered up plenty of fresh and juicy red strawberries. Once I got started it was hard to stop! We continued down the path to the Peach tree orchard. Early harvest had just begun so the sisters let me pick one and it was delicious as well!
All in all my day at Backyard Orchards was not only full of absolutely delicious fruit and new experiences, but it was a day of learning. I always love getting to see and experience family operations. While the sisters were the first to say, it’s not always easy, they are chasing after their dreams while getting to connect their community to agriculture, which is a WIN WIN in the Backyard Orchards book!
