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Chilton
Co. Businessman
Enjoys Venture into Peaches
by
Ginny Farmer
President
Ronald Reagan declared July National Peach Month in 1982, but peach
growers in Chilton County have been celebrating the refreshing fruit
since 1947, when the first Chilton County Peach Festival was held.
Every
year, pageants and parades are held, baskets of peaches are auctioned
off, and new and old recipes are traded between friends.
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Peaches, plums, raspberries and grapes
grow near this building behind the Martins’ home. |
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In
Jemison, one peach-growing family has been working hard to produce
delicious, quality peaches since 1988.
Married
since 1987, Gene and Weida Martin own 200 acres of peach trees in
Chilton County off U.S. Highway 31, in addition to a successful
automotive business and a horse farm, all on adjacent property.
Farming
has been a family tradition, but cars are where Gene Martin got his
start. The small family business has grown into a large family business,
and the Martin offices have a friendly atmosphere with family, friends
and even dogs making visitors feel welcome.
Martin’s
first office was a humble storage shed near his father’s service
station. He had to clean seed and plow parts from the old building
before adding a couch, from his friend Larry Smith, and a desk. |
One of Weida Martin’s favorite things
to do is eat a peach or plum fresh off the tree. Peaches are a
delicious, nutritious fruit celebrated every July during National Peach
Month. |
Building
and salvaging cars was good business from the beginning, but like Martin’s
mother, Margaret, said, "If we had half a dozen cars on the lot, we
thought we were doing great."
One day,
while visiting a car lot in Tallassee, Martin was listening to his
friend, Gene Gray, talk about peaches, and he had an idea.
"He
was telling me about peaches and farming, so I got to thinking,"
Martin said. "So I told my daddy, who had a lot of property, that
if he would furnish the property, I’d furnish the money to buy trees
with, and we’d start a peach farm."
At
first on a mere 25 acres, Martin and his wife and brother, Danny Martin,
and parents, Douglas and Margaret Martin, went to work planting trees
and picking peaches. Although Douglas
Martin passed away in 1992, the farm is still very much a family
business, with Danny taking on much of the management of the peach farm. |
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"At
first, Gene’s mom and dad would help us out, and we’d all take turns
going to market," said Weida Martin, who worked as a nurse for 14
years. "We’d pick peaches at night with the car headlights
shining. It was a few years before we were able to hire people to pick
them for us.
"You
always crawl before you walk," she said.
The
hardest part now is keeping all of the businesses organized, she said.
Ninety-five
percent of the peaches the Martins grow are yellow-meated. They also
grow the early "pickle peaches" and Elberta root stock.
"When
I go to the market and sell peaches, I just enjoy the people, and I
enjoy people enjoying the peaches," Weida said. "It’s good
to exchange recipes and talk about what all you can do with a peach. I’m
a peach cobbler person myself, but it’s just interesting talking with
people."
Now the
farm grows plums, nectarines, grapes and raspberries in addition to a
variety of peaches.
This
year, unfortunately for all of Chilton County’s peach growers, the
peach business has not boomed as much as in years past because of the
weather.
Weida
said that peaches need at least 700 dormant chilling hours, and this
year’s crop has been small, probably near 25 percent, because of the
exceptionally warm weather.
Just as
the peach-farming business has grown, the car business has grown as
well. |
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With
12 body-shop men and nine mechanics, the Martins now have a detail shop,
200 cars on the front line, and even a successful tractor business. Gene
Martin’s Tractor & Equipment sells a complete line of Massey
Ferguson tractors, and offers full service and parts for most makes and
models.
"I always wanted a
tractor business," Martin said.
The tractor business is
one of the most successful of Martin’s businesses, one of the top
Massey Ferguson dealerships worldwide, selling more than 200 tractors
last year alone, and poised to sell even more this year. The business
has even won awards, such as the Million Dollar Club for surpassing $1
million in financing in 2005. |
Gene and Weida Martin own a successful
tractor business featuring Massey-Ferguson tractors.
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The
Martins bought the horse farm in 2000, and keep about 40 horses on it.
Currently the focus is on Palomino horses.
The
horse farm has even been featured in Chilton County’s local paper, The
Clanton Advertiser.
Martin
told The Advertiser the horse farm was originally supposed to be his
"getaway," but it, too, became a booming business of buying,
reselling and breeding horses.
For
all their farming needs, the Martins spend a lot of time dealing with
Mid-State Farmers Co-op in Clanton and manager Eddie Lockhart.
They
use the Co-op to buy pesticides like Orbit, Gramoxone and other
controlled chemicals, horse feed, pasture fertilizer and all types of
seed.
"They
just buy a heap of stuff from us — all their supplies," Lockhart
said. "They’ve been a great customer for several years now. We
got started with them in the very beginning, and they’ve grown
dramatically in the past 10 years."
The
Martins have gone through many types of animals over the years,
including many types of horses, goats and cows.
Even
with the stress of all the businesses, managing multiple buildings and
employees, the Martins still find time to raise teacup poodles, and
currently have about 10.
But
the greatest joy the Martins have is their grandchildren. They have five
from their two daughters, and they love to take them out on the farm.
"The
fun part is when you can relax and enjoy the farm — take the
grandchildren out there. The grandkids are my life," Weida said.
"The best part is just being out in the field, walking through it
and just picking you a peach and eating it right there."
For
information on Gene Martin Auto Sales, visit www.genemartinsales.com. |
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Dream
Peach Cake
1 box
Duncan Hines butter cake mix
4 eggs
2/3 cup homogenized milk
1 stick margarine (soft)
1 tsp vanilla
Using a
large mixing bowl, put in cake mix. Add eggs, margarine, milk and
vanilla. Mix until well blended. Bake in two 9-inch round pans at 350
degrees until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. After cooling, cut cake
with thread so there are four layers.
Filling:
8 oz.
cream cheese (room temperature)
1-1/2 cups sugar
9 oz. Cool Whip
Beat
cream cheese with electric mixer until smooth. Add sugar, mix, then add
Cool Whip. Mix and add to each layer, topping each layer with peach
slices.
Ginny Farmer is a
freelance writer from Auburn. |
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