A Fork in the Road Podcast: Lawson Peach Shed

Credit: David Zelski

 

Barbara Lawson: People coming off the interstate. People coming from different states. This year we had people from Texas. We had people from Wyoming, from Michigan, just everywhere. A lot of people in the, in the United States stopped by this little town of Morven, and they, stop by and have some homemade peach ice cream.

David Zelski: Few things are as American as a family road trip. Load up the little ones into the family truckster and set out on the open road while playing license plate bingo and the billboard alphabet game. And while dad is concerned with making good time, mom and the kids are on the lookout for roadside attractions and treats. So when you head out towards the beach this summer, there's a shed just off the highway in South Georgia that's well worth the time.

Theme Song: I came from the mud, there's dirt on my hands. Strong like a tree, there's roots where I stand.

David Zelski: I'm David Zelski and this is the Fork in the Road podcast presented by Georgia Grown and the fine folks at Georgia Public Broadcasting. Each episode we feature stories from Georgia's farmers, fishermen, merchants, artisans, chefs and others who help provide Georgia grown products to folks in the peach and beyond. Today, we are in the South Georgia town of Morven. When you're heading south on 75 for your annual Florida trip, get off at Hahira and take a nine mile detour west to Morven. On the side of the Valdosta Highway is where you'll find the Lawson Peach Shed.

Irvin Lawson: My name is Irving Lawson. Owner. Operator of Lawson Peaches.

David Zelski: Lawson. Lawson. Peaches. And this is?

Irvin Lawson: Well, actually. Lawson Peach Shed

David Zelski: The Lawson Peach Shed. All right.

Irvin Lawson: Thats the name now. We're in Morven, Georgia. I'm on the Valdosta highway here. But I actually started packing peach. My father built this shed in 1968. Packed peaches. And in the 60s, 70s, 80s always made a, seemed like every year always made a good crop of peaches, even most of the 90s. Then in, in the last 20 years, we struggled to make a crop of peaches. Mostly from weather. So anyway, in 2013, we lost the entire crop. 2014, we had a few, 2015 we we sort of got out of the packing and shipping peaches and focused mainly on the peach market here, and of course ice cream and lemonade and that kind of stuff. But that's that's kind of how we got started.

David Zelski: Irvin actually told us a lot right there. Look at us barely a couple minutes into the podcast, and we're learning something already. Peach blooms are very susceptible to the cold. Here in Georgia, the peach trees begin to bloom around the end of February, but it's not that uncommon for us to have a freeze sometime in mid-March. You see, if that last gasp of freezing temperatures is below 30 degrees, it can hurt that year's peach crop. And if that late freeze gets down into the low 20s, it can wipe out the whole thing. So rather than dealing with those uncertainties, the Lawsons decided to pivot.

Irvin Lawson Most of this idea came from my wife. She started the ice cream up here, 10 or 15 years ago. And of course when we sold some of this packing line, it just left, a vacant spot here for something to be here. So we moved to the Peach Market up here, where we sell peaches, Vidalia onions, Georgia melons, tomatoes, mostly all Georgia grown products. And it's it's done quite well over the past for this year. And, even the last several years, the seems like it grows every year. So we're, we're more we're catering more now to, roadside type market and, things like that. People come after the ice cream and the peach lemonade and all that stuff. And while they're here, they'll get some blueberries and peaches and and, jams, jellies. It's worked out real great for us.

David Zelski: I see you growing some peach trees in the in the back. Are y'all aiming to get them going again?

Irvin Lawson Yes, sir. Well, the year before last we pushed. We always had about 400 acres of peaches. We pushed them all up. And then, this year, I planted, some right here behind the shed. A lot of folks around here want to pick their own peaches. So, you can come here to the shed. We'll give you a bucket. We're also going to pick them and have them up here for you to sell. But they'll be local peaches. Grown right here. Right here at the, packing shed.

David Zelski: The Lawsons didn't completely give up on growing peaches, but their focus is very much on the sweet treats they sell at the shed.

Irvin Lawson The growing the peaches just became more difficult. The people, the ice cream market, the ice cream they. The people come for that. So that 's worked out real good.

David Zelski: Do you like the peach ice cream?

Irvin Lawson I do, I like the peach ice cream and the, blueberry ice cream, but she's got all kind of flavors. But I like all of it. And it's all homemade. It's all made right here. It's got the natural ingredients in it, and it's it's it's real good.

David Zelski: Yeah. You can, you can get in, some warm temperatures down here. So I bet it's quite refreshing for folks.

Irvin Lawson That's right. Yeah.

David Zelski: And here we are. We have now come to the main focus of this episode. Wonderful, delicious homemade ice cream. Let's talk to Barbara.

David Zelski: So tell me, before we get into the ice cream, let's talk about, your husband gives you a lot of credit.

Barbara Lawson: Yes. Yes he does.

David Zelski: So tell me how the ice cream and lemonade started.

Barbara Lawson: I actually, a pastor of mine. Reverend Franklin Walden Sr. Told me that I needed to put ice cream here at this peach packing shed. Some. Gosh, 20 years ago no, 15 years ago? And, we kind of took him up on it. So. So we started with peach, of course. And now, the flavors have, increased, and we have blueberry, triple chocolate, cookies and cream, butter pecan, strawberry. And, we do a vanilla.

David Zelski: Tell me how you make the peach ice cream. What you're looking for in the peaches.

Barbara Lawson: We need a good ripe peach. We don't need any firmness in that peach. We need it to be sunkissed just right with the right granules of sugar. So we depend on the sunshine and the good Lord to make that good, sweet Georgia peach.

David Zelski: When they start getting a little soft, we'll take those same peaches, and we'll use them to make peach ice cream. And that's that's, the best time to to make ice cream when they get start getting soft or overripe. And when they, when they get like that, my wife takes them. Makes her a peach ice cream.

David Zelski: Good. Yeah. You can still eat a soft peach. It just doesn't feel the same, right?

David Zelski: Yeah. Oh, yeah. You could, you could a lot of people come up here and buy them, just, they want them soft. some people want them firm, but, we wait. Let them get soft before we use them for peach ice cream.

David Zelski: Oh, you got lots of peach. Is peach the most popular here?

Barbara Lawson: Yes.

David Zelski: All right.

Barbara Lawson: Peach is the number one seller. And then blueberry and then butter pecan.

David Zelski: And how is, you know, homemade over factory ice cream?

David Zelski: Tell me the difference to you.

Barbara Lawson: There's no comparison to, homemade to factory. Homemade has just a touch more love. And, factory ice cream is good, but the homemade has just more flavor and more peaches.

David Zelski: More flavor, more peaches and more love. And that love can only come from one place. Family.

Barbara Lawson: She started making this ice cream in 2012. We started adding. We added blueberry and my mother came up with the recipe for the blueberry ice cream and helped me redefine the peach ice cream in 2012. And and we also together started making the peach lemonade and the peach tea together.

David Zelski: So she comes here a couple days a week.

Barbara Lawson: She works here a couple days a week and people come just to see granny. Granny Margie, we love granny.

David Zelski: We do love granny. A quick production note, granny Margie sadly passed away in the time since I was down at the Lawson Peach Shed to record this episode. So if you still got your granny, mama, Big Mama or whatever she is to you, please pause this podcast and give her a call. I'll wait. Okay, back to something delicious that Barbara mentioned she and her mom worked on.

Barbara Lawson: This is our homemade peach lemonade. We make it right here with our peaches. And this is the homemade peach tea.

David Zelski: Whats the biggest seller?

Barbara Lawson: The peach lemonade is the biggest seller. Yeah. And then we freeze it in this machine right here.

David Zelski: And you can get a peach slushy.

Barbara Lawson: Frozen peach slushy. And we also add ice cream for a frozen peach float.

David Zelski: Picture this. It's 4th of July weekend and you're driving south toward the Sunshine State after sitting in bumper to bumper traffic all the way from Marietta tomorrow and then getting stuck behind a slow poke in the left lane on 475 going around Macon. You're hot, you're tired, and you're ready to get out of the car for a minute. How delicious and refreshing does that frozen peach lemonade float sound right about now?

Barbara Lawson: Peach lemonade on ice. And we also make a frozen peach lemonade float, which has our homemade peach ice cream. This is a signature item at Lawson Peach Shed. One scoop. And some frozen Lawson's peach lemonade. And another big scoop. Ice cream. More frozen lemonade. Spoon. And the straw.

David Zelski: It's a work of art. Look at that.

Barbara Lawson: And another specialty item here at Lawson Peach Shed is our frozen peach Lemonade popsicle. This is called a Frozen Peach Pop. Very popular with the kiddos in the summertime.

David Zelski: Now you might be thinking, David, I love hearing about these frozen treats, but there's so much more that can be done with peaches. Well you're right. You are so, so right.

Barbara Lawson: Also, we serve a lot of homemade peach cobbler here, and we layer it with homemade peach ice cream and top it with cool whip and pureed peaches. We also have a homemade peach poundcake, a homemade blueberry pound cake that we sell a lot of with homemade peach ice cream and homemade blueberry ice cream on top of. It's really good together.

David Zelski: Yeah, yes, I know it's all good. I watched how you make that float. And it was just I was like, surely there couldn't be another layer. And you kept adding layers.

Barbara Lawson: More love. *laughing*

David Zelski: Yum. And just when you thought it couldn't get any better.

Barbara Lawson: The special on Sunday at Lawson Peach shared, is our deep fried peach tarts. The tradition is go to church, go get you a good meal and come to Lawson Peach Shed for a deep fried peach tart with a big dollop of homemade peach ice cream.

David Zelski: How do you make it, the tart?

Barbara Lawson: These tarts are rolled, hand-rolled. The filling is made fresh every week and they are fried. And when we run out, we run out. Usually about 3:00. We run out. So, you better get here before three.

David Zelski: I know that most of this doesn't sound easy to eat in the car while you're driving. But don't fret, Lawson Peach Shed has got you covered. So you got this porch here, too?

Barbara Lawson: Oh, yeah. It's just really great to come on Saturday or Sunday and just grab you an ice cream and have a seat in the rocking chair under the fan. And enjoy your ice cream with your family and kids.

David Zelski: Good. That's perfect.

Barbara Lawson: Really, people love to come here and just sit and eat their ice cream.

David Zelski: Ice cream in a rocking chair on the porch. Man, that sounds awesome. So there's only one thing to keep in mind. For everything in life, there is a season.

Barbara Lawson: Well, our season begins May 1st and it ends September. Labor Day and, we're very busy. May, June. July, August. About middle of August, we slow down a little bit because school starts and and then we do weekends until, September, Labor Day. But it's it's a steady or steady job all summer long, it's very busy, people coming off the interstate, people coming from different states. This year we have people from Texas. We have people from Wyoming, from Michigan, just everywhere. A lot of people in the, in the United States stopped by this little town of Morven, and they, stop by and have some homemade peach ice cream.

David Zelski: The next time you're making your way south, be one of those people that stopped by the Lawson Peach Shed. You won't regret it. Want more stories like this one? Well, you can watch A Fork in the Road on GPB-TV or any time on the GPB.org website. GPB.org/Podcasts is where you can listen to and subscribe to this podcast or download it on your favorite podcast platform.

I'm David Zelski. Thanks for listening to A Fork in the Road.

A Fork in the Road airs Saturdays at noon and Sundays at 6:30 a.m. on GPB-TV. Check your local listings for other replays throughout the week and watch all episodes anytime at GPB.org/ForkintheRoad.  Please download and subscribe to the Fork in the Road podcast at GPB.org/ForkintheRoadpodcast or on your favorite podcast platform as well.