Summer U-Pick at Jeter Mountain Farm
Last summer, in July of 2024, I was looking at Jeter Mountain Farm from afar in California. I remember praying and hoping we would be living in South Carolina by the fall, visiting this farm for apple picking. Even from across the country I could tell this was a magical place worth visiting.
We may have needed to stay in California last fall, and I will write more on our move and how we made it here to the southeast soon, but we made it to their orchard this year! And not just for fall apples, but first thing in the season for peaches. It was incredibly surreal leaving our home last Saturday morning, with the directions pulled up saying Jeter was only 48 minutes away.
It may seem so simple and unimportant that we went to a peach orchard here in the biggest peach farming area in the country. But for me is was a big moment. It meant we had climbed over obstacles I couldn’t see the other side of for many years. Something that felt far out of reach was suddenly happening. We made it, change happened, coasts were swapped and addresses were changed. More on this in another post soon! I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for it all, but let us now jump into our magical day up at Jeter Mountain Farm.
Arriving
Firstly, the kindest crew welcome you as you pull onto this stunning property in the North Carolina Mountains. They are called “Jeter Greeters” and they remind me of the energetic and kind employees at Disney Land. You can tell they truly love this farm and are genuinely excited that you are there to visit. Once parked we headed to the U-Pick tractor boarding area to purchase our picking baskets (you pre-pay for the basket then can full them up as much as you’d like) and board the first tractor ride of the day. The real hero here is this sweet boy below smiling in his car seat. After many months of crying and screaming through car rides, he finally enjoys some longer stretches (for the most part)!
Flower Picking
We decided we would pick flowers, peaches, and blueberries this day. The first stop on the tractor ride (which was the most enjoyable tractor ride I have ever been on) was in their flower fields. We hopped off and were greeted by more of their cheerful crew letting us know the flower varieties and offering us scissors for cutting. Riley and I meandered while Scott photographed his heart out in this gorgeous landscape.
It really feels like you are up in the mountains here with these open sky views! There were dahlias, zinnias, and sunflowers for picking. Riley favored the first two thanks to their gorgeous colors. After filling up our flower cup with all the stems we could squeeze in, the kind employee under the flower tent gave our cup some water, and we hopped on the tractor pulling in to take us to our next stop. Peaches.
Peach Picking
We road through the apple orchards on our way to the peaches, noticing the little apples coming along, soon to be ready for all picking. The landscape is gorgeous and every fruit tree in sight was incredibly healthy and filled with fruit. As we road along the peach orchard my mouth dropped, I had never seen so many peaches hanging on trees in my life!
We hopped off the tractor and were greeted by another cheerful employee letting us know the peach varieties that day and what to look for. We found a row to ourselves, dripping with peaches, and planted our basket in the grass. We walked up and down pick, pick, picking our hearts out. Sweet Owen eventually fell asleep on me under the trees, rosy cheeked from the warm, southern heat.
Afterward we got back onto another tractor, deciding we would pause before blueberry picking to cool off at their market and eateries.
Market and Eateries
We don’t have many photos from this area. Probably because it was so refreshing and we were too excited to be experiencing it — definitely recommend hanging here between warm pickings! Outdoors they had covered tables and a bluegrass band. Inside options included an open air market filled with farm goodies, a coffee shop, a cider house, a outdoor bakery window (selling fresh apple cider donuts), and a smokehouse for some savory bbq lunch options.
Riley and I each enjoyed an apple cider slushy (heaven!) and a bag of donuts while Scott got a bbq pulled pork sandwich, macaroni and cheese, with a cola. After cooling down, Riley checked out the amazing indoor farm playground for kids. Then we headed to the blueberry fields (you can walk to these without a tractor ride) for one last picking before driving home. Thankfully some clouds rolled in, providing some afternoon shade.
Blueberry Picking
To be truthful, Scott and I could have spent a lot longer in these fields picking and enjoying the scenery, but the kids were melting quite a bit! Riley was ready for a cool drive home and Owen wanted out of our arms. And so goes life with kids. But really they were such troopers and lasted long having fun this day, we cannot complain. We arrived at Jeter around 9:45am and at this point it was 1pm. A good long morning! We picked as many blueberries we could (about 3/4 the bucket we purchased) then took the kids to the car.
Scott picked up an ice coffee for the drive home (said it was amazing) and I fed Owen some milk. We loaded up all our pickings, said a big thank you to the Jeter Greeters and farm, and drove home.
We will definitely be back, if not again this summer, definitely for apples in early Fall and for their Christmas season dates in December too! Thank you Jeter Mountain Farm for existing and doing what you do. Your farm and all around experience you provide is magical.
