BRUSSELS, Ill. – When you shop at your local farmer's market and pick out that perfect peach, do you ever wonder the process it goes through before you take a bite out of it?
What if we told you Wiffle ball bats were involved in that process?
Sandi Odelehr of Odelehr Farms knows a thing or two when it comes to growing peaches.
"It’s surprising they can double in size in a day or two," Odelehr said.
The juicy fruit has been in the family for three generations operating on more than 100 sprawling acres in Brussels.
It's a small town of about 150, but it packs a sweet punch. They churn out up to 250,000 pounds of peaches a year!
From the time the first trees are planted, it takes five years before they start producing peaches.
The matured trees are pruned at the beginning of each year before the thinning process in May.
That's where the Wiffle ball bats come in.
"We use Wiffle ball bats. The weaker ones will fall off and that makes the other ones grow bigger because if you have too many on the tree they don't get enough water and nutrients,” Odelehr explained.
Then it’s up to the pickers who have to be picky.
"They are looking for the color and the size," Odelehr said.
From the moment a peach is picked at The Odelehr Farms in Illinois it is ready to be sold at your local famer’s market in just two days.
They are then sorted for their perfection and ripeness before being loaded into the trucks and onto your table.
