Sweet Grown Alabama Blogs

Southern growing seasons are usually generous. Mild springs bring early berries, and long summers make peaches and plums heavy on the branch. Even temperate falls and subtle winters are kind to crops like pumpkins, persimmons, and satsumas. With so much grown so close to home, the distance from field to table feels refreshingly short.

That closeness between plant and plate is a part of what defines Alabama agritourism. In a place where fruits and vegetables are within arm’s reach, orchards and produce stands are as much about experiencing your food as they are about buying it. From first bloom to first frost, growers across the state are opening their gates and offering visitors the chance to wander rows of crops and experience the harvest first-hand.

These three farms and markets offer visitors a taste of the South’s bounty. With every season ripe for the picking, Alabama always has a reason for you to play with your food.

Buckets of blueberries at Powell Blueberry Farm | Courtesy of Powell Blueberry Farm Facebook

Powell Blueberry Farm

There’s something especially serene and centering about picking your own blueberries. It’s a simple endeavor, requiring little more than a sunhat, a pail, and time. The berries let you know when they’re ready, each navy pearl falling away from its stem at the slightest touch. It’s easy for the mind to wander as you move slowly through the rows, and by the time your bucket is full, it can feel like you’ve hardly worked at all. That tranquility is hard-earned, the result of careful labor done long before the first berry ripens.

For Dan Powell, the path to blueberry farming wasn’t exactly straightforward. Having grown up on a dairy farm, he knew how difficult agrarian life could be and explored other professions. He eventually retired from a long career in the industrial field and found himself drawn back to the land, purchasing the same property where his parents raised cattle and building his orchard one row at a time. Powell’s initial experiment with a small plot eventually took root, and after years of trial and error, he has built one of the region’s best-loved U-pick blueberry farms.

The reward of picking your own produce at Powell Blueberry Farm goes beyond the experience itself. Getting fruit straight from the bush means getting it at its peak rather than after a long journey through distribution centers. It also means knowing exactly who and where your food comes from. When it comes from Powell, it’s coming from someone who cares about quality. “If I wouldn’t let my family eat my berries or put them in my body, I wouldn’t let anyone else either,” he says. That mindset is the underpinning of his whole operation, from how the berries are grown to how they’re handled once they leave the bush.

Blueberry season is lamentably short in lower Alabama. Powell Blueberry Farm typically opens around Memorial Day each year, with the best picking lasting only a few weeks into June before the coastal heat takes its toll. For visitors, that fleeting moment is part of the appeal. It feels like a rare, precious instant they’re lucky to experience.

Just because the blueberry growing season ends doesn’t mean the blueberry eating season does. For those wanting to have fresh fruit year-round, listen to the experts. Powell recommends freezing unwashed berries on a tray, allowing them to harden completely before being stored in plastic bags. “I can get out whatever I need anytime and make cobblers, smoothies— whatever we can find to do with them,” he says. “My grandson likes to eat them frozen, so we’ll just rinse them off and give them to him in a cup, and he’s happy to just crunch on them.”

Some things can be saved for later, and some are best enjoyed in the moment. At Powell Blueberry Farm, the season offers a little of both.

Trays of peaches at Peach Park | Photo courtesy of Peach Park Facebook

Peach Park

Anyone who’s travelled the I-65 corridor between Birmingham and Montgomery knows about Clanton’s gravity-defying giant peach. The water tower masquerading as a stone fruit is a hulking tribute to Chilton County’s most valuable crop. Nearly as recognizable as the peach on a pike are the Peach Park billboards lining the highway.

Peach farmer Frances Gray didn’t have a vision for a family-owned tourist destination when he opened his first fruit stand in 1984. He was just trying to find a simpler way to sell his fruit without having to make long trips to the New Orleans French markets. His second-year expansion only grew from necessity to overcome a devastating loss of product. “There was a really bad hailstorm that year. No one wanted to buy hail-damaged peaches,” says Peach Park co-owner Robin Gray.

“Even though the peaches were still good, they weren’t pretty to sell. So, we had to do something else with them. That’s how the fresh fruit bar and ice cream came about.”

Today’s Peach Park is a far cry from that first produce stand. What was once a seasonal attraction has blossomed into a year-round destination spot worth visiting beyond peak growing season. After summer’s last peach is picked, guests can still enjoy the park’s gardens, pet-friendly hiking trails, playground, barbeque restaurant, and coffee shop. “It’s not unusual for us to see a family when we open at 10:00 a.m. and see them again at 3:00 p.m.,” says Gray. “That means a lot to us— knowing that people aren’t just stopping by but are making us a destination.”

There’s also an on-site RV park for when the Peach Festival rolls around in the summer. “Peach Festival is something my father-in-law started many years ago,” says Gray. “It’s the last weekend in June, and we have a pageant with four queens, a 5K run, a peach cookoff and jam celebration, vendors, food trucks, and live music sponsored by the Chilton Chamber. Thousands of people come, and we look forward to it all year.”

Clanton’s giant peach draws your attention from miles away. Peach Park gives you a reason to pull off the road. And once you do, it’s easy to stay awhile.

Editor’s note: A mid-March cold snap took a heavy toll on the 2026 Alabama peach crop. You can support the industry by shopping local farmers markets and local growers like Peach Park. 

Sunflower field at Cornutt Farms | Photo courtesy of Cornutt Farms

Cornutt Farms

Autumn in Alabama may not always be crisp or balmy, but it brings with it the promise of an eventual breaking of summer’s stifling heat. Until we feel the relief of colder weather, we try to manifest it, stubbornly wearing our quilted vests and drinking hot lattes with warming spices. Of course, nothing evokes the feeling of fall quite like spending a day at a pumpkin patch, and no one understands that better than Cornutt Farms.

The Cornutt family has deep roots in northern Alabama. Generations of farmers have tended row crops in Marshall County, but they diversified their fields and welcomed visitors for the first time in 2018. “I graduated from Auburn University with a degree in agricultural economics, and I came back to the farm wanting to add something to help it grow,” says fifth-generation farmer Cara Cornutt Clough. “I told my dad that I wanted to do a sunflower field and invite the public out to pick the flowers. He wasn’t so sure about it, but I told him, ‘Let’s just try it and see.’

And see they did. After a wildly successful first year welcoming guests from across the region, the Cornutts further developed their U-pick operations, expanding their sunflower field and adding a pumpkin patch in 2019. It’s been growing ever since, each season building on the last.

Come October, visiting Cornutt Farms is an easy way to spend a fall Saturday. Beyond clipping sunflowers and picking pumpkins off the vine, visitors wind through a corn maze, catch a hayride, meet animals at the petting zoo, take photos with hay bales painted like cartoon characters, and run on a human-sized hamster wheel.

When visitors build up an appetite, Cornutt Farms has them covered. The concession stand keeps things simple with familiar favorites like hot dogs and hamburgers, and the family-owned coffee truck serves pick-me-ups for anyone needing a little pep in their step. For those unexpectedly warm October afternoons, the Cornutts serve fall flavor in a cool way. “Our apple cider slushies are our biggest hit,” says Clough. “It’s just that flavor of fall that people love. It’s a homerun with everybody.”

While the Cornutts are always thinking of new ways to grow their pumpkin patch, every new addition is designed with families in mind.  “We want people to come and have a great time and not stress about anything,” says Clough. “I think people just want to get out and do something, especially during that time of year. But what we offer— we have something that’s all about being outside and spending time with your family, and it’s been so nice for us to see other people enjoy the fruits of our labor.”

Pumpkins at Cornutt Farms | Photo courtesy of Cornutt Farms

Powell Blueberry Farm
11285 Beverly Jeffries Hwy, Citronelle, AL 36522
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Blueberry Season: Memorial Day – late June, Monday through Saturday, 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Peach Park
2300 7th Street S., Clanton, AL 35046
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Hours: Monday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Cornutt Farms
626 Whitesville Drive, Boaz, AL 35957
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Pumpkin Patch Season: Saturdays in October, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.