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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

The girls at the old farmer’s market here (the one off North West Street) tell me that the Chilton County peaches will be coming in soon, probably within the next two or three weeks.

Here in Mississippi, peaches from Chilton County, Alabama take precedence over those from Georgia. Oh, we get good peaches from Georgia, no doubt, but Chilton County peaches have the same cachet as Smith County (Mississippi) watermelons or Vardaman sweet potatoes. Peach trees just don’t do well here (you’ll have to ask Felder why), so we rely on our eastern neighbors to shore us up.

In the meantime, the early sweet corn is at its peak, and it’s always good to grab a few small red potatoes this time of the year, scrub them well and simply boil them in salted water. The ladies also say they’ll be getting their first green peanuts soon, meaning that a good batch of boiled peanuts will be a thing to make on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Bring them to a quick boil in the shell, and let them stew until they’re tender. Be sure and use plenty of salt and throw a hot pepper in the pot.

Call me a redneck, but I like chewing on the shells and have been known to pop a whole peanut in my mouth.

Be nice.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.