Jefferson Orchards

This is such a cute little local «farm» stand that is just outside of the main part of Jefferson on the way to Lake O’ the Pines. This little local place is open year round; however the spring and summer are the best times to visit here when they have fresh peaches and fresh peach soft serve ice cream. The only regret I have about Jefferson Orchards is that is much too far of a drive away for me to make a weekend trip to come get my fix for their seasonal ice cream.
The soft serve peach ice cream tastes like a little bit of summer sunshine mixed with homegrown Texas peaches. When it comes to ice cream with fresh fruit, peach is easily my favorite and usually the only thing that beats peach ice cream is to have fresh sliced Texas peaches on top of the ice cream. The serving sizes are very generous, so unless you’re splitting the large, you’ll want to opt for a small size for an individual serving.
If ice cream isn’t your thing, don’t worry, because there are plenty of other fresh fruit stand and gift items to choose from here. There’s an assortment of seasonal fruits, nuts, and local handmade gifts that are all worth purchasing. Jefferson Orchards is a little more expensive than if you buy these items in a grocery store, but they won’t have the love that you can only get in homemade local items. All of the gift items are locally made and taste/​smell every bit of homemade making them ideal as a gift or to enjoy for yourself.
The «perfect» peaches will cost you a little more than what you get in the grocery store, but the grocery store doesn’t have their own orchard sitting in their backyard where they fresh pick their produce. They do offer boxes of «second» peaches, which means that it’s the imperfect and probably a little bit older peaches. The box will only cost $ 20 and there’s a whole lot more than 20 peaches in the box. If you can get past the look of the seconds not being perfect, then this is really the way to go since you can use the imperfect ones for cobblers and jams.
On one of my visits here, I picked up an assortment of maple syrup, soaps, and several versions of peach jams as a thank you gift for my mom. The only problem I had when I gave her the gift is that it was so heavy with all of the jars and soaps, that she wasn’t able to take it on the plane with her when she returned home. Fortunately, she left them behind at my house to enjoy when she returns for her next visit.
If you’re in the area, this is definitely a place you want to stop and visit, if you live in the area, appreciate what a great local shop you have. From week to week the produce changes depending on what they have available, what’s fresh, and what the locals bring in to sell. I would love if there was a place like Jefferson Orchards closer to the Houston area; since there isn’t, I’ll have to settle for making a trip a couple times a year to Jefferson to get my peach ice cream fix.