After starting a successful commercial blueberry business, John received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1997.
In 2005, John and Judy took a break from farming and enjoyed retirement; however, John began missing the work he had done for so many years.
Their daughter and son-in-law, Brenda and Jason Martin, had an interest in farming as well, so in 2011, Panola Orchard and Gardens was established in De Berry, Texas.
We wanted to be able to offer our customers a variety of fruits, so we decided to expand our crops.
Our largest crop is blueberries! We have 90 acres of blueberries that is picked by a commercial harvester, sorted, packaged, and shipped in the United States.
We also have an additional 5 acre blueberry U-Pick field.
Blackberries are a popular crop on our farm. Our You-Pick blackberry field is 5 acres.
We have 22 acres of peach trees and one acre of plum trees. Each year we plant approximately 100,000 strawberry plants for customers to pick.