Porter Orchard's Peach Crops Significantly Damaged By Weather

The owner of Livesay Orchards in Porter said for the second year in a row, their crops are significantly damaged because of the Oklahoma weather.

Orchard co-owner Kent Livesay said they lost 90 percent of their peach crop after a hail storm last month, so they simply don’t have enough peaches to meet the demand.

Friday is the first day of peach sales for the orchard, but you won’t see peaches on trees while driving in, and you won't see a surplus of the fruit for sale in the orchard’s store.

Livesay said a hail storm in May ruined most of the peaches on their trees.

"It knocked close to 90 percent of them on the ground and left indentions on a lot of the others here,” Livesay said.

Krystal Livesay, incoming Porter Lions Club President, said it’s hard watching your crops be destroyed.

“It’s slightly discouraging, I was home when the storm was happening,” Krystal Livesay said. “To sit there and listen while it's hailing and ruining your entire year’s crop in under two minutes.”

They said this is the third time in five years they’ve only had 15 percent or less of their overall peach crop to sell.

“In the last 50 years, this is by far the worst five year stretch for us,” he said.

He said there are only enough peaches available for them to open their store one or two days each week this summer.

They said the current plan is to open on Wednesday and Saturday, but only if they have enough supply to do so.

They said if you do plan on coming out to the orchard to get peaches, call first to make sure they have some available.

The Porter Peach Festival is next month. The Livesays said the festival will still go on as planned, but with limited options for customers.

“We’ve always seemed to somehow pull Peach Festival together and make it a nice event even though we didn’t have many peaches last year,” Krystal said.

In addition to peaches, the orchard also has fresh blackberries, tomatoes, watermelons, and various vegetables for sale throughout the year.