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Forty-five minutes east of Dallas, train conductors stop their trains to get a scoop of peach ice cream. That tells you most of what you need to know about Ham Orchards.

It started with a firefighter and a hunch. Dale Ham had spent 32 years with the Richardson Fire Department when something came over him in 1979 — he wanted to grow peaches. He bought 23 acres just east of Terrell, planted 50 trees, and waited. Every tree survived. When the peaches came in, Dale and his daughter Sharien set up a card table on the side of the highway and started selling out of the back of a pickup truck. The railroad told them they were too close to the tracks. They moved above the tracks. The line of customers followed them up.