About Us

Hi! We're Sam and Deanna Pickering.

Welcome to our Plantation. But don’t expect an antebellum mansion and gracious living. Just a red barn and rows and rows of lush plants, and people who like to grow the best-tasting fruits and vegetables to be found.

When we had to drive 35 miles to satisfy our craving for sweet fresh strawberries for our own table in the spring of 2004, we started thinking. When we found ten suitable acres close to Columbia, our idea turned into a project. After a year of land preparation and several months of planting, the project turned into a large berry patch/garden. Sam cut his work hours at his "regular" job by half with the idea of retiring completely by the end of 2006; Deanna increased her hours of work… at the farm. Although it has been years (and years and years) since we raised our boys on a farm in southern-central Missouri, we never lost our passion for farming and gardening. Pick and Pick (or the "Plantation" as we half-jokingly like to call it) is a labor of love that we’d like to share with you. Our sons, Dan and Mark, live too far away to share the fun and excitement of creating this farm and farm-market business with us, but they have each generously volunteered to help with financing to make it possible. We are grateful for their belief and support.

We use stardard growing methods, but avoid using chemicals whenever we can. When we must use them, we strictly follow all guidelines to keep our fruits and vegetables safe and wholesome for our friends and family to eat.

We thank all the hardworking people who have helped us. We could never have done it by ourselves!