The 88-year-old patriarch of Isom’s Orchard in Limestone County, Ala., died last week and his granddaughter’s remembrance of him is being read and appreciated by people across north Alabama.

Joe Isom “was known for quite a few things,” granddaughter Mary Alice Isom Buzzard wrote Friday on the orchard’s Facebook page, “morning breakfast with his buddies, his beloved golf cart, story-telling, knowing a joke or two, quite the fisherman and fish fryer, but mostly an experienced horticulturist – or in more simple terms – a pretty good peach grower.”

Isom was definitely a good grower. His farm and roadside stand are on U.S. 72 between Huntsville and Athens. Apples and peaches are farm stars but there is everything for a Southern supper in the wooden bins if the season is right: potatoes, tomatoes, turnip greens, squash and corn on the cob. Watermelon is popular in season and pumpkins are plentiful in fall.

“We all have benefited from his labor and love of his land,” said one post on Facebook. “We will continue to support your legacy by keeping our kitchens stocked with your wonderful produce and fruit.”

“I am so sorry for your family’s and your community’s loss,” another Facebook post said. “I grew up in Athens and the highlight of the summer was the first peaches from Isom’s Orchard. The biggest, sweetest, ‘peachiest’ peaches in the world! I have never tasted better in my life and I am 71 years old. May the Isom legend live on forever.”