As perhaps many of you can appreciate with the holidays approaching, it can be hard to get an extended family together, especially adding in travel plans and unexpected health challenges.

Same goes for our Growers of the Year.

When it became apparent we couldn’t get everyone together before the magazine’s deadline, our digital producer, TJ Mullinax, suggested a unique approach.

He took one photo of Holly Douglas Wilson, standing beside a tractor on a sunny fall day, and a week later shot the rest of the Douglas Fruit family on a cool, cloudy morning in the same exact spot — enabled by the orchard manager who removed the battery from the tractor so it couldn’t be moved until we got the shot.


The combined Day 1 and Day 2 photos used in the 2023 Good Fruit Growers of the Year cover with the Douglas Fruit family. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)

That’s dedication. And very detailed photo editing. Unfortunately, “Big John” Douglas, whose vision for planting peaches led to the founding of the Douglas Fruit family business, couldn’t make it for either photo, but you can see him in the family photo below and in the story “Answering the opportunity: 2023 Good Fruit Growers of the Year.” 

—K. Prengaman

The Douglas family stuck with stone fruit, embraced the organic opportunity early and built a fruit business known for its focus on quality, earning them the honor of being the 2023 Good Fruit Growers of the Year. From left: David, John, “Big John,” Jill, Bill and Pete Douglas in a family photo from 2011. Holly Douglas Wilson had retired a few years prior. (Courtesy Douglas Family)
The Douglas family stuck with stone fruit, embraced the organic opportunity early and built a fruit business known for its focus on quality, earning them the honor of being the 2023 Good Fruit Growers of the Year. From left: David, John, “Big John,” Jill, Bill and Pete Douglas in a family photo from 2011. Holly Douglas Wilson had retired a few years prior. (Courtesy Douglas Family)