We are honored, humbled and thrilled to have the brand-new issue of Better Homes & Gardens showcase our family’s traditions of food and celebration.
Landing on newsstands and in subscribers’ mailboxes this week, the magazine devotes eight pages of dazzling photos and text – plus four additional pages of recipes – to our family’s celebration of the July 4th holiday on the farm J.B. Wieser launched a century ago. It was from this farm that our specialty foods business was born in 1969. The story, titled “Red, White & Peachy,” spotlights the holiday in Fredericksburg, including “parades, fireworks, and… peaches.”
“The article is full of my life in Fredericksburg,” offers president/CEO Case Fischer, flipping from one colorful page to the next. “It’s certainly an honor. And it’s humbling to think that people would even want to know about Fischer & Wieser, Das Peach Haus, and the way our family has always celebrated July 4th.”
The three-day photo shoot with Better Homes & Gardens food editor Nancy Wall Hopkins took place a year ago on the grounds of the historic retail store, located on the acreage where company founder Mark Wieser, J.B.’s son, grew up picking peaches and eventually established a popular roadside fruit stand with a log cabin built in 1870. J.B. planted the original peach orchard in 1928.
The Better Homes & Gardens spread was supervised on-site by Hopkins, with freelance professionals flown to Texas from across the country. The text was the handiwork of Paige Porter Fischer (no relation), with photos by Buff Strickland, food styling by Marian Cooper Cairns and prop styling by Adam Fortner.
Day One was for planning, set-up and prop checking. Day Two was devoted to shooting family photos around the farm, including grilling and other food preparation, working at the busy peach stand, a festive holiday meal and a finale of fireworks. Day Three was for shooting close-ups of the various dishes, from Peach & Tomato Salad to Ribeye Steaks & Peaches, to homemade Peach Ice Cream. These shots were taken inside and outside the company’s new Culinary Adventure Cooking School.
The family photos show Case Fischer and his wife Deanna, their college-age children Dietz, Elle and Simon, Mark Wieser and his niece Jenny (Fischer & Wieser’s chief operating officer), Jenny’s son Jack – and Piper the dog. A full-page portrait features all members gathered around the vintage red pickup truck that’s such a fixture in Fredericksburg’s many parades.
“We love sharing recipes, and we do it all the time, whether we’re being a family or a food company,” says Deanna Fischer. “Having a great meal with input from everybody is not uncommon around our house. We love food, and we are always talking about food. We inspire each other with that. It’s an incredible honor to have Better Homes & Gardens come and visit our family, our home, our company and our wonderful little town.”
Behind The Scenes
Read The Story
Read The Recipes
