Labor Of Love Pecans, Weddings and Bed & Breakfast All Offered at the Charlotte Teresa Plantation i “If we’re going to raise something, it’s going to be something we like, and we like pecans,” said Billy Wilchman. But Billy and his wife, Charlotte, are doing more than just raising pecans. Along with their 200acre pecan orchard, the Wilchmans operate a plantation home which doubles as a wedding venue and bed and breakfast. Using these two thriving businesses together, they promote agri-tourism in the best way. Growing up, Billy helped a family in a pecan orchard and fell in love. When he had the opportunity to start PawPaw’s Pecans, he jumped in head first, despite Charlotte’s protest. “When he drove us out here and said, ‘What do you think?’ I said no. It was a junkyard: combines, boats, concrete and even houses. That was 15 years ago and now I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” said Charlotte. The Wilchmans now have an orchard with over 5,000 trees. From September until December, they work 12 to 16-hour days to harvest over 60,000 pounds of pecans. They shake several trees a day, dry the pecans and sweep the nuts into rows. Afterward, the pecans are taken to the cracking station which is managed by Charlotte and doubles as the wedding reception hall outside of harvest time. The pecans are then bagged, labeled and sold. “The pecans sell themselves now. We will sell every pecan we harvest. Once people eat a fresh pecan, they don’t want anything else,” said Charlotte. The pecans are mostly sold through word of mouth and are sold out well before Christmas. “I go to one farmers market every Saturday morning, and I sell every pecan I take. That’s my getaway. By the time I come back home there are ten people in line to buy here. It’s a good problem to have,” said Billy. The Wilchmans also use their other businesses to encourage their pecan sales. “We sold a lot of pecans to the people that built our house. When people come here for a wedding or a party they know where to get their pecans; and vice versa, when people come for pecans they know where they can have a wedding,” said Charlotte. These two unique endeavors allow the Wilchmans to share their agricultural story. “There are adults that have become smitten by the idea of agriculture after seeing us shaking the trees and harvesting the pecans,” said Billy. After being named Conway County Farm Family of the Year in 2015, Billy and Charlotte fell in love with showing their farm to people. The dream for the bed and breakfast and wedding venue had been there for over 10 years, but the enjoyment that comes with sharing their story was the igniting spark to finally build. Named after Charlotte, the Charlotte Teresa Plantation is a plantation style home modeled after Oak Alley in Louisiana. The wedding venue and bed and breakfast opened in December 2017, and they started hosting guests in July 2018. Each of the bedrooms in the five-bedroom, five-bathroom home is themed after a plantation in the South. The Wilchmans loved the look ARKANSAS GROWN 15
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