PEACH SEEDS
Come to life By Elizabeth Shane
Culleoka resident, Roger Smith, has a very unusual talent of carving peach seeds that started in the late 1960s when he retired from the Marines Corps. Smith began making carvings from peach seeds as a hobby, but it quickly became an avenue for making new friends as well as becoming a business venture.
OVER THE YEARS SMITH HAS TRANSFORMED PEACH SEEDS INTO JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING FROM ANIMALS, VILLAGES OR TOWNS, AND PEOPLE TO AN ENTIRE BASEBALL STADIUM WITH PLAYERS, SPECTATORS, AND CARS. Smith has always had a pocketknife with him and one day he ate a peach and started carving a pig, the first thing he ever made from a peach seed. “For a long time, I just made pigs and then through trial and error I thought I would try something else and expanded to PHOTOS BY ROSS JAYNES VISUAL MEDIA CO.
making dogs and anything else that came to mind. I haven’t made everything, but I have made quite a few different creatures over the years,” Smith explained. Peach seed carvings takes a great deal of time and patience to complete usually taking 4 to 8 hours per piece. Over the years Smith has transformed peach seeds into just about everything from animals, villages or towns, and people to an entire baseball stadium with players, spectators, and cars. All he uses to make his carvings are peach seeds (of which he has thousands that have been given to him), knives, sandpaper and for the finishing touches, he uses acrylic paints to bring the creations to life.
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MAURY COUNTY LIVING
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SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER 2021
