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PHOENIX — Eating fresh-baked peach pie and vanilla ice cream at 9 a.m., Ken Swanson beamed with satisfaction from what had already been a very productive morning. He had already taken a tractor for a spin, dirtied his brown loafers and stained his fingers with the smell of fresh-picked onions.

Swanson, 82, had lived out his wish of being a farmer for a day.

His April 24 outing at Schnepf Farms in Phoenix's East Valley was weeks in the making and years in the dreaming. A patient with Hospice of the Valley, Swanson suffers from congestive heart failure. He stays in Mesa at a long-term care facility and receives hospice care from nurse Sara DeMott.

"He's happier now than I've seen him in a long, long time," DeMott said. "It's like another fella we're dealing with now."

After growing up on a farm in Minnesota, Swanson spent his life as a commercial carpenter. But he longed to go back to the farm.

He revealed that desire to a counselor about a month ago. The hospice made a few phone calls and arranged for Swanson's dream to come true.

"We do what we can," said Beverly Medlyn, communications director for Hospice of the Valley. "When there is something we can fulfill, we try to do it."

Swanson, wearing an entirely appropriate green John Deere cap, began his day on the farm by ditching his motorized scooter for a shotgun seat inside the Schnepf canary Hummer golf cart. Swanson took in the farm as owner Mark Schnepf drove the cart and told him how the workers thin the peach trees to ensure a good, plump crop.

"That must be quite a job to hand-thin them," Swanson said as the cart pulled into the orchard and quickly became surrounded with green peach trees.

With the help of his son, Lon, Swanson got out of the cart and navigated the cracked dirt of the peach orchard. Stepping over speed bumps of dirt, Swanson tested his farm knowledge on Schnepf.

"These are for irrigation, right?" he asked.

Lon stepped back from his father and snapped photos. He watched as his dad picked baby green peaches and threw them to the ground, just like he was told. Lon said his dad, who subscribes to Successful Farming magazine, was really looking forward to the day.

Swanson smiled as Schnepf wiped one of the ripe organic peaches against his shirt, getting it ready for him to taste-test. Swanson took a bite. His son and nurse waiting with expectant ears to hear his review, he chewed for a few seconds. Then, he nodded and smiled.

"That's pretty good stuff," he said.

Schnepf checked on Swanson during the cart ride over to the tractor, asking him if he was holding up. He wanted to make sure Swanson had enough energy to make it through the tractor ride.

"I don't hurt anyplace, it's just that my legs are so weak," Swanson said.

But his legs had enough juice left for the tractor.

Swanson climbed on board, fired up the engine with a quick twist of the key and told Schnepf to take his foot off the brake and hop off the tractor. Swanson wanted to drive this John Deere solo.

He smiled and waved to his son as he took an easy lap around a drive near stables holding petting-zoo animals. On the way back, he took his hat off and waved, looking completely relaxed and natural.

He said he had waited 70 years to feel that tractor seat. Swanson last rode a tractor as a kid on his family's farm.

"I would still like to farm, if I could, at this age," Swanson said. "It's great. I'm going to stay."