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Passion for produce

From Georgia peaches to collard greens, Greg Paul's farm stand in Seffner offers the variety and quality that keeps customers coming every weekend.

By S.I. ROSENBAUM
Published July 22, 2005

SEFFNER - Greg Paul cares about produce.

He cares about the silky luster of bell peppers. He loves the perfection of an unblemished collard green. He knows how to pick out a Georgia peach so ripe that the scent of it stays on your hands after you pick it up.

The scent of ripe peaches hangs over Paul's produce stand, Greg's Fresh Produce, which he sets up every weekend at the corner of Highview Road and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Seffner. The produce selection varies every week. Paul chooses only the best from the big produce markets in Plant City.

When he's talking about produce, his eyes gleam and his fingers twitch.

"When I go to the market and see all the stuff, I'm like a little kid," he said. "When I see those beautiful bell peppers and those beautiful tomatoes, I get excited. It gives me adrenaline, knowing that people are going to freak out: "Oh my God, that is a beautiful tomato.' "

Even when he's not at work, he said, produce is on his mind.

"I'm always thinking about it," he said. "What is going to be good to get this week, what goodies are out there?"

At 44, Paul, of Seffner, is a big, soft guy with a little mustache and spiky hair. He looks like a movie villain, but he treats his customers with an easy warmth.

"All I got is collard greens," he apologizes to one customer. "Mustard greens next week."

To another, he says, "Those are good yams. Mississippi yams."

By now, he knows a lot of them by name or face. A lot of his business is repeat business.

Janice Richardson, 50, of Brandon, says she does most of her shopping at supermarkets but saves the vegetable shopping for the weekends, when she can come to Greg's Fresh Produce. "I like his vegetables. They're very fresh, and his prices are reasonable," she said.

Sunceray Johnson, 38, drives all the way from Valrico to buy produce at Greg's - passing what she says are lesser farm stands on her way.

"My spirit just led me to come down here," she said. "No one sells greens as good as his."

Paul says produce is in his blood. He has run the farm stand for 12 years now, but as a kid he helped out on the strawberry farm his stepfather, Perry Young, owns in Dover. He still works for Young's wholesale business, shipping strawberries from the farm and importing Georgia peaches.

Paul can tell you where everything at his stand was grown.

"Those are local oranges, out of Indian River," he says. "They have a better flavor than California oranges."

If he has any produce left over at the end of the weekend, he says, he sells it to people along his stepfather's wholesale route. But often he's mostly cleaned out by Sunday night, he said. Even during Hurricane Dennis, people came to buy his fruit. "People are going to eat, no matter what," he said.

Paul says he doesn't care that he spends every weekend out in the sun, hawking produce. He doesn't want to be anywhere else. Sometimes he has help: his two teenage children help him, as does a friend's daughter. Other times, he mans the stand alone.

He won't say how much the stand makes, but he says he does well between the stand and the work for Young. When Young retires, Paul says, he'll take over the farm and the wholesale business. But he says he won't abandon the farm stand.

"I'll probably do it until I'm on a walkin' cane," he said.

S.I. Rosenbaum can be reached at 661-2442 or srosenbaum@sptimes.com

WHERE: Corner of Highview Road and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Seffner.

HOURS: 9 a.m. until dusk, Saturdays and Sundays, every weekend - all weather, even during Hurricane Dennis.

WHAT: Greg Paul sells all kinds of fruits and vegetables, hand-picked from Plant City produce markets.

PRICES: A bucket of six to eight Georgia peaches goes for $3; bell peppers and cucumbers are three for a dollar; collard greens go for $2.50 a bunch. Most produce is under $5. The selection varies with the season and availability.

[Last modified July 21, 2005, 09:00:09]