Growing together produces results for produce couple

When Bubba Breedlove retired after 30 years as an inspector for the state Department of Agriculture, he wasn’t sure what he would do next.

“I’ve lived on a farm all my life, and I’ve always had big gardens,” said the 69-year-old Breedlove. “After I retired, I was sort of hunting for something to do.

“So, I started growing produce and selling a little along and just kept getting bigger and bigger, and we’ve grown to where we are today,” he said.

He and his wife, Marsha, operate Breedlove Farm in Crawford County. She’s retired from Blue Bird Corp., a bus manufacturer in Fort Valley.

They grow cucumbers, squash, zucchini, spinach, kale, tomatoes, corn, onions, carrots, okra, green beans, broccoli and such.

The Breedloves were selling their produce Saturday morning at the Wesleyan Market.

“It’s very hard,” Marsha Breedlove said. “We work seven days a week — fixing fences or harvesting or pulling up weeds or trying to keep animals out.”

But she cannot think of anything else she’d rather be doing. She’s not keen on the selling part of the business, though.

“I’d rather be on the farm behind a tractor,” she said. “He’s the people person.”

Bubba Breedlove chimed in, “I can talk all day.”

Most of the farm is leased for cow grazing. But four acres is set aside to grow produce. The couple have been growing and selling produce for about 10 years.

“You learn over the years,” Bubba Breedlove said. “Every year is a different set of problems.

“You get one problem fixed, and the next year brings a new one,” he said.

For example, a new disease or bug may threaten a crop. The weather is always the main challenge, Breedlove said.

“If I had my way, a drop of rain would never fall on my tomato plants,” Breedlove said.

He uses drip irrigation. Too much rain can rot the plants.

His No. 1 tip is to carefully check the pH level of the acidity and alkalinity in soil. He recommended using agricultural lime to correct high levels of acidity in the soil.

He learned that after a bad crop of turnips.

Marsha Breedlove added that having a lot of honeybees on site aids pollination and results in better produce.

She held up cucumbers. The ones she said were pollinated by bees were the same size around from end to end. But one that was not pollinated by bees was larger on one end, she noted.

Also, cleaning the produce keeps it fresher and makes it more attractive to sale, she said.

Lise Kaplan, of Macon, stopped at the Breedlove’s produce stand.

She took home carrots, corn, peaches sweet potatoes and cucumbers.

“It’s very fresh and the food seems to last longer,” Kaplan said.

The Wesleyan Market is open the second Saturday of every month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Breedloves are also at International City Farmers Market in Warner Robins on Thursday afternoons.

“That’s just about all we can handle between the two of us,” Bubba Breedlove said.

This story was originally published June 11, 2016 at 1:33 PM with the headline "Growing together produces results for produce couple."