Why You Should Purchase Directly From the Farm

For Kevin and Rhonda Ford, growing fresh produce isn’t just a job – it’s a mission to serve their community and connect with people.

“To succeed as a farmer, you have to love it. If you’re looking to get rich, farming is not for you,” Rhonda says. “We love the people that come out to our farm. We love to visit with them on the farm or at our fruit stand. We’ve grown to know many people over the years, and we’ve made many good friends because we have a lot of repeat customers.”

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Ford Farms

The Ford family operates Ford Farms in Taylorsville, where they grow watermelons, tomatoes, cantaloupes, peas, butter beans, corn, okra, eggplant, squash, peppers and cucumbers. They sell the fresh produce on their farm and at an additional location in Laurel, Ford Farms Fruitstand, which they opened in 2018.

“Our customers come from all over Mississippi and even Louisiana,” Rhonda says. “In 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw an increase in people eating fresh foods and canning at home.”

The farm stand at Ford Farms in Taylorsville operates from May through July, and the fruit stand in Laurel is open from mid-March until Christmas.

“About 99% of all the vegetables sold at our Laurel location come from our farm,” Rhonda says. “When our vegetables aren’t in season, we buy from other local growers. For example, if a farmer comes in and wants to sell 100 ears of corn, we try to buy it and help as many farmers as we can.”

The fruit stand in Laurel also carries locally made jams, jellies, pickles, salsas, stone-ground cornmeal from De Kalb, fresh milk from Beason Family Farm in Philadelphia and honey from three different Mississippi honey producers.

“We are small enough that it’s never overcrowded, which people appreciate,” Rhonda says. “We like for people to bring their own buckets to put the homegrown tomatoes in. We take all forms of payment, including cash, cards and electronic benefit transfer.”

Kevin and Rhonda’s grown daughters, Kaiti and Mattie, help out on the farm with planting, driving tractors or planters, running the fruit stand and whatever else is needed. Both daughters are pursuing careers in agriculture.

“Our oldest daughter, Kaiti, is the County Coordinator/Extension Agent for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and she’s working on her master’s in Agricultural and Extension Education at Mississippi State University,” Rhonda says. “Our youngest daughter, Mattie, is pursuing a degree in agriculture science and agriculture business at Mississippi State University. Both girls still come home on weekends to help with the farm.”

In 2012, Ford Farms added a pumpkin patch because so many people had been asking if they could come and visit the farm. The pumpkin patch is open October through mid-November, and visitors can take a wagon tour of the farm, pick out a pumpkin, watch the Ford family pick cotton and more.

“We host a lot of church festivals and school groups,” Rhonda says. “A lot of kids don’t realize their clothes come from cotton, so they get to see where it originated. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we opened the pumpkin patch by reservation only, and we delivered our pumpkins to several schools.”

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Charlie’s U-Pik

In Lucedale, Allen and Janice Eubanks are similarly serving their community by growing fresh, local produce. Their four children, Andrew, Allison, Joshua and Jacob, help on the farm, too, assisting with various duties. The family operates a wholesale business, Eubanks Produce, as well as a seasonal U-pick operation, Charlie’s U-Pik, where customers can pick their own produce. The Eubanks added the U-pick option to the farm in 2000, and it has become one of the things they are best known for.

“It gives us a method to provide our local communities with fresh, economic, local produce,” Janice says. “We’ve been successful through the years because our surrounding communities recognize the value of fresh, locally grown produce along with the experience of learning where food really comes from. Our two locations attract customers from Alabama to Louisiana and all along Southern Mississippi.”

From Memorial Day through July 4, Charlie’s U-Pik invites customers to pick their own green beans, squash, peppers, tomatoes, okra, peas, butter beans, eggplant, onions, potatoes and cucumbers. Corn, cantaloupes and watermelons are available to purchase pre-picked, along with the rest of the produce if customers choose not to pick their own. The original location in Lucedale spans 100 acres. Charlie’s U-Pik opened a second location in Wiggins in 2017 that covers 50 acres, giving customers plenty of room to spread out. Visitors appreciate the opportunity to engage in a fun family activity that allows for social distancing and provides healthy foods they can take home.

Everything customers pick in the field costs $11 per 5-gallon bucket, and folks can fill their buckets with any combination of produce they choose. Charlie’s U-Pik asks that customers bring their own 5-gallon buckets.

“We also hire about 70 employees for our season who are mainly high school and college students from George, Greene, Stone and Forrest counties,” Janice adds.

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