TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Taking A Stand On Produce

CANDACE C. MUNDY/TAMPA TRIBUNE

Tom Tilchin, a regular customer at Bearss Groves, located at the S.W. corner of Bearss Avenue and Lake Magdelene Blvd., seaches through the boxes of navel oranges as the Bearss Grove's cat, Mayah, watches in the back.

ADVERTISEMENT

By HAROLD VALENTINE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 10, 2007

Additional Photos

LAKE MAGDALENE - The Tampa that Martin Bearss used to know and the one he lives in now is like comparing apples and oranges.

Bearss, owner of Bearss Groves at the southwest corner of Bearss Avenue and Lake Magdalene Boulevard, has lived most of his 54 years in Lake Magdalene. He has run a produce market at Bearss Groves since 1990.

"When my wife and I got married - I've been married 32 years - if we wanted to go out to a restaurant, you had to go south of Kennedy," Bearss said. "There weren't any restaurants out here. In the early '80s they put a Burger King at Waters and Dale Mabry, and everyone thought, 'What are they thinking? There's not enough traffic there.' "

Bearss' family story goes back to 1894, when his great-grandfather Isaac Ward Bearss, or "I.W.," moved from Missouri to Tampa for fairer winters to ease health problems. I.W., who was a reverend, founded what is now Lake Magdalene United Methodist Church, originally known as the United Brethren Church.

As the Bearss family rooted itself in Lake Magdalene, they expanded a 40-acre property that had orange trees on it to cultivate a grove. The property is bordered by Lake Magdalene Boulevard, Smitter Road and Bearss Avenue, a road named after the family.

"It rhymes with fierce," Martin Bearss said of his last name, weary of a common mispronunciation of what is now a major east-west thoroughfare.

Bearss said the property is ideal for citrus because it is surrounded by lakes, keeping the temperature down on cool nights, with good soil that drains well.

For those reasons, Bearss said developers are interested in the property, which is why so many of Tampa Bay's orange groves have been developed throughout the past several decades.

With citrus tree diseases, freezes and problems with the Mediterranean fruit fly, the orange grove is not as lush as it once was. Bearss, who replanted citrus trees after the grove froze in 1983, said Florida's citrus growers are not as supported by local and federal government as farmers in other parts of the country and will not replant citrus trees.

"You hear about all the farm subsidies, but Florida citrus doesn't get a dime," Bearss said. "The only thing we get we can say that helps us out is a tariff on juice that comes in from out of the country."

Bearss is considering options to sell the property. With nothing finalized, he said he does not know what will become of the property.

"I have mixed feelings about it," he said. "Though there is agriculture here, Florida is no longer an agricultural state."

But, he said, the produce market there will remain.

Brian Murray, the market's manager of nine years, said customer service, fresher and often lower-priced produce than in grocery stores keeps regulars coming back. Murray said most of the noncitrus produce is locally grown or within the state.

Bearss, who ran produce packaging plants before opening the produce stand, said his stock is fresher than that of grocery markets because fruit and vegetables are ripened on plants.

He said grocery store tomatoes, for example, are picked green to withstand the rigors and time involved in warehouses and transportation. He said those tomatoes are sprayed with ethylene gas for a ripened look.

"It's a different way of distribution," Bearss said. "Our customers like our tomatoes because they taste better. They ripened on the vine."

Tomatoes at the market are $1.25 a pound. Murray said the market sometimes loses money because Bearss wants to keep prices as normal as possible.

"We don't run specials here," Bearss said. "Tomato prices are the same all year except if they're extremely high."

Murray said produce at the market is inspected every morning. Anything bruised is sold for half price. Bearss said folks making sauces or salsa buy bruised produce.

"It's just better tasting here," said Matthew Pleasant, a recent University of South Florida graduate who is moving out of state. "I hope to find something like this after I leave."

Pleasant said he especially likes the prices of the market's peppers, which range from $1.50 to $2 a pound.

Oranges cost $10 to $11 per grocery bag, or three or four for a dollar. Bearss said grocery bags are gentler on oranges than mesh bags, and customers get to pick out what oranges they like.

Murray, who lives on the property, said he enjoys the people who come to the market.

"You get a big melting pot of customers," Murray said. He said young children enjoy two pets that are fixtures there, a cat named Mayah and a poodle named Winnie the Poodle.

Murray said customers like one of the oldest known trees in Florida, an oak with a 26-foot diameter that is estimated to be 400 to 600 years old.

"One guy in particular actually comes out and hugs the tree," Murray said. "I asked him what he was doing. He said 'I'm absorbing some of the tree's energy.' So, you get different kinds of folks."

Bearss said the tree is on the National Register of Historic Places and testifies to the quality of soil the property features.

"The amazing thing is," Bearss said, "to my knowledge, it has never been struck by lightning in my lifetime." He said another tree not far from the giant oak has been struck three times.

"My dad said it's always better to be lucky than good anytime," Bearss said.

Despite the inevitable changes when the property is sold, Bearss and his employees are gearing up for the market's busy season, when the citrus is ripe, from just after Thanksgiving and until June.

Bearss said if necessary, the produce market will move to another part of the property.

Reporter Harold Valentine can be reached at (813) 865-1526 or hvalentine@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT