A husband and wife team has been working hard in recent months to grow fresh produce on family-owned land. Gloucester natives Barry and Connie Leigh began forming B&C Produce on Hall Town Road in Gloucester last year and are now open for business with plenty of fresh vegetables.

"We sell only what we grow," Barry said. "None of our produce has been trucked in and it is all grown on our property."

Produce sold by B&C is not organically grown, since the growers do use synthetic fertilizer on the plants. Connie said the couple also uses Sevin dust to repel insects, but does not use any other types of pesticides on the plants.

Currently, B&C has a good crop of kale, spinach, green onions and leaf lettuce for sale. Turnips will be coming soon and squash and radish plants are blooming, which will be ready for harvest in the coming weeks. Cucumbers will follow the squash, Barry said.

He is currently getting land ready to plant lima beans and okra.

Later in the year, Barry said the business will be raising tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and winter squash.

"Over the year, we have roughly 60 varieties of vegetables," he said. "We try to do spring, summer and fall varieties."

Connie said the business is also trying to grow some new vegetables that it hasn’t tried in the past such as crowder peas and spaghetti squash that have both been requested by customers.

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