STEWART — Brenda May has always had a green thumb and her husband Myron have been farming since he could remember. The two, who met while Brenda worked at Synergy Gas and became inseparable.
“He used to come and get gas for his tractor,” she said. May said Myron used to come in and talk to her and the two connected. Myron, who grew up farming in Stewart, has kept the May family tradition going of growing and selling what’s harvested.
May said when she was growing up, she used to love planting flowers and growing her own garden.
“We’ve been doing this for 35 years,” May said. She said in 1994, they began May’s Farm Fresh Produce and they grew peas and watermelons.
“We did a lot of business in the surrounding counties. We did a lot of business in Choctaw County, a lot of business,” she said. The community of Stewart splits three counties with main portion of Stewart being in Montgomery County and a portion being in Webster and Choctaw counties.
With highways 407, 413, Stewart-Huntsville Road and Weir-Stewart Road connecting Montgomery and Choctaw counties, it’s inevitable that the May family would do business in Choctaw County. After all, people do love fresh produce.
May said they also do business commercially selling their watermelons. “If you’ve gotten a watermelon out of SuperValu, it’s one of ours,” she said.
May said as the business grew, the added more vegetables and still sold their melons commercially to stores across the state. She said they were in the more country area of Stewart and in 2015, after becoming the sole owners of May’s Farm Fresh Produce, they moved to the location on Highway 82 and business has been good.
May said selling produce does well. Their best seasons are spring and summer. “We do a lot of business from spring until September.” But, in the fall months it can be hard, but they’ve learned to supplement. She said they have continued to reach out in complimentary areas.
She said moving to Highway 82 has fared well for them and people look forward to their growing season. The Mays offer what’s called U-pick, meaning customers come and pick their own vegetables and the only payment is giving half of what they pick to Mays to sell. Or, if they don’t want to pick it themselves, they can come in the store and purchase it, already picked.
“We’ve added other products such as Sysco Frozen Casseroles and desserts for busy families who need help with a quick weekday meal or for more special occasions,” May said. “We have a wide variety of tropical plants for the home, colorful handing baskets, annual perennial plants, garden art, planters and fountains.”
She said they just added a greenhouse where she can grow her own tropicals, along with starting their spring and summer plants or even sell seedlings that can be planted into gardens. The Mays also have a corn maze that’s open to the public during the fall months. She said she also wants to hold a growing camp in the summer that teaches younger children how to care for and grow their own gardens.
May said her family was the first in the area to have a corn maze before another corn maze a little over 30 miles away became popular.
The Mays also offer home décor as well, adding to their ever-expanding and diverse collection of merchandise. May said she patiently and enthusiastically searches for merchandise to put in their store that is made in Mississippi.
She said she doesn’t do big box stores; she likes to support and promote locally owned businesses like hers who rely on the local and regional customers to patronize them.
One of her bestsellers are her leather purses. May said the company that makes the purses donates half of its proceeds from them to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
May said she’s selective when selecting new items to display in her store. Neither she nor her husband went to school for business but May said they learned it as they go.
“The hardest thing is pricing,” she said. May said there may be times where she may want to run a sale but can’t. She said she purposely chooses items that are made in Mississippi to help support the mom and pop stores like theirs.
She said she believes one of her children will take over the operations when they retire, but it won’t be anytime soon because she has no plans to retire.
“One of our sons work with us, he helps out with the store and I’ve been teaching him,” she said.
With a unique eclectic style, there’s something at May’s Farm Fresh for everyone, no matter what you choose. So, if you’re ever traveling Highway 82 toward Webster, Oktibbeha, or Lowndes counties and want to get a present for someone special or need a quick meal, fresh vegetables or are looking for a new decorative fern or mum, stop at May’s Fresh Farm.
