Our Story

Kay and Greg started farming in October 1979, after Hurricane Frederick had hit the Gulf Coast. Their first crop was peaches...

 

Hurricane Frederick had taken a toll on the land in Baldwin County. Kay suggested to Greg that Azalea's could be planted to take the place of the trees lost during the storm. Well, Greg came back with 100 peach trees instead! Greg and his dad, Lloyd Burris, were building custom homes at the time while Kay worked at a local bank. Greg asked his dad if they could clear their schedule for the peach harvest, and he agreed. A late freeze in March took 85% of the crop, but there was still enough left to sell the peaches from the back of a pick up truck on Hwy 98 in Daphne. This led to their first fruit stand in Daphne on Hwy 98, where the Bryant Bank is now located.

 

In 1986, the Loxley location was opened under the name 'Peaches and Produce' in a small house here on the corner of Highway 59 and County Road 64. Having two locations became too much and they left Daphne and moved it all to Loxley. Here, they slowly enlarged the building and the farm. Part of the original house is still in the front gable end of this building. They farmed 80 acres and grew 40 different crops. The year is started with the strawberry crop. They are planted in late October for the harvest in February, which should last through April. All of the crops are hand planted and hand picked. The crops throughout the year include squash, eggplant, okra, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers – just to name a few. South Alabama has a long growing season.

 

The Burris Bakery was added in 1996. It was intended to have a place to sell the peaches with ice cream, but as you can see it has grown to much, much more than that! On a daily basis, there are 6 different fruit breads, yeast bread, cinnamon rolls, fresh hot cobblers, cheesecake and various pies made depending on the time of year. Along with strawberry shortcake, Burris famous Key Lime Pie, ice cream, cookies, lemon bars and milkshakes. They learned a lot about baking in a short period of time. There is nothing like the smell of fresh bread and pies coming from the kitchen!

 

Greg's family is from Kansas and Daphne. Greg's father was a Navy pilot, learning right here at Pensacola NAS and his mother was a school teacher. Kay's family is from Texas and Greenville, AL. Kay's dad was also a pilot and worked at Brookley Air Force Base in Mobile, where he met Kay's mother. In 2001, Greg got his pilot's license and Drew followed suit and got his pilot's license in 2006. I guess you can say that flying is a part of the family.

 

In 2006, the retail part of the business was sold with a 15 year lease on the building. Greg and Kay retired and Drew attended Auburn University. In August  2018, Kay, Greg and Drew got the building back along with the business. It was a little short of the 15 year lease. Four months were spent cleaning, repairing, painting and just totally renovating the building. The doors finally reopened on December 11, 2018.

 

Kay and Greg are excited about returning to the family business and Drew taking over. Greg actually started planting peach trees again 5 years ago and has just finished planting more this past winter. He also planted a small field of strawberries in October, for the first time in 10 years and the plan is to slowly increase the crops over the next several years.

 

We were fortunate to have some of our original employees return and help us get our business back to the way it was. It will not be overnight nor easy, but we are ready to get the family business back going again!