When Julie (my wife) and I were children growing up in Florida, both our grandparents were fern growers. The only product grown at the time was plumosus. The industry was a family business. Plumosus was grown under oak hammocks, wooden slat houses, and the family orange trees. I always enjoyed tagging along with my mother as she cut under the orange trees, especially when the fruit was ripe, as I would climb a tree and eat until I could hold no more. Our grandmothers would leave the field each morning to cook a nourishing lunch for the family.

A sign would be posted in the window of the packing house each day to let the ice man know how many pounds of ice to leave as the plumosus was shipped by non refrigerated train. The ice was chipped in each box to keep it as cold as possible.

Our fern was packed in wooden boxes and loaded on a flat bed truck for the four mile trip to the old train depot pictured above. (Julie and I left from the old train depot for our senior high trip to Washington D. C., I, a year ahead of her.)

Now our products are shipped by refrigerated trucks all over the United States and Canada. By air and sea to foreign countries. The varieties of greens we grow today are numerous. And the old train depot has been moved five miles to Barberville where it is on display at a pioneer museum.

One of the best changes in our industry came two years ago when representatives from Hydroseal™ asked our company to begin testing their product. We saw such a dramatic improvement in the appearance and lasting qualities of our foliages that we began to develop a process for treating them on a large scale.

Yes, we've seen a lot of changes in our industry and we know there will be many more to come. In an effort to meet the needs of a global market we have found, it is not just what you do but how well you do it.

Bill Puckett