In 1984 James Howard started what he calls "a community project," selling produce to his friends and neighbors.

"They said, 'You're a farmer and everyone has to go up to Willcox to buy everything,' " he recalled.

Now, nearly 30 years later, that project is still going strong.

Howard, 75, and his wife Becky, 61, own Howard's Orchard, 4101 E. Pinal St., a you-pick farm in Catalina. Customers come from around the state from July until November to pick their own produce, which they buy by the pound.