The Grand Valley State University community has just a month left to take advantage of fresh produce at Motman’s greenhouses and orchards, located three miles from the Allendale Campus.

Motman’s is run by Beth and Mike Motman, son and daughter-in-law of founders Bob and Martha.

Beth not only met her husband of 31 years at work, but she now manages the retail portion of Motman’s thanks to her many years of learning the business.

“I’ve worked here since I was 13,” Beth said. She started by picking strawberries, beans and tomatoes and eventually moved to selling the fruit and vegetables instead of picking them.

Beth can spend her workdays alongside her growing family, including her daughter-in-law Sara Motman, who has worked with the family business for about three years.

“It’s nice to stay active and not be in a chair all day,” Sara said. She spends much time behind the counter, assisting customers and working the cash register.

Sara and the rest of Motman’s employees had no trouble staying active during the summer of 2011, when a hailstorm hit the area and damaged a large amount of their growing produce to varying degrees.

“This was a bad one, just about every apple got hit,” Beth said.

She said Motman’s has only been affected by hail twice in the last 10 years, but that this year’s storm was the worst she has seen for their apples. They ended up deciding to drop the price almost in half for the more-affected apples, and then selling the less-affected apples separately at the regular price.

“It’s a little more extra work with sorting them, so we can have a higher grade,” Beth said.

Customers know they will encounter Beth or another Motman family member whenever they shop at the fall farmer’s market or spring greenhouses, and the Motmans know they will recognize a good portion of the people who enter their shop each day from past visits.

Beth said people from all around the Grand Rapids area return to Motman’s each spring for the greenhouses, while fall traffic for the farmer’s market is more limited to local customers.

Gail Roelofs of Allendale went to Motman’s on Thursday, where she purchased Honeycrisp and Macintosh apples for her family. Roelofs said she has been a customer of Motman’s for more than 20 years.

“(I come) at least a half-dozen times a year, a few in the spring and a few in the fall,” Roelofs said. She said she was not deterred by the hail-grade apples at all.

Customers hoping to try the Honeycrisp and Macintosh apples, or one of the other seven varieties at Motman’s, have until the Saturday before Thanksgiving, the day Motman’s closes for the winter each year.

This year, the closing date will fall on Nov. 19.

In addition to apples, Motman’s grows tomatoes, squash, pie pumpkins, gourds, peppers and beans in the fall.

They only grow small pumpkins, but locally purchase and re-sell larger pumpkins that can be carved into jack-o-lanterns.

“We sell a lot of pumpkins to the college kids,” Beth said.

She said members of the GVSU community are frequent customers of Motman’s, perhaps because of the 10 percent discount.

“We see a lot of them (GVSU students) come back in,” Sara said.

To learn more about Motman’s, visit www.motmansgreenhouses.com.

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