North Shore Greenhouses grows 19 different herbs, including basil, its top seller, shown above at the seedling stage. After reaching maturity, it is either packed in clamshell containers, right and far right, or in pots.
Much of the unique greenhouse technology draws on Leo’s expertise and family background. Both of Leo’s grand- fathers owned greenhouse operations in Holland; his father brought that knowledge to the United States when the family immigrated in the 1960s. The company founded by Leo’s father, Hollandia Flowers, became Hollandia Produce and was later taken over by Leo’s brother, Pete, who introduced Pete’s Living Greens. Suzette and Leo first met on the job at Hollandia Flowers. Suzette spotted Leo driving a tractor and decided she wanted to meet him. Sparks flew when they did and the couple married in 1984. Back then, as the daughter of a dentist and dental hygienist, Suzette didn’t know much about greenhouses or farming. “Coming from that kind of area and then going into this business was extremely different and really cool,” she says. “The traditions and culture the Dutch have—I feel so blessed to know and be a part of it.” The couple struck out on their own in the late 1980s with dreams of
developing a family farm. They built a greenhouse and originally planned to plant roses—until they discovered it would cost six figures to buy the plants. The Overgaags switched to hothouse cucumbers until they could save enough cash for roses. Cucumbers, however, proved to be a strong crop while a flood of imports softened the market for roses. Pivot to living herbs The couple grew cucumbers until imports also began to eat into that market. Around the mid-1990s, they decided to search for another crop—and that’s when Suzette had an epiphany about herbs. “What the stores need is herbs that stay fresher longer,” she told Leo. “Then the consumer has time to use them.” He embraced the idea and cleared greenhouse space for a small yearlong pilot. “I wanted to go through all four seasons to make sure we wouldn’t have any surprises when we started growing them,” Leo says. Based on that success, the couple
scaled up production to sell to retailers. The business continued to grow as Leo, a frequent visitor to Europe, harnessed and adapted the latest in greenhouse technology for use in the company. They built the first greenhouse specifically for herbs in 1999, and cucumbers were fully retired about a decade ago. In addition to Bubb, the Overgaags’ other children—Ashley and Tony—also work at least part-time for the company. Today, most North Shore herbs are grown in two highly automated greenhouses powered in large part by solar panels and warmed on cool nights by geothermal energy. Beneficial insects such as ladybugs, rather than pesticides, are the soldiers in pest control. The Overgaags say such measures make sense both from a business and sustainability standpoint. The company germinates plants from seed. In the two main greenhouses, seedlings are placed individually into 25-foot-long gutters that move along a mechanized system. The plants are touched only a few times by human hands.
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January/February 2024
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