Melon Patch Farmer's Market assistant Jacob Deck, left, and his father, market owner Trey Deck, display cantaloupes a sugar baby watermelon for sale at the Chickamauga market.If you go
Located in front of The Melon Patch restaurant, located at 2697 Johnson Rd # 1 in Chickamauga, the market is open Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
It was a road trip with a friend at age 17 that planted the seed for a Chickamauga venture still going strong after 16 years.
Melon Patch Farmer's Market is celebrating its 17th year as a certified roadside market. However, market owner Trey Deck began selling watermelons and cantaloupes 32 years ago.
"We built our business on watermelons," he said. "We are best known for it. We sell watermelons May through Labor Day. We stick with three farmers for watermelons. That gives us consistency."
Deck remembers hopping in a friend's truck at age 17 and heading to South Georgia to bring back a truckload of cantaloupes to sell in Chickamauga. It was a hit, so Deck decided to branch out and sell various melons.
"I sold watermelons every summer," he said. "My fruit stand is the only certified roadside market by the Department of Agriculture in the northern part of Georgia. It has been certified since 1999. We sell a tremendous amount of watermelons and cantaloupe."
These days, in addition to cantaloupe and both seedless and seeded watermelon, Melon Patch Farmer's Market offers blueberries, blackberries, peaches, strawberries, as well as seasonal annuals, bedding plants, vegetables, ferns and hanging baskets of flowers.
"I sell South Carolina peaches," Deck said. "It's the sweetest peaches in the South. They are unbelievable. We have incredible Silver Queen corn and peaches and cream corn out of Vidalia, Georgia. Our top-seller is tomatoes. I eat a lot of tomato sandwiches with white bread, Miracle Whip, pepper and sliced tomatoes in it."
He noted that once tomatoes are available locally, he gets his from a local farmer, lasting from July through October, though he stocks fresh tomatoes outside those months by following the harvest.
"I like being a country boy and being around country people," said Deck. "I love agriculture and land. Farmers made America great. Agribusiness in the state of Georgia is the No. 1 industry. One out of four Georgians is employed by some type of agriculture business."
That includes his children.
"On Saturdays my daughter Carly runs the register and my son Jacob carries the watermelons," he said. "I call the strawberries Carly Girl's Strawberries. I call the watermelons Jacob's Best Watermelons."
In the fall, the market turns into Jacob's Pumpkin Patch, said Deck. Fall decorations like cornstalks, mums, straw bales and gourds decorate the market that time of year. Pumpkins range from 1 to 200 pounds.
"I try to teach Carly and Jacob to love the land," Deck said. "They've seen huge farm operations in the Midwest to the Southeast. They are probably some of the few kids that have picked and harvested watermelons."