Roadside deliciousness

It’s hot but there is Dennis Joe Duncan, roadside on U. S. Highway 59 in Atlanta. He’s selling vegetables right now, something he does almost year-round.

He’s 75 this season but still travels up north to Arkansas to get vegetables to bring back to sell along his spots on local roads here in Cass County and environs.

It’s a three and a half hour round trip that Dennis, his pickup and trailer, make once a week or so. He’ll fill up nearly 100 baskets and boxes of vegetables from the Hermitage, Ark, patch and bring them back here to sell.

“Better and cheaper,” he says. Hermitage, for clarity, is in Bradley County, located in south Arkansas which is in the West Gulf Coastal Plain. The county has become known nationally as one of the prime production areas for tomatoes. Located at the center of the county, the town of Hermitage was settled prior to 1859. The Fordyce and Princeton Railroad passes through the town.

Right now Dennis has vegetables such as green and orange tomatoes and squash. He has a few yellow and red summer melons which will be abundant until the first of October. Then it’s sweet potatoes through Christmas. Around January he’ll start with rose bushes. This is a plan.

For now, it’s hot, but Dennis has umbrellas and determination. It’s his retirement, too. Duncan is retired from employment with International Paper Company. His full time job now is continuing to do what he’s done since being 16. Sell what other farmers grow to an appreciative public.

“People remember me, and I like to meet them,” he said. “That’s why I’m here, pretty much year around.”

And he says he enjoys meeting the people, sometimes carrying their baskets or heavy melons to cars even though he has a long-time foot injury.

So, at the moment, cars are stopping regularly. They see the big umbrella and the long, flat trailer of boxes filled with fruit. And they recognize Duncan. They are almost regular. They want to talk to him.

The advantage of this roadside seller is that he has seen the vegetables harvested. He has gone to the garden himself. He knows which ones to select.

“None of my selections have been in a cooler.”

He’s ready to offer his vegetables with a complete satisfaction agreement. No like, and he’ll refund your money.

“I just want the customer to be satisfied and see to it that there’s no throwing away of the food. So my prices are fair.”

With that, another car is turning to the roadside stand with customers ready to pay the cost. Maybe they know Dennis has made that three and half hour drive to Hermitage and maybe they don’t. Maybe they know he’s 75 and has been doing this almost 50 years and maybe they don’t.

But let’s wait around and see if they bring back that tomato or melon for a full refund.