With the availability of fresh tomatoes at Rudy’s Happy Patch Market, customers are stopping by early in the day to get the best selection of local favorites. Currently the market offers three varieties of tomatoes. The much-anticipated Buchanan Farms tomatoes are also scheduled to arrive in mid-June.

Staff member Mulkey McMichael noticed the many customers at the market early one morning when he arrived for work and stopped by for his own purchase. As his duties include PR work and photography, Mulkey would normally reach for his camera to get a good shot of the scene. But this time, Mulkey was caught by the camera’s eye himself – a rare shot indeed.

“When I taught photography at Americus High School,” Mulkey said, “I rarely allowed my photograph to be taken. It did appear in some of our award-winning yearbooks by some sly students in my photography or yearbook classes.

“Jamie Minich got this shot on her cell phone this morning, and I agreed to post it as a customer at Happy Patch,” he concluded. We don't know if we're struck more by his presence in the photo or by the sight of those large, ripe tomatoes!

In the photo above, Debbie Bissallion, staff clerk at Rudy’s Happy Patch Market, assists Mulkey McMichael as Jamie Minich presses the camera shutter.