Jimmy Williams crawled out of his trailer at the Atlanta State Farmers Market in Forest Park about 3 o'clock Tuesday morning. By the time pitch dark faded into smoky blue, he was selling vegetables by the truckload and box-full.

One of his workers fork-lifted wooden pallets stacked high with cartons of cucumbers from a truck just arrived from South Georgia. Nearby a few, mostly male, customers leaned over to gently pinch tomatoes and lift cantaloupes to their noses, sniffing their ripeness.

Vino Wong/AJC (ENLARGE)

Charles Kight holds a sign to promote locally grown fruits and vegetables at his stall at the market Tuesday.

Vino Wong/AJC (ENLARGE)

Jimmy Williams, 63, drives a forklift to fill a large order. He also manages several stalls at the Atlanta State Farmers Market in Forest Park.

Vino Wong/AJC (ENLARGE)

Four times a week, Patrick Farms receives an average load of 44 pallets of watermelons in each truck at their stalls at the Atlanta State Farmers Market in Forest Park. At 150 acres, the market is considered one of the largest of its kind in the country and a major distribution destination for wholesalers, retailers and individuals in search of fresh produce in the Southeast.

Vino Wong/AJC (ENLARGE)

Charles Kight, 67, stands by his vegetables at the market Tuesday. Prices vary per stall and customers often haggle for the best deal.

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On a slower day, Williams might be cooking sausage and biscuits for friends, workers or customers, but this morning he's too busy. Sales are brisk for the South Georgia farm he represents at this market run by the state Department of Agriculture. The market bills itself as the "world's largest roadside fruit and vegetable stand." At 150 acres, it's as big as many farms.

Retailers, wholesalers and folks looking for food for the supper table arrive each day shopping for fresh produce and bargains.

Jim Gillespie of Clayton, in northeast Georgia, was there to pick up some squash, cucumbers and cantaloupe for his produce market in the mountains. "What part of South Georgia you from?" Gillespie asked Williams.

"Around Tifton," Williams said.

"I got a brother over in Moultrie," Gillespie said. "Y'all got any rain down there yet?"

Tommy King and his teenage son Destin got up at 1 a.m. to drive from Opelika, Ala., to stock up on squash, bell peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes for their retail market. They come twice a week every week.

Marty Jones bought 10 cantaloupes for a friend who runs produce stands in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs.

Williams first came here to work about 1960 as a teenager from Camilla. In 1967, he earned a degree from the University of Georgia, then farmed his own land, selling at the market every year until he retired in 2000. In 2001, he was back, working for Patrick Farms in Omega, near Tifton. He's been Patrick's representative at the market ever since.

"I love this place," he said, pausing for a Winston during a break between customers. "It gets in your blood."

The market is open every day but Christmas. Williams is there seven days a week from May through August, then back for a while in the fall with turnips and greens.

The types of vegetables sold at the market have changed during Williams' years. Most of the old-fashioned varieties of tomatoes and watermelons have given way to "improved" varieties less prone to disease, he said.

"There's no such thing as a Homestead tomato anymore," he said.

Tomatillos and jalapenos, once specialty items, grew more popular as the Hispanic population expanded. Now, said Williams, almost everyone likes to eat Mexican food.

Tuesday, Williams faced two problems — a shortage of cucumbers and a glut of Roma tomatoes.

The former might be solved overnight when another truck rolled in from Omega.

The latter was a more complex issue. Tomatoes already were selling at about $12 a box — down from $22 a box before the current salmonella scare. But the Romas weren't moving, even deeply discounted.

Williams and his market neighbor, Charles Kight of Vann Farms, hoped their new handmade "Georgia Grown" signs would calm the concerns of skittish shoppers. The Food and Drug Administration cleared Georgia tomatoes in the outbreak.

"We eat 'em every day and we ain't got sick," Williams said.

As the morning grew hotter and the time later, the wholesale buyers and restaurant crowd gave way to a trickle of individuals.

Vickye Graham drove from Seneca, S.C., in search of cucumbers to pickle.

"You can't buy my pickles in a store," Graham bragged. She was hoping to put up 20 quarts.

Williams had no pickling cucumbers — no cucumbers at all by then.

Pat Windham of Hampton bought a cardboard box filled with yellow squash. He planned to have squash casserole for supper with green beans from his garden and hot corn bread.

As Windham loaded the squash into his car trunk, Williams and some of his cronies planned their own dinner. One night last week they had oysters from a customer who runs a seafood market. Once they cooked rabbits they got from a truck driver. Monday, it was beef stew.

Tuesday afternoon they were putting together spaghetti sauce with fresh bell peppers, onions and jalapenos for a kick.

And in a show of confidence, they cooked them all up in a base of Georgia tomatoes.