Image: Olathe, Colo., farmer Kerry Mattix splits open a cantaloupe he just picked to share with the writers.

Photo ©2013 Eric Jay Toll.

“I’d pick a cantaloupe that was just perfectly ripe, cut it in two, scrape out seeds, fill it with ice cream and go find a shady spot,” second-generation family farmer Kerry Mattics, smiled as he shares with us pieces of the sweet, ripe melon he just cut from the vine.

The warm Western Colorado sun gently shines on his 110 acre farm while we sit in the shade—without ice cream.

Located just a couple of miles outside of Olathe in Montrose County, Mattics Orchards is a modern day truck farm with a variety of vegetables, a small orchard of apples and peaches, and “Dad’s berry patch.”

From "Cantaloupe, Ice Cream and Shade," Examiner.com