blog1_pic1Our watermelon fields are well under way this season! This is the first year we have grown these melons without any commercial fertilizer and we are learning lessons along the way. We’ve never used any pesticides but we have now converted to all natural and organic methods for fertilizing and it is a learning experience, to say the least.

We expect our first harvest to be ready early August and those melons are headed to Hire Wire Distillery in Charleston, SC to make a watermelon brandy, the first in centuries! We intend to have the rinds processed into pickles again this time around, as well. Our second field is intended for fresh melon and will be available sometime mid-September. We will keep you posted on timeframes and where they will be available for purchase. As our planting, tending and harvesting is a family event, all kiddos are involved in one way or another, and it provides quite the photo op as the weather in the South is HOT HOT HOT!

blog1_pic2A few hills that didn’t germinate had to be transplanted. Here we had to water in the new transplants, but this is the only water the field will receive outside of rain.