The Melon Ball

When a local farm advertises a Melon Ball, with watermelon tasting and a melon eating contest, you take them up on that. Organic Redneck Growers is a wonderful organic farm down the road that we have been visiting for blueberry picking since my kids were little. We seemed to keep missing all their fun farm events over the last couple years, but one of our friends just moved out there this summer and is keeping us in the loop. We took the kids on Sunday afternoon, and headed out for some watermelon adventures.

The first thing we saw when we pulled up were lots of happy people walking around eating melon samples. There were over 50 varieties of melons spread out on long tables, ranging from red to green and colors in between. My favorite was a green variety called “Vida Lime” that indeed, tasted like lime. We found some really good cantaloupe varieties we want to plant next year too.

The schedule of events promised all kinds of fun. They had me at seed spitting. Farmers really know how to throw the best parties!

I’m pretty sure that “all the watermelon you can eat” was a dream come true for my son. In fact, the entire event was. Imagine an afternoon of being encouraged to do all the things your mother tells you not to do; “Don’t eat all the watermelon,” “Don’t eat too fast,” “Don’t play with your food,”  “Don’t smash melons in the yard,”…you get the idea!

We had a pretty fierce team for the watermelon eating competition. Between my 13-year-old boy and two of our friends, that watermelon didn’t stand a chance. I’ve seen Nate in action at pot-luck dessert tables, and I would have bet top dollar on these three.

Believe it or not, it is really hard work to eat a whole watermelon under pressure. You could tell everyone was giving it their full effort, and it did not look easy.

I am proud to say our team took third place!

The greased melon relays were filled with shenanigans, laughter, and a few busted melons.

Then we came to the “melon thwacking.” Yes folks, hitting flying melons with a baseball bat is a thing.

I can’t explain why smashing melons, pumpkins and various members of the Cucurbitaceae family is satisfying on such a deep level, but the sound of that “thwack” really resonated with my soul.

I must say, we had a smashing time at the Melon Ball, and I can’t wait for next year!