The flowers in school are really, really pretty.

Everytime I see them, I get reminded of how much effort the gardeners put in to maintain them. I mean, these aren’t flowers that grow in the wild that can thrive on their own… these are the fragile types that can be crushed under the weight of raindrops during stormy weather, so I think it takes extra tender loving care to grow them.

I love love love those grown along the sheltered walkway out of school towards marymount. You’ll see why! (:  They have…

Blue ones

Purple ones (which also come in dark blue and white)

Pink purply ones

which are actually very deceiving… 

because when they slowly open up through the day,

they become a bright brilliant BLUE!

Amazing right?

Haha, snapping photos of flowers and looking at them again always puts me in a good mood maybe because they’re so gorgeous! Oh well, there’s much more! Go see for yourself if you’re ever in the mood. (:

________________________________________________________

Speaking of great gardeners, sometime during prelims, feng’s grandpa started to grow WATERMELONS! =)

Yea, homegrown watermelons! ^^ I couldn’t believe it either when he first told me. We decided to stalk their growth.

The plants were flowering for about a week or so before the first fruit appeared. It grew so quickly that I couldn’t keep track of it! The first photo I could get of it is below. By then, it was already quite big, measuring about 6+ inches across. But it did not manage to grow very big after that. =/

(by the way, 1st refers to the first watermelon, 2nd refers to the second one and so on)

The second one grew much bigger in a shorter amount of time and was the first to be harvested! According to feng’s grandpa, all the dark green lines on the skin have to be separated from one another to show that it’s mature and ready for eating. I guess that means it just won’t grow anymore after that stage.

Oh and it was only until the second one grew out that I realized watermelons started growing from little bulbs. Like really small, baby bulbs! Tiny, cute and everything! Ahhhh! Lookie lookie =)

If my calculations are right, it was harvested on the 30th day.

It grew to be slightly bigger than average watermelons, and the pulp’s yellow! =) I always thought watermelon with yellow pulp looked really strange because we were all taught from young that it’s supposed to be red right. Kinda like how some apples are red and some are green…

Oh and we got to eat it! Yayee =D. The most amazing thing is that it’s almost two times sweeter than average supermarket ones! Really. I’ve never tasted watermelon like this before. I feel so lucky to have witnessed their growth and tasted the rewards of the harvest! And being a greedy pig that was only concerned about eating, I forgot to take a photo of the yellow flesh… ah well!

Here is the third and the fourth ones which sprouted shortly afterwards

Cuteeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~ !!!

Right now, there are about close to twenty of them growing in the land. At first, they all looked like little mines ready to explode, and as they got bigger they started to look like tennis balls, then soft balls and soon they’ll all look bigger than basketballs! Maybe I’ll go get a photograph of them tomorrow morning or something. =)

Feng’s grandpa also grows many other kinds of plants, like pomelo, chillies, leafy vegetables etc.  He has quite a number of papaya trees in the garden, which produce the best papayas I’ve ever tasted. Honest. They are super sweet and heavenly. Ahh! My papaya obsession has never been this wild…

I guess home-grown fruits will always taste the best! No pesticides and extra tender loving care adds to the sweetness of everything. I wonder if bitter gourds could taste different if they were home-grown =D haha!  

Next time if ever given an opportunity, I want my own garden/plantation too! =)

So I’m posting this mostly for the benefit of the people who did not get a chance to see Singapore during their short trip to and from AFA, for those who want to know more about Singapore, and also for those Singaporeans who are expats, and miss home. (Yes, you chun!) Considering that Singapore is the next most proliferant anime hub this side of the english internetz community, it makes sense to know more about Singapore’s people, and its infrastructure and land. I’m not going to delve into the history or its culture. You can find all that on wikipedia or something. I’m more interested in covering the more important aspects… the food, and the shopping!

A typical morning breakfast traditional amongst the Chinese group, you get various forms of deep fried dough, or Chinese doughnut, some with fillings such as red bean paste, or crushed peanut. Served with a side of sweet soy milk. (warm).

A pancake! Very similar to Tayaki, this one contains a delicious chocolate filling.

A typical food court in Singapore. This one is located at Changi Villiage. Changi is where the airport is located, which is the eastern side of Singapore. Each food stall is privately owned, each stall renting from the people that own the entire complex. Typically, the owner of the complex is also the stall that sells beverages. Beverages make the most money in the complex, charging nearly 40% more for their drinks. Everyday, these people toil, day in and day out, while the patrons are local regulars with their own jobs and problems. This kind of cycle has been ongoing since forever.

More of the food court. This particular one is a massive pyramid-type building, with stalls lined all around, and more stalls filling the center.

Just outside the food court is a sort of open restaurant. It’s too early for dinner at the moment. But these kinds of restaurants function exactly as it would a typical asian restaurant, with menus, servers, bus boys, etc. Since Singapore weather is hot and consistent all year around, this type of business is sustainable.

Just outside the food court, you get a nice view of some trees. This is combined with the residential blocks around the area. Nothing really special except it shows what the edges of Singapore are like.

Lots of motorcycles. Purchasing cars are very expensive in Singapore due to import taxes and such. The total is typically TWICE the cost of buying a car in North America – the price of a luxury sports car like a Porche Boxter would get you a crappy Kia in Singapore. Motorcycles are a cheaper alternative. But even though there his a high price luxury for cars, there are still a lot of them in Singapore.

The central area of the food court. The one in pink with the bag is my wife! The photo isn’t clear, but there is a lot of smoke in here. It’s incredibly hot with everyone cooking their food. There is no air conditioning. Couple that with the extreme heat, and you’ve got a recipie for a headache.

A stray cat. Stray cats are a lot more typical in Singapore. They’re like the rats of Singapore so to speak, so as such, there aren’t many rodents around.

They were out of chicken rice, and everything else was either spicy, or unappetizing to me, or it was fish. Mostly fish. I made the mistake of settling for western food, and was also given this strange cakebread. That part isn’t white. It’s green. And that part in the middle isn’t chocolate. It’s bread. I don’t know why it looks like that.

The fries were decent, but the porkchop tasted like nothing. The good thing about it was it was a screaming deal.

Sugar Cane drink. Freshly squeezed! It’s incredibly refreshing and delicious! First time I’ve had one! Doesn’t top the Bandung though.

The back side of the food court. This is not a storage area. These are actually retail shops. It’s a huge reality check of what life is like for these people who share the same 42km wide island with other Singaporeans who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on merchandise. No offense meant by that statement.

Further along outside of the food court, we get to the beach. This is an inlet on this side actually.

Shot from the other side of the inlet. I wish I had brought my DSLR.

Yeah, the effects of a point and shoot just don’t do this area any justice.

Walking further we get to the beach proper. Lots of transport ships and things happen around here, so it’s rarely a peaceful horizon, but the breeze is cool, and the air is clean. The sand is also quite white and fine. It’s very relaxing here compared to the bustling life of Singapore’s downtown life. Many people purposefully travel out here to escape the busy lifestyle once in a while.

No idea how grass is growing out of the sand, but it’s very cool.

Feels like Singapore. Changi Village is situated near the Changi Airport, so every so often, you’ll see an airplane fly across the horizon from behind these trees. Like so:

Switching gears, here I am at one of Singapore’s countless shopping centers. I tell you, there is a shopping mall in some form at virtually every MRT station. MRT is Singapore’s “monorail” transit system (it’s not really a monorail, but it’s the most common descriptive I can think of at the moment. Singapore’s malls are just as proliferant as Singapore’s anime fandom blogging on the internet. I absolutely love shopping in Singapore. This is a shot of a restaurant called Long John Silver’s. Perhaps you’ve got one of these where you come from, but not me. As such, I haven’t had LJS in like, 4 years or something!

One of the many Kopitiam food courts. Kopitiam is sort of a franchise food court. It works similar to the rural food court where stall owners rent the stall from the building owner, but Kopitiam is on a much larger scale, with franchises in malls everywhere. I’m under the impression that Kopitiam also does some sort of quality control on the food they allow.

Watermelons. I’ve never seen a watermelon that’s yellow inside. Never in my entire life. From what I know, these are actually quite commonly found in Malaysia. Unfortunately, these unusually colored melons don’t taste as refreshingly sweet as their red counterparts.

Hand-pulled noodles with chicken cutlet, and a side of chicken broth with egg. I must say that it’s the best chicken cutlet I’ve ever had. Very crispy, not at all made soggy by the noodle sauce. The noodles were just the right consistency with a nice “bounce” to the chew. The savory sauce was just right, not too salty, and not too dry or wet. The veggies were also very fresh and tasty. All this for like, 5 bucks!

Fish soup. Piping hot from the “I sell fish type food products!” stall. It’s interesting how each stall specializes in one thing.

A true traditinal Singaporean breakfast. You can’t say you’ve truly lived in Singapore without having one of these – Kaya Toast (Kaya is like a kind of marmalade) Kopi (Singlish for Coffee!) and half-boiled eggs.

When I mean half-boiled, I mean very runny. Pour some soy sauce on it, stur it up, and drink! Mmmmmm!

Unfortunately, nobody seems to carry Orange Qoo anymore. Grape is an unworthy substitute.

Typical Singaporean mall design – lots of floors up. What I find absolutely incredible is that this used to be a double floor, totally ignored hole in the wall shopping center with a Value Village type of clothing store coupled with a low-end electronics store. Less than 4 years later, it’s now a bustling shopping mall featuring the latest and greatest merchandise, food, and even a two storey upside down xmas tree!

Singaporeans truly amaze me in terms of their constant updating, expanding, and augmenting. Heck, one of the department stores I used to go to (Metro) was torn down, and converted into a gauntlet of specialty boutiques! I couldn’t recognize it anymore – it was like a whole new mall!

zero percent “alcoholicity”. I found this product quite interesting, as what’s inside wasn’t alcohol, or even a beverage…

… but an umbrella. Innovative because you don’t need to place your wet umbrella into an umbrella stand, or hang it on your chair dripping wet. And you don’t have to wrestle and put it into a flimsy wet sleeve either. Just roll up, and put it into the plastic container. Done.

Cute asian products are cute.

This is an arcade “dress up your doll” game, where children can create an avatar, and literally buy clothes for it. The data is stored on the card. Thanks for ruining the young generation, Sega.

A new DJ Max of some sort. The entire thing is touch screen based with a bar that swipes over. There are prompts to tap, slide, and make patterns. I’d say this game is a combination of Project Diva meets Ouendan/EBA.

The latest new LG Chocolate. I believe it’s targetted towards the female market, as the adverts feature runway models. It’s got an ultra-wide screen for you to video capture those ultra-wide cat-walks. Honestly, I think it’s a very slick and sexy phone.

This ends my first post of Singapore. I apologize for my crappy photography, as most of these were taken in the spur of the moment, and mainly to remind me of what to write about. It gives you a general idea of what Singapore is like, but it most certainly doesn’t beat actually being here and living and breathing it (humid air and all).

But before I go, Singapore is an interesting balance between different worlds, different lives, and different goals, yet it all coexists together on this small island. It’s moments like these that are magical:

Stay tuned for my next post, as I visit Vivo City and other places!

We have acres and acres of great looking and tasting cukes

Greetings!  We are really enjoying Southern Arizona now, where the leaves are changing colors (yes, we DO have fall colors here) but the weather is still a comfortable mid-70s in the daytime.   In fact, with the exception of a few storms in Mexico (where our ranches, thankfully, sustained little to no damage) we have been blessed with ideal harvesting weather this year. 
 
That means that in this, our third week since the “formal” launch of our winter season, our crops are looking good and shipments are steady (See Jerry’s Crop Synopsis, below).
 
We are enjoying our final round of visits to receivers for the year, and looking forward to helping you plan your season promotions!
 
All the best,
Veronica Kraushaar,  Merchandising Manager

CROP SYNOPSIS:

Here is the outlook for the coming weeks:

Cucumbers – We are peaking on our fall crop, quality and volume are both excellent and pricing is more than reasonable.  Supplies look to be heavy the balance of the month and into the front end of December. 

Buying houses: what’s that about? Providing American stand-up comedians with the subject for a tediously inevitable rhetorical question? Middle-class angst alert! The baker and me have been trying to buy a house for a while: a humble little 2-bed Victorian terrace in Reigate, with an airy vibe (rising damp) and charming period features (a broken roof). Six months and a few thousand pounds later, we’ve downgraded our ambitions to the purchase of a secluded molecule of shit under a north-facing pebble in Blackpool. Well, not Blackpool – actually, the exact opposite of Blackpool; we’re trying to buy a flat in, erm, Guildford. I’ll probably write something about Guildford at some point; I don’t want to blow my bilious load just yet. Suffice to say I know, I know, I know.

I read a book once (I think it was Steven Shapin’s Social History of Truth, but I might be wrong) which had a bit about how trust is the cornerstone of any properly functioning society: in fact, it’s what our scientific knowledge of everything is based on. If I remember rightly, one of the arguments was that for us to successfully interact with the world around us, we have to put faith in what other people tell us. Whether it’s that a mechanic has fixed the brakes on our car, or that the car is actually a car and not a giant cake running on liquorice, we have to use what we’ve been told about the world to make assumptions and get things done.

A rather lovely implication is that we need other people to survive. Togetherness defines our humanity. We need to have some faith that other human beings have the capacity for honest decency in order for everything to function. Of course, you always need to assess the credentials of your information source: only an idiot would trust anything I ever say, for example.

But when you buy a house, the opposite is true. Assume other people are acting decently at your peril. In all likelihood, they’re not. House purchasing is like driving – it’s one of those few situations in life where it seems acceptable, and almost expected, that people will act like dementedly selfish fuck knuckles.

Imagine: you go into a grocers and buy, say, a big juicy-looking watermelon. You know it’s a watermelon – it says so on the sign, and also, it looks like a watermelon. You get it home; mmm, watermelon you’re thinking. Hubba-hubba. I like watermelon. Then you crack it open. Disappointment awaits. Instead of that nice juicy pink flesh bit, the inside is made of hypodermic needles and some grit. Not quite what you were expecting; understandably, you’re a bit irritated. Still, you take it back to the shop and the grocer kindly agrees to swap it for another one, apologising for the inconvenience in the meantime.

Now, say the watermelon is a house. The following is more likely: you see a nice watermelon on the internet and ring up to say you’re interested in buying it. They ask you what your financial predicament is. You lie and tell them it’s tight – you’ll struggle to pay the full price of the watermelon, but you’d like to see it anyway. The fruit and vegetable specialist drives you to the grocers. Once there, you’re shown a small rotting turnip. This is the only thing they have left. You tell the fruit and veg specialist that it isn’t quite what you were looking for. They tell you that the turnip is actually a watermelon and, anyway, it’s a good price for the area. You say you’re not sure. They tell you that with things the way they are, it’s either this or you starve. You cave in. You tell them you’ll take it, but for less than the advertised price. The fruit and veg specialist tells you this is out of the question: the price of turnips will only increase over the next year because there’s a national turnip shortage (even though turnips are actually selling for less and less). You cave in. You say you’ll pay the full price for the turnip. Then they tell you that somebody else has expressed interest in the turnip. You’ll need to pay over the asking price, otherwise you’ll miss out. You cave in. Whatever it takes, you just want the turnip. They say you can have the turnip. On one condition: you have to get a turnip specialist to assess the quality of the turnip. You pay the turnip specialist, who tells you the turnip is riddled with aphids. But you should still buy the turnip. You buy the turnip. It gives you food poisoning and you die.

On the plus side, your children get to keep what’s left of the turnip. They put it on the internet. The fruit and veg specialist rings up – some people are interested in buying a watermelon…

Buying houses. What’s that about? Grrrr. Sometimes I think we’d be better off handing over our life savings to the KLF*.

A tired but happy Elena Navarro and Steve Yubeta from Nogales, along with Jorge Perez who handles our mango program in Mexico, on the last day of the recent PMA Show.

By all reports, this was a record Show for exhibitors, attendance and general enthusiasm.   In a down marketplace, that says a lot about our industry and about the support of valuable customers like you.  

Current Crop & Activities

Fortunately, Tropical Storm “Rick”  came ashore much weakened and brought a little rain and wind to the ranch, but had very little to no damaging effects.  This from a storm that a few days earlier was reporting winds of up to 180 miles an hour!  We really dodged the bullet on this one. 

With the exception of that storm we have had exceptional weather and everything is on track for a volume and quality deal.

They sent the email about the field day a few weeks back and I decided I had to check it out. This was the first time I’ve done something outside of reading books for my gardening hobby, but I was interested in the seed saving presentation, put on by Tom Stearns. He started High Mowing Seeds as a hobby back in 96.

It was pretty cool to see all the vegetables and new varieties they were growing and you get to try everything when you walk around. The only pain was getting up to Wolcott, VT.

I guess Emeril Green was recording a show for Plant Green. So the camera man was following Tom around on the seed saving presentation. If I had known I would have shaved or something. I assumed since I was going to Vermont I was better off not showering or shaving to mingle with the crowd. Every real Vermonter knows that’s true.

The seed extractor machine. They grow all their own “wet seeds” (melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.) at High Mowing. So to get all the melon and squash seeds they send it through this machine. It squashes them and then tumbles the chunks. All the seeds land in the tray below the barrel.

Salad Greens and a view of some of the trial garden.

Hybrid Fennel

Hybrid Kohlrabi. This thing was insane. Normally kohlrabi is a little thing about the size of an apple. This thing was the size of an apple pie. It kinda tastes like a cabbage and broccoli with the texture of an apple. I may consider growing a couple next year.

Hybrid Cabbages

Soybeans. My soybeans didn’t even come close to these guys. I didn’t see a large rabbit population around though.

Ali Baba Watermelons. I should point out that I didn’t see any 19 pounders in their garden. Of course they’re zone 4 way up there.

I’m hoping that both will grow to their full size. The smaller watermelon appeared about 2 weeks ago but I wanted to give it time to be sure that it was indeed a fruit (and not still an unfertilized female ovary) and that it had grown enough to have a good chance of lasting. I love the bold striping!

In the past few days, we’ve had a bit of a heat wave in my area (mid-90s) and frankly, the rind of both melons appears to feel soft. I added a bit of extra water on those days and they both recovered fine, with rinds returning to their firm state.

When I think of Miss Shery I think of…

• Spoons
• Bag tags
• Frames
• Frogs
• Anything Nancy Thomas
• Big smiles
• Uncensored Conversation
• Potato soup
• Dominoes
• Khaki and her litter
• Stitch-n-Bitch
• Wooden kitchen tables
• Absolut ads
• Braids in Emily’s hair
• Noah’s ark
• Pottery
• Dave Letterman show
• How she saved “The Roof Club” from failing p.e.
• Watermelons
• Emily and Rob’s childhood art
• Tying our legs together for the three legged race–and a great pep talk:)
• Red Explorer
• Little happys

I miss and love her so much. I think of her daily and smile, laugh and cry!  Thanks for such wonderful memories Miss Shery!

There is a small produce store near where I live in Brooklyn, and I’ve seen this cat sleeping in the shade in the mornings next to a row of large watermelons, looking just a little bit too much like a striped watermelon itself. I was glad to finally have my camera when I came across him yesterday. Based on his expression, I don’t think he found his resemblance to the melons as amusing as I did.

It is miracle Saturday.  I don’t usually get online on a Saturday; let alone one that is rainy.  So, I thought I would share a bit of my life with you.

When I do get online, one of my favorite blogs is Crazy Aunt Purl.  I have secretly been thinking about living in L.A. a lot lately.  I have no idea why; okay, there is the warmer weather, but I would HATE the traffic.  But, Crazy Aunt Purl wrote a most moving blog on August 17; when the gardeners her landlord hired totally destroyed her garden.  It was an act of vandalism, as far as I am concerned.  My heart  sunk when I saw it, I can only imagine how she felt when she came home and discovered it.  Her rows of beautiful corn, I have four stalks that have yet to reach knee height, and her pumpkin vines are now just like four sticks sticking up, with one tiny pumpkin sitting forelornly in the mud.  How mean can someone be, to do that to a person, after that person has worked for months to put food, they grew, on the table?

Anyway, that is how they grow, with tender loving care, in Sunny L.A.  This has been a cool year and this is how they have grown in rainy, cool, Indiana this year.

Let’s just hope these striped babies are well hidden from the two orphan fawns that are eating my ripe tomatoes.

My pumpkin patch is creeping out into the grass, which is now impossible to mow without cutting the pumpkins.  It originates from the top o the picture (where the tomato cages are and is growing out to the bottom of the picture, and on the right side, even growing up the side of my studio.

And, here is one of my baby yellow pumpkins in this patch.

To end up, I will show you what IS tornado damage.  The expert came out to one house and declared it to be straight wind but my yard was damaged with things falling in a circular pattern throughout.  I have very thick hostas in front of my studio.  I was going to thin them this fall, but this is what I have on one side now. 

You can see the progressive damage as the wind whipped around.  The sticks at the corner of the studio were full grown hosta just as the one under the window is; even though it is also beaten a bit.  This is one side of the door, the plants on the other side of the door were barely damaged at all.  The tree to the right of this building, past my garden, had a large limb ripped off and it went to the right.  The limb on my roof was knocked to the right, and all around my yard, they were knocked down in that swirl pattern.

My next door neighbor was home during the storm and he heard the freight train sound, so I am presuming the eye went over their house.

Let me tell you about these killer watermelons. Apparently they are super sweet and straight out of Iraq. They were sent to the guy who runs rareseeds.com before the Iraq War. Rumor has it you can’t find them in Iraq anymore. I hope someone is planning on sending back the Ali Baba.

Anyway these things look kinda like a giant fat cucumbers when they get full size and are 14-20lbs.  I got a few more pounds to go, but this mid 90s weather is certainly helping. Hopefully they’ll make it before first frost.

It seems that everywhere I go this Summer I see signs for “Personal Watermelons”.  Is this a new variety or have I just not been paying attention?  Does this not sound stupid to anybody else?  Does it not conjure images of somebody sitting all alone at the family picnic, unwilling to share their melon with anybody else, spitting seeds at those who dare to get too close to their precious fruit?  “It’s mine!  All MINE!”  It’s an effing watermelon.  And I imagine that there is some perfectly lovely name for the variety.  Or is this all a part of the grand downsizing of America?  Slap a new name on it and charge the same price?  Hopefully it’s just a fad.  Are there fads in the world of fruit?  Maybe next year the economy will be booming and there will be strawberries so big that families of 6 will eat for a week off of one (Never you mind the genetic modifications that would be needed to produce such a berry…).  Personal Watermelons will be rotting on the vine as people march out, triumphantly, heads held high, to enjoy their fruit in the light of day.  All are welcome!  Bring a fork!

My first watermelon is growing! It was a mere one week ago that I posted a photo of a female watermelon blossom’s ovary, with hopes that it would be fertilized with the pollen of one of the many male blossoms on the vine. The “stem” below the male blossom is thin, versus the swollen ovary below the female blossom. The fertilized ovary of the female blossom is now en route to becoming a watermelon. Wow! I have placed it on top of a broken piece of brick, to prevent this fruit from resting upon moist soil, and hopefully reduce its risk of rotting from prolonged contact with unnecessary moisture.

If you click on the photo, you will see a few of the male blossoms – compare that with the photo on my August 8 posting and you will see the difference between male and female blossoms.

I’m very happy that, with some good luck and good care, I will have a watermelon to enjoy soon. And it’s grown in a container!

Are your melons sizing up big and bodacious, so appealing that’s the first place your eyes dart when you step into the garden?  Go on, admit it (to yourself if not to me) – you couldn’t keep your hands of the first one or two, plucking them from vine in anticipation of the sweet taste of summer.

Then you bit into it, and that bland tasting melon left your hopes dashed in the realization that appearances can be deceiving.  

You’re not alone in wondering how to tell if your fruit is ripe.  Pick a melon too soon, and their sugars never reach full potential, leaving your taste buds disappointed.  Pick too late, and your melon is a mushy mess, so soft your fingers push through the rind when you lift it.

You could check your seed packet for an idea of how large the melon will be at maturity and go with the textbook descriptions of readiness.  But gauging ripeness takes finesse and all of your senses – touch, smell, sight – before you reap the rewards.  And practice makes perfect.

A better technique is to count the days.  Roughly one month after the plant flowers, melons begin ripening.  

Look for melons to be full-bodied and heavy for their size; some changes in fruit color to yellow or tan also can occur.  They should be neither firm nor soft on the blossom end (opposite the stem) when pressed lightly. 

Muskmelons develop a wonderful fragrance and slip from stems easily when ripe.  If you look closely at your melon as it nears ripeness, you’ll see a crack develop around the stem as it attaches to the fruit.   Go with melon color first for a ripeness indicator, then slipping from the vine.

Honeydews, canary, and watermelons have subtler signals and don’t slip from the vine on their own, so plan to cut them.  Look for a slight shift to yellower color with honeydews and canaries. 

Watermelons tell you they’re ripe when their belly turns cream or yellow and the two tendrils closest to the fruit have withered.  Devotees of the tapping method listen for the sound of a full, drum-like resonance, with high pinging notes indicating under ripeness and lower-sounding thuds over ripeness.  Train yourself to hear the sounds by watching the tendrils and belly color, tapping as the fruit ripens. 

Notice the ovary attached to this female watermelon blossom!  I am very hopeful that a helpful bee was able to pollinate this blossom from the many male blossoms on this plant. This female blossom suddenly appeared and the blossom was already closed when I found it. With some good luck, this may develop into my first homegrown watermelon, in a container of course!

Here’s my second installment of my Slice of Summer blog entries! I finally finished the hunt today woot! I did use the hints a couple of times for the hard ones, but most I did on my own. Since the whole theme of the hunt is watermelons, I decided I’d dress Evie up as a watermelon!

She wears the dress from Elsie Shop, the hat from :Risusipo Shop:: (which comes with a Chipmunk Cannon and a Pink Otter!) and the shoes are from the [Sassy Kitty Designs] outfit. The hut, which is called ‘K’s Japanese Old Shop’ is part of the prize from “K’s House & K’s+M Shop’. The prize also includes the ‘Eat The Watermelon Chair’ (which is a table with sitting poses on) and the ‘SUIKA Red Box‘, which has the watermelons inside. The watermelons on the ground are the boxes that some of the prizes came in.

Credits:

Hair- +yuzukmaiya+ ‘Tsuyoshi + Bordeaux’

Skin- [RockBerry] ‘Megan A Natural’ (Not part of hunt- lucky chair freebie)

Dress- Elsie Shop ‘Watermelon #068′

Shoes- [Sassy Kitty Designs] ‘Summer heels pink base’

Hat- :Risusipo shop:: ‘Slice of Summer’

Mouth- A&M ‘Watermelon Baby Outfit’

Hand- “K’s House + K’s+ M shop Part of ‘SUIKA House’ set

Necklace- Candy nail ‘# FA Watermelon Necklace’

Earrings- Cutie Honey ‘Watermelon Special Gift’

Props:

K’s House + K’s+ M Shop ‘SUIKA House’- K’s Japanese Old Shop, Eat the Watermelon Chair, SUIKA Red Box.

Loose Melons- Gift boxes from other stores

Oh, I can’t tell you how excited I am! This is my very first successful effort in growing watermelon from seed. It is looking very healthy and I’d planted several seeds in other containers that have been “quiet” so far.

I am hopeful that I’ll be enjoying at least one yummy watermelon by summer’s end!

Each summer as a young boy growing up in western Sussex County I joined my friends working in the watermelon fields. Helping to unload melons and cantaloupes at the Laurel Farmers’ Auction Market – the Block – or actually picking and packing in the fields were, back in the 1960s and 1970s, about the only jobs available to those of us who didn’t drive.

But it was hard, dirty, crazy work. On more than one occasion we ended up with Florida crews – professional watermelon pickers who followed the crop north in ramshackle trucks.

The crews were a cutthroat group that lived from day to day with little regard for the future. They were like land pirates.

How we survived with that lot is still a mystery to me.

I’ve witnessed knife fights, seen things a boy of 14 should never see and heard stories that would keep most people up at night.

I saw one guy spend his entire Friday paycheck at a quick market. I got into an argument with another who claimed there were 52 states. I saw one man nearly drown when he got tangled up in snakes in an old dirt pit pond.

Some lived in migrant camps outside of Laurel; others shared rooms in run-down motels. I’m convinced some slept under their trucks.

The crew lived in a world and culture of its own. There was a hierarchy as well. Only certain members of the crew were permitted to cut the ripe melons; others were designated as stackers in the trucks; others were pickers. I never saw members of the crew change jobs, but I presume they did.

Those of us who were added to the crew were always pickers who grabbed the cut melons and passed them down the line to the stackers.

There is one thing the crews did well – pick watermelons. Once you got in the line, melons literally flew by you to the truck where they were loaded for shipment.

Once work started, usually at dawn, it didn’t stop until noon. And then after a lunch break, it didn’t stop again until sunset. And if the truck wasn’t full, they broke out lights and kept on working.

If you weren’t a man when you started on Monday, you were by the end of the workday on Friday – if you could survive the week.

As strange as it sounds, if you worked hard, eventually you were accepted among those who worked on the Florida crews. Although they lived by their own set of rules, they appreciated those who contributed to the overall goal of the day – picking the field clean.

Make your place of work as healthy as you can. Avoid carb filled and reheated snacks sugary drinks and common cafeteria food and go for a healthier alternative. What can be healthier than fruits? Watermelons are high in dietary fiber, natural sugar and Vitamin C. The carotenoids in them help in lowering the risk of some types of cancer. Honeydews, which are available in winter, are full of Vitamin C, carotenoids and natural sugars. Lemons, with their medical properties are included in antidotes for poisons and in aromatherapy. They are good antioxidants and eaten daily, their skin help in Lemon skins eaten daily, help in increasing muscle recovery. Kiwi fruits are a storehouse of nutrition, with a high content of dietary fiber and vitamin C. They also protect you against DNA damage. Eating grapes regularly may protect you from Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, degenerative nerve disease, viral infections and certain types of cancer. Grape is an energy giving fruit with its high natural sugar content, high dietary fiber content, Vitamin A and C as well as potassium.

Live healthily

The best way to avail a wide variety of fruits daily is by ordering the Hi5 Corporate fruit basket. You can be sure that you will get the very best of what’s in season……apples, oranges, lemons, pears, mangoes, bananas, peaches, grapes, apricots, kiwi, blood oranges, plums, and much more. What’s more, each fruit delivery includes an informative newsletter on healthy living. Just dial (408) 778-6476 or contact them online at sales@Hi5produce.com for a prompt and enthusiastic response. Or you can fax them at 408-782-6052 or go to their website and order. [www.hi5produce.com ]

Owners Denise and Dan Locsin promote health and wellness to their friends and customers by introducing the Yokebar Training System and The Train For Life [TFL] system. Together, Denise and Dan created Hi5 Produce, Hi5 Fitness, and Hi5 Health Network.