The coming of fall heralds change on every American calendar. Typically one of the busiest times of the year, it triggers a flurry of back-to-school shopping, last minute vacations, reluctant school-goers, fall sports schedules, and a heap of locally grown melons.
Rhinebeck resident and author Amy Goldman is widely recognized as a person in-the-know regarding melons. A private grower for over 30 years, Goldman began her journey toward cultivating expertise when someone taught her to grow watermelons using black plastic mulch. Her success with this method, which helps trap heat and regulate moisture, contradicted the notion that melons couldn’t thrive in northern climates. Buoyed by her success, Goldman expanded her efforts to include a variety of heirloom melons and began entering her results in the Dutchess County Fair competitions. These contests are judged mostly on the basis of size and her watermelons were often the largest. Her frequent success set her up as a go-to expert for advice on raising your own melons in the valley.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Goldman put her melon and general produce savvy to public use by authoring Melons for the Passionate Grower, The Compleat Squash, and Rare Forms. She uses her advocate’s voice to promote various heirloom varieties, which means an array of colors and shapes when it comes to melons. Her main source of inspiration, Seed Savers’ Exchange (www.seedsavers.org), is an organization dedicated to the preservation of America’s garden heritage. This seed movement’s “poster child,” as Goldman calls it, is the unique moon and stars watermelon. It’s known for its dark green rind dotted with small yellow stars and one large yellow “moon.” The colorful melon comes in several shapes and, depending on the strain, produces either sweet pink or yellow flesh. Its stunning rind and tasty flesh has made it a favorite among private and commercial growers alike.
Those who love good cantaloupe can count on John Hand of Greenwich to produce intensely sweet melons. The Hand Melon Farm, east of Saratoga, grows varieties of cantaloupe so well-known for their exceptional flavor that they were dubbed “Hand melons” in the 1920s. The farm typically devotes 10 acres a year to the melons, which they carefully handle in order to prevent the many diseases to which these fruits are prone. They’re available from late July through mid-September and can range from four to six pounds, depending on the season. While this yield is a little smaller than some better-known commercial varieties, Hand states his cantaloupes make up for their small size through intensity in sweetness and flavor. The signature flavor profile of these Hand melons makes them popular as mail-order items directly from the farm, or in the Saratoga and Capital Region farm stands at which they can be found.
Watermelon has been a summer fruit staple in produce markets across the country for years. It appears in produce departments around April or May, picks up in volume through June and July, and tapers out in October. It’s become an iconic symbol of summer, representing sweet, crisp, cooling refreshment for countless melon fans. But while watermelon appears in bulk for most of the summer, commercially grown local melons don’t arrive on the scene until sometime in August. This may seem late in the season, but the melons cultivated by commercial growers require months of maturation. Since this region’s climate precludes planting melons early in the spring, it naturally follows that harvest occurs late for local growers. Once they do hit the markets, though, there are plenty of regionally produced melons from which to choose.
Taliaferro Farms (www.taliaferrofarms.com) offers more than 90 varieties of certified organic produce, one of which is the popular sugar baby watermelon. Located in scenic New Paltz, the 34-acre farm sits within sight of the Shawangunk Mountains and the iconic Mohonk Tower. It began in 1995 when Pete and Robin Taliaferro bought the land in order to begin their dream of running an organic, sustainable farm. They devote 21.5 of their 34 acres to the practice of community supported agriculture, or CSA. For those unfamiliar with the term, CSA allows communities to buy into a portion of the farm’s annual harvest in advance. This allows members, as the CSA produce-investors are called, to take home a share of the farm’s weekly harvest from spring clear through Thanksgiving. The variety shifts as the seasons progress, resulting in a broad range of choices for members throughout the membership year. That means plenty of watermelon come the months of August through mid-October.
Taliaferro says he chose to grow the well-known sugar baby melon for its sweet, crisp flesh—characteristics that no doubt lend to its popularity. Of the 21.5 acres he farms for produce, roughly three-quarters of an acre is devoted to the fruit. Taliaferro plants them in May to avoid the heavy rains and cold weather that sometimes persist through April. It’s a paradox of the plant world that the watermelon, which obviously contains a great deal of water, doesn’t actually need much of it to grow. In fact, Taliaferro said, most of the diseases to which watermelons are prone are brought on by moisture. Too much water can encourage cucumber beetles, which leave little trail-like scars on melons, or can even cause the fruit to burst. It’s therefore imperative to plant watermelon in the right environment with proper irrigation. Successful crops yield a wealth of refreshing melons that are popular with consumers and producers alike.
Paul Wigsten of Wigsten Farm in Pleasant Valley devotes two acres of his farm to five watermelon varieties, and lends additional acreage to Charentais melons (similar to cantaloupe) and honey-orange honeydews. This honeydew varietal has orange flesh, offers more flavor than most other honeydews, and has become a popular choice among melon lovers who appreciate a richer melon flavor. Although Wigsten Farm employs organic growing tactics with all of their produce, they don’t go through the lengthy certification process that Taliaferro Farms uses. Wigsten’s watermelon yield produces the sugar baby variety, as well as the lesser-known sunshine, new orchid, sorbet swirl, and the heirloom moon and stars varieties. This broad varietal range allows for slightly different flavor profiles and more variation in color. The sweet flesh of sorbet swirl, for instance, looks just like it sounds: a swirl of red and yellow. The sunshine variety is yellow and the new orchid is orange. Add the striking moon and stars, and you have a color variety that adds a splash to any dish or table set with the popular fruit. Wigsten’s produce appears at Millbrook Farmers’ Market and in Adam’s Fairacre Farm locations.
With the watermelon’s popularity comes any number of wives’ tales on how to select a perfectly ripe, crisp and juicy fruit. Some people choose to thump their watermelon in search of a hollow sound. Some roll them around on a flat surface, looking for a uniform shape. Still others bounce them up and down in their hands, hoping to ascertain the melon’s ripeness by judging how heavy it is for its size. There are so many ways to pick a watermelon, in fact, that the task of choosing one can be confusing and lead to a less-than-perfect choice. Hoping to clear the confusion, Sylvester Taliaferro, Paul Wigsten, and Amy Goldman have all been happy to recommend some advice. For the best possible results, Taliaferro suggests you pick your own straight from the vine; start by selecting a healthy plant, then choose a watermelon whose stem-juncture is accompanied by a dry and curly tendril. If you don’t grow your own fruit, though, select a melon that comes straight from a trusted source. Membership in Taliaferro Farms’ program allows for that, as all of their produce is picked fresh by the people who run the farm daily. For those without access to the benefits of CSA membership, try Wigsten’s advice when you select melons at farmers’ markets and produce stands: Look for a yellow or orange spot on the belly of the melon. Any stem left on the fruit should come off easily without a lot of force. And lastly, check the rind for firmness to insure the melon you select isn’t overripe; soft melons should be left alone or you’ll be left with a mealy, mushy melon. For the more adventurous who still insist on perfection, Goldman suggests growing your own golden midget watermelon. Golden midgets have salmon-pink flesh, and you can easily detect when they’re perfectly ripe because the entire rind turns golden-yellow when ready. With such a visually obvious cue, it’s a wonder this heirloom variety isn’t a more popular choice at produce stands.
The region is ripe with produce stands and farmers’ markets. While the coming of fall heralds changes in schedules and climates, it also provides a wonderful opportunity to experience locally grown melons. Stop by your local farmers’ market or join a CSA, pick up a melon, and see for yourself. An astounding variety of refreshing sweetness awaits you.
This article appears in September 2007.
