February 29, 2008 - Melon Farm
All about melons!
Here’s one of the few photos of the two of us together on the trip.
This melon farm was on a floodplain adjacent to a river. Across the river (which isn’t visible in this photo,) is a national park. It was a stunning place for a farm field.
These melons are ready for harvest. This farm needs five melons per square meter to be profitable.
The farm had a number of beehives for pollination. The river had a number of large mean reptiles up to 15 feet long that make it not such a good place to swim.
The melons all loaded in the wagon and hauled to the packing house.
The side of the wagon is tilted down and the melons tumble into a light chlorine bath.
The first round of hand sorting as the melons float by.
The melons are packed and sold according to size (how many fit in a box). These were labeled “Honeydew” melons destined for Europe, even though they looked like squash, they tasted like a honeydew melon.
