Week 13

Another melon season is almost over with and once again I missed my opportunity to attempt a square watermelon.  I don't have an interest in attempting to replicate tennis ball size strawberries or the square watermelons of Japan's luxury fruit scene to sell but one of these years I will find time to mess with some watermelons for the fun of it.  They just look so unusual, even if they taste the same.

In your boxes today is a melon that is probably our favorite (so hard to choose).  Melons in general hold a soft spot for us because one the fondest memories of our courtship is the two us sampling all of the melons that the farm Kelly worked on in Maine grew.  It was maybe my first experience of the gluttony(in a positive sense, if that is possible) of being on a farm affords.  Cutting into melon after melon, passing up the occasional mediocre one and eating well beyond the "I can't eat another bite of melon" moment.  Kelly gave me the nickname of Sweetie #6 that summer.  Sweetie #6 was a butterscotch melon that you can no longer get seed for, but Serenade, which is in your box today, is similar and the only butterscotch melon I have been able to find.

There is a melon article from Saveur magazine that I cut out and read to Kelly when I first saw it because I knew that he would relate to it as much as I did.  It is still hanging around our house seven years later.  If you love melons you might enjoy reading it.  I am including one of my favorite sections below and it speaks a little bit to what I mean when I use the word gluttony in terms of sampling produce and the joy that can come with it.

A couple approach. The husband, a fondler and caresser, picks up a smooth, yellow-skinned Charentais melon, inhales its fragrance. "These smell fantastic," he says. He turns to his wife. "Let's get a couple of them."  

The wife pinches the clasp of her purse with both hands. "No," she says, "we couldn't eat that much. Remember, we'll be away on Saturday."

I'm thinking to myself, the two of you couldn't eat a pair of these little melons in three days? I eat one by myself in about three minutes, standing in a muddy field with my pocketknife in my hand, cutting off slices and tossing the chewed rinds in every direction. And 20 minutes later I eat another one.

Lettuce
Carrots
Zucchini
Serenade Melon
Piel de Sapo Melon - Large Only 
Cherry Tomato
Cucumber - Large Only These are last round of the Japanese style cucumber we grow.  We have battled the cucumber beetle all summer and they are winning!  You will notice some bug damage, but the bigger problem is that they are spreading bacterial wilt and the plants are dying.
Sweet Onions
Collards - Large Only