Harvest Moon

...and a melon 17 years in the making

I have to admit that I did not pay much attention to the Harvest Moon this year. For that matter, I don’t pay much attention to the Harvest Moon most years. At least I don’t pay attention to the full moon that lands closest to the Autumnal Equinox any more than I do any other full moon.

You can certainly take this statement a couple of ways. Either you can assume that I pay some attention to every full moon - at least a little bit - and the Harvest Moon would be no different. Or, you could consider that the Harvest Moon comes at a time when I have, traditionally, been pretty busy … um… harvesting.

The truth is a little of both. I do take note of the moon whenever I walk in its light. It’s hard not too. And both Tammy and I pay attention as it goes through its phases. In fact, there was a time we scheduled our trips to the “Park” (aka processor) for our meat birds around full moons because it gave us some natural light to work with when we were loading birds up.

But it’s also true that our attention is often demanded by the harvest at our farm as well.

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It was not long and forever ago that the Genuine Faux Farm provided as many as 120 farm shares via a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. By the time the Harvest Moon came around, we had typically delivered thirteen to fifteen weeks of the 20 week season. This was often after a five or six week pre-season share program for a smaller group of subscribers. And, of course, Tammy started her school semester at the end of August and was well into Fall Term. And then there were the trips to the “Park” on top of it all.

To put it bluntly, we were often too tired to do much more and nod at the moon as we walked in its light to finish evening chores.

The key here is that we still acknowledged the moon and recognized its significance and beauty. Farming isn’t just about working hard, nor is it about exhausting oneself (even if it happens). Farming, for me, is also about recognizing the world around us and exercising feelings of awe and wonder that come with it. I might not have always had the energy to make much of a big deal about it, but my heart - and the depths of my soul - recognizes and feels the joy of it.

This year, like every year that has gone before it, is different than its predecessors. We are tired for many reasons. Some are the same as they were five, or ten, or even seventeen years ago. Others are very different. Yet we still acknowledge the beauty of the moonlit skies and the glowing orb that lights them. And we still partake in the stress, strain… and joy that the harvest brings.

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Ha’Ogen melon

Last year we had great success with a single row of heirloom melons in Valhalla, our larger high tunnel. We selected some varieties we were very familiar with (Eden’s Gem, Emerald Gem and Ha’Ogen). In each case, we knew we liked their taste and we felt that their vine length was not too excessive to be in the high tunnel. We grew Pride of Wisconsin outside because it vines a bit too much… except I couldn’t help myself and put in a couple at the end of the row in Valhalla.

We were rewarded with a harvest that extended over a period of five to six weeks. Can you imagine being able to break your fast with a recently harvested melon most mornings for several weeks in a row? I can - because I was privileged enough to experience it.

So, you can imagine that we were anxious to repeat that harvest miracle in 2024. We were most anxious to repeat Eden’s Gem and Ha’Ogen and decided to drop Emerald Gem. Instead, we wanted to trial a few other melons just to see what they would do. The idea was to plant only two or three each of the trial melons. The bulk of the row would be the two varieties that have a track record of success in the high tunnel AND the two that had our vote for best taste.

The seedlings were healthy and ready to transplant, so I took them out to the high tunnel in their tray, intending to plant them at the end of the day. But something happened between that morning moment and the evening moment when I went out to put them in the ground. A fawn wormed its way into the high tunnel and proceeded to eat nearly all of the melons in the tray.

And that’s how dreams can be dashed between two moments on a small-diversified farm like ours.

Prescott Fond Blanc

Of course, the deer ate or damaged all of the Eden’s Gem and Ha’Ogen, leaving us with a few plants of each that were salvageable. But they left us with all of the Prescott Fond Blanc melon starts. Well… we have enough experience here at the Genuine Faux Farm to know that disaster simply means we execute a new plan.

This was probably Plan K… we’d already had to discard Plans A through J.

When we first started the Genuine Faux Farm in 2004, we wanted to do our best to identify heirloom, heritage and open-pollinated varieties that could be commercially viable on our farm. As a result, we spent the next several years trialing different varieties of most crops. I think we tried most of the heirloom melons Seed Savers offered over time - excluding some that were obviously not going to fit our operation.

There was a flirtation with Canoe Creek Colossal, a giant, soft-skinned melon that the insect pests loved and we would have too if we could have gotten to them before the fruit were destroyed. We liked the idea of Boule d’Or and its ability to be stored for weeks, but had a bit of a problem convincing ourselves that it tasted good enough for the effort.

And there was the perennial failure that was Prescott Fond Blanc.

Prescott Fond Blanc is a rock melon and is described by Seed Savers as having a wonderful fragrance. And for me, a wonderful melon fragrance often implies an interesting and possibly enjoyable taste. So, of course, we wanted to successfully grow a few and try them.

We tried them in 2007. The vines looked great. Until they didn’t. And then they all died.

We tried again in 2008, thinking it might have been user error. Those died too.

I think we dabbled with them a couple more times with similar results. Then the seeds disappeared from Seed Savers catalogs or…. maybe I became selectively blind to their presence. I can’t be sure which it was anymore. It could very well be the latter because it can be painful to admit that a particular variety had defied our efforts to grow it to maturity.

So, we come to 2024 and that flame in my heart came back and said, “we can grow a couple of these… surely we can!” Then, the deer ate nearly everything else and I was left with pretty much just the melon I’ve never successfully grown before.

Yay?

Eden’s Gem

The good news for us is that the small number (2 or 3 each) of Eden’s Gem and Ha’Ogen plants that survived the great deer catastrophe of 2024 grew and produced some melons for us. So, while we haven’t had melons every morning for weeks, we have had a chance to enjoy them.

Eden’s Gem are what I would call a “personal sized” melon. When we have them, Tammy and I will eat one each at a sitting. They are green fleshed, sometimes with a light gold tinging in the seed cavity. Their taste often has a bit of nutmeg flavoring which really makes them stand out and their texture is softer and they are quite juicy. I remember bringing this melon to a long-time farmers’ market vendor along with a couple of other heirloom melons. She tasted the first two and shrugged. Then she tried this one and wanted to take some home for later.

However, if I had to choose one melon it would be Ha’Ogen. These melons are bigger, typically weighing in at three to four pounds. For context, Tammy and I will usually share one of these. Again, the flesh is green with orange/gold closer to the seed cavity. As far as taste goes, it is hard to describe as it is fairly complex for a melon. Let me just quote the market vendor in the Disney version of Aladdin, “Try this! Your taste buds will dance and sing!”

And, this year, I got my wish and had my first success growing Prescott Fond Blanc. They were rejected by deer, so they felt they had something to prove.

The vines were, simply put, too robust for high tunnel growing. As a result, we had a nasty aphid outbreak. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it did make some things much more difficult to do. But, even so, we probably had a couple dozen viable fruit. There were several that I did not harvest in time before they were breached (opened up) and the various buggies did their best to feast on them. But this is part of growing a new melon, you have to learn how to determine when they are ripe. It turns out they turn from a whitish-green to grey-white to tan in color - which is the sign that you should harvest.

We have now managed to eat a couple Prescott Fond Blanc melons (weighting five to seven pounds). The outer rind is very hard and the flesh is very firm. As advertised, they do smell nice too! The seed cavities are quite small, given the size of the melon and it takes the two of us a couple of sittings to eat one.

But you’re all probably waiting for our judgement on taste, aren’t you? And you’re probably guessing that we aren’t sold on it because we didn’t jump right to that.

And you would be correct.

The fragrance makes you think you’re really in for a treat, but when you bite into the melon it doesn’t deliver on the promise. If you like firmer melons, you’ll love the texture. And it tastes… fine. For that matter, I am guessing there are a whole bunch of people out there that would dislike Ha’Ogen, but love Prescott Fond Blanc. But, in this case it’s Tammy’s and my opinions that count… because we get to decide if it is going to be on the grow list next year.

Maybe I built it up with seventeen years of anticipation and there was no way it was going to reach my impossible standards - especially when it was being directly compared to Ha’Ogen?

In the end, it doesn’t matter. We’ve had success. Prescott Fond Blanc grew to maturity at the Genuine Faux Farm. The Genuine Faux Farmers consumed Prescott Fond Blanc melons. They were edible and they smelled great.

And, actually, it’s kind of nice to know that I can still achieve new things at the farm. I may have initially walked by this accomplishment and nodded, just like I do with the Harvest Moon. But there was still joy in my heart and contentment in my soul when I did so.