The month of October

A few words about October…
Fall…
Leaves…
Halloween…
Harvest…
Pumpkins…
Apples…
Watermelon…
WATERMELON?!? Yes, watermelon. Never in my memory have I thought about watermelon in October. It’s one of those fruits thought of on a hot summer day during a barbeque or picnic, but this year that changed. We grew watermelon in our back yard mostly because Savannah wanted to. Since we had just moved in to a new house the back yard was dirt and we decided that since we would not be able to make any significant improvements to that dirt this summer that we could have an insane garden and take up any part of our yard that we so desired. Thus, watermelon was on the menu when we begun planting.

The watermelon was interesting to watch. For a while we didn’t think we would get any “girl flowers” and, therefore, no fruit. The first plant that came up was actually a seed that was dropped in the gutter of the hill in which it was supposed to be planted. This plant was also the last to have any flowers whatsoever. By the end of the season, our biggest watermelon was thriving on this stray plant that we almost pulled up.

The first frost approached and we had to get our vegetables covered, harvested, or killed. We decided that covering and uncovering every day was going to be too much for us (at least too much for the kids to handle me walking outside to do it for five minutes), so the harvest came in. Our watermelons (we got seven of them) did not seem quite ripe, but we went for it anyway. They are delicious! They are not that dark red color nor are most of them very large, but they taste wonderful. I never thought I would be chopping up watermelon from the garden the last week in October.

Since I decided to open up our biggest watermelon the day after carving pumpkins, I decided to have a little fun with it. I carefully sliced the top off and scooped out the watermelon inside (with a lot of taste testing during the process). The added bonus to this method was that the seeds were astonishingly easy to remove and now Sid will actually eat the watermelon. I created a picture of four little ghosts in a window and carved my watermelon. It looked delightful with its dark green exterior and pink interior and I had a great time carving it! I honestly didn’t think it would work out and was sure it would wilt away during the night, but it held up well. October has now become a month during which watermelon can be harvested, eaten, and carved, but only if you grow it yourself and allow yourself some creativity after the harvest!