Holy apples and melons
by Kelli Bowen
Last week, I convinced Miss E to be my muse for a photo shoot, which she obliged. We went down by the apple trees and discovered that one tree was ripe.
Fast forward a few days, and we headed back down with a plan to pick the apples to make apple sauce.
We picked one apple: bruised. We picked another and met the resident living inside. The next one: holes. Every apple we picked was damaged. I know. If I were starving and patient, I could have cut around the damaged parts and still made applesauce. I could feel the disappointed stares from my long-deceased foremothers, but I wasn’t interested in having a whole day of trying to save parts of apples.
We gave up on applesauce and headed to the garden. We picked watermelons instead. I don’t remember successfully growing watermelon in the past, but we had several melons that looked like contenders.
We ended up with eight watermelon and just like any other homegrown food, they tasted amazing.
Miss A didn’t love that they were full of seeds, not like those seedless bums from the grocery store, but she very much enjoyed digging the seeds out to save them for next year.
I enjoy a little Tajin on my watermelon. Try it next time you have some, trust me: it’s so good!
If a person ever has too much watermelon, you can cube it and put it on a sheet pan in your freezer, then vacuum-seal the pieces once they’re frozen.
We gave the chickens some rinds when we were done, so after a disappointing apple morning, it was a good day for creatures who enjoy watermelon. Even if the day doesn’t start how a person intended, sometimes it turns out pretty sweet anyway.
Kelli, a North Dakota girl through and through, has made her home from the eastern prairies to the western badlands with her supportive Hubby, two daughters, and ever-growing menagerie accompanying her along the way.