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Growing a Watermelon

 While most of this blog since it's rebirth has been focused on "growing a watermelon" in terms of having a baby...

I thought I'd take a more literal approach and do an update on the actual watermelons we grew! What is funny is that we planted our watermelon seeds back in April, and tonight we finally ate one. So that took about 9 months seed-to-table.

And I'm on my 9th month of growing a baby! 

Moral of the story - don't eat watermelon seeds. 

We are in the midst of my absolute favorite gardening season in the Sonoran Desert -- The winter garden! (Yes, we get to garden year-round here). In the winter we grow things like: all the greens, carrots, beets, broccoli, Brussels. Right now we still are enjoying some of our long summer crops such as butternut squash, eggplant, and watermelon. Squash has a very long growing season - partly because we had such a dry summer. 

Here is what we are enjoying currently via pictures :) 


Here is a bowl of greens! We currently have baby kale, 2 varieties of romaine, 2 varieties of swiss chard, mustard greens, & arugula. Since I am working from home and Ryan has been 50% of the time -- we seriously go through a bowl like this every 2 days right now!


Here is an example of one of the almost daily dishes we enjoy! I just sautee a bunch of vegetables and crack a few eggs in it!

Look how yellow our farm fresh eggs are!...I have a little secret!


The more vegetables your chickens eat, the more yellow and vibrant their yolks! We give our chickens basil, sweet potato vines, and any weeds I pull from the garden and they love it! 
This is Blanche & Dorothy, by the way.


Here is a pitcher of fresh-squeezed limeaid that Ryan made the other day! 
I have been craving all the citrus things...so feel like I could drink this entire thing if it didn't have so much sugar ;) 


He made it with fresh-squeezed limequats from our tree! And stevia in the raw! 


This is our biggest watermelon that we grew this year. 
We had to put it in a sling because it was so heavy!




And tonight we finally cut into one of the melons and got to enjoy! 
It was delicious!!! 







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Comments

Lisa's Yarns said…
That is crazy that it took that long to grow the watermelon!! Must be something with the climate or soil that took it so long to grow! I know they grow them here but it can’t take 9 months with our super short growing season! It looks like it was worth the wait. I love watermelon so much and am the only one who eats them in my house but I can easily eat a whole one on my own over the course of a week! Best summer treat!!! Love the parallel of you growing a baby at the same time!!
January 20, 2021 at 7:38 AM
Marlys said…
Wow, your produce and garden are beautiful! I can’t wait to see it in person and meet your chickens. That sautéed lunch looks so healthy and I’m sure Madelyn is loving it, too! I love watermelon, and like Lisa, can eat a whole one by myself as your Dad isn’t crazy about them. I really struggle trying to figure out how anyone can’t like melons?
Those lemons are amazing, too. How fun it must be to have your own tree.
February 4, 2021 at 7:34 PM
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