Rural Missouri - July 2022 - 21

Steve Droke checks a row of pallets. As soon as watermelons are off the vine, the countdown begins to get them out of the field and into stores
so the fruits are still fresh for the family table.
the crop and determining which are ready to be picked,
which need more time on the vine and which are damaged
from wildlife or have simply grown past their prime.
Behind them, the bus travels up and down the rows
keeping pace with groups of pickers who spread from the
side like wings. Smiling, laughing and sometimes singing,
they form a bucket brigade tossing the melons down
the line and up to the duo catching them inside the bus.
Every few minutes the bus stops, the workers rehydrate
before rotating positions and the process starts all over
again. Once the bus is full, the driver heads for home and
another arrives to take its place.
Once the melons are off the vine, it's a race against the
clock to turn a profitable crop. Keeping the melons cool
while in storage and having trucks handy is the logistical
puzzle to be solved every morning of the picking season. If
the melons sit for too long in the heat, they'll start to leak.
A rejected load means costs on return freight, materials
and disposal, not to mention wasted watermelons. Back at
headquarters the melons are quickly unloaded from buses
to conveyor belts where the undesirable fruits are culled.
The best are sorted and boxed by size. Pallets of boxes line
the storage area awaiting trucks - sometimes as many as
15 per day - to take them to grocery distribution centers.
But even the grade outs - melons which have a scar or
are misshapen or sunburned but are otherwise fit to eat
- find a home too at area fruit stands and flea markets.
From the vine to the box, a dozen different people may
handle each melon by the time it's sliced up in the backyard.
In the operation's early days, Steve says, even the
loading was done by hand.
" I picked 'em, put 'em on the trailer, drove it up to the
house, and when the truck came, I crawled up in there,
they threw 'em to me and I stacked 'em, " Steve says with
a laugh. " But I was 30 years old, mean and lean, and it
makes a big difference. "
While in July the watermelons are all business, in late
summer they're also a source of pride for Bootheel farmers.
Skyler has taken home his fair share of first-place
wins at giant watermelon contests. His most recent win
in 2019 weighed 145 pounds. The rich, sandy loam of the
Bootheel helps, but Steve says good soil health, nutrition
and pH balance are the keys, insisting " if you can
raise tomatoes, you ought to be able to grow good watermelons. "
But whether you grow them for size or to savor,
prefer them fresh from the field or refrigerator, or feel they
taste better plain or seasoned with salt, pepper, hot sauce
or even yellow mustard, Steve says there's one other universal
secret to growing a quality melon.
" Remember, it's in the name, " Steve says with a smile.
" It's a watermelon; what's it made of ? "
During more than 40 years of farming, Steve has seen
the common omens play out. Small plots have become
a thing of the past, and the average age of the farmers
who tend them continues to climb. As conveyor belts
whir, forklifts stack boxes, empty buses head afield and
watermelon-laden trucks light out for the highway, he
looks around the family farm. He points out the house his
grandfather, Everett Reel, a master carpenter, built for his
children; the barn Steve, his father and brother rebuilt
after it was struck by a tornado and the new facility that
keeps things moving like clockwork. As he passes the
torch to Skyler, he's hopeful people will be eating a Missouri
Melon for many summers to come.
" You see so many places driving
Hornersville
around the country that you can tell
were once an icon or a symbol, "
Steve says. " My worst fear would
be for this place to turn into a
ghost town. Hopefully, he will
be a sharp enough manager to
keep this thing operating. "
JULY 2022 | RURALMISSOURI.COOP 21

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Rural Missouri - July 2022

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