I know my friends in Maryland swear by the Eastern Shore melon, but have you ever tasted a Halifax cantaloupe? These meaty melons, ripening on the vine today, are the best: sweet and juicy as a watermelon, with a subtle musky aroma and luscious smooth texture.

As Turbeville cantaloupe in the 1960s, they were legendary, reportedly in demand by hotels and gourmet restaurants from Chicago to New York. The canteloupes were grown in a small region of Halifax County which had the perfect loamy clay soil to grow melons so big they didn’t fit in the shipping bins to sell to chain grocery stores.

Today that idyllic cantaloupe of Turbeville has sprouted up in other parts of the county as varieties develop that are hardier, smaller and sweeter.

“We just have the right combination of soil and climate. It just suits cantaloupe,” says Hudson Reese, who has been growing cantaloupe for over 50 years in the northeastern part of Halifax County, Virginia . I went out to Reese’s farm where the famous lopes are hitting their peak ripeness, just in time for the Cantaloupe Festival, Friday at Berry Hill farm. (See details at www.valopefest.com)` They look like golden Eastern eggs hiding under lacy leaves.

Reese Farms is supplying all the cantaloupe for the festival, which is included in the $40 ticket along with beer, fresh corn, music. against the backdrop of Berry Hill, the Greek Revival mansion. Not a bad way to honor this mighty melon.

Some years, with lots of rain, the melons get waterlogged. But this year, the weather has been just right with the right amount of rain and plenty of sunshine.

Reese, a tall genial man, plucks a melon from the bins. How do you tell a good melon in the market?

He laughs, “Buy one from Reese’s.” Here are his tips:

*Check the stem scar. If there is part of a stem, then it was picked too soon

*The stem scar should be soft

*Netting all over (most varieties are yellow)

*A light, fragrant aroma

“Plant breeds have improved everything,” says Reese. “Athena is the breed. It’s is good wherever it is grown and can be shipped well. The older varieties didn’t ship well and had to be vine-ripe. They used to ship alot of green cantaloupe.”

Today cantaloupe is only one of a variety of fruits and vegetables thriving on Reese’s 300 acres. Once he had a profitable tobacco crop on the property. Using funds from the tobacco buyout , he transitioned to many varieties that grow almost all year-round, from strawberries to flowers. Hudson, 83, built up a good business that continues to grow under the management of his grandson Trey, a West Virginia University graduate with a specialty in forestry. Last year, they were hit with a tragedy when his father died and left a big gap in the family business. But Trey and his wife Ann are doing a “bang-up” job, says Reese.

Most of the demand comes for tomatoes and corn. Canteloupe is less popular but still a coveted item by those who are familiar with it. While the farm is not organic, it uses as few chemicals as possible in the fertilizer that is piped in through the irrigation system. His customers come for the fresh food. “People like to see where their food comes from,”says Trey.

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While the older Reese and his wife are seated for the interview in the huge loading shelter, the size of an airport hangar, Trey is darting back and forth between big trucks, which are preparing to haul towers of corn and tomatoes to a distributer.

About six miles from Scottsburg, down a shady lane this morning, Trey Reese surveys the crop, where his crew will pick cantaloupe for the festival. There are 30 acres of canteloupe; a fraction will go to the festival.

Most end up in grocery stores in the region, as far away as Kentucky. A select number are sold at Reese’s two popular farm stands, owned by Sarah and Don Reese, Hudson’s brother, in Scottsburg and Centerville, Virginia.

(All photos and photos by Lavinia Edmunds)
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