by TM Petaccia, Contributing Editor

A few weeks ago I wrote about being an heirloom nerd and how I would willingly and eagerly make a four-hour roundtrip drive to buy a Bradford watermelon. That ended in 2022 when a series of weather-related and later biological mishaps wiped out Nat Bradford’s harvests.

Bradford watermelons are more than just another crop. The fruit itself is vital part of our American food history and for Nat, his family history as well. He had to start from scratch after 2023, going back to a small jar of seeds saved by his grandfather in 1990. The first few years were about growing enough watermelons to have enough seeds to expand the planting the following year.

After four years, there is enough of a harvest to sell commercially, initially to restaurants only. Now, a second harvest will be available to the public. You have to make a reservation for a day to drive to Sumter, South Carolina to pick them up, and they cost $25 each. Some of you might say spending $25 for a watermelon is crazy. I thought so too. Until I bit into one. Rich, deep watermelon flavor unlike any you have tasted in your life. I was an instant convert. And the tender rinds make for outstanding pickles.

Four years is a long time to keep planting when another bad season could set you back even further. Nat saved his new seeds, planted them, and did it all over year after year, determined to bring the crop back. That’s the patience an heirloom asks of a farmer. In Nat’s case, it also meant that the seeds his grandfather tucked away in a jar could become watermelons again, keeping his family’s story alive and his customers once again enjoying a flavor worth saving.

So yes, in a few weeks I will once again take the backroad route to Sumter. It’s a little longer than the interstate, but not nearly as stressful, and it’s all about the journey too, right? All to buy a watermelon.

Actually, I’ll be buying two.

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