The recipe for reprieve from the hot, sweltering summer afternoon is watermelon from the Bootheel region of Missouri, where the sun hangs low, casting long shadows across fields that seem to stretch on forever.
The air is thick with the scent of earth and the distant hum of cicadas.
In these fertile fields, a time-honored tradition is taking place — a ritual as old as the land itself.
The Bootheel of Missouri is a place where the land tells a story. This odd-shaped corner of the state, jutting southward as if it were trying to reach out and touch the Mississippi River, is more than just a geographical curiosity.
It’s a place where the soil is rich and dark from floods long ago that left behind a bed of nutrient-rich silt perfect for growing crops.
And it’s here, in this fertile soil, that generations of farmers have grown what many consider the best watermelons in the country.
Senator Jason Bean is one of these farmers. He mentioned in a conversation that he would put his farm-grown watermelon up against any other watermelon in the country.
Curious, I accepted the challenge. With a son who would eat a whole watermelon in one sitting, I was eager to find out what could be so special about Bootheel and Bean’s watermelons.
He shared that decades ago, farmers quickly realized that the Bootheel was special. Unlike the rocky terrain of the Ozarks or the dry plains of the west, the Bootheel was a lush, green paradise.
Early farmers experimented with different crops, but it was the watermelon that truly thrived here.
People come from miles around to buy Bootheel watermelons, knowing they’re getting something special.
For many, these watermelons are a taste of summer, a reminder of simpler times when food came from just down the road and was shared with friends and family at picnics and barbecues.
I was excited when Senator Bean texted and said he had some watermelons — the best watermelons in the nation — and asked how many I wanted to try.
“I’ll take as many as you want to spare,” I replied.
A time was set up, and we met a week later. Senator Bean brought a truckload of watermelons!
Seven watermelons in four days — that’s how many we have eaten.
With enough to share with friends and neighbors, we are sharing the taste of Bootheel’s best, and so far, the reports are all positive.
So, the next time you bite into a Bootheel watermelon, remember that you’re tasting more than just a fruit.
You’re tasting a piece of Missouri’s history, a slice of the Bootheel’s rich agricultural heritage, and the result of a tradition that stretches back over a century.
It’s a story of land and labor, of community and connection, and of the simple, sweet joy that only a perfectly ripe watermelon can bring.
(State Sen. Jill Carter, R-Granby, represents the 32nd Senatorial District. She can be reached by phone at her office at 573-751-2173 or by text at 417-216-7077; and by email at jill.carter@senate.mo.gov.)
