A Fresno County farmstand sells ‘dino’ melons and ‘sugar baby’ watermelons. Where to find it

Joe Del Bosque’s vision for his farm stand was to have “something interesting so that when somebody comes here, this will be the biggest selection of melons you would find anywhere.”

While Del Bosque has been a commercial grower for a long time – growing cantaloupes, honeydews and, more recently, mini watermelons – he decided five years ago to open the farm stand on Shields Avenue just east of I-5 interstate in rural Fresno County to feature specialty melons.

“We called them mixed melons because they’re different than cantaloupe and honeydew,” Del Bosque said.

‘And whenever we see something interesting, we’ll add it in, like this year we have one called a dino (white flesh) melon,” Del Bosque, 75, said. “It’s a little white one with spots.”

Specialty melons

The farm stand carries different kinds of watermelons and melons.

While the watermelons at the farm stand might look the same from the outside, some are yellow flesh watermelons that are seedless.

There are jumbo, red-flesh watermelons for people who want bigger ones.

Orange-flesh watermelons tastes like a watermelon it has a stronger flavor but very juicy and sweet, he said.

Sugar baby watermelons are dark skinned, with a sweet, dark-red flesh.

Another kind of watermelon is red inside but yellow on the outside.

From the mixed melons one is called “ Piel de Sapo ” or skin of frog or toad because it looks like that on the outside with white flesh.

One melon is a cross between honeydew (on the outside) and a cantaloupe (on the inside).

“These melons are the perfect thing in the summertime when you are out by the pool and it’s hot and you want something really cool and refreshing. The melons are the perfect food for that, Del Bosque said.

For Del Bosque, cantaloupe is his favorite because of nostalgia that reminds him of his father, who was a migrant farmworker working on cantaloupes in the 1930s and in the 1950s started growing cantaloupes.

“These babies have been in my family for like 80 years,” he said.

Other varieties are Galia melons which were developed in the Middle East as well as Crenshaw melon which is very difficult to grow because it gets sunburned very easily, he said.

“We only do these for the farm stand,” said Del Bosque. “We have a great assortment of melons that you can’t find anywhere else, and we try to have melons that are ripe and delicious.”

Del Bosque said the farm stand gets a lot of traffic from the highway as people travel north to the Bay Area or south to Southern California while stopping for unique melons. Some are first-time buyers, others are return customers on their annual summer vacation. Some call the farm stand asking for their favorite melon, to make sure it is available..

He also has customers coming from around the Valley too.

“We’ve gotten to be well known for our melons,” he said, adding the farm stand is on social media including Instagram and Facebook and a little bit on Twitter.

Del Bosque said he tries to bring other local flavors like honey from the bees that come to pollinate his melons, local olive oil, as well as almonds grown by him, crops from other farmers like pistachios, dried fruit from California and produce from a big garden in the back of the farm stand.

As an agricultural advocate, Del Bosque said having the farm stand is an opportunity for consumers traveling on the highway to see what can be grown in the area and show them what farmers do.

Del Bosque has had many politicians from legislators, congressmen, senators, to three governors and one president (Barack Obama) visit his farm to learn about agriculture issues, including water.

“Most people have never met a farmer, let alone know how their food is grown,” he said, adding he likes to intermingle with the people who stop by the stand.

Melon expert

Do people need to be an expert when shopping for watermelons or any melons to take home the best for their summer get-together?

Del Bosque said people don’t have to worry about picking watermelons or melons at the store and farm stand because those have already been selected for them by a crew of professionals.

But that doesn’t stop people from ‘testing’ the watermelon at the supermarket.

“And I’m probably one of those people. I thump it, I look at the belly, but the professionals (at the fields), they just look at it. And they can tell by the color. They can look at the stripes. They look at the patina of the melon. And they can tell it’s ripe by that,” he said.

Del Bosque said he has seen people thump the watermelon, but do they know what to listen for?

“Some people do, but some people don’t. This melon has already been picked by a professional and he knows what he is looking for,” Del Bosque said, adding that watermelons like hot, dry weather.

“Almost everybody likes watermelon,” he said.

Watermelon season for Del Bosque Farms starts around mid-June through October.

Del Bosque said watermelons can sit on your shelf at cool place at home for several weeks because of the hard shell. But he recommends placing the ripe cantaloupe, which has a fragrance, in the fridge right away to last longer because of its soft shelf.

Commercial grower

Del Bosque has been growing melons all his life. He worked for his father in the fields when he was 10 years old, picking melons, learning how to drive a tractor, planting, cultivating, and irrigating.

That farm was about two to three miles away from his current farm stand.

He went to Fresno State and studied agriculture and came back to work at the same farm as a manager for 10 years before deciding to start his own farm in 1985.

He started growing melons for other people, later adding other crops.

“We are one of the largest organic melon growers in the country,” said Del Bosque, who ships his melons nationally.

“I’m one of the smallest (melon growers), but we concentrate on organic. And we are probably one of the largest organic melon growers in the country. And that is because the organic market is not that big.”

Organic cantaloupe, honeydew and mini watermelon can be found at places like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s nationally, and many other stores that carry organic produce, he said.

The farm stand, located about 60 miles west of Fresno, is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. during the summer.

In the fall, the stand sells pumpkins and squash, and might close on Sundays.

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