Thread by @UrsulaV

Oh my god, you guys, I am reading an EPIC story of seed saving and it has taken a turn you will not believe.

NO, REALLY.

So this guy in the 1920s finds a Native American pot with preserved watermelon seeds in a cave, right? And it's the '20s, so he takes them home to grow them. (Unlike many other such stories, this one seems to have actual documentation.)

And he gets this weird watermelon that has a handle on it like a crookneck squash. Very strange. Credit where it's due--you'd have to be both good and lucky to grow them successfully after that kind of storage, but he managed.

But he's like "Who wants a watermelon with a handle?" and starts breeding out the crookneck. (Nooooo!) It is eventually popularized as "Ancient Watermelon."

BUT!
All is not lost!

The seed company (this is all from rareseeds.com) starts getting seeds from other people in the area who have the crookneck watermelon. The weird variant is saved! So the seed people are like "Great! Where did you get these from?"

Oh, say the growers. Local guy. You probably heard of him, he was in the news. Cliven Bundy.

WTF, INTERNET.

So these intrepid seed people go to the freakin' detention center where, YES, THAT CLIVEN BUNDY who as it turns out is also passionate about growing heirloom melons!? as well as standoffs with law enforcement? to track down if this is the same melon!

And he's all "Yes! I knew the guy! He gave me some of the seeds! Let's talk about dry farming melons, which is my real passion!"

I just...the world is strange beyond all measure, internet. Far beyond what I can even comprehend.

Anyway, here's a link and I'm gonna go drink heavily because...world.

rareseeds.com/art-combes-ama…