Marvin Martin harvested a 65 lb watermelon at his home in East Lincoln.

 

“He’s 84 years old, loves to garden and take care of his grandkids,” Roger Martin said of his dad.

 

“We have a large number of great gardeners in the area,” Rebecca Bates, Director of the Mississippi State University Lincoln County Extension Office, said. Bates said that with a watermelon like this, it sometimes has to do with variety but a lot of times it has to do with how it was taken care of.

 

Roger said that his dad, born and raised in the East Lincoln community, can grow just about anything. He said that Marvin grows things like corn, potatoes, butter beans and peas but his main crops are tomatoes and watermelons.

 

“What the family doesn’t eat he gives away,” Roger said. He said that his dad had eight kids and more grandchildren and great-grandchildren that he can count.

 

“He just loves kids, not just his own grandkids,” Roger said. “He’s kind of like the nucleus of the family.”

 

Bates said that for generations families have tended their own gardens. She said that it’s not unusual for people to fodder their own cow or raise their own chickens and eggs but what she does finds interesting is younger people, in their 20’s and 30’s, who want go back to that part of the lifestyle.

 

“They’re getting back to their roots,” Bates said, “and you see it happening all across the states.”

 

Although Roger said he isn’t too keen on gardening, himself, many in the family are very anxious to have Marvin teach what he knows about gardening. Roger said the family ate the watermelon and the kids loved it.