Its juice is far surpassing any antioxidant-filled and aloe vera swill, especially after manual labor with 130 quintals of melon – says Norbert Vass about watermelons, following work partly at Ernő Süli and partly at a cattle farm.
Norbert Vass from Kaposvár, who spent five days at Ernő Süli in Kunágota (Békés county) and József Kása in Dombegyháza as part of the Rural Adventures Programme, was working at a melon field and a cattle farm. “It may sound obvious, but it's not: this way of life is much closer to nature than the urban one” - told Norbert, who works as a journalist and also doing a PhD in history.
In Kunágota, one of Norbert's tasks was to put melons on the slide which transported the striped green orbs to the cleaners in order make them dirt-free when they are presented to the consumers afterwards. “After 'throwing' 130 quintals of melon, you reach for crashed Suzy melon with a dirty hand and a sniffing nose. You encirle its most red part by firmly moving your index finger, and you lift it to your mouth. You see then nor how much soil gets into your gullet, neither that melon juice is running down your face as a wide stream. You don't see, but you don't even care. You feel refreshed, and you don't give a damn to the aloe vera swills full of antioxidants, which can be seen in advertisements, because melons beats them all” – told Norbert.
Besides the melon field, he was able to learn about the nuts and bolts of cattle keeping at József Kása's farm in Dombegyháza, where milk is produced. Norbert saw a newly born calf which he was feeding from a nursing bottle, he was pitchforking the hay, and took care of everyday business. These few days were enough for him to have a taste of rural life: “it was strange to wake up in the city, where the tram is racketing instead of a tractor at dawn, and where air is in short supply. Since this, I value every bite of a melon more, and these essential experiences will accompany me for a long time.”
