Each summer and fall, vines throughout nearly 800 acres on Pearson Farms burst forth with small yellow flowers, turning delicate blooms into watermelons and pumpkins. The Pearson family has been farming the beautiful countryside between Orlinda and Franklin, Kentucky, for the past eight generations, growing row crops and cattle. The current generation, however, is plowing full steam ahead with a flourishing melon operation.

Bill and Jennie Jo Pearson, along with sons Wyatt (20), Caleb (17), and Drew (15), were already maintaining a successful crop and cattle operation when, in 2018, Bill decided to diversify their enterprise by partnering with neighboring farmer, Willis Jepson, to start The Orlinda Melon Company. Although the company started on 75 acres, today, the business has grown to more than 1 million seedless watermelons — including Cracker Jack, Captivation, and yellow-fleshed melons — across 400 acres each summer, using a drip irrigation system. The company also grows 450 acres of pumpkins each fall. Both watermelons and pumpkins are sold through brokers to major grocery chains.

“We use brokers who have contracts with Publix, Giant Eagle, Walmart, Kroger, and Trader Joe’s,” says Bill as he and Wyatt scurry around the warehouse managing the day-to-day activities. “The brokers provide us with the quantity of melons needed at each destination and then send trucks here to pick them up.”

Bill points out a nearby truck that will be headed to a Publix store in Florida. Another is headed to Atlanta, and then still another is destined for a Giant Eagle Food Stop in Philadelphia. Giant Eagle Food Stop & Shop is a major chain in the Northeast.

“We sell our pumpkins from Ohio to Florida,” he adds. “The watermelons are sold down the Eastern Seaboard from Florida to Massachusetts. Our brokers also sell to some associated grocery stores in Louisiana, and to Walmart stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Our brokers handle it all except for Houchens stores, which we supply ourselves.”

July is watermelon season, and it’s “all hands on deck” at the Melon Company as Warehouse Manager Keith Pinson, along with Bill, Wyatt, Caleb, Drew, and their seasonal workers, prepare loads of ripe, delicious watermelons for daily loading. The Orlinda Melon Company sold a little over a million watermelons in 2025 and relies on the U.S. government's H-2A seasonal agricultural worker visa program to hire around 60 migrant workers for harvesting and packing. About 30 employees work in the field picking, about five drive the school buses, and about 25 pack the melons in the warehouse.

The warehouse serves as the central hub of activity, with a flurry of business taking place. Watermelons freshly picked by field workers arrive at the back of the warehouse in numerous empty, retired school buses, while semi-trucks are loaded on the opposite side to go to various states and depart from the front.

It’s a hot job for the workers as the buses are filled with freshly picked watermelons from the field are unloaded, and the melons are placed on conveyor belts to enter the warehouse. Once inside, the melons pass through a wash station, then travel down a long conveyor belt as they are sorted by workers and placed in boxes. The boxes are then placed in a refrigerated holding area until ready to load.

A lot is riding on the quality of their melons, and the Pearsons take bold steps to see that their crops are in tip-top shape. They regularly shop at Robertson Cheatham Farmers Cooperative’s Milldale location for all of their plant food and crop protection needs, and use drones to spray pesticides on their crops, which allows them to be more efficient and targeted in their applications. Agronomists from the Co-op come out regularly, they say, to scout the fruits and vines for any type of pathogen diseases, mildews, bacteria, and other potential problems.

The Pearsons also rely on honeybees for pollination.

“Our seedless watermelons are made by bees and pollinators,” explains Wyatt. “Every fourth plant, we do a 50/50 pollinator mix, so it’s either a seeded watermelon or it’s a sterile pollinator. The bee transfers the pollen from the seeded plants to the sterile, seedless flowers, which triggers the fruit to grow. We put out a beehive for each acre of plants, and then the bees will drop by and cross-pollinate to make a seedless watermelon. Because of the plant’s sterile genetics, the seeds won’t mature into hard, black seeds, but only have soft, white seed coats commonly found in seedless watermelons.

“If you think about a seedless melon, it’s kind of like a mule. It’s sterile fruit. It’s a three-chromosome plant. It makes fruit, but it’s seedless. So, it needs pollen from another plant for the female to make the fruit.”

Seedless watermelons require more pollinator visits than standard ones, he adds. A normal-seeded watermelon requires eight visits per flower, but a seedless watermelon flower requires between 16 and 24 visits by honeybees or bumble bees to ensure complete fertilization and avoid misshapen melons.

Watermelons and pumpkins are close botanical cousins and belong to the gourd and squash family. They share fascinating characteristics: Both develop from the fertilized ovary of a flower, making them botanically classified as fruits. Both grow on sprawling vines that require plenty of ground space and prefer hot, sunny climates. Neither plant self-pollinates easily. They both produce distinct male and female yellow flowers on the same vine, relying heavily on bees to transfer pollen. Both have high water content — watermelons are roughly 92% water, and pumpkins are made of about 90% water. Both have edible, nutritious seeds that can be roasted and are healthy snacks.

In addition to the melon and pumpkin operations, the Pearsons grow 1,500 acres of each of their row crops like corn, wheat, and soybeans, and maintain a 300-head beef cattle herd. They also raise 60 acres of dark-fired tobacco and 25 acres of air-cured tobacco.

Wyatt plans to keep the melon business going and is determined to succeed in his agricultural endeavors. He was recognized last year in February at the 2025 State FFA Convention, where the East Robertson High School FFA student was named the 2025 Tennessee State Star in Agricultural Placement. The top agricultural placement award honors a student each year who demonstrates outstanding achievement, scholastic excellence, and active FFA participation through their hands-on work-based Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) programs. This fall, East Robertson High School plans to sponsor Wyatt in the 2026 national competition.

“Ever since I was little, I’ve always been amazed at watching things grow,” says Wyatt. “I just think it’s one of God’s greatest creations — whether what’s growing is a child, a fruit, or an animal. I find it to be very interesting. I can remember planting corn as a little kid and then watching it pop out of the ground. It could grow a foot in two weeks, yet it started so small. It’s one of God’s miracles, and I love it. I wouldn’t want to live any other way than to be a farmer.

“Farming provides a different type of freedom that nothing else gives you. You work a lot, and you lose a lot, too, but, man, there’s nothing like it.”